Privacy Policy

THEGENERALSTORE LTD (trading as Paperlane) is the data controller for personal data processed through thegeneralstoreuk.shop. You can reach us at 15 Munster Avenue, Hounslow, England, TW4 5BG, United Kingdom, by email at support@thegeneralstoreuk.shop, or by phone on +44 7184340703.

This policy applies to shoppers, members of Paperlane Club, and anyone who contacts us or requests a bulk quote.

• Contact & account data: name, email, phone (optional), and any account preferences.
• Order & fulfilment data: your shipping address and delivery address, items ordered (including chosen patterns), order value and status — collected and used for order fulfilment, delivery and returns handling.
• Payment data: billing country and the confirmation token returned by Stripe. We never receive or store your full card number.
• Membership data: your Paperlane Club tier, billing interval and renewal status.
• Support & enquiry data: messages sent via the contact or bulk-order forms.
• Technical data: device, browser and essential cookies needed to run the cart and checkout.

Our collection sources (the origins of the personal data we hold) are:

• Directly from you when you browse, add to cart, check out, subscribe, create an account or contact us.
• From our payment processor (Stripe), which returns a payment confirmation and your billing country.
• From the delivery carrier that ships your order, which returns delivery and tracking status.

For order fulfilment we use the shipping address and delivery address you provide at checkout; we do not buy personal data from third-party data brokers.

• To fulfil your order and membership — performance of a contract.
• To take payment and prevent fraud — contract and legitimate interests.
• To provide support and handle returns or refunds — contract and legitimate interests.
• To improve the shop and keep it secure — legitimate interests.
• To send order updates — contract; marketing emails only with your consent, which you can withdraw at any time.
• To meet tax and accounting duties — legal obligation.

Card payments are processed on Stripe's secure hosted checkout. Your full card number, expiry and security code are entered on Stripe's systems and are never transmitted to or stored by Paperlane. We receive only a payment confirmation, the billing country and a masked reference. Stripe acts as an independent controller/processor for card data under its own terms.

We share the minimum necessary with service providers who act on our instructions:

• Hosting & infrastructure: our cloud hosting provider serves the website and stores order data.
• Payments: Stripe processes card payments and subscriptions.
• Database & email: our database/auth provider stores accounts and enquiries; our email provider sends order and support emails.
• Delivery: postal and courier carriers receive the delivery name and address to ship your parcel.

We do not sell your personal data. We do not use AI providers to process your personal data.

We ship worldwide, so your delivery details may be shared with carriers in the destination country. Where personal data is transferred outside the UK or EEA, we rely on adequacy decisions or standard contractual clauses with appropriate safeguards.

We keep order and tax records for as long as the law requires (typically six years for accounting). Enquiry and marketing lead data is kept for no longer than 24 months unless you remain an active customer. You can ask us to delete data we are not legally required to keep.

We use encryption in transit (HTTPS), access controls and reputable processors. Payment card data is handled entirely by Stripe. No system is perfectly secure, but we take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect your data.

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to:

• Access, correct or delete your personal data.
• Restrict or object to processing, and to data portability.
• Withdraw consent for marketing at any time.
• Under CCPA: know what we collect, request deletion, and not be discriminated against for exercising your rights.

To exercise any right, email support@thegeneralstoreuk.shop. You can also complain to your local data protection authority — in the UK, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).

We do not sell or share your personal data for cross-context behavioural advertising, and we do not exchange it for money. There is nothing to opt out of in that respect, but you may still contact us to confirm or to object to any processing.

We use essential cookies and local storage to run the cart and checkout. Any optional analytics is privacy-respecting and described in our Cookie Policy.

We do not make solely automated decisions with legal effects about you. This shop is intended for adults; users under 13 are not permitted, and shoppers aged 13–17 should use it with a parent or guardian's consent. We do not knowingly collect data from children under 13.

We may update this policy and will revise the date above when we do. Questions or requests: email support@thegeneralstoreuk.shop. This policy is governed by the law of England and Wales.