This policy explains what happens to information when you use carcupid.co.uk. We have tried to write it in plain English rather than legal boilerplate, because a privacy policy nobody can read is not much use to anyone.

The short version: Car Cupid has no accounts, no sign-up and no contact forms. We do not ask you for your name, your email address or any other personal detail, and we do not store anything you type into the site. Our analytics are cookieless. The only cookies set are third-party affiliate cookies from the eBay Partner Network, and those are blocked until you accept them.

1. Who we are

carcupid.co.uk is operated by CAR CUPID LTD, which is the data controller for the purposes of UK data protection law.

2. What we collect directly

Nothing. There is no account to create, no newsletter to join and no form to fill in. We do not collect names, email addresses, phone numbers, postal addresses or payment details, because the site has no feature that would require them.

If you email us at info@carcupid.co.uk, we will of course have whatever you put in that email. We use it to reply to you and for nothing else.

3. What happens to what you type into the site

The search box

When you run a search, the criteria you enter — make, model, price range, year — are used to build links to the partner sites and to query eBay for matching listings. They are not stored on our servers.

The AI assistant

When you describe what you are looking for, that text is sent to Anthropic, the company behind the Claude AI model, which generates the recommendations. We do not store your description, and we have no way to retrieve it later.

Anthropic processes the text in order to return a response. Under Anthropic’s published commercial terms, API inputs and outputs are deleted from their systems within 30 days, and are not used to train their models. Please do not enter personal information, contact details or anything sensitive into this box — it is not needed, and the recommendations do not improve because of it.

Live eBay listings

To show live listings, the site queries eBay’s Browse API with your search terms. We do not store the results or the query.

4. Analytics

We use Plausible Analytics to understand how many people visit the site and which pages are useful. We chose Plausible specifically because it is cookieless: it sets no cookies, uses no persistent identifiers, does not track you across websites, and does not build a profile of you. All data is aggregated.

Plausible records page views along with the referring site, country, and general device and browser type. It does not store IP addresses.

We also record a small number of anonymous events so we can see which features are being used — for example that a search was run, that the AI assistant was used, or that a listing was clicked. Where a search event is recorded, it includes the search criteria you entered, such as the make and model. It carries no identifier that could link it back to you.

5. Cookies

Car Cupid sets no cookies of its own.

If you accept cookies, we load the eBay Partner Network Smart Tools script. This sets a number of third-party cookies on eBay’s domains, which allow eBay to recognise that a visit or purchase came from Car Cupid so that any commission is credited to us correctly. These are not necessary for the site to function — the search, the guides, the AI assistant and the listings all work without them.

Until you accept, that script is not loaded and none of those cookies are set. If you reject, or simply ignore the banner, it stays blocked.

You can change your decision at any time using the Cookie Settings link in the footer of any page. Your choice is stored in your browser’s local storage on your own device; it is not sent to us. You can also clear or block cookies through your browser settings.

6. Hosting and technical logs

The site is hosted by Netlify. As with any web host, Netlify processes technical information needed to deliver pages and protect the service from abuse, which includes your IP address. We do not have access to a log of individual visitors, and we do not use this information for analytics or marketing.

7. Who your information is shared with

We do not sell, rent or trade information about you to anyone, and we do not share it for advertising purposes. Information is handled by the following service providers, each acting for a specific and limited purpose:

Some of these providers are based outside the UK. Where information is transferred internationally, it is done under the safeguards required by UK data protection law, such as the UK International Data Transfer Addendum or an adequacy decision.

8. Legal basis

Where we process any personal data, we rely on:

9. How long anything is kept

We hold no user database, so there is nothing for us to retain. Aggregated analytics are retained by Plausible in line with their retention policy. Emails you send us are kept for as long as needed to deal with your enquiry and our own record-keeping obligations, and then deleted.

10. Children

The site is aimed at adults buying cars and is not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect information about anyone under 18.

11. Your rights

Under UK GDPR you have the right to ask for access to your personal data, to have it corrected or deleted, to restrict or object to processing, to data portability, and to withdraw consent where processing is based on consent.

Because we do not hold accounts or a user database, in most cases we will have no personal data about you at all — but if you believe we do, write to info@carcupid.co.uk and we will respond within one month.

12. Complaints

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your information, please contact us first so we have a chance to put it right. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office, the UK data protection regulator:

13. Changes to this policy

If we change how the site handles information, we will update this page and change the “last updated” date at the top. Material changes affecting cookies will be reflected in the consent banner.