Privacy Policy

1. Introduction
We are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how Rania Alqass trading as The Bethlehem Shop ("we", "our", "us") collects, uses, and protects any personal data you give us when you use our website thebethlehemshop.co.uk.
For the purposes of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), we are the "data controller" of your personal data.

2. What Personal Data We Collect
When you browse our website or make a purchase, we may collect the following information:

Name and contact details (including email address and phone number).
Delivery and billing addresses.
IP address and browser type (collected automatically via essential cookies to ensure our website functions correctly).
Details of transactions you carry out through our site.

3. How and Why We Use Your Data
We only use your personal data when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we use your data to:

Fulfil Contracts: To process your order, take payment, and deliver your items.
Legitimate Interests: To improve our website layout and customer service based on how you use the site.
Consent: To send you email newsletters (only if you explicitly opt-in). You can unsubscribe at any time.

4. Data Sharing and Third Parties
We never sell your data. We only share the minimum necessary information with trusted third parties to run our online shop:

Payment Gateways: To securely process your payment, your data is shared with Lightspeed Payments or PayPal depending on your selection at checkout. We do not store your credit card details on our servers.
Delivery Companies: To ship your orders, we share your name and shipping address with Royal Mail for their Tracked 24 and Tracked 48 services.
Website Platform: Our site is hosted by IONOS, who securely store our website data.
Administrative Correspondence: If you contact us via physical mail at our administrative address, your letter will be securely received and digitised by our contracted mail-management partner, UK Postbox Limited, solely for the purpose of routing your inquiry to us.
Order Returns and Exchange: When you initiate a physical product return or exchange, your name, address, and order details are handled directly at our private workshop to process your parcel and issue your refund.

5. How Long We Keep Your Data
We only keep your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for. By law, as a UK sole trader, we must retain financial transactions and sales records for at least 5 years after the 31 January submission deadline of the relevant tax year to satisfy HMRC Self Assessment tax requirements. We do not retain data for VAT reporting purposes as we are not VAT registered.

6. Your Legal Rights
Under the UK GDPR, you have the right to:

Request access to the personal data we hold about you.
Request that we correct any inaccurate data.
Request that we delete your personal data ("the right to be forgotten").
Object to or restrict the processing of your data.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at thebethlehemshop@gmail.com.

7. Cookies
Our website uses essential cookies purely to enable core functions, such as remembering the items in your shopping basket and securing the checkout process. We do not use any non-essential analytics, tracking, or advertising cookies, and we do not track your behaviour across other websites. Because we only use technically necessary cookies, a cookie consent banner is not required on our website.