Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy explains what personal data 50pence.co.uk ("we", "us", "our") collects when you visit this Site, and how we use it. We built this Site to collect as little personal data as reasonably possible.
1. Who we are
50pence.co.uk is operated as an independent UK coin-collecting reference site. You can contact us about privacy matters at admin@50pence.co.uk.
2. Data we collect
a) Site analytics (first-party, minimal)
We run our own lightweight, self-hosted, cookie-optional analytics in addition to Google Analytics (see (c) below). For every page view our own system may log: the page path, the referring page, a coarse device type (desktop/mobile/tablet), and a one-way cryptographic hash of your IP address and browser user-agent string (not the raw values themselves, so we cannot reconstruct your IP address or reliably re-identify you from this data). This runs regardless of your cookie choice and never sets a cookie itself, so it stays useful for us even if you decline optional cookies.
b) 404 / broken-link logging
When you land on a page that doesn't exist, we log the requested path, referring page, and a hashed IP address so we can find and fix broken links - including ones caused by our move from a previous website.
c) Google Analytics (optional, consent-based)
If you accept the "Analytics" category in our cookie banner, we load Google Analytics 4 (GA4), which sets its own cookies and sends your interaction data (pages viewed, approximate location, device/browser type) to Google. We have IP-anonymisation enabled where Google supports it. If you decline, GA4 does not load and no Google Analytics cookie is set. See Google's Privacy Policy for how Google handles this data.
d) Google AdSense (optional, consent-based)
We show adverts served by Google AdSense to help keep this guide free. If you accept the "Advertising" category in our cookie banner, Google and its advertising partners may set cookies or use similar technologies on your device to serve and measure personalised ads based on your visit here and elsewhere. If you decline, only non-personalised ads (if any) are shown, using less or no cookie-based data. Google's own use of data through AdSense is described at How Google uses information from sites that use our services, and you can review or change your Google ad settings at myadcenter.google.com.
e) Cookies
See our Cookie Policy for the full list of cookies we and our providers use and how to control them.
f) Information you give us directly
If you email us, we'll have your email address and whatever you send us, used only to respond to you and, where relevant, to correct or improve Site content.
3. What we don't do
We don't sell personal data ourselves. We don't run any third-party tracker beyond Google Analytics and Google AdSense, both of which are consent-gated as described above. We don't require you to create an account to use the Site.
4. Legal basis (UK/EU GDPR)
Where UK GDPR or EU GDPR applies to you, our legal basis for the minimal, hashed first-party analytics described in 2(a)/(b) is legitimate interests (keeping the Site working and finding broken links). Google Analytics and Google AdSense only run with your prior consent, collected via Consent Mode and our cookie banner, and withdrawable at any time via the "Cookie settings" link in the footer.
5. Data retention
Aggregate first-party analytics and 404 log data is retained only as long as useful for improving the Site and is periodically purged. Google Analytics and AdSense retention is controlled by Google under their own policies, linked above. Emails are kept as long as reasonably needed to handle your enquiry and our own records obligations.
6. Third parties
We link to third-party sites (royalmint.com, marketplaces, social platforms including Reddit, Facebook and X) - once you leave our Site, their own privacy policies apply. Where we participate in affiliate programmes, see our Affiliate Disclosure; affiliate links may set their own cookies on the destination site, outside our control. Google Analytics and Google AdSense may transfer data outside the UK/EEA under Google's standard contractual safeguards - see Google's privacy policy for details.
7. Your rights
Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, or restrict the personal data we hold about you, and to object to our processing of it. To exercise any of these, email admin@50pence.co.uk. If you are in the UK or EU and are unsatisfied with our response, you have the right to complain to your local data protection authority (in the UK, the ICO at ico.org.uk).
8. Children
This Site is not directed at children and we do not knowingly collect personal data from children.
9. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy from time to time; the date at the top shows the last revision.
10. Governing law
This Privacy Policy is governed by the laws of the State of New York, USA, consistent with our Terms of Service, without prejudice to any mandatory data-protection rights you hold under the law of your own country of residence.