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The small print, in plain words

Cookies

What this website stores on your device, what each thing is for, and how to change your answer.

Version
2.1
First published
Last changed
Next review

A cookie is a small note a website asks your browser to keep, so the next page (or the next visit) knows something the last one did. This site keeps as few as it can and asks before it sets any that are not needed to make the shop work. The advertising tags of Google load only if you say yes to advertising, and set their own cookies when they do; everything else is ours.

What we store, and why

Needed to use the site

Always

Keeping you signed in, remembering your basket, and remembering the answer you give here. Without these the shop does not work, so there is nothing to switch off.

On your device: fg_customer (signed in), your basket, and fg_c, which holds the answer below.

Understanding how the shop is used

Only if you say yes

Which pages you visit and in what order, how long each was in front of you, how far down you read, the size of your screen, the town our host reports (and roughly where it is on a map) and which link or advert brought you. It tells us which pages are worth writing and which ones lose people. If an advert brought you and you go on to buy, the studio reports that sale back to the advertising network the advert came from (the click, the date and the amount, nothing about you) so it can tell which adverts pay for themselves. This is our own measure: no other company's tag is loaded for it.

On your device: fg_v, a random id kept for twelve months so a second visit is recognised as the same one. It is ours alone and means nothing to anybody else.

Recording how you move through it

Only if you say yes

Where you clicked, how far you scrolled, roughly where the pointer went, and which pages you moved between, played back as a schematic of boxes and dots. Never what you type: not a search, not a card message, not a password, nothing entered in a field. Deleted after thirty days.

On your device: Nothing extra on your device.

Advertising and social media

Only if you say yes

The advertising networks' own tags, loaded only if you say yes. They tell those companies you visited, what you looked at, what went in your basket and whether you bought (the product and the price, never your card), so our adverts reach people likely to want them and we can see which adverts work. If you buy, the email address you gave goes with the sale as a scrambled code (a hash) so the network can match it to an advert you clicked. Those companies use their own cookies and may connect your visit with an account you have with them, under their own privacy notices.

On your device: The networks' own cookies, for as long as each keeps them (up to two years). The list for this site is in the cookie notice.

Everything, by name

The complete list of what this website can put on your device, what each is called, and how long it lasts. Nothing not on it is set.

NameWhat it isKindLastsAsked?
fg_cYour answer to the banner (yes or no to each question), so you are not asked on every page.Cookie365 daysNo, it is the answer itself
fg_customerKeeps you signed in to your account.Cookie30 days, renewed while you use itNo, it is needed to stay signed in
fg-basket-v1, fg-basket-message-v1What is in your basket and the card message you typed, until you check out.Browser storageUntil you clear it or check outNo, it is needed for the basket to work
fg-delivery-v1Whether you chose delivery or collection, the postcode you typed and the day you picked, so the next basket opens ready rather than asking again. It is checked afresh against our delivery areas every time.Browser storageUntil you clear itNo, it is needed for the basket to work
fg-basket-bloomedHow many stems the basket icon has already shown blooming, so it does not replay them on every page.Browser storageUntil you clear itNo, it carries nothing about you
fg-a11y-v1Your display and reading choices (text size, spacing, contrast, plain type, underlined links, no motion, and the voice and speed for reading aloud), so the site looks the way you set it on every page. It exists only once you have changed something.Browser storageUntil you go back to the standard site or clear itNo, it is the setting you chose, and it never leaves your device
fg_ann_…Which announcement bar you have closed (one key per message), so it stays closed.Browser storageUntil you clear itNo, it carries nothing about you
fg_consentYour answer to the banner as this browser remembers it: the same yes or no as the fg_c cookie, so the banner does not ask again before the server has answered.Browser storageUntil you change itIt is the answer to that question
fg_vA random id so a second visit is recognised as the same person rather than a stranger.Cookie365 daysYes (Understanding how the shop is used)
fg_sidA random id for this tab, so the pages you read in one sitting are one journey.Tab storageUntil you close the tabYes (Understanding how the shop is used)
fg_utmThe campaign tag on the link that brought you, so we know which advert worked.Tab storageUntil you close the tabYes (Understanding how the shop is used)
fg_rec_inWhether this sitting was picked to be recorded (a sample are), so the choice is not made again on every page.Tab storageUntil you close the tabYes (Recording how you move through it)
fg_rec_t0When the recording of this tab began, so the recorder can say how far into your visit each event was.Tab storageUntil you close the tabYes (Recording how you move through it)
_ga, _ga_*, _gcl_auGoogle's advertising tag, to recognise your browser and match a sale to an advert. Set and read by them, under their own privacy notice.Cookie (theirs)Up to two years (_gcl_au 90 days)Yes (Advertising and social media)

On our checkout page, and only there, the card field is Stripe’s: it is loaded from Stripe when you reach the checkout, and Stripe sets its own cookies from it (__stripe_mid, __stripe_sid) to spot a stolen card. They are strictly necessary for taking a payment safely, and covered by Stripe’s own notice. No other page of ours loads anything from Stripe. The studio’s own staff have three more (fg_admin, fg_finance, fg_reader) that are only ever set on a member of staff signing in to the admin.

Your answer, and changing it

The first time you visit, a panel at the foot of the page asks the questions above. Whatever you answer is kept in one cookie of our own, fg_c, for 365 days, so you are not asked on every page. A refusal is remembered as carefully as a yes. If we ever change what a yes would mean, we ask again.

To change your mind, use the line at the very foot of any page: it says what you have allowed and offers to change it. Withdrawing consent cuts the thread: the identifier that linked your visits is deleted on our side, not just on your device. You can also delete cookies in your browser’s settings at any time; the shop will simply ask again next time.

What we do not do

Nothing of ours is read by anybody else, and no advertising network's tag loads unless you say yes to advertising: say no and there is none. Recording how you move through the site, where it has been allowed, is a schematic of boxes and dots made by our own code. It never holds what you type or a picture of your screen, and it is deleted after 30 days. The full account of what we hold about you and for how long is in the privacy notice; the terms of sale are here.

History of this document

Every version, with the day it took effect (and, where we published a change, the minute). The version in force is the one on this page.

  1. Version 2.1The advertising networks' cookies, set only after a yes to advertising and only while a network is switched on.
  2. Version 2.0Moved to /legal/cookies. The complete table of everything stored, with how long each lasts, and the dated history on this page.
  3. Version 1.0First published, from the same three categories the banner asks about.

This document is written by the studio in plain words and is not legal advice. Questions about it go to the shop: get in touch.