Privacy Policy
Who is responsible for your information?
Alan Williams, trading as Alan Williams Metal Artist, is responsible for the personal information collected through this website.
Business address: The Old Parlour, Blackstone Lane, Woodmancote, Blackstone, West Sussex, BN5 9TB, United Kingdom. Email: alanwilliamsmetalartist@gmail.com. Visits to the forge are by appointment only.
What information we collect and why
When you contact us or make an enquiry
What we collect:
We may collect your name, email address, telephone number, the content of your message.
Why we collect it:
We use this information to respond to your enquiry, discuss a potential contract and provide relevant quotes.
Our lawful basis:
To take steps at your request before entering a contract or our legitimate business interest in handling enquiries.
When you buy a sculpture, merchandise or other goods, or participate in an auction on our website
What we collect:
We may process your name, billing and delivery addresses, email, contact information, purchase and payment-status records, account username, and information needed to fulfil or manage the order—including your custom commission briefs and real-time auction bidding history.
Why we collect it:
We use this information to perform our contract with you, handle customer service, ship your artwork, track live auction bids, and comply with accounting and other legal obligations(such as tax record keeping).
Our lawful basis:
Necessary to perform the contract, handle customer service, manage your auction account, and deliver your goods.
Legal Obligation: Necessary to comply with UK accounting, tax, and HMRC legal obligations.
Legitimate Interests: We monitor bidding patterns to maintain website security, prevent fraudulent bidding, and ensure a fair auction environment.
Who we share it with:
Our web hosting provider manages the server database where your account and order records are stored.
PayPal and Stripe securely process your transactions so that we never see or store your raw credit card numbers.
Courier delivery services receive your name and delivery address so we can safely transport your sculptures or merchandise to you. Courier delivery services will vary depending on the size of the piece.
When You Subscribe to Our Newsletter
What we collect:
We collect the details you submit through the newsletter form (such as your name and email address), which uses Brevo, along with your marketing preferences and opt-in timestamps.
Why we collect it:
We use this information to send you updates from our studio, news about upcoming collections, notifications about new online auctions, and exclusive subscriber offers.
Our lawful basis:
Consent: Marketing emails should be sent only where the applicable consent or other lawful permission exists (such as active opt-in consent or a legitimate soft opt-in for existing customers).
Who we share it with:
Brevo acts as our data processor to securely store your contact details and deliver our newsletter messages.
Your right to opt out:
You can instantly unsubscribe at any time using the link included in those messages
When You Browse Our Website
What we collect:
The website and hosting services may automatically record technical information such as your IP address, browser information, device type, operating system, pages viewed, access times, security events, and data from essential functional cookies (such as remembering items in your shopping cart or active auction bidding sessions).
Why we collect it:
We use this information to operate and protect the site, keep our online shop and auction platform running smoothly, prevent security threats or malicious hacking attempts, and optimize performance.
Our lawful basis:
Legitimate Interests: It is within our legitimate business interests to process basic technical data to ensure our storefront remains functional, secure, and user-friendly.
Who we share it with:
Our Web Hosting Provider: They manage the server infrastructure where website activity logs and technical databases are maintained.
Google Analytics: We use Google Analytics to understand how visitors interact with our shop and auction pages (such as tracking which sculpture collections are viewed most). Google acts as our data processor. It records anonymized data regarding your browser, device, and site navigation, but does not store your raw IP address on its tracking servers. If you give consent via our cookie banner, Google Analytics tracks how you use our shop and auction pages so we can improve our website. To fulfill our agreement with Google, you can read exactly how Google processes your data by visiting the official page: How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services.
Security Services: Automated firewall or anti-spam software may scan incoming data to block fraudulent traffic or malicious bots.
Optional Technologies (Cookies): Optional analytics and marketing technologies require a separate check against the cookie rules explained in our Cookie Policy.
How long do we keep information?
We retain information only as long as reasonably needed for the purpose for which it was collected and for applicable legal, accounting and dispute-resolution obligations.
Our standard retention timelines are as follows:
Completed Shop Purchases, Invoices & Paid Commissions: 7 Years. We retain financial transactions and invoice data for this period to ensure absolute compliance with UK statutory tax laws (HMRC) and to cover the statutory limitation periods for potential contractual claims.
Active Customer & Auction Accounts: Until deletion is requested OR after 3 Years of continuous inactivity. This allows you to access your purchase histories, view past custom commissions, and maintain an active bidding profile.
Unsuccessful / Failed Auction Bidding Records: Purged 30 Days after the specific auction closes and the winning transaction clears. Once the dispute window closes, we have no ongoing lawful basis to retain losing bid data.
General Form Inquiries & Commission Quotes: 3 Years from the date of our last communication, ensuring a reasonable window to follow up on non-converted quotes.
Mailing List Subscribers (Brevo): Until you unsubscribe OR after 2 Years of total email inactivity (not opening or clicking any updates).
Website Security Logs & Server Backups: 30 to 90 Days. These are technical logs automatically overwritten by our web hosting provider to investigate security events and block malicious traffic.
International Data Transfers
Some of our third-party service providers process personal information outside the UK. Where this occurs, we ensure that your data receives an equivalent level of protection as required by the UK GDPR:
Brevo (Email Marketing): Your newsletter subscription data is transferred to and stored on secure servers within the European Union (France and Germany). The UK Government formally recognizes the EU/EEA as providing adequate data protection.
Google Analytics (Website Tracking): Technical browsing data may be transferred to and processed by Google in the United States. Google complies with the UK-US Data Bridge framework, ensuring your data is handled securely and in line with UK privacy rules.
Your choices and rights
Depending on the circumstances, you may have rights to access, correct or delete your personal data, restrict or object to certain processing, receive portable data, and withdraw consent where consent is the lawful basis.
Contact alanwilliamsmetalartist@gmail.com to make a request. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (the independent data regulator in the UK) at ico.org.uk. If you are a resident of the EU or EEA, you may also lodge a complaint with your local national data protection authority.
Cookies and external content
See our Cookie Policy for detailed information about cookies, similar technologies, and how to manage your preferences.
Our website may use third-party content, including embedded videos (such as YouTube) or newsletter signup forms (via Brevo). To protect your privacy, these external embeds and their associated tracking technologies are blocked by default and will only load or process your information once you have accepted our cookie options via our pop-up banner.
Changes
We will update this notice as our services or handling of personal information changes. [ADD: publication and last-updated date when approved.]