Fish4Flies Privacy Policy

Last updated: June 2026

Fish4Flies Ltd ("Fish4Flies", "we", "us"), a company registered in England and Wales (company number 5656895) at 12 Warren Drive, Wickford, Essex, SS11 8NE, is the data controller for the personal information collected through this website. This policy explains what we collect, why, who we share it with and your rights under UK data protection law (the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018).

What we collect

• Account and order details. Your name, email address, telephone number and delivery addresses, plus your order history. We use these to fulfil your orders, ring or email you if there is a problem, and run your account.
• Payment details. Card payments are processed by our payment provider, Stripe; your full card number never touches our systems. If you choose to save a card for next time, it is stored in Stripe's secure vault and we hold only a reference to it.
• Shopping activity. Your basket, favourites, pattern requests, newsletter signup and preferences (such as currency and delivery country), so the site works the way you left it.
• AI assistant conversations. If you use our AI fishing assistant, the messages you exchange with it are stored so we can review quality, investigate problems and act on feedback you raise through it.
• Technical information. Your IP address, which we look up against a local geolocation database to estimate your country (so we can show the right currency and seasonal suggestions); this lookup happens on our own servers. We also keep routine server logs for security.

How we use it (and our lawful bases)

• Fulfilling your orders and running your account (performance of a contract): processing payment, delivering goods, sending order confirmations and dispatch notifications, and handling pattern requests and returns.
• Improving the shop (legitimate interests): we analyse sales patterns in aggregate, for example to rank the best flies for each month; this analysis does not identify you.
• Keeping the site secure (legitimate interests): protecting forms from bots, rate limiting and fraud prevention.
• Marketing (consent, and legitimate interest for existing customers): we send the newsletter and emails such as the monthly Top 10 to people who signed up, and to active customers who have not opted out. Every marketing email contains an unsubscribe link, and you can also opt out in your account at any time. We do not send marketing texts or make marketing calls.
• Catch competition (consent): if you enter, we publish the winning catch with your first name, the venue or area, and your photo, on the site and in our emails.

Who we share it with

We share personal information only with the service providers who help us run the shop, and only what each needs:

• Stripe processes card payments and stores saved cards.
• Royal Mail and other delivery carriers receive your name and delivery address to deliver your order.
• Customs compliance (EAS): for orders delivered to the EU, your name, address and order contents are submitted for VAT/customs registration (IOSS).
• Email providers (Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure) deliver our transactional and newsletter emails.
• Anthropic processes AI assistant conversations to generate its replies. Please do not type card numbers, passwords or other sensitive details into the chat; it never needs them.
• Google reCAPTCHA protects some forms (such as fly requests from visitors who are not signed in) from bots; Google's privacy policy applies to that check.
• Twilio is used when we verify a telephone number, for example during account recovery.

We never sell your personal information, and we do not share it with anyone for their own advertising.

Some of these providers process data outside the UK (for example in the United States). Where they do, the transfer is protected by recognised safeguards such as the UK Extension to the EU-US Data Privacy Framework or UK International Data Transfer Agreements.

How long we keep it

• Account details: for as long as your account is open.
• Order records: up to 6 years after the order, as required for tax and accounting law.
• Newsletter signups: until you unsubscribe.
• AI assistant conversations and feedback: only as long as needed for quality review and acting on feedback, then deleted.

Cookies

We use a small set of essential cookies: keeping you signed in, remembering your basket and favourites, your currency and delivery-country preference, panel preferences, and (for guests) linking your AI assistant conversation together. These are necessary for the site to function. Google reCAPTCHA sets its own cookies on the forms it protects. We do not currently use advertising or cross-site tracking cookies; if that ever changes, we will update this policy and ask for your consent first.

Your rights

You have the right to ask for a copy of your personal information, to have it corrected or deleted, to restrict or object to its use, to data portability, and to withdraw consent at any time where consent is the basis (for example the newsletter). To exercise any of these, email accountenquiries@fish4flies.com. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk), though we would welcome the chance to sort any concern out first.

If you have any questions about this policy or how we look after your data, please email accountenquiries@fish4flies.com; we are happy to help.