Privacy Policy

Who we are

This website is operated by The Haud Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales (Company No. 15779673). Our registered office is 71-75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9JQ. When we refer to "we", "us" or "The Haud" in this policy, we mean The Haud Ltd.

We are the data controller for personal information collected through this website, and we are registered with the Information Commissioner's Office (registration number ZC102511).

If you have any questions about this policy or how we handle your data, you can contact us at hello@thehaud.com.

The Haud is not directed at children. The site is for users aged 18 and over.

What information we collect

When you create an account or make a purchase, we collect your name and email address, your delivery address, payment information (processed securely by Stripe; we do not store card details), and your order history.

To place an order we do need your name, delivery address and payment details, because without them we cannot get your piece to you. Everything else, like marketing preferences or personalisation choices, is optional.

When you browse the site we may log your IP address, browser type, and the pages you visit, in short-lived server logs used to keep the service running and prevent abuse.

If you accept optional cookies, we also use Google Analytics to understand how people use the site, and the Meta Pixel and Meta Conversions API to measure our advertising and show The Haud to people who have visited before. Purchase events are shared with Meta only if you have consented. Neither runs unless you say yes, and you can change your mind at any time using the "Cookie preferences" link in the footer. Our Cookie Policy has the full detail.

When you contact us, we collect your name, email address and the content of your message.

If you apply to sell on The Haud, we collect your name, business name, craft type, website or social links, and any information you provide in your application. If you are a maker or thinking of becoming one, our Maker & Seller Privacy Notice explains in full what we collect and why.

How we use your information

We use your information to process your orders and send you order confirmation and shipping updates, manage your account, verify your email when you sign up, respond to your enquiries, send you marketing emails if you have opted in (you can unsubscribe at any time), review and process maker applications, understand how the site is used and measure our advertising (only with your consent), and meet our legal obligations.

We will never sell your personal data to third parties.

How we use AI

The Haud uses a small number of AI services to help makers tell their stories and to keep the site safe. We want to be plain about what they are and what they do.

Our voice assistant, which helps makers build their shop by talking rather than typing, runs on ElevenLabs (the voice) and Anthropic's Claude (the conversation). Those calls are saved and transcribed so we can build the maker's page from what they told us and improve the service.

Voice memos recorded on the site are transcribed using OpenAI's Whisper. Product photos are processed for background removal by fal.ai and BRIA, and checked for content safety using Anthropic's Claude.

None of these providers use your data to train their AI models. That is a commitment under our agreements with them, not an accident of settings.

Our legal basis for processing

We process your personal data on the following legal bases:

Contract: to fulfil orders you place with us and manage your account.

Legitimate interests: to respond to enquiries, prevent fraud, and improve our service.

Consent: for marketing emails, analytics cookies, and advertising measurement.

Legal obligation: where we are required to retain records for tax or legal purposes.

When you buy from a maker

The Haud is a marketplace. When you place an order, the maker who made your piece receives your name and delivery details so they can pack and send it to you. For that information, the maker acts as an independent data controller in their own right.

Makers may only use your details to fulfil your order. They are not permitted to use them for their own marketing.

Who we share your data with

We share your data only where necessary to run The Haud, with the following service providers:

Running the site: Vercel hosts the website and stores uploaded images and files. Neon hosts our database, in a London (UK) data centre, so your account and order data lives in the UK. Upstash provides rate limiting that protects the site from abuse. Sentry collects error logs (hosted in the EU, with personal data scrubbed before anything is sent).

Payments and delivery: Stripe processes payments and verifies makers' identities. Shippo and Zonos handle delivery labels, tracking and international duties.

Email: Resend sends transactional email (order confirmations, account notifications). Mailchimp sends marketing email, only if you have opted in.

Analytics and advertising (only with your consent): Google Analytics and Meta, as described above.

AI services: Anthropic, ElevenLabs, OpenAI, and fal.ai/BRIA, as described in the AI section above.

Everything else: Mapbox renders the maps that show where makers work. Cal.com handles booking calls with makers. Slack carries our internal operations alerts (for example, a notification that an order has been placed).

International transfers

Some of the providers above are based in the United States. Where we send personal data to them, it is safeguarded by the UK Extension to the EU-US Data Privacy Framework where the provider is certified, and by international data transfer agreements or standard contractual clauses otherwise.

Your payment and order data at rest stays in the UK.

Cookies

We use cookies on this website. Please see our Cookie Policy for full details of what cookies we use and how to control them.

How long we keep your data

Account and order data: for as long as your account is active, and for 7 years afterwards to meet our legal obligations under HMRC record-keeping requirements.

Contact form submissions: up to 2 years.

Maker applications: up to 2 years whether successful or not.

Voice-call transcripts and onboarding-call notes: for as long as the maker sells with The Haud, so we can keep representing their work well.

Your rights

Under UK GDPR, you have the right to access the personal data we hold about you, correct any inaccurate data, erase your data in certain circumstances, restrict how we process your data, object to processing based on legitimate interests, receive your data in a structured machine-readable format, and withdraw consent at any time where we rely on consent.

You don't need to email us for the basics: you can download a copy of your data or delete your account yourself, any time, from your account settings.

For anything else, email us at hello@thehaud.com. We will respond within one month.

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your data, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. When we do, we will update the date at the top of this page.