Privacy policy

Last updated: 10 September 2026

This Privacy Policy describes how Audio Trader Ltd ("we", "us", or "our") collects, uses, and discloses your personal information when you use our website at www.audiotrader.co.uk (the "Website"), our mobile app for iOS and Android (the "App"), or otherwise communicate with us. Together the Website, the App and the services we provide through them are the "Services". For purposes of this Privacy Policy, "you" and "your" means you as the user of the Services, whether you are a customer, a visitor, an app user, or another individual whose information we have collected pursuant to this Privacy Policy.

The Website and the App are two ways into the same business, and this policy covers both. Where something applies to only one of them, we say so.

Please read this Privacy Policy carefully. By using and accessing any of the Services, you agree to the collection, use, and disclosure of your information as described in this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to this Privacy Policy, please do not use or access any of the Services.

Audio Trader Ltd is the data controller for your personal information. We are registered in England and Wales, company number 14993737, at Unit 36 Lineside Industrial Estate, Eldon Way, Littlehampton, West Sussex, BN17 7HE. You can contact us at hello@audiotrader.co.uk.

Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time, including to reflect changes to our practices or for other operational, legal, or regulatory reasons. We will post the revised Privacy Policy on the Website and make it available in the App, update the "Last updated" date and take any other steps required by applicable law.

How We Collect and Use Your Personal Information

To provide the Services, we collect and have collected over the past 12 months personal information about you from a variety of sources, as set out below. The information that we collect and use varies depending on how you interact with us.

In addition to the specific uses set out below, we may use information we collect about you to communicate with you, provide the Services, comply with any applicable legal obligations, enforce any applicable terms of service, and to protect or defend the Services, our rights, and the rights of our users or others.

What Personal Information We Collect

The types of personal information we obtain about you depends on how you interact with the Website and the App and use our Services. When we use the term "personal information", we are referring to information that identifies, relates to, describes or can be associated with you. The following sections describe the categories and specific types of personal information we collect.

Information We Collect Directly from You

Information that you directly submit to us through the Services may include:

  • Basic contact details including your name, address, phone number, email.
  • Order information including your name, billing address, shipping address, payment confirmation, email address, phone number.
  • Account information including your username, password, security questions.
  • Shopping information including the items you view, put in your cart or add to your wishlist.
  • Trade-in information including details of the items you want to sell to us, their condition, and photographs of them.
  • Customer support information including the information you choose to include in communications with us, for example, when sending a message through the Services.

Some features of the Services may require you to directly provide us with certain information about yourself. You may elect not to provide this information, but doing so may prevent you from using or accessing these features.

Information We Collect When You Use the App

The App is how you sell gear to us from your phone. It uses the same accounts, the same trade-in process and the same records as the Website, so everything else in this policy applies to it. This section sets out what is specific to the App.

  • Signing in. Sign-in is handled by Shopify Customer Accounts. You receive a one-time code by email rather than using a password, so we never receive or store a password for you. When you sign in, we create a session and record the date and time, your IP address and your device's user agent (which identifies the app build and operating system version). We keep these records to keep your account secure, to let you sign out of a device, and to detect misuse.
  • Signing in with Google. On the Website or in the App, you can also sign in with your Google account. When you do, Google sends Shopify your name, your email address and your Google profile picture, and confirms that the email address is yours. We use the email address for one purpose: to sign you in and to match you to your Audio Trader customer record, as described below. We do not receive your Google password, we do not read anything else from your Google account and we do not share this information with anyone. Shopify stores it as part of your customer account under its own privacy policy. You can remove Audio Trader's access at any time in your Google Account under "Third-party apps and services".
  • Linking your existing records. The first time you sign in, we link the email address Shopify has verified for you to any existing Audio Trader customer record with the same address. This means trade-in quotes you asked for before you had the App become visible in it. If you would rather this had not happened, contact us and we will separate the records.
  • Your profile. A display name and a contact phone number, which you can change or clear in the App at any time.
  • Items you want to sell. The type, make, model, condition and quantity of each item, any notes you write about it, and between three and thirteen photographs of each item.
  • Your photographs. Photographs are used to value your item and to record its condition when it reaches us. We strip the embedded EXIF metadata from every photograph when we receive it, which removes among other things any location the camera recorded. Photographs are held in our database for up to 30 days and then moved to private storage that is not publicly listable, is served from a domain that sets no cookies, and can only be opened through a short-lived signed link.
  • How you want to be paid. If you accept an offer, we collect either your PayPal email address, or the name on your bank account together with your account number and sort code. These details are encrypted in our database. Once saved they cannot be read back out of the App: it shows you only a masked version, such as the last few digits.
  • Collection details. The address and phone number for the courier to collect from, and the weight and dimensions of your parcel.
  • Camera and photo library. The App asks your permission to use the camera and your photo library so that you can take or attach photographs of your items. It uses the photographs you choose. You can refuse or withdraw this permission in your device settings, but you will not be able to submit an item without photographs.
  • Notifications. If you allow notifications, your device gives us a push token so that we can tell you when your quote is ready or your trade-in moves on. A push token identifies a device installation rather than you personally. We store up to ten per account, replacing the oldest, and they are deleted when your account is deleted. You can turn notifications off in your device settings at any time.
  • Payments. The App does not take payments. It is for selling gear to us, so money moves the other way. Purchases are made on the Website, where payment is handled by our payment providers and we never see or store your card details.

The App is built for us by a third party development agency, which may have access to limited technical information such as crash diagnostics in the course of building and supporting it. The App may also include standard software components from other suppliers. We will name those suppliers here as the App's build is finalised, and before it is released to the public.

Information We Collect through Cookies and Similar Technologies

We also automatically collect certain information about your interaction with the Services ("Usage Data"). To do this, we may use cookies, pixels and similar technologies ("Cookies"). Usage Data may include information about how you access and use the Website, the App and your account, including device information, browser information, information about your network connection, your IP address and other information regarding your interaction with the Services. There is a cookie bar present on the Website which gives you the opportunity to reject or accept cookies.

Information We Obtain from Third Parties

Finally, we may obtain information about you from third parties, including from vendors and service providers who may collect information on our behalf, such as:

  • Companies who support the Website, the App and our Services, such as Shopify.
  • Our payment processors, who collect payment information (e.g., bank account, credit or debit card information, billing address) to process your payment in order to fulfill your orders and provide you with products or services you have requested, in order to perform our contract with you.
  • When you visit the Website, use the App, open or click on emails we send you, or interact with our Services or advertisements, we, or third parties we work with, may automatically collect certain information using online tracking technologies such as pixels, web beacons, software developer kits, third-party libraries, and cookies.

Any information we obtain from third parties will be treated in accordance with this Privacy Policy. We are not responsible or liable for the accuracy of the information provided to us by third parties and are not responsible for any third party's policies or practices. For more information, see the section below, Third Party Websites and Links.

How We Use Your Personal Information

  • Providing Products and Services. We use your personal information to provide you with the Services in order to perform our contract with you, including to process your payments, fulfill your orders, value and process the items you sell to us, arrange collection, pay you for items we buy, send notifications to you related to your account, purchases, returns, exchanges, trade-ins or other transactions, to create, maintain and otherwise manage your account, to arrange for shipping, facilitate any returns and exchanges and to enable you to post reviews.
  • Marketing and Advertising. We use your personal information for marketing and promotional purposes, such as to send marketing, advertising and promotional communications by email, text message or postal mail, and to show you advertisements for products or services. This may include using your personal information to better tailor the Services and advertising on the Website and other websites. Where you have accepted marketing cookies, this also includes sharing a hashed email address with Google and with Meta (Facebook and Instagram) for advertising conversion measurement, and with Google to include you in our advertising audiences (see "Advertising conversion measurement and audiences" below). You can withdraw consent at any time by clicking unsubscribe in any email, changing your cookie preferences, or contacting us.
  • Security and Fraud Prevention. We use your personal information to detect, investigate or take action regarding possible fraudulent, illegal or malicious activity. If you choose to use the Services and register an account, you are responsible for keeping your account credentials safe. We highly recommend that you do not share your username, password, or other access details with anyone else. If you believe your account has been compromised, please contact us immediately.
  • Communicating with you. We use your personal information to provide you with customer support and improve our Services. This is in our legitimate interests in order to be responsive to you, to provide effective services to you, and to maintain our business relationship with you.

Our Lawful Bases for Using Your Information

Under the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018, we must have a lawful basis for each use of your personal information. Ours are:

  • Performance of a contract. To fulfil orders, value and process trade-ins, arrange collection and delivery, process payments, pay you for items we buy, and communicate with you about your transactions.
  • Legitimate interests. To improve the Website, the App and our services, to detect and prevent fraud and misuse, to keep accounts secure, to analyse how the Services are used and how effective our marketing is, and to tell you about similar products and services.
  • Legal obligation. To comply with tax, accounting, consumer and other regulatory requirements.
  • Consent. To send you marketing communications where you have opted in, to set non-essential cookies, and to send you push notifications where you have allowed them. You can withdraw consent at any time without affecting anything we did before you withdrew it.

Cookies

Like many websites, we use Cookies on the Website. For specific information about the Cookies that we use related to powering our store with Shopify, see Shopify's cookie policy. We use Cookies to power and improve the Website and our Services (including to remember your actions and preferences), to run analytics and better understand user interaction with the Services (in our legitimate interests to administer, improve and optimize the Services). We may also permit third parties and services providers to use Cookies on the Website to better tailor the services, products and advertising on the Website and other websites.

Most browsers automatically accept Cookies by default, but you can choose to set your browser to remove or reject Cookies through your browser controls. Please keep in mind that removing or blocking Cookies can negatively impact your user experience and may cause some of the Services, including certain features and general functionality, to work incorrectly or no longer be available. Additionally, blocking Cookies may not completely prevent how we share information with third parties such as our advertising partners.

The App is not a web browser and does not use advertising cookies. Where the App opens one of our web pages inside it, such as the returns or delivery pages, that page behaves like the rest of the Website.

Advertising conversion measurement and audiences

When you submit a trade-in enquiry, whether on the Website or in the App, we may share the email address you provide with Google for conversion measurement (a service called Enhanced Conversions), together with non-identifying details of your enquiry such as its estimated value and the date it progressed.

Before anything is sent, your email address is transformed using SHA-256, a one-way cryptographic hash, so Google does not receive it in readable form. Google uses the hashed value only to check whether your enquiry can be matched to a signed-in Google account that saw or clicked one of our adverts, and reports the results to us in aggregate. We do not store the hashed value, and Google processes it under its own privacy policy (policies.google.com/privacy) and its Ads Data Processing Terms.

We only do this where you have consented to marketing cookies. Your consent choices are forwarded to Google with every upload, and if you have not given (or have withdrawn) consent, your details are not used for this purpose. You can change your cookie preferences at any time, and you can object to this processing by contacting us at hello@audiotrader.co.uk.

We carry out the same conversion measurement with Meta Platforms Ireland Limited, which operates Facebook and Instagram, using its Conversions API. As with Google, the only contact detail shared is your email address, and it is transformed using SHA-256, a one-way cryptographic hash, before it is sent, so Meta does not receive it in readable form. Alongside the hashed email we share only the conversion event itself (a trade-in quote milestone) and its estimated monetary value. We do not share your phone number, name, postal address, or any other personal information with Meta.

Meta uses the hashed value only to check whether your enquiry can be matched to a Facebook or Instagram account that saw or clicked one of our adverts, and reports the results to us in aggregate. Meta processes this information under its own privacy policy (facebook.com/privacy/policy) and its data processing terms. As with Google, we only do this where you have consented to marketing cookies, your consent choices are forwarded to Meta with every upload, and if you have not given (or have withdrawn) consent your details are not used for this purpose.

Advertising audiences. With your consent, we share a securely hashed (one-way encrypted) version of your email address with Google to include you in our advertising audiences (Google Customer Match). Google uses this to show our ads to you and to people with similar interests across Google's services, and to avoid showing you irrelevant ads. We never share your email in plain text and we do not sell your personal data. We rely on the marketing consent you give when you submit a trade-in enquiry; you can withdraw it at any time through your consent settings or by contacting us, and we will stop including you.

How We Disclose Personal Information

In certain circumstances, we may disclose your personal information to third parties for legitimate purposes subject to this Privacy Policy. Such circumstances may include:

  • With vendors or other third parties who perform services on our behalf (e.g., IT management, payment processing, data analytics, customer support, cloud storage, fulfillment and shipping).
  • With business and marketing partners, including Shopify, to provide services and advertise to you. Our business and marketing partners will use your information in accordance with their own privacy notices. We use Shopify to help us serve and create personalised ad content.
  • Google Ads - where you have consented to marketing cookies, we share the email address from your trade-in enquiry in hashed (pseudonymised) form so Google can measure which of our adverts lead to genuine enquiries, and can include you in our advertising audiences (Google Customer Match) to show our ads to you and to similar audiences. See "Advertising conversion measurement and audiences" above.
  • Meta (Facebook and Instagram) - where you have consented to marketing cookies, we share the email address from your trade-in enquiry in hashed (pseudonymised) form, together with the enquiry milestone and its estimated value, so Meta can measure which of our adverts lead to genuine enquiries. We do not share your phone number, name or address. See "Advertising conversion measurement and audiences" above.
  • When you direct, request us or otherwise consent to our disclosure of certain information to third parties, such as to ship you products or through your use of social media widgets or login integrations, with your consent.
  • With our affiliates or otherwise within our corporate group, in our legitimate interests to run a successful business.
  • In connection with a business transaction such as a merger or bankruptcy, to comply with any applicable legal obligations (including to respond to subpoenas, search warrants and similar requests), to enforce any applicable terms of service, and to protect or defend the Services, our rights, and the rights of our users or others.

The suppliers who handle personal information on our behalf, across the Website and the App, are:

  • Shopify - our e-commerce platform. It hosts the online store, processes orders, and provides the customer accounts and sign-in used by both the Website and the App.
  • Cloudflare - content delivery, security, and the private storage that holds trade-in photographs.
  • Hetzner - hosting for our own systems and databases, in Germany.
  • HubSpot - our CRM, used to manage trade-in enquiries and customer communications.
  • Google - sign-in, if you choose to sign in with your Google account, plus analytics and advertising measurement, as described above.
  • Meta (Facebook and Instagram) - advertising measurement, as described above.
  • Microsoft Clarity - analysis of how visitors use the Website, through session recordings and heatmaps.
  • Klaviyo - sending our newsletter and marketing emails.
  • Sentry - error monitoring for our own systems, which may incidentally include technical details of a failed request.
  • PayPal and our other payment providers - taking payment for purchases, and paying you for items we buy.
  • Courier services - collecting items from you and delivering orders to you.

We may also share your information with law enforcement or regulatory authorities where we are required to by law. We do not sell your personal information.

We have, in the past 12 months disclosed the following categories of personal information and sensitive personal information (denoted by *) about users for the purposes set out above in "How we Collect and Use your Personal Information" and "How we Disclose Personal Information":

Category Categories of Recipients
  • Identifiers such as basic contact details and certain order and account information
  • Commercial information such as order information, shopping information, trade-in information and customer support information
  • Internet or other similar network activity, such as Usage Data
  • Vendors and third parties who perform services on our behalf (such as Internet service providers, payment processors, fulfillment partners, customer support partners and data analytics providers)
  • Business and marketing partners
  • Affiliates

We do not use or disclose sensitive personal information for the purposes of inferring characteristics about you.

User Generated Content

The Services may enable you to post product reviews and other user-generated content. If you choose to submit user generated content to any public area of the Services, this content will be public and accessible by anyone.

We do not control who will have access to the information that you choose to make available to others, and cannot ensure that parties who have access to such information will respect your privacy or keep it secure. We are not responsible for the privacy or security of any information that you make publicly available, or for the accuracy, use or misuse of any information that you disclose or receive from third parties.

Photographs you send us of items you want to sell are not user generated content in this sense. They are not published, and we use them to value and record the condition of your item.

Third Party Websites and Links

The Website and the App may provide links to websites or other online platforms operated by third parties. If you follow links to sites not affiliated or controlled by us, you should review their privacy and security policies and other terms and conditions. We do not guarantee and are not responsible for the privacy or security of such sites, including the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of information found on these sites. Information you provide on public or semi-public venues, including information you share on third-party social networking platforms may also be viewable by other users of the Services and/or users of those third-party platforms without limitation as to its use by us or by a third party. Our inclusion of such links does not, by itself, imply any endorsement of the content on such platforms or of their owners or operators, except as disclosed on the Services.

Children's Data

The Services are not intended to be used by anyone under 16, and we do not knowingly collect any personal information about children. If you are the parent or guardian of a child who has provided us with their personal information, you may contact us using the contact details set out below to request that it be deleted.

As of the Effective Date of this Privacy Policy, we do not have actual knowledge that we "share" or "sell" (as those terms are defined in applicable law) personal information of individuals under 16 years of age.

Security and Retention of Your Information

Please be aware that no security measures are perfect or impenetrable, and we cannot guarantee "perfect security." In addition, any information you send to us may not be secure while in transit. We recommend that you do not use unsecure channels to communicate sensitive or confidential information to us.

Some specific measures are worth naming. Sign-in uses one-time email codes rather than passwords, so we hold no password for you. Bank and PayPal payout details are encrypted in our database and are never shown back to you in full. Trade-in photographs have their embedded metadata stripped on arrival and are held in private storage that can only be opened through a short-lived signed link.

How long we retain your personal information depends on different factors, such as whether we need the information to maintain your account, to provide the Services, comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes or enforce other applicable contracts and policies. In practice:

  • Completed orders - 6 years from the date of purchase, to meet HMRC requirements.
  • Completed trade-ins - 6 years from completion, for contractual and tax obligations.
  • Trade-in photographs - up to 30 days in our database, then in private storage for as long as we keep the trade-in record they belong to.
  • Marketing contacts - until you unsubscribe or ask us to delete your data.
  • Website and app analytics - 26 months.
  • Customer enquiries - 2 years from last contact, unless related to an order or trade-in.
  • Sign-in and session records - kept as a security audit trail. Push notification tokens are deleted with your account.

Deleting Your Account

You can ask us to delete your account at any time, from inside the App or by emailing hello@audiotrader.co.uk from the address on the account.

Deleting your account removes your profile (name, email address, phone number and saved addresses), your saved items and any notify-me requests, your access to order history and trade history in the App and on the Website, and any trade-in offer you have not accepted yet.

Completed orders and completed trade-ins are kept for the 6 year periods set out above, because we are required to keep them. They remain as financial records and are no longer attached to an account anyone can sign in to.

Your Rights and Choices

Depending on where you live, you may have some or all of the rights listed below in relation to your personal information. However, these rights are not absolute, may apply only in certain circumstances and, in certain cases, we may decline your request as permitted by law.

  • Right to Access / Know. You may have a right to request access to personal information that we hold about you, including details relating to the ways in which we use and share your information.
  • Right to Delete. You may have a right to request that we delete personal information we maintain about you.
  • Right to Correct. You may have a right to request that we correct inaccurate personal information we maintain about you.
  • Right of Portability. You may have a right to receive a copy of the personal information we hold about you and to request that we transfer it to a third party, in certain circumstances and with certain exceptions.
  • Restriction of Processing. You may have the right to ask us to stop or restrict our processing of personal information.
  • Withdrawal of Consent. Where we rely on consent to process your personal information, you may have the right to withdraw this consent.
  • Appeal. You may have a right to appeal our decision if we decline to process your request. You can do so by replying directly to our denial.
  • Managing Communication Preferences. We may send you promotional emails, and you may opt out of receiving these at any time by using the unsubscribe option displayed in our emails to you. If you opt out, we may still send you non-promotional emails, such as those about your account or orders that you have made. You can turn off push notifications from the App in your device settings.

You may exercise any of these rights where indicated in the Services or by contacting us using the contact details provided below. We will respond within one month.

We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of these rights. We may need to collect information from you to verify your identity, such as your email address or account information, before providing a substantive response to the request. In accordance with applicable laws, you may designate an authorized agent to make requests on your behalf to exercise your rights. Before accepting such a request from an agent, we will require that the agent provide proof you have authorized them to act on your behalf, and we may need you to verify your identity directly with us. We will respond to your request in a timely manner as required under applicable law.

Complaints

If you have complaints about how we process your personal information, please contact us using the contact details provided below. If you are not satisfied with our response to your complaint, you may lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.

In the UK that is the Information Commissioner's Office:

  • Website: ico.org.uk
  • Telephone: 0303 123 1113
  • Post: Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF

International Users

Please note that we may transfer, store and process your personal information outside the country you live in, including the United States. Your personal information is also processed by staff and third party service providers and partners in these countries.

If we transfer your personal information out of the UK or Europe, we will rely on recognized transfer mechanisms like the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses, or any equivalent contracts issued by the relevant competent authority of the UK, as relevant, unless the data transfer is to a country that has been determined to provide an adequate level of protection.

Contact

Should you have any questions about our privacy practices or this Privacy Policy, or if you would like to exercise any of the rights available to you, email us at hello@audiotrader.co.uk or write to us at Audio Trader Ltd, Unit 36 Lineside Industrial Estate, Eldon Way, Littlehampton, West Sussex, BN17 7HE.

Returns and items sent to us go to a different address: Audio Trader, Unit 1, Fordsons Business Park, Arndale Road, Littlehampton, West Sussex, BN17 7GA. Please do not send anything to the registered office.

For the purpose of applicable data protection laws, we are the data controller of your personal information.