1. About this policy
We use cookies and similar technologies (collectively “cookies”) to make the site work, to remember your choices, and — only if you agree — to measure how the site is used and to show you relevant content.
We do this in line with the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 (“PECR”) and the UK General Data Protection Regulation. Where cookies are not strictly necessary for the service you have requested, we ask for your consent before setting them.
This policy sits alongside our Privacy Policy which explains how we treat any personal data we collect through cookies.
2. What is a cookie?
A cookie is a small text file your browser stores when you visit a website. It lets the site remember things about you — for example, that you are signed in, or what's in your basket. Cookies can be:
- Session cookies — deleted when you close your browser.
- Persistent cookies — stay on your device until they expire or you delete them.
- First-party cookies — set by us.
- Third-party cookies — set by services we embed (e.g. payment, video, reviews).
We also use similar technologies — local storage, session storage, server-side session IDs and pixel tags — which we treat the same way as cookies for consent purposes.
3. The categories we use
We group cookies into four categories aligned with ICO guidance:
3.1 Strictly necessary
These keep the site working — signing you in, holding your basket, processing your payment, protecting against cross-site request forgery, remembering language and currency. They do not require consent (PECR reg 6(4)(a)).
3.2 Functional
These remember preferences you have set — recently-viewed products, the cookie banner state itself, the wholesale-pad terms-acceptance flag. We only set them with your consent (or as session cookies for the duration of your visit).
3.3 Performance / analytics
These help us understand how the site is used in aggregate — which pages are popular, where errors happen, how long pages take to load. They never identify you to us individually and we never join the analytics record to your account. They are set only with your consent.
3.4 Marketing / targeting
These are used to measure the effectiveness of our marketing — for example, that someone who clicked a search ad went on to place an order. They are set only with your consent. We do not currently use behavioural-advertising cookies on this site.
4. The specific cookies we use
The exact set varies slightly with the features you use. The principal cookies are:
| Cookie | Set by | Category | Purpose | Lifetime |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| auth_token | elite | Strictly necessary | Keeps you signed in | 365 days |
| session | elite | Strictly necessary | Holds your basket and checkout state | Session |
| XSRF-TOKEN | elite | Strictly necessary | Protects against cross-site request forgery | Session |
| cookieConsent | elite | Strictly necessary | Records your cookie preferences so we don't ask again | 12 months |
| currency / language | elite | Functional | Remembers your locale choice | 12 months |
| wholesaleTermsAccepted (local storage) | elite | Functional | Records that you have accepted the Wholesale & Business Terms (so we don't re-ask each visit) | Persistent |
| __stripe_mid / __stripe_sid | Stripe | Strictly necessary (payment) | Fraud prevention for card payments | 1 year / 30 minutes |
| _ga / _ga_* | Google Analytics 4 (where used) | Performance | Aggregate usage analytics. IP anonymised; consent required | 13 months |
The list above is illustrative. Your browser's cookie inspector will show the live set for your session.
5. Third-party services
Where we embed a third-party service, that party will set its own cookies — under its own privacy policy. The principal third parties are:
- Stripe / Braintree — card-payment processing and fraud prevention (Stripe Privacy · Braintree Privacy)
- Cloudflare — DDoS protection, bot management and CDN (Cloudflare Privacy)
- Google Analytics 4 — where enabled and only with your consent (Google Privacy)
- Trustpilot — review widgets (Trustpilot Privacy)
6. Your choices
When you first visit the site we show a cookie banner. You can:
- Accept all — we set all the cookies described.
- Reject all — we set only strictly-necessary cookies. The site still works.
- Customise — choose category by category.
You can change your choices any time by clearing your cookies (which re-presents the banner on next visit) or by using the Cookie Settings link in the site footer where available.
Most browsers also let you block cookies globally, or delete specific cookies, through Settings > Privacy / Cookies. Be aware that strictly-necessary cookies are needed for sign-in and checkout — blocking them site-wide will break those flows.
We honour the Global Privacy Control (GPC) and Do Not Track signals where your browser sends them — we treat them as a withdrawal of consent for non-essential cookies.
7. Browser controls — quick links
8. Changes to this policy
We update this page when we change cookies, add new third-party services, or when the law changes. The version and review date appear at the top.
9. Contact
Cookie or privacy questions: privacy@eliteenterprisesoftware.com. You can also complain to the UK ICO — see our Privacy Policy for details.