Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

Better Than A Voucher is operated by MMF Analytical Ltd. Registered in England and Wales. Company number 11836280. Registered office: 104 Warkworth Woods, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE3 5RB, United Kingdom. MMF Analytical Ltd is the controller of the personal data described here. Contact us at info@betterthanavoucher.co.uk.

2. What we collect

Your questionnaire answers. When you use the Gift Finder you tell us about the person you're buying for: your relationship to them, their gender (or "prefer not to say"), the occasion, an age range, your budget, their interests and personality, anything to avoid, the kinds of gift you'd like and any extra notes you choose to add. Most of this information is about the gift recipient, not about you. We don't ask for names.

Free-text answers. Some boxes let you type freely. Please don't include names, contact details or sensitive information (such as health, religion, ethnicity or sexuality). We don't ask for this information and don't intentionally use it, but we can't automatically filter it out, so anything you type is stored and processed with the rest of your answers. If you've included something you regret, email us and we'll delete the search.

What we create from it. We generate a recipient summary (for example, interests and budget interpreted from your answers) and a list of six gift recommendations with short reasons. If you refine a search, we save a new search linked to the original — the original is never changed.

A private results link. Each search gets a secret link so you can return to your results. We store only a scrambled (hashed) version of the secret, not the secret itself.

Technical information. To prevent abuse we apply rate limits based on your IP address. The address is converted into a one-way keyed code before use and the raw IP address is not stored by our application. Our hosting and service providers may process IP addresses and similar technical data in their own security and operational logs.

We do not offer accounts, take payments or collect your name, email address or phone number through the Gift Finder. If you email us, we receive whatever you include in your email.

3. Why we use it and our lawful bases

• Producing and showing your recommendations, keeping your private results link working, and refinements — performance of a contract (UK GDPR Article 6(1)(b)): this is the service you ask for when you use the Gift Finder under our Terms of Use.
• Security and abuse prevention (rate limiting, preventing automated misuse) — legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f)). We've weighed this against your interests: we use only a one-way keyed code of your IP address and short-lived counters, which we consider proportionate.
• Improving our recommendations and gift catalogue by reviewing stored searches and results — legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f)). We do this without contacting you and you can object at any time.
• Replying to emails you send us — legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f)) in responding to enquiries.
• Complying with the law where required — legal obligation (Article 6(1)(c)).

Because your answers are about someone else, please only share what you're comfortable sharing and keep it general.

4. AI processing

Our recommendations are AI-assisted. Your questionnaire answers and the recipient summary are sent to AI models through the Lovable AI Gateway, which routes requests to third-party model providers (currently OpenAI). Our requests ask that inputs are not stored for later use, but model providers may still keep data for a limited time under their own terms (for example, for abuse monitoring). AI is used only to generate suggestions — no decision with legal or similarly significant effect is made about you.

5. Who we share it with

We don't sell your data. We use these service providers to run the site:

• Supabase — database that stores searches, recipient summaries and recommendations.
• Lovable — website hosting and the AI Gateway.
• AI model providers reached through the Lovable AI Gateway (currently OpenAI).
• Upstash (QStash) — background job delivery. It receives only internal job references, not your answers.
• Cloudflare — the network our hosting runs on, which processes requests and IP addresses.

We may also disclose information if required by law.

6. Where your data is processed

Our database (Supabase) is hosted in the European Union. That's where your searches, recipient summaries and recommendations are stored.

Other providers process data elsewhere. Website requests pass through Cloudflare's global network, so they may be handled at a location near you or outside the UK. AI requests made through the Lovable AI Gateway are processed by OpenAI, which may take place in the United States. Lovable and Upstash may also process data outside the UK. So not all information stays in the UK or EU.

Where personal data is transferred outside the UK, we rely on UK adequacy regulations (which cover the EU) or the safeguards our providers offer, such as the UK International Data Transfer Addendum or Standard Contractual Clauses.

7. How long we keep it

We don't yet delete searches automatically. At present we keep searches, recipient summaries and recommendations so that your private results link keeps working and so we can improve the service. We plan to introduce a fixed retention period and will update this policy when it's in place. Rate-limit records are short-lived counters.

You can ask us to delete a search at any time by emailing info@betterthanavoucher.co.uk with its results link.

8. Cookies and storage on your device

We don't use advertising or analytics cookies. Our site stores a few items in your browser that are strictly necessary for the service:

• The private link secret for each search you make, so you can return to results on this device (local storage).
• For refinements, which earlier search it came from (local storage).
• Unsaved refinement edits in the current tab (session storage, cleared when the tab closes).

You can clear these at any time through your browser settings; you'll then need your private link to see past results.

9. Your rights

Under UK data protection law you have rights to access, correct, delete, restrict or object to the use of your personal data, and to data portability where it applies. Because we don't hold your name or email, the easiest way for us to find your search is if you send us its results link. Email info@betterthanavoucher.co.uk to make a request.

You can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk or 0303 123 1113. We'd appreciate the chance to help first.

10. Security

Access to stored searches is restricted to our server; results can only be opened with the private link. No method of storage or transmission is completely secure, so please keep your link private.

11. Future features

We don't currently send marketing emails or use affiliate tracking. If we introduce email updates (which would be optional) or retailer shopping links that use affiliate tracking, we'll update this policy before they go live and explain any cookies or tracking involved.

12. Changes

We'll post any changes on this page and update the date above.