COOKIE POLICY
Page Updated (effective date): 7 October 2026
Operated by Steven Patrick Sim t/a The Tartan Artisan®
Governing Law: Scotland | Framework: UK GDPR & PECR (as amended)
1. Purpose of This Policy
This Cookie Policy explains how The Tartan Artisan®, trading as thetartanartisan.com (and affiliated domains such as tartan.love and TARTAN250), uses cookies and similar tracking technologies to provide, personalise, and improve your browsing experience.
It should be read together with our Privacy Policy, which explains how we handle personal information.
Current UK rules: The Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 amended the cookie rules in PECR, including limited exceptions for certain statistical and appearance or functionality purposes. These exceptions have specific conditions, including clear information and a simple, free way to object. They do not automatically exempt everything labelled “analytics”. Advertising and related profiling remain subject to consent requirements.
2. What Are Cookies?
Cookies are small text files placed on your device (computer, tablet, or phone) when you visit a website.
They can help the site function properly, remember preferences, and show how visitors use our store. Depending on the technology, they may collect identifiers or information linked to you; analytics are not necessarily anonymous.
There are also related technologies such as pixels, local storage, and tags that operate similarly — collectively referred to in this policy as “cookies.”
3. How We Use Cookies
Depending on the features and tools enabled, cookies and similar technologies may be used to:
- Ensure our Shopify store functions correctly (shopping cart, checkout, order status).
- Support secure payments through the payment providers offered at checkout.
- Remember customer preferences, such as currency, region, language, or privacy choices.
- Understand site performance using Shopify analytics and tools such as Google Analytics 4, where enabled and subject to applicable consent rules.
- Measure campaigns or support advertising through tools such as Meta Pixel, where enabled and subject to your choices and applicable consent requirements.
- Support requested site features, such as galleries or deposit options, where the installed apps use cookies or related technologies. Order, payment, and delivery information is explained separately in our Privacy Policy.
4. Types of Cookies We Use
The categories below explain the purposes cookies can serve. The technologies present depend on the services and optional tools enabled; a named example is not confirmation that it is active on this site.
| Category | Purpose | Your choice |
|---|---|---|
| Strictly necessary | Requested functions such as the basket, checkout, security, and recording privacy choices. | Consent is not required where the strictly necessary exception applies. Blocking these may prevent the requested service working. |
| Preferences | Remembering choices such as language or display settings. | Consent is required unless a relevant exception applies. A UK appearance exception requires information and a free way to object. |
| Analytics | Understanding how the website is used and where it can be improved. | Subject to consent unless a narrow statistical exception applies and all its conditions are met. |
| Advertising | Advertising measurement, personalised adverts, and related tracking or profiling. | Requires consent where the applicable rules require it. UK statistical exceptions do not cover advertising. |
| Third-party features | Features supplied by an app, payment provider, or embedded service. | Depends on purpose. Being supplied by a third party does not make optional tracking strictly necessary. |
Individual cookie names and expiry periods can change with platform and app updates. Provider information, including Shopify’s Cookie Policy, gives further details. Where provided, the site’s privacy controls also explain the technologies and choices available. Contact us if you need more information about a particular cookie or feature.
5. Consent for Cookies
Where cookies or similar technologies require consent, we ask for your choice through a cookie banner or equivalent privacy controls before using them. The controls and wording may vary by region and service.
- Strictly necessary cookies can be used without consent where they are essential to a service you request. A cookie is not essential simply because it is useful to our business.
- Cookies requiring consent must stay inactive until you make an affirmative choice to allow the relevant purpose. You can accept, reject, or select optional purposes using the available controls; simply browsing, scrolling, or continuing to use the site does not give consent.
You can withdraw consent through the cookie or privacy controls available on the site, or contact us for help. Withdrawal should be as easy as giving consent. Rejecting optional analytics or advertising should not prevent you from buying a product.
Where a qualifying UK exception is used, its conditions must be met, including clear information and a simple, free way to object. We do not assume an exception applies merely because a tool is described as analytics.
Privacy controls may store your preferences so that your choice can be respected. When processing relies on consent, we need an appropriate record of that consent. Deleting cookies alone does not necessarily withdraw every server-side consent or data-sharing preference.
6. Managing or Deleting Cookies
Use the site’s cookie or privacy controls to manage optional choices. If you cannot find or use them, email enquiries@thetartanartisan.com for help. You can also:
- Adjust browser settings to block or delete cookies.
- Use browser privacy tools where supported. Do Not Track is not a guaranteed opt-out. Global Privacy Control may express an advertising-related data-sharing opt-out where the relevant service recognises it.
- Where Google Analytics is used, consider Google’s Analytics opt-out browser add-on, where supported. It applies to supported Google Analytics scripts, rather than all forms of tracking.
- If you use a Meta account, review your Meta advertising preferences. These settings do not replace rejecting optional cookies on this site.
Please note: blocking strictly necessary cookies may prevent checkout or account functions from working properly. Different browsers and devices have separate settings. For information Shopify controls, you can also use the Shopify privacy portal.
7. Third-Party Cookies
Shopify and enabled apps or external services may store or access information on your device. Which providers are involved depends on the features you use and the tools enabled:
- Shopify and its relevant affiliates — host the store and support checkout, security, and other services. Where Shopify Network Intelligence is enabled, Shopify may also use information for its Enhanced Services, as explained in our Privacy Policy. See Shopify’s Cookie Policy and Consumer Privacy Policy.
- Installed apps and payment services — features such as Downpay deposit options, XO Gallery, or payment and delivery-rate tools may involve relevant session or device information. Their use of cookies depends on the service and configuration; not every exchange of order information is cookie tracking.
- Fulfilment and delivery providers — theprintspace and Contrado support selected products, while DHL supports relevant deliveries. Sharing order or delivery details with them is explained in our Privacy Policy and does not, by itself, mean they track all website visitors. The Burnished Gold prints are produced by us in Arbroath.
- Google services — analytics or tag-management services where enabled. A tag manager’s presence does not establish that every possible Google tool or advertising tag is active.
- Meta services — advertising measurement or social-media features where enabled and subject to applicable consent requirements.
These providers publish their own privacy and cookie information. If you follow a link to an external website or open a provider’s service directly, its own controls also apply. This does not remove our responsibility for consent-required technologies used on our website.
8. International Data Transfers
Some service providers operate internationally, so personal information collected through cookies or similar technologies may be processed outside the UK. Where a restricted transfer occurs, the relevant route may include UK adequacy regulations, the UK International Data Transfer Agreement, or the UK Addendum to the EU Standard Contractual Clauses, with any required assessment and additional measures. The route depends on the provider, recipient, and processing involved. Our Privacy Policy explains international transfers in more detail; you can contact us for information about safeguards relevant to your data.
9. Retention Periods
The time a cookie stays on your device is separate from how long a provider retains information collected through it.
- Analytics records: retention depends on the tool and its configured settings. Our Privacy Policy describes a typical period of up to 14 months, subject to those settings. That is a period for retained analytics data, not the lifetime of every cookie.
- Persistent cookies and privacy preferences: these remain until their expiry or deletion. The duration varies by provider, purpose, and configuration; there is no single expiry period for every cookie.
- Session cookies: these are intended to last for the session. Browser session-restoration features can sometimes preserve them when a browser is reopened.
10. Your Rights and Choices
Under UK GDPR and PECR you have the right to:
- Withdraw consent to cookies requiring consent at any time, without affecting the lawfulness of processing before withdrawal; and object where a qualifying UK exception provides that choice.
- Request information about the cookies we use.
- Complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) if you believe we are misusing your data.
ICO: Make a complaint | Telephone: 0303 123 1113
You can also contact us first if you would like help resolving a concern; this does not affect your right to complain to the ICO.
11. Changes to This Cookie Policy
We may update this Cookie Policy to reflect changes in technology, law, or our business partners.
The most recent version will always appear on this page, dated at the top.
If the purposes requiring consent change, we will seek fresh consent where required. Important policy changes may also be highlighted by a store notice or another appropriate method.
12. Contact Us
For questions about this Cookie Policy or how cookies are used on our site, please contact:
Steven Patrick Sim (Stevie)
The Tartan Artisan® Studio
55 Lordburn, Arbroath, Angus DD11 1JD, Scotland
Email: enquiries@thetartanartisan.com
Telephone: 07590 566777
End of Cookie Policy
(This policy is part of The Tartan Artisan® Privacy Framework and applies to all TARTAN250 and Tartan.LOVE domains.)