How Ealing Business collects, uses and protects your personal data.
Ealing Business is run by Theo Ruby, trading as Theo Ruby Marketing, Elthorne Avenue, London W7 2JN, who is the data controller under UK GDPR. Our ICO registration number is ZB052000. You can contact us about anything in this policy through the contact page or at [email protected].
We collect your name, username, email address and password (stored as a secure hash, never in readable form). The lawful basis is contract: we need this to give you an account and a listing.
We collect the business details you choose to enter: business name, description, category, address or area, phone number, email address, website, opening hours, social media links, testimonials and any images you upload. This information is published on the public directory, which is the point of it. You control it and can edit or remove it at any time. The lawful basis is contract.
Some listings were added by us rather than by the business, so that the directory was useful from the first day. For these we use information the business has already made public: its own website and its Google Business Profile. We hold the business name, category, address or area, phone number, website and email address where these are published, and a short description. The lawful basis is legitimate interests: running a directory that helps local people find local businesses, in a way the business would reasonably expect.
If one of these listings is yours, you can claim it, ask us to correct it, or ask us to remove it, through the “Is this your business?” link on the listing or by emailing [email protected]. We will correct or remove it within two working days, and you do not need to give a reason.
We collect what you send us or enter: for events, the details you give us to publish; for offers and Skills Marketplace posts, the text you write, which is shown publicly with your business name. When you reply to a Skills Marketplace post, your message, name, business and email address are emailed to the member who posted it, so they can reply to you directly. We record that a reply was sent. Apart from our email delivery log, which deletes it after 14 days, we do not keep a copy of the message. The lawful basis is contract.
Card payments are processed by Stripe. We never see or store your full card number. We keep a record of your invoices, the plan you are on, and your billing name and address, because we are legally required to keep accounting records. The lawful basis is contract, and legal obligation for the accounting records.
We collect your name and email address and whatever you put in your message. Newsletter signup requires your explicit consent through a tick box, and you can withdraw it at any time using the unsubscribe link in any email. The lawful basis is consent for marketing, and legitimate interest for replying to an enquiry.
Like most websites we collect basic technical data such as IP address, browser type, and the pages you visit. We use Google Analytics and Google Search Console through Site Kit to understand how the site is used. Analytics cookies only load if you consent to them.
To protect members from spam, fraud and abuse, we check what is submitted to the site. This can involve the content of listings, events, offers, Skills Marketplace posts, testimonials and form messages, your email address, your IP address (which shows roughly where you are) and how your account has been used. Our security and spam-filtering providers help with these checks.
If we decline or remove something, or restrict an account, we keep a record of what happened and why, so we can deal with appeals and stop the same abuse coming back. We may keep a list of email addresses, domains and internet addresses that have been used for spam or abuse. The lawful basis is legitimate interests: keeping the site safe and useful for its members.
We do not sell your data and we do not share it for anyone else’s marketing. We do use these providers to run the site, and they process data on our behalf:
Your public listing and posts are, by design, visible to anyone who visits the site and to search engines. We may also share data if the law requires it, or to protect our members or our rights.
Some of our providers, including Stripe, Google and our email providers, may process data outside the UK. Where this happens, they do so under appropriate safeguards, such as the UK International Data Transfer Addendum or equivalent contractual clauses.
Under UK GDPR you can ask us to give you a copy of your data, correct it, delete it, restrict how we use it, object to us using it, or give you your data in a portable format. You can also withdraw consent at any time where consent is the basis we rely on. You can update most of your details yourself after signing in, and for anything else just ask through the contact page. We will respond within one month.
If you are unhappy with how we have used your data, please tell us first using the contact page or by emailing [email protected]. We will acknowledge your complaint within 30 days, look into it, and let you know the outcome.
You can also complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk.
Essential cookies keep you logged in and keep the site secure, and these cannot be turned off. Analytics cookies only load if you accept them, and you can decline them as easily as you accept them. You can also clear or block cookies in your browser settings at any time. Full details are in our cookie policy.
If we change this policy we will update the date below and, for anything significant, tell members by email.
Last updated: [date of publishing]