Sites4Trades Privacy and Cookie Policy Draft

Last updated: 18 August 2026

1. Who we are

Sites4Trades provides website design, hosting, maintenance and related services for UK trade businesses.

The data controller is Luke Ranfield, a self-employed sole trader trading as Sites4Trades.com.

Business address: Flat 11, The Ropeworks, Little Peter Street, Manchester, M15 4QJ
Privacy enquiries: sales@sites4trades.com

In this policy, “Sites4Trades”, “we”, “us” and “our” refer to that data controller.

2. The information we collect

Depending on how you use our website or services, we may collect:

  • Your name, email address, telephone number and preferred contact method
  • Your business name, trade, service areas and other business information
  • Information supplied through an enquiry, callback request or website order form
  • Website copy, photographs, logos, testimonials, project details, accreditations and other files supplied for your website
  • Package, order, billing and transaction information
  • Messages, approvals, feedback and support requests
  • Technical information such as IP address, browser, device, pages visited, referral information and cookie preferences
  • Advertising and conversion information, where you consent to advertising cookies or similar technologies

Payments are processed by Stripe. Sites4Trades does not receive or store your full payment card details, although we may receive payment status, transaction references, billing details and the email address associated with the payment.

Please only send us personal information about another person if you have their permission and they understand how it will be used.

3. How and why we use your information

We use personal information to:

  • Respond to enquiries and callback requests
  • Provide quotes and take steps requested before entering into a contract
  • Process orders and provide purchased services
  • Plan, design, build, launch, host, maintain and update customer websites
  • Contact customers for content, feedback, approval, support, renewals and service-related matters
  • Keep payment, accounting and business records
  • Maintain the security and reliability of our website and services
  • Understand how our website performs and improve it
  • Measure advertising effectiveness, where the required consent has been given
  • Establish, exercise or defend legal claims and comply with legal obligations

Our lawful bases are:

  • Contract: where information is needed to take steps at your request or provide the service you purchased
  • Legitimate interests: where reasonably necessary to operate, secure and improve the business, provide customer support, maintain accurate service records or protect our legal rights, provided those interests do not override your rights
  • Legal obligation: where we must keep or disclose information to comply with the law
  • Consent: for non-essential analytics, advertising cookies and similar tracking technologies, and any other activity where consent is required

You can withdraw consent at any time. This will not affect processing that took place before consent was withdrawn.

4. Who we share information with

We only share information where reasonably necessary to provide and operate the service. Recipients may include:

  • Stripe and other payment or accounting providers
  • Website hosting, domain, email, cloud storage, form and security providers
  • WordPress and website software providers used to operate the site
  • Trusted freelance designers, developers or contractors who help deliver a customer website or ongoing service
  • Meta, where you consent to Meta Pixel advertising measurement
  • OpenAI, where you consent to OpenAI advertising conversion measurement
  • Professional advisers, insurers, regulators, law enforcement bodies or public authorities where reasonably necessary or required by law

Contractors are only given the information they need for their work and are expected to keep it confidential and use it only to provide the agreed service.

We do not sell personal information.

Some providers may process information outside the UK. Where UK data protection law requires it, we use an approved transfer mechanism or rely on another valid safeguard.

5. Cookies, pixels and similar technologies

Cookies are small files stored on a device. Pixels, scripts, link identifiers and similar technologies can also recognise a browser or device, record activity or connect a visit with an advertising campaign.

Strictly necessary technologies

These are used for functions such as security, form operation, remembering privacy choices and providing a requested service. Where the law permits, they may operate without consent because the website cannot provide the relevant function without them.

Analytics

If we add an analytics provider in future, we will update this policy and the cookie settings tool to identify it and explain what information it receives. Where consent is required, the analytics technology will remain inactive until permission is given.

Meta advertising measurement

With your consent, we may use the Meta Pixel to record visits and actions on our website, measure whether Meta adverts lead to enquiries or purchases, create advertising reports and improve campaign performance. Depending on its configuration, Meta may receive event information, page and referral information, browser or device information, IP address, cookie identifiers and information you submit that is permitted for advertising measurement.

OpenAI advertising measurement

With your consent, we may use the OpenAI Pixel, OpenAI Conversions API, or both, to understand whether somebody takes an action after clicking a Sites4Trades advert in ChatGPT. This may involve an OpenAI click reference added to the landing-page address and stored in a first-party cookie, together with conversion events such as submitting an enquiry or completing a purchase. If advanced matching is enabled, permitted contact information may be normalised and hashed before being sent for measurement.

We will not activate Meta, OpenAI or other non-essential advertising technologies on a device before the user has made an affirmative choice. Rejecting advertising cookies will not prevent anyone from using the core website or buying a service.

Users can accept, reject or change their choices at any time using the Cookie settings control on the website. Cookie lifetimes and the providers currently in use will be shown in that control and kept under review.

6. How long we keep information

We keep personal information only for as long as needed for the purposes described in this policy.

  • Enquiries that do not become customers: normally up to 90 days after the last meaningful contact, unless the person requests earlier deletion or there is a genuine reason to keep it longer
  • Active customers: contact details, service communications, website materials and project records are kept for as long as needed to provide the ongoing service
  • After cancellation: customer contact details, website materials, uploaded files and ordinary service records will be deleted or anonymised within 30 days of the service ending
  • Payment, invoice, tax and accounting records: kept for the period required by law, even where this is longer than 30 days
  • Complaints, disputes and legal claims: relevant information may be kept for as long as reasonably necessary to resolve the matter or protect legal rights
  • Backups: deleted information may remain temporarily in secured backups until those backups are overwritten through the normal backup cycle and will not be restored for ordinary business use
  • Cookie, analytics and advertising information: retained according to the duration shown in the cookie settings tool and the relevant provider’s settings

When information is no longer required, we delete it securely or anonymise it so that it can no longer identify an individual.

7. Your data protection rights

Depending on the circumstances, you may have the right to:

  • Ask for a copy of your personal information
  • Ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information
  • Ask us to delete information
  • Ask us to restrict how information is used
  • Object to certain uses of information
  • Receive information you supplied in a portable format
  • Withdraw consent at any time where processing relies on consent

These rights are not absolute and an exemption may apply. To make a request, email sales@sites4trades.com. We may need to confirm the requester’s identity before responding.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office. Information is available at ico.org.uk, although we would appreciate the opportunity to address the concern first.

8. Security

We use reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal information. These include limiting access to people who need the information to provide the service and using reputable providers for payments, hosting and storage. No internet-based service can be guaranteed completely secure.

9. Children

Our services are intended for business customers and are not directed at children. Please do not submit personal information about a child unless it is genuinely necessary for a website and you have the legal authority to provide it.

10. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy when our services, providers or legal obligations change. The latest version and its update date will be published on this page.

11. Contact us

For questions, requests or concerns about personal information, email sales@sites4trades.com or write to the business address shown in section 1.