Privacy Policy

Who we are

Steel Valley Records ("we", "us") is the data controller for the personal information collected through steelvalleyrecords.shop. If you have any questions about this policy or how your data is handled, contact us at hello@steelvalleyrecords.shop.

What we collect

• Name, email address, and delivery address, when you place an order or create an account.
• Order history and the contents of your basket (the basket is stored in your browser, not on our servers, until you check out).
• Optional details you give us voluntarily — e.g. a review, a restock alert email, or a message via our contact form.
• Anonymous usage data — which pages are visited and which products are added to baskets. This is stored on our own servers and is never shared with third parties. No personal details are attached to this data.
• Messages you send to our on-site assistant (Nugget). These are logged so we can understand what customers are looking for and improve the shop. They are not linked to your name unless you are signed in.
• Basic technical data (such as IP address and browser type) generated automatically when you visit the site, for security and to keep it running reliably.

We never see or store your full card details — payments are handled directly by Stripe, our payment processor.

Why we collect it

We use your data to:

• Take, process, and deliver your orders, including customs and shipping with Royal Mail.
• Send order confirmations, shipping updates, and respond to support requests.
• Operate your Collector's Profile, Steel Shards loyalty balance, and gift card balances.
• Email you if you've asked to be notified when a sold-out release is back in stock.
• Improve the catalog and shop based on aggregate, non-identifying usage patterns.

The legal basis for most of this is performance of a contract (fulfilling your order) or our legitimate interest in running the shop. Where we ask for explicit consent — such as marketing emails, if we ever introduce them — you can withdraw it at any time.

Who we share it with

We share the minimum necessary data with the following processors, only to provide the service:

• Stripe — payment processing.
• Royal Mail (Click & Drop) — shipping label creation and delivery.
• Resend — sending transactional emails (order confirmations, password resets, alerts).

We do not sell your personal data to anyone, ever.

Cookies and local storage

Your basket is kept in your browser's local storage so it persists between visits — it never leaves your device until you check out. We use a session cookie to keep you signed in to your account. We also store a randomly generated anonymous identifier ("svr_vid") in your browser's local storage to count unique visitors to pages and products — this contains no personal information and is never shared. We don't use third-party advertising or tracking cookies, and we don't use Google Analytics or any external analytics service.

How long we keep it

We keep order records for as long as needed to meet our legal and tax obligations (typically up to 6 years). If you ask us to delete your account, we'll remove your personal details except where we're required to retain order records by law.

Your rights

We ship worldwide. If you are based in the European Union, UK GDPR and EU GDPR give you the same rights listed below. Steel Valley Records is the data controller based in the United Kingdom.

Under UK GDPR (and EU GDPR for EU residents), you have the right to:

• Access the personal data we hold about you.
• Ask us to correct inaccurate data.
• Ask us to delete your data ("the right to be forgotten"), subject to our legal retention obligations.
• Ask us to restrict or object to certain processing.
• Receive your data in a portable format.

To exercise any of these rights, email hello@steelvalleyrecords.shop. You also have the right to complain to the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk if you're unhappy with how we've handled your data.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. Significant changes will be reflected by updating the date at the top of this page.