Privacy policy

Privacy Notice

Last updated: 18 June 2026

Who we are

Distinction Crystals and Fossils (“we”, “us” and “our”) is responsible for the personal information collected through this website.

Our contact details are:

Distinction Crystals and Fossils
Unit 2/3 Newtown Industrial Estate, Crosskeys, Newport, NP11 7PZ

Email: sales@distinctionhomedecor.co.uk

This Privacy Notice explains how we collect, use, store and share your personal information when you visit our website, place an order, contact us, join our mailing list or otherwise interact with us.

Information we collect

We may collect and process the following personal information:

  • Your name, billing address, delivery address, email address and telephone number.
  • Details of orders you place with us, including the items purchased, delivery details, payment status, returns, refunds and correspondence relating to your order.
  • Information you provide when you contact us by email, website form, telephone, social media or other communication methods.
  • Information relating to a customer account, where you create one.
  • Information relating to your VIP mailing-list subscription and marketing preferences.
  • Information submitted through our EU order cancellation or withdrawal form, including your name, email address, order number, order information and any message you provide.
  • Information provided in reviews, feedback, competitions or surveys.
  • Technical and website-usage information, such as IP address, browser type, device information, pages viewed, approximate location, referral source and cookie-related information where permitted.

Please avoid sending us unnecessary sensitive personal information through website forms, email or social media.

How we use your information

To process and fulfil your order

We use your information to process payments, fulfil and dispatch orders, arrange delivery, communicate about your purchase, deal with returns or refunds and provide customer support.

Lawful basis: Processing is necessary to perform a contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract.

To meet legal, tax and accounting obligations

We retain relevant order records, invoices, VAT information, payment records and accounting records where required.

Lawful basis: Processing is necessary for compliance with legal obligations.

To protect our business, website and customers

We may use information to prevent fraud, misuse of our website, unauthorised transactions, security incidents, chargebacks, false claims or activity that could harm our business, staff or customers.

Lawful basis: Our legitimate interests in protecting our business, customers, staff, website and payment systems.

To respond to enquiries and provide customer service

We use your contact information and correspondence to respond to questions, provide support, resolve complaints and communicate with you about orders, deliveries, returns, refunds and other service-related matters.

Lawful basis: Performance of a contract, our legitimate interests in running our business efficiently and, where relevant, compliance with legal obligations.

To send marketing communications

Where you have subscribed to our mailing list, or where we are otherwise permitted by law, we may send you information about new stock, special offers, promotions, events and news from Distinction Crystals and Fossils.

You can unsubscribe at any time by using the unsubscribe link in any marketing email or by contacting us at sales@distinctionhomedecor.co.uk.

Lawful basis: Consent, where required, and in limited circumstances the soft opt-in for existing customers where permitted by law.

To improve our website and services

We may use website analytics, cookie-based information and customer feedback to understand how visitors use our website, improve performance, identify technical issues and improve our products and services.

Lawful basis: Consent where required for non-essential cookies and analytics technologies, and our legitimate interests for essential website security and functionality.

Payments

Payments are processed by third-party payment providers made available at checkout.

Depending on the payment method selected, this may include Shopify Payments, PayPal, Klarna or other payment providers.

We do not receive or retain your full payment-card details. Payment providers process your information in accordance with their own privacy notices and security procedures.

Who we share your information with

We only share personal information where this is necessary for the purposes set out in this Privacy Notice.

This may include:

  • Shopify, which provides our ecommerce platform and related services.
  • Payment providers used to process payments and help prevent fraud.
  • Courier, postal, freight and delivery providers used to fulfil and deliver orders.
  • Website hosting, email, analytics, cookie-consent, technical-support and security providers.
  • Email-marketing providers, where you have subscribed to marketing communications.
  • The provider of our EU order cancellation or withdrawal form, where you submit a withdrawal request.
  • Professional advisers, including accountants, insurers and legal advisers.
  • HM Revenue & Customs, regulators, law-enforcement bodies or other authorities where we are legally required to do so.
  • Sales platforms and marketplaces where your order or transaction has been placed through that platform.

We require service providers processing personal information on our behalf to use it only for the agreed purpose and to keep it secure.

EU order cancellation and withdrawal requests

When you submit an EU order cancellation or withdrawal request through our website, we may collect your name, contact details, order number, order information and any message you provide.

We use this information to verify your order, process your request, arrange any return or refund where applicable, communicate with you and maintain appropriate business records.

We use a third-party Shopify app provider to operate the withdrawal-request form. That provider processes the information on our behalf solely to provide the form and related service.

International transfers

Some of our service providers may process personal information outside the United Kingdom or European Economic Area.

Where personal information is transferred internationally, we will take appropriate steps to ensure it is protected in accordance with applicable data-protection law. This may include approved contractual safeguards, adequacy regulations or other lawful transfer mechanisms.

How long we keep your information

We keep personal information only for as long as necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, including to meet legal, tax, fraud-prevention, accounting and reporting requirements.

Typical retention periods include:

  • Order, invoice, VAT and accounting records: generally at least six years, or longer where legally required.
  • Customer-service correspondence, return requests, refunds and withdrawal requests: generally retained for up to six years where linked to an order, legal claim, tax record or accounting record.
  • Marketing information: retained until you unsubscribe or withdraw consent. We may then keep limited information on a suppression list to ensure you do not receive further marketing emails.
  • Website analytics and cookie information: retained for the period set out in our cookie-preference tool or by the relevant provider.
  • Customer accounts: retained while an account remains active and for a reasonable period afterwards, unless longer retention is needed for legal, tax, fraud-prevention or dispute-resolution purposes.

We may retain information for longer where necessary to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.

Cookies and similar technologies

Our website uses cookies and similar technologies.

Some cookies are essential for the website to function properly, including cookies needed for the shopping basket, checkout, security features and customer-account functions.

We may also use optional cookies for analytics, advertising, personalisation and website improvement. Where required, we will ask for your consent before using non-essential cookies or similar technologies.

For more information and to manage your cookie choices at any time through the Cookie Preferences link in our website footer.

Website analytics

We may use Google Analytics and other analytics tools to understand how visitors use our website. This may include information such as pages viewed, device type, browser type, approximate location, time spent on the website and referral source.

Analytics tools may use cookies or similar technologies. Where required, these tools will only operate after you have given consent through our cookie banner or preference tool.

Marketing choices

You can opt out of marketing communications at any time.

Every marketing email we send includes an unsubscribe link. You can also contact us at sales@distinctionhomedecor.co.uk to ask us to stop sending marketing communications.

Unsubscribing from marketing will not prevent us from sending essential communications relating to an order, delivery, return, refund, account, payment or legal matter.

Your rights

Depending on the circumstances, you have the right to:

  • Request access to the personal information we hold about you.
  • Ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information.
  • Ask us to delete your personal information where there is no valid reason for us to continue using it.
  • Ask us to restrict how we use your information in certain circumstances.
  • Object to processing based on legitimate interests.
  • Object at any time to the use of your information for direct marketing.
  • Request a copy of certain information in a portable format.
  • Withdraw consent at any time where we rely on consent.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at sales@distinctionhomedecor.co.uk.

We may need to verify your identity before responding to a request.

Complaints

We hope that we can resolve any concern you have about how we use your personal information.

If you are unhappy with our response, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office in the United Kingdom.

The Information Commissioner’s Office can be contacted through its website at www.ico.org.uk.

You may also have the right to complain to the relevant data-protection authority in the country where you live, work or believe a breach has occurred.

External links

Our website may contain links to third-party websites, social-media platforms or services. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of those websites. Please read their privacy notices before providing personal information.

Changes to this Privacy Notice

We may update this Privacy Notice from time to time to reflect changes to our services, legal obligations, technology or business practices.

The latest version will always be available on our website together with the date it was last updated.