1. Who we are
The Essex Card ('we', 'us') is the data controller for personal data collected through www.theessexcard.com. Contact us at hello@theessexcard.com or 01268 209418.
2. What we collect
- Shoppers: your name, email address, postal address (so we can post your card), the photo you add to your digital card, your membership plan and status, whether you want marketing emails, and (for Duo) the name and email of your second cardholder.
- Payments: handled by Stripe. We never see or store your full card number — we keep only a Stripe customer reference and your subscription status.
- Businesses: the details you submit when applying (business and contact name, email, phone, address, offer and description).
- Messages you send us through the contact form.
- Basic technical data needed to run the site securely (for example, sign-in cookies and server logs).
3. How we use it
- To create and run your membership, post your physical card and show your digital card.
- To send emails about your membership (such as receipts, card dispatch and payment problems), and — only if you’ve opted in — news and offers, which you can unsubscribe from at any time.
- To take subscription payments and suspend or end cards when payments stop.
- To list Participating Businesses in our directory, on social media and in printed catalogues.
- To reply to enquiries and tell you about important changes to the scheme.
Our lawful bases are performance of a contract (your membership or listing), our legitimate interests in running and improving the scheme, and — where we send marketing — your consent, which you can withdraw at any time.
4. Who we share it with
We never sell your data. We use trusted providers to run the service: Supabase (accounts and database), Stripe (payments), Resend (sending emails), Vercel (website hosting) and OpenStreetMap (map tiles). They process data only on our instructions.
When you show your card, the business sees the name, photo and status displayed on it.
5. Cookies
We only use cookies that are strictly necessary to keep you signed in and to process payments securely. We do not use advertising or tracking cookies.
6. How long we keep it
We keep membership data while your account is open and for up to 6 years after it ends where required for tax and accounting. You can ask us to delete your account at any time.
7. Your rights
Under UK GDPR you can ask to access, correct, delete or export your data, and object to or restrict how we use it. Email us to make a request.
If you are unhappy with how we handle your data you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ico.org.uk).