Privacy Policy

◆About this policy

Pond Plants UK Ltd operates this store and website, including all related information, content, features, tools, products and services (the "Services"). Pond Plants UK is powered by Shopify, which enables us to provide the Services to you.

This Privacy Policy describes how we collect, use and disclose your personal information when you visit, use, or make a purchase or other transaction using the Services, apply for a trade account, or otherwise communicate with us. If there is a conflict between our Terms of Service and this Privacy Policy, this Privacy Policy controls with respect to the collection, processing and disclosure of your personal information.

Please read this Privacy Policy carefully. By using and accessing any of the Services, you acknowledge that you have read this Privacy Policy and understand the collection, use and disclosure of your information as described in it.

1Who we are

For the purposes of UK data protection law we are the data controller of your personal information.

Data controller

Pond Plants UK Ltd

Company number

15172676, registered in England and Wales

Registered office

Unit 12c, Brookenby Business Park, Binbrook, Market Rasen, LN8 6HF

Trading address

Building 139e, Brookenby Business Park, Market Rasen, LN8 6HF

Email

sales@pondplantuk.co.uk

Telephone

01472 869012

2Personal information we collect or process

When we use the term "personal information" we mean information that identifies or can reasonably be linked to you or another person. It does not include information collected anonymously or that has been de-identified so that it cannot identify or be reasonably linked to you.

Depending on how you interact with the Services, we may collect or process:

1. (a)
   Contact details including your name, address, billing address, delivery address, phone number and email address.
2. (b)
   Business details including your company name, trading name, company registration number, VAT number, website, nature of business and years trading.
3. (c)
   Financial information including payment card information, payment confirmation, transaction details and form of payment.
4. (d)
   Account information including your username, password, preferences and settings.
5. (e)
   Transaction information including the items you view, add to your cart, order, return, exchange or cancel, and your past transactions.
6. (f)
   Communications with us including anything you include when you contact us, for example a customer support enquiry or a claim about a delivery.
7. (g)
   Device information including information about your device, browser or network connection, your IP address and other unique identifiers.
8. (h)
   Usage information including how and when you interact with or navigate the Services.

3Trade account information

If you apply for a trade account we collect additional information, and some of it concerns other people. This section explains what and why.

1. (a)
   Applicant details. The name, position, email address and telephone number of your main contact and of the person signing the application.
2. (b)
   Bank details. Where you apply for a credit account or a Sale and Return arrangement, we collect your bank name, account name, sort code and account number. These are used to administer your account and to collect sums properly due through our GoCardless Direct Debit arrangement.
3. (c)
   Trade references. Where you apply for credit or Sale and Return, we ask for two suppliers who currently offer you a credit account, including a contact name, telephone number and email address at each.

Those referees are other people, and their details are personal information too. By giving them to us you confirm that you are entitled to do so and that they would reasonably expect to be contacted for a trade reference. We contact them only to take up the reference, we tell them who we are and why we are asking, and we do not use their details for marketing.

1. (d)
   Credit checks. Where you apply for credit or Sale and Return, we may carry out a credit check on the business. You consent to this on the application form.

1. (e)
   Personal guarantees. Where a director provides a personal guarantee, we process that director's personal information for the purpose of the guarantee.

4Where we get your information

1. (a)
   Directly from you, including when you create an account, apply for a trade account, place an order, or communicate with us.
2. (b)
   Automatically through the Services, including from your device when you use the site, and through cookies and similar technologies.
3. (c)
   From our service providers, when we engage them to enable technology or when they process personal information on our behalf.
4. (d)
   From trade references and credit reference agencies, where you have applied for a credit account or Sale and Return arrangement.
5. (e)
   From our partners or other third parties.

5How and why we use your information

UK data protection law requires us to have a lawful basis for each use. Ours are set out below.

1. (a)
   To provide the Services. To take and fulfil your orders, take payment, arrange delivery, manage your account, handle returns and claims, and provide customer support. Lawful basis: performance of a contract with you, or steps taken at your request before entering into a contract.
2. (b)
   To operate trade accounts. To assess an application, take up trade and bank references, carry out credit checks, set and review credit limits, administer Sale and Return arrangements, invoice you and collect payment. Lawful basis: performance of a contract, and our legitimate interest in assessing credit risk before supplying goods without payment.
3. (c)
   Marketing and advertising. To send you marketing about our products and services by email, text message or post, and to show you advertisements. Lawful basis: your consent, or our legitimate interest in marketing to existing business customers about similar products. You can opt out at any time using the unsubscribe link in any marketing email or by contacting us.
4. (d)
   Security and fraud prevention. To authenticate your account, provide a secure payment and shopping experience, and detect, investigate or act on possible fraudulent, unlawful or malicious activity. Lawful basis: our legitimate interest in protecting our business and our customers, and compliance with legal obligations.
5. (e)
   Improving the Services. To understand how the Services are used and to improve them. Lawful basis: our legitimate interest in running and improving our business.
6. (f)
   Legal reasons. To comply with applicable law, respond to valid legal process, keep accounting records, and establish, exercise or defend legal claims. Lawful basis: compliance with a legal obligation, and our legitimate interest in defending our position.

Where we rely on legitimate interests, we have considered whether those interests are outweighed by your rights, and you may object at any time using the contact details above.

6Who we share it with

We may disclose your personal information to third parties for the purposes set out in this policy. That may include:

1. (a)
   Shopify, which hosts the Services. See Section 7.
2. (b)
   Service providers who act on our behalf, including payment processing, Direct Debit collection, fulfilment and shipping, IT management, cloud storage, data analytics and customer support.
3. (c)
   Delivery carriers, where we do not deliver on our own fleet, so that your order can reach you.
4. (d)
   Trade referees you have nominated and credit reference agencies, where you have applied for credit or Sale and Return.
5. (e)
   Business and marketing partners, to provide marketing services. For example, we use Shopify to support personalised advertising with third-party services based on your online activity with different merchants and websites. Our partners use your information in accordance with their own privacy notices. Depending on where you live, you may have the right to tell us not to share information about you for targeted advertising.
6. (f)
   Our professional advisers, including accountants, insurers and solicitors.
7. (g)
   In connection with a business transaction such as a merger or an insolvency, to comply with legal obligations, to enforce our terms, or to protect the Services, our rights, and the rights of our users or others.

7Relationship with Shopify

The Services are hosted by Shopify, which collects and processes personal information about your access to and use of the Services in order to provide and improve the Services for you. Information you submit to the Services will be transmitted to and shared with Shopify as well as third parties that may be located in countries other than where you reside, in order to provide and improve the Services for you.

In addition, to help protect, grow and improve our business, we use certain Shopify enhanced features that incorporate data and information obtained from your interactions with our store, along with other merchants and with Shopify. To provide these enhanced features, Shopify may make use of personal information collected about your interactions with our store, along with other merchants, and with Shopify. In these circumstances, Shopify is responsible for the processing of your personal information, including for responding to your requests to exercise your rights over use of your personal information for these purposes.

To learn more about how Shopify uses your personal information and any rights you may have, see the Shopify Consumer Privacy Policy at https://www.shopify.com/legal/privacy/app-users. Depending on where you live, you may exercise certain rights with respect to your personal information at https://privacy.shopify.com/en.

8Third party websites and links

The Services may link to websites or other online platforms operated by third parties. If you follow a link to a site we do not control, you should review its privacy and security policies and other terms. We do not guarantee and are not responsible for the privacy or security of such sites, including the accuracy, completeness or reliability of information found on them.

Information you provide in public or semi-public venues, including on third-party social networking platforms, may be viewable by other users without limitation as to its use. Our inclusion of a link does not imply endorsement.

9Children

The Services are a trade supply site and are not intended to be used by children. We do not knowingly collect personal information about children. If you are the parent or guardian of a child who has provided us with their personal information, please contact us using the details above and we will delete it.

10Security and retention

No security measure is perfect or impenetrable, and we cannot guarantee perfect security. Information you send to us may not be secure while in transit. Please do not use unsecure channels to send us sensitive or confidential information.

How long we keep your personal information depends on why we hold it. In general:

Accounting and tax records

6 years from the end of the financial year they relate to, as required by law

Trade account records

for the life of the account and 6 years after it closes

Marketing preferences

until you opt out, and a record of the opt out afterwards

Website and analytics data

as set out in our cookie settings

11Your rights

Subject to exceptions and limitations in law, you have the following rights over your personal information:

1. (a)
   Access. To ask for a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
2. (b)
   Rectification. To ask us to correct inaccurate information.
3. (c)
   Erasure. To ask us to delete information we hold about you.
4. (d)
   Portability. To receive a copy of certain information in a portable form, or to ask us to transfer it to another organisation.
5. (e)
   Restriction and objection. To ask us to stop or restrict processing for certain purposes, including objecting to processing carried out on the basis of our legitimate interests.
6. (f)
   Withdrawal of consent. Where we rely on your consent, to withdraw it at any time. Withdrawing consent does not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before you withdrew it.
7. (g)
   Marketing. To opt out of marketing at any time, using the unsubscribe option in any marketing email or by contacting us. If you opt out we will still send you non-promotional messages about your account or your orders.

To exercise any of these rights, contact us using the details in Section 1. We may need to verify your identity first. You may appoint someone to act on your behalf, in which case we will ask for proof that you have authorised them. We will respond within one month, and will tell you if we need longer.

We will not treat you any differently for exercising your rights.

12Complaints

If you have a complaint about how we handle your personal information, please contact us first using the details in Section 1 so that we can put it right.

If you are not satisfied with our response you have the right to complain to the UK's data protection regulator:

Information Commissioner's Office Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF Helpline 0303 123 1113 ico.org.uk

If you are in the European Economic Area you may instead complain to your local supervisory authority.

13International transfers

We may transfer, store and process your personal information outside the country you live in.

Where we transfer personal information out of the United Kingdom or the European Economic Area, we rely on a recognised transfer mechanism such as the UK International Data Transfer Agreement or Addendum, or the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses, unless the transfer is to a country that has been found to provide an adequate level of protection.

14Changes to this privacy policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time, to reflect changes to our practices or for other operational, legal or regulatory reasons. We will post the revised policy on this page, update the "Last updated" date, and give notice where the law requires it.

15Contact

Questions about our privacy practices or this Privacy Policy, or requests to exercise your rights, should go to:

Email

sales@pondplantuk.co.uk

Telephone

01472 869012

Post

Pond Plants UK Ltd, Building 139e, Brookenby Business Park, Market Rasen, LN8 6HF

For the purposes of applicable data protection law, Pond Plants UK Ltd is the data controller of your personal information.