Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

Vine & Hammer (“we”, “us”, “our”) operates the fine wine auction marketplace at vineandhammer.com. We are the data controller for personal data collected through the Platform.

Contact: enquiries@vineandhammer.com | 01502 676110 | Suffolk, UK

2. Data we collect

Account data

When you register, we collect your name, email address, password (hashed) and, for sellers, identity verification information.

Transaction data

When you buy or sell, we collect details of your bids, purchases, sales, payment information (processed by Stripe — we do not store card details) and delivery addresses.

Lot submission data

Sellers provide wine details, provenance information, photographs and contact details when submitting lots.

Usage data

We collect information about how you use our Platform — pages visited, time on site, browser type, IP address and referring URLs — via cookies and server logs.

Communications

We retain records of correspondence between you and our team.

3. How we use your data

We use your personal data to:

• Operate and administer your account
• Process bids, purchases and sales
• Facilitate payment via Stripe’s escrow system
• Verify seller identity and lot authenticity
• Send transaction confirmations, outbid notifications and auction updates
• Resolve disputes between buyers and sellers
• Improve and develop the Platform
• Comply with legal obligations
• Detect and prevent fraud and misuse

We will only contact you for marketing purposes if you have opted in to receive such communications. You can unsubscribe at any time.

4. Legal basis for processing

We process your personal data on the following legal bases:

• Contract performance — to provide the auction marketplace service
• Legitimate interests — to operate and improve the Platform, prevent fraud and maintain security
• Legal obligation — to comply with applicable laws and regulations
• Consent — for marketing communications (where you have opted in) and non-essential cookies

5. Data sharing

We share your data with:

• Stripe, Inc. — payment processing and escrow. Stripe’s privacy policy applies to data shared with them.
• Buyers and sellers — we share necessary delivery and contact information between transacting parties to facilitate completion of sales.
• Service providers — hosting, email delivery and analytics providers who process data on our behalf under appropriate data processing agreements.
• Law enforcement — where required by law or to prevent fraud or crime.

We do not sell your personal data to third parties.

6. Data retention

We retain your personal data for as long as necessary to provide our services and comply with legal obligations:

• Account data: retained for the life of your account plus 6 years
• Transaction records: retained for 6 years (UK tax and accounting requirements)
• Marketing consent records: retained until you withdraw consent

You may request deletion of your account at any time. We will delete personal data that we are not legally required to retain.

7. Your rights

Under UK GDPR you have the right to:

• Access — request a copy of your personal data
• Rectification — correct inaccurate or incomplete data
• Erasure — request deletion of your data (subject to legal retention requirements)
• Restriction — request that we limit how we use your data
• Portability — receive your data in a machine-readable format
• Object — object to processing based on legitimate interests
• Withdraw consent — withdraw marketing consent at any time

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at enquiries@vineandhammer.com. We will respond within 30 days.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk.

8. Cookies

We use cookies to operate the Platform and improve your experience. See our Cookie Policy for full details.

Essential cookies (required for the Platform to function) are set automatically. Non-essential cookies (analytics, preferences) are only set with your consent.

9. Security

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised access, loss or disclosure. These include SSL encryption, hashed passwords and restricted staff access to personal data.

No system is completely secure. If you believe your account has been compromised, contact us immediately at enquiries@vineandhammer.com.

10. Changes to this policy

We may update this privacy policy from time to time. We will notify registered users of significant changes by email. Continued use of the Platform after notification of changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

Questions about this policy: enquiries@vineandhammer.com | 01502 676110