Privacy policy

Own A Second is operated as a sole trader business based in the United Kingdom. For the purposes of UK data protection law, we are the "data controller" - meaning we are responsible for how your personal information is handled.

Own A Second
London, United Kingdom
Email: hello@ownasecond.ai

When you purchase seconds on Own A Second, we collect:

• Your company or brand name (used to identify your submission - not displayed publicly)
• Your own name (so we know who we are dealing with - not displayed publicly)
• Your website or page URL (your ad links to it, and its address shows when someone hovers over your image)
• The logo or image you upload (displayed publicly at your seconds)
• Your email address (only used to contact you about your submission)
• Your phone number (optional - only if you'd like a call about your submission)
• Your country (for our records)
• Anything you write in the optional "Additional message / details" box at checkout
• Payment information (processed securely by our payment provider)

If you write to us through the contact form, we collect your name, email address and the message you send, so that we can reply. That form is operated for us by Formspree, which passes your message on to our inbox. We use this on the basis of our legitimate interest in answering people who get in touch, and we keep the correspondence only as long as we need it to deal with your query.

Data protection law requires us to have a lawful reason - a "legal basis" - for using your information. Ours are set out below.

• To review and approve your submitted image - performance of a contract
• To display your logo and link on the homepage once approved - performance of a contract
• To contact you regarding your submission, including if your image is rejected - performance of a contract
• To process payment for your purchase - performance of a contract
• To keep accounting and tax records - legal obligation
• To send you our newsletter, if you have signed up for it - consent, which you may withdraw at any time

Your information is stored securely and is only accessible to authorised administrators of Own A Second. Contact details for approved advertisers are held separately from the information shown publicly on the site.

• Purchase and payment records - retained for as long as required to comply with our tax, accounting and legal obligations. This will generally be at least six years, and may be up to ten years where required under applicable VAT schemes
• Submissions that were rejected, withdrawn or deleted, and the contact details attached to them - six months
• Newsletter sign-ups - until you unsubscribe
• Images and website addresses in a completed cycle's archive - kept permanently, as the archive is a fixed historical record (see our Terms & Conditions)

We do not sell or rent your personal information to third parties. Once approved, the image you upload is publicly visible on the homepage and in the advertiser gallery, and your website address is shown when someone hovers over it - this is the core purpose of the service. Your company or brand name, email address, phone number and country are not displayed publicly at any point.

We use a small number of established service providers to run the site. They process data on our behalf, under contract, and only for the purposes below. Some are based outside the UK, which means your information may be transferred abroad. Where that happens, the transfer is made under an appropriate safeguard recognised by UK data protection law - typically the International Data Transfer Agreement, the UK Addendum to the EU Standard Contractual Clauses, or transfer to a country the UK has found to provide adequate protection.

• Google (Firebase) - hosts our database and stores uploaded images
• EmailJS and Microsoft - deliver the emails we send you about your submission
• Mailchimp - sends our newsletter, if you have signed up
• Formspree - delivers messages sent through our contact form
• Stripe - processes card payments; we never see or store your full card details

We may also disclose information where we are required to do so by law.

If you sign up for our newsletter, we collect only your email address and use it to send you a monthly update about Own A Second. We do this on the basis of your consent, and the list is managed for us by Mailchimp.

You can unsubscribe at any time using the link at the bottom of any newsletter, or by emailing us. We will not add you to the newsletter simply because you bought seconds - signing up is separate, and buying from us is never taken as consent to marketing.

We do not use cookies for advertising, analytics, or tracking of any kind, and we do not use third-party tracking cookies.

When you begin choosing seconds, your browser is signed in anonymously and stores a temporary sign-in token. This is what allows the seconds you have selected to be held for you while you complete checkout, and to make sure nobody else can release a hold that isn't theirs. It contains no personal information, is not used to identify or track you across websites, and is cleared when you clear your browser data.

Under UK data protection law you have the right to ask us for a copy of the personal information we hold about you, to have it corrected if it is wrong, to have it deleted, to object to or restrict how we use it, and to receive it in a portable format. Where we rely on your consent - for the newsletter - you may withdraw it at any time. You will never be charged for making a request, and we will respond within one month.

To make any of these requests, email us at hello@ownasecond.ai.

If you request deletion of an approved logo, it will be removed from the live homepage and gallery; your purchased seconds will not be refunded unless otherwise agreed. Images and website addresses already frozen into a completed cycle's archive form part of a permanent historical record (see our Terms & Conditions). We may also need to keep certain purchase and payment records for the period described above, where the law requires it.

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your information, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK's data protection regulator, at ico.org.uk. We would appreciate the chance to put things right first, so please do contact us before you do.

We take reasonable measures to protect your information from unauthorised access, loss, or misuse. However, no method of transmission over the internet is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

Own A Second is intended for business use and is not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect information from individuals under the age of 18.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Any changes will be posted on this page with an updated revision date.

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or how your data is handled, please contact us at hello@ownasecond.ai, or write to us at:

Own A Second
London, United Kingdom