Privacy Policy

1. Who We Are

Five Star Traders (“Five Star Traders”, “we”, “us” or “our”) is a digital services company headquartered in Brooklyn, New York. We build websites, mobile apps and custom software, and provide SEO services, for businesses of all sizes.

This Privacy Policy explains what personal information we collect when you visit our website or engage us for services, why we collect it, who we share it with, and the choices and rights you have. It applies to fivestartraders.com and to all services we deliver under a signed proposal or statement of work.

2. Information We Collect

Information you give us

• Your name, email address, phone number and company name when you submit our contact form, email us or call us.
• The project details you share with us in enquiries, discovery calls, proposals and ongoing correspondence.
• Billing and business details needed to raise invoices and take payment (handled through our payment providers — we do not store full card numbers).
• Any content, credentials or data you ask us to work with as part of delivering a project.

Information we collect automatically

• IP address, browser type and version, operating system and device type.
• Referring URL, pages viewed, time spent on each page and the dates and times of your visits.
• Approximate location inferred from your IP address (city or region level, not a precise location).

Information from third parties

• Aggregated statistics from analytics and advertising platforms.
• Payment confirmations and status updates from our payment processors.
• Publicly available business information used to prepare for a first conversation.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use the information described above to:

• Respond to your enquiry, answer questions and prepare proposals and quotes.
• Deliver, support and improve the services you have engaged us for.
• Raise invoices, take payment and keep proper accounting records.
• Operate, secure and improve our website and understand how it is used.
• Send you service messages such as project updates, invoices and policy changes.
• Send marketing communications where you have asked to receive them — you can unsubscribe at any time.
• Detect, investigate and prevent fraud, abuse and security incidents.
• Comply with our legal, tax and regulatory obligations.

We do not use your personal information for automated decision-making that produces legal or similarly significant effects.

4. Legal Bases for Processing

If you are located in the United Kingdom or the European Economic Area, we rely on the following legal bases:

• Performance of a contract — to deliver the services you have engaged us for and to manage our relationship with you.
• Legitimate interests — to run and improve our business, secure our systems, and respond to enquiries, balanced against your rights.
• Consent — for marketing emails and for non-essential cookies. You can withdraw consent at any time.
• Legal obligation — to meet accounting, tax and other statutory requirements.

5. Cookies and Similar Technologies

Cookies are small text files placed on your device. We use a small number of them, grouped as follows:

• Strictly necessary — required for the site to function, such as remembering security and session state. These cannot be switched off.
• Analytics — help us understand which pages are useful and where visitors run into problems. These are aggregated and never used to identify you personally.
• Preference — remember choices you make so you do not have to set them again.

Most browsers let you refuse or delete cookies through their settings. Blocking strictly necessary cookies may stop parts of the site working. Our website also loads web fonts from Google Fonts, which means your IP address is visible to that provider when a page loads.

6. How We Share Information

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioural advertising. We do share it in the following limited circumstances:

• Service providers we rely on to operate — hosting and infrastructure, email delivery, analytics, project management, accounting and payment processing. Each is bound by contract to protect your information and use it only for the services they provide to us.
• Professional advisers such as lawyers, accountants and insurers, where necessary.
• Legal and regulatory authorities where we are required to disclose information by law, court order or a valid legal request.
• A buyer or successor in the event of a merger, acquisition or sale of assets, subject to this policy continuing to apply.
• Anyone else you direct us to share it with, with your consent.

7. International Transfers

We are based in the United States and some of our service providers process data in other countries. Where personal information is transferred out of the UK or EEA, we rely on appropriate safeguards such as the UK International Data Transfer Agreement, the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses, or an adequacy decision. You can ask us for details of the safeguards that apply to a specific transfer.

8. How Long We Keep Information

• Enquiries that do not become projects — up to 24 months from your last contact with us, then deleted.
• Client and project records — for the duration of the engagement and for 7 years afterwards, to meet tax, accounting and legal requirements.
• Website analytics — retained in aggregated form; identifiable records are kept for no more than 26 months.
• Marketing lists — until you unsubscribe or ask us to remove you.

When a retention period ends we delete the information or irreversibly anonymise it.

9. How We Protect Information

We use encryption in transit (HTTPS/TLS), access controls on a least-privilege basis, multi-factor authentication on business systems, regular software patching, and vendor security review before we adopt a new tool. Access to client data is limited to team members who need it to do their job.

No method of transmission or storage is completely secure. If we become aware of a breach affecting your personal information, we will notify you and the relevant authorities where the law requires it.

10. Your Rights and Choices

Depending on where you live, you may have some or all of the following rights:

• Access a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
• Correct information that is inaccurate or incomplete.
• Delete your personal information where we no longer have a lawful reason to keep it.
• Restrict or object to certain processing, including direct marketing.
• Receive your information in a portable, machine-readable format.
• Withdraw consent at any time, without affecting processing already carried out.
• Complain to your data protection authority.

California residents

Under the CCPA as amended by the CPRA, you have the right to know what personal information we collect and how it is used, to request deletion or correction, to opt out of any sale or sharing of personal information, and not to be discriminated against for exercising those rights. We do not sell or share personal information as those terms are defined by that law.

How to exercise your rights

Email info@fivestartraders.com with the words “Privacy Request” in the subject line. We will respond within 45 days, and will tell you if we need more time or need to verify your identity first. Exercising these rights is free.

11. Children’s Privacy

Our website and services are intended for businesses and are not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 16. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, contact us and we will delete it.

12. Third-Party Links and Services

Our website links to third-party sites, and projects we build for clients may integrate third-party services. Those parties have their own privacy policies and we are not responsible for their practices. We encourage you to read the policy of any site or service before providing it with personal information.

13. Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy to reflect changes in our practices or in the law. The “Last updated” date at the top of this page always shows the current version. If we make a material change we will give you reasonable notice by email or a prominent notice on the website before it takes effect.

14. Contact Us

If you have questions about this policy, or want to exercise any of the rights described in it, contact us:

• Five Star Traders, Brooklyn, New York
• Email: info@fivestartraders.com
• Phone: (888) 332-7092
• Business hours: Monday through Friday, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM EST