Privacy Policy

Last updated: 10 November 2026

This policy explains what personal information businessadverts.co.uk collects, why, and what your rights are.

1. Who we are

businessadverts.co.uk is operated by Stader Advertising, a UK sole trader, who is the data controller for the information described here. We are registered with the Information Commissioner's Office under reference ZC290880. Contact us at team@businessadverts.co.uk.

2. What we collect

• Your login: your first name, email address and password. Passwords are stored only in hashed form and cannot be read by anyone, including us. We also record when you registered, the IP address you registered from, and when you last logged in.
• Your advert: business name, category, county, town, telephone number, website address, description, and up to 8 images or logos.
• Payments: fees are paid through PayPal, so we never see your card or bank details. PayPal sends us the payer's name, email address and business name (if any), the transaction ID, amount, fee, status and date.
• Emails you send us: messages to our support address, with any attachments. Attachments are checked for viruses; only images and PDF files are kept.
• Website checks: we may visit listed websites, by hand or automatically, to check they are genuine and still working.
• Review checks: when you add a advert we record which country your connection came from (provided by our security service, Cloudflare), to help us spot spam.
• Technical information: our web server keeps standard access logs (IP address, browser, pages visited and times), and we use Statcounter to count visitors (see section 8).

Most of this comes from you when you add a advert. Adverts can also be published to this directory through Stader.co.uk, a advert management service run by the same operator; in that case the advert details come from your Stader account.

3. What is public

Your advert is published so people can find your business. Everything in it except your email address is shown publicly and may be indexed by search engines. Your email address is never shown. Your first name, login and payment details are never shown.

4. Why we use it, and our lawful basis

• To run the directory - creating your login, reviewing and publishing your advert, website checks, taking payments, and service emails such as email confirmation and expiry reminders. Basis: performance of a contract with you.
• To answer you - replying to emails and handling correction or removal requests. Basis: contract, or our legitimate interest in replying to people who contact us.
• To keep the website secure and understand how it is used - logs, spam prevention and visitor statistics. Basis: our legitimate interests.
• To meet legal obligations - keeping payment records for tax. Basis: legal obligation.

We do not sell your information and we do not send marketing emails without your consent. No automated decisions are made about you.

5. Who we share it with

• Hosting: S S Network Limited, a UK company registered with the ICO, which hosts this website on servers provided by HostGator (Newfold Digital) in the United States. It acts as our data processor.
• PayPal processes payments and is an independent controller of the details you give it.
• Statcounter provides visitor statistics.
• Brevo may be used to send our emails, as our processor.
• The public and search engines see published adverts, as explained in section 3.

We may also disclose information where the law requires it, for example to a court or the police.

6. Transfers outside the UK

Because our servers are in the United States, your information is stored there. The transfer is protected by the UK International Data Transfer Addendum in our hosting provider's contract. PayPal and Statcounter may also process information outside the UK under their own safeguards. Brevo processes data in the European Union, which the UK recognises as giving adequate protection.

7. How long we keep it

• Logins whose email address is never confirmed: deleted after 30 days.
• Adverts whose email address is never confirmed: deleted after 30 days. Adverts rejected at review: deleted straight away.
• Active adverts and your login: kept until you remove them or ask us to.
• Payment records: 6 years after the end of the tax year they relate to, as HMRC requires. These are kept even if your advert is removed.
• Support emails: kept while we deal with them, then deleted 2 years after the conversation is closed. Spam is deleted after 30 days.
• Web server logs: 30 days.

Backups may hold copies for up to 60 days after deletion before they are overwritten.

8. Cookies

• Login cookies (essential) keep you logged in to My Adverts. If you tick "keep me logged in", a cookie remembers this device for up to a year, until you log out.
• Statcounter (analytics) counts visits and popular pages. You can opt out at statcounter.com/about/set-refusal-cookie.
• PayPal sets its own cookies while you pay.

You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings. If you block login cookies you will not be able to use My Adverts.

9. Your rights

You can ask for a copy of your information, ask us to correct or delete it, restrict or object to how we use it, or ask for it in a portable format. Email team@businessadverts.co.uk and we will reply within one month. We may ask you to confirm who you are, for example by emailing from the address on your advert.

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your information, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint or on 0303 123 1113.

10. Security

The website uses HTTPS, passwords are hashed, email attachments are virus-checked, and access to the database is restricted. No system is completely secure, so please use a strong password that you do not use anywhere else.

11. Changes

We may update this policy when the directory or the way we use information changes. The current version is always on this page, and the date at the top shows when it last changed.