Privacy Policy | TheOnlineCity

Privacy Policy

1. About This Policy

Welcome to TheOnlineCity. We care deeply about your privacy and want to be as clear as possible about how we look after your personal information.

This policy explains what information we collect from you (or about you) when you visit our website or use our services, and exactly why and how we use it.

The person responsible for your personal information (the "data controller") under the UK General Data Protection Regulation ("UK GDPR") is the operator of TheOnlineCity. You can reach them at:

TheOnlineCity
Unit 5A, Canalside
Dallamires Lane
Ripon
HG4 1TT

This policy is effective from 2026-05-01.

We might need to update this policy from time to time. If we make significant changes, we'll let you know via email or a clear notice on our website before the new version starts.

2. Some Useful Definitions

To make things easy, here are a few terms used in this policy:

• "The Platform" refers to our website at www.theonlinecity.co.uk, and any related mobile apps.
• "Services" means all the online features and tools we offer you through our Platform.
• "We", "Us", or "TheOnlineCity" refers to the individual who operates the Platform.
• "Personal Information" is any data that can be used to identify you, either directly (like your name) or indirectly (like an IP address).

3. How to Get in Touch

If you have any questions about your privacy or how we handle your data, please don't hesitate to reach out. You can contact us:

• By Post: TheOnlineCity, Unit 5A, Canalside, Dallamires Lane, Ripon, HG4 1TT
• By Email: [email protected]

4. The Information We Collect and Why

We process different types of information depending on how you interact with us.

Information you tell us

To use our services properly, we need some details from you:

• Account Details: When you sign up, we'll ask for things like your username, email address, and password.
• Your Profile: You might choose to share extra bits like your first name, last name, a profile picture (avatar), or a short bio.

Information about what you do on our site

As you use TheOnlineCity, we keep track of your activity to make the site better for you. This includes:

• Your contributions (the deals you post, comments you leave, or discussions you start).
• Your interactions (likes, saved posts, following certain threads, or using keyword alerts).
• Your searches and any private messages you send through the Platform.
• Your responses to any surveys we might run.

Information collected automatically

When you visit us, our systems naturally pick up some technical data, such as:

• Device & Usage Data: Your IP address, the type of device you're using, your browser type, and basic information about your operating system.
• Behavioural Data: Which pages you visit, which links you click, how long you stay on a page, and your active filters or searches.

Information from partners

If you give us permission (for example, by accepting cookies from our partners), we may receive certain information from third-party advertisers or resellers, such as updated contact details or order information, to help provide a smoother experience.

5. Why We Need Certain Information

We sometimes need you to provide specific information so we can actually run our services. For example, we can't set up your account without an email address, and we can't send you a newsletter if we don't have your permission to contact you.

Please note that if you don't provide certain mandatory information, we might be unable to create an account for you or provide some of our services.

6. How and Why We Use Your Data

We only use your information when we have a valid legal reason to do so. These reasons include needing to fulfil a contract with you, complying with the law, or because it is in our "legitimate interest" to do so (i.e., it's a sensible way to run the Platform without overriding your rights).

Purpose	Why we can do it (Legal Basis)	What info is involved
To let you create an account and log in	To fulfil our contract with you	Account details
To run the website and show you deals	To fulfil our contract with you	Account info, your activity, and tech data
To personalise your experience (like your profile)	Your consent	Account and profile info
To send you newsletters or notifications	Your consent	Email address and account info
To send you important updates, security alerts, or support messages	To fulfil our contract with you	Account details
To keep our site safe, prevent fraud, and obey the law	Our legitimate interest / Legal obligation	Log data, device info, and activity
To improve our website, fix bugs, and analyse how it's performing	Our legitimate interest	Account info, activity, and tech data
To measure how well our adverts and marketing are working	Our legitimate interest / Your consent	Behavioural data and device info

Important: You have the right to change your mind. You can withdraw your consent or object to us using your data based on our legitimate interests at any time by contacting us or by deleting your account.

7. How Long We Keep Your Information

We only keep your personal information for as long as we truly need it to provide our services to you. Generally, this is for as long as you have an active account with us. If you stop using our services, we will keep your data for up to 3 years after our last contact with you, after which we will delete or anonymise it.

A few important notes on deletion:

• Public Content: When you delete your account, your posts, deals, and comments will stay on the site so the discussions still make sense, but we will remove all identifiable information so they are completely anonymous.
• Private Messages: Any private messages you have sent will still be visible to the person you sent them to.
• Blocked Accounts: If we have to block an account to prevent rule-breaking, we may keep some of your info for up to 3 years to ensure our community stays safe.
• Cookies: We typically keep cookie data for 30 days for guests, and up to 12 months for logged-in users.

8. Automated Decisions and Profiling

To make TheOnlineCity a great place to find bargains, we might use "profiling." This is a simpler way of saying we look at your interests and past activity to suggest deals or groups that you might actually like.

This involves automated processing of your data to predict your preferences, such as which types of vouchers you click on most often. If you want to manage how we use cookies for this, please visit our Cookie Policy.

9. Who We Share Your Information With

First things first: we will never sell your personal data to third parties. We only share your information when we have a valid legal reason to do so and when it is necessary to provide our services or keep the Platform running smoothly. This includes:

• Social Logins: If you choose to sign in using Facebook, Google, or Apple, we receive some basic information from those platforms to create your account and connect your profile to TheOnlineCity.
• Our technical partners: We work with trusted sub-contractors who help us with the "behind the scenes" work. This includes providers who help us analyse website traffic, make sure our users are real humans (and not bots!), send you helpful push notifications, and keep our app running smoothly. These partners are contractually required to keep your data safe and only use it for the specific tasks we ask them to do. You can find more details in our Cookies and Tracking Policy.

10. Moving Your Data Outside the UK/EU

We prefer to keep your personal information stored within the UK or the European Union whenever possible. Most of our servers are located right here in the EU.

Occasionally, we may need to transfer data to service providers located elsewhere. In these cases, we only do so if we are sure that appropriate safeguards are in place — such as the UK International Data Transfer Agreement (IDTA), the UK Addendum to the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses, or another approved mechanism — to ensure your data remains just as safe as it would be at home.

If you want to know more about the specific safeguards we use for international transfers, please just drop us an email at [email protected].

11. A Note on Cookies

Cookies are tiny text files that a website asks your browser to store on your device. They help us remember things like your login details or your language preferences so you don't have to re-enter them every time you visit.

We use cookies and similar technologies to improve your experience. To learn exactly how we use them and how you can manage your preferences, please check out our Cookie Policy.

12. Your Rights

Under UK and EU data protection laws (GDPR), you have several important rights regarding your personal information:

• Access: You can ask us for a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Correction: If any of your info is wrong or incomplete, you can ask us to fix it.
• Erasure: You can ask us to delete your data (though there are certain circumstances where we might legally need to keep some records).
• Restriction: You can ask us to temporarily stop processing your data in certain situations.
• Portability: You can request to receive your data in a format that is easy to move to another service.
• Objection: You can ask us to stop using your information for certain purposes.
• Automated Decisions: You have the right to ask us not to make decisions about you based solely on automated systems (like algorithms) if those decisions have a significant impact on you.
• Complain: If you aren't happy with how we are handling your data, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO):
  • Address: Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, SK9 5AF, Cheshire.
  • Helpline: 0303 123 1113
  • Website: ico.org.uk

13. How to Use Your Rights

We've made it as easy as possible to manage your data directly through your account:

• To fix or update info: Simply head into your account settings and update your profile.
• To delete your account: Go to the "Profile" section of your settings and click "Delete Account". We will hold your data for 30 days before it is permanently erased. If you change your mind, just log back in within those 30 days to reactivate everything! (Note: If your account is suspended, you will still be able to access a restricted mode to delete it.)
• To access or move your data: In your account settings under "Profile", you can click "Generate data". We'll send you an email once your data is ready for you to download. You can do this once every two weeks.

If you want to exercise any of your other rights, please contact us at [email protected]. We might need to ask for proof of identity just to make sure we are actually sending the data to you and not someone else!

We promise to do our best to respond to any request within one month. Please note that we may not be able to fulfil every request if the legal grounds for processing the data don't allow for it — if that's the case, we will explain why.