Short version: we keep what it takes to make and post your order, we count visitors in a way that holds nothing about you, and your card details never reach us. No selling of lists, ever.
Ball Buddy is a trading name of Surface Scan Ltd, Unit 4 Little Cliffsend Farm, Chalk Hill, Cliffsend, Ramsgate, Kent, CT12 5HP. Registered in England and Wales, company number 15306838. VAT number GB454670577, England. We are the "data controller" for the information on this page, which means we decide what is collected and we are answerable for it. Contact: sales@ballbuddy.co.uk.
| Information | Why we need it | Legal basis |
|---|---|---|
| Name, delivery address, email; phone if you give it | To make, post and tell you about your order; Royal Mail gets the address and, if given, the phone number for delivery problems | Performing the contract |
| Your design (the marks, letters and pen colour) | To cut the stencil, replace it if it's faulty, and let you reorder it | Performing the contract |
| Order history, totals, dates | Tax and accounting records | Legal obligation (kept six years) |
| Account email and a scrambled version of your password | To let you sign in; only if you create an account | Performing the contract |
| The last four digits and brand of your card | So you and we can recognise the payment | Legitimate interest |
| A daily code standing in for your browser, the pages you opened, how long you looked at them and how far down you read | To find the parts of the shop that are broken or confusing. It is not stored on your device, it is not linked to your name or your order, and the code is different tomorrow — see “How we count visitors” below | Legitimate interest (running a shop that works) |
Card details. Payment happens on Stripe's page, not ours. Your card number, expiry and security code go to Stripe and we never see them. Stripe is a regulated payment provider; its own notice is at stripe.com/gb/privacy.
We count how many people come to the shop, which pages they read, how long they spend on them and where they give up — otherwise we would be guessing about what to fix. It is done in a way that holds nothing personal:
If a page has a form on it we also record which box you were in and how long for — the name of the box, so we can find the one that trips people up. What you type in it is never collected.
Stripe (payment), Royal Mail (delivery label), our email provider (to send the emails above) and the company hosting our server. Each sees only what it needs for that job. If you agreed to the advertising cookies described on our cookie notice, Google are also told when an order happens and what it was worth, so they can match it to the ad you clicked. They are not told your name, your address or what you designed, and none of it happens if you said no.
Four, all essential, none for tracking:
| Cookie | Job | Lasts |
|---|---|---|
bb_cart | Remembers which basket is yours (a random code, nothing about you) | 30 days |
bb_session | Keeps you signed in | 14 days |
bb_csrf | Stops other websites submitting forms as you | 1 year |
bb_flash | Carries a one-line message like "Added to your basket" to the next page | Seconds |
One more, bb_consent, remembers your answer about advertising cookies for six months so we do not keep asking. The advertising cookies themselves are only ever set if you say yes; say no and none of that code loads at all. Full detail: our cookie notice.
Our server and database are in the UK. Stripe processes payments in the UK and the EU and may transfer data to the US under the safeguards described in its own notice. Royal Mail and our email provider operate in the UK. We don't send your details anywhere else.
None. Nothing about your order is decided by a computer on its own, and we don't profile you or score you.
Only the parts we need to make and post the order — a name, an address, an email and your design. Without those there is nothing to send you. Your phone number is optional, and so is the marketing tick.
The site runs over HTTPS only. Passwords are stored scrambled with a modern algorithm (argon2) that can't be reversed. Every form is protected against forgery, sign-in attempts are limited, and only we can reach the order system, behind our own login. Backups are encrypted.
Last updated 28 August 2026.