Legal
Privacy policy
1. Who we are
Gifts by Emily is a personal gifting service run by Emily O'Byrnes, trading as Gifts by Emily, 2 Corrbridge Terrace, Sutton, Dublin 13, D13 T9V9, Ireland. We decide how your personal information is used, which makes us the data controller under the GDPR.
For any privacy question or request, email hello@giftsbyemily.com. We are a small business and are not required to appoint a data protection officer, so Emily handles these requests personally.
2. What we collect
We collect information about you, and the details you give us about the person you are buying for.
| About | What we collect | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| You | Name, email address, the plan you choose, your messages to us | You, through our forms and emails |
| You | Payment amount, date and invoice details. We never see or store your full card number | Our payment provider |
| You (Gift Calendar and Concierge) | Your key dates, delivery addresses and prepaid gift budget | You |
| You | How you use our website, if you accept analytics cookies | Cookies (section 5) |
| The gift recipient | First name, relationship to you, age range, gender, general location, interests, style, sizes, brands they like, things to avoid, past gifts, the occasion and date | You, in your gift brief |
| The gift recipient | Public social media profiles, only if you share a link | You, and the public web |
Please share only what helps us choose a gift. Do not tell us about anyone's health, religion, politics or other sensitive matters unless it genuinely shapes the gift, and only if you are comfortable that the recipient would be too.
3. How we use it, and why we are allowed to
We use your information only to run the service you asked for, keep proper records, and, if you agree, tell you about what we do.
| What we do | Our legal basis |
|---|---|
| Research, choose and send you gift ideas | Performing our contract with you |
| Use the recipient's details to choose their gift | Legitimate interests: helping you give a thoughtful gift, using only what you chose to share |
| Send reminders before your dates (Gift Calendar and Concierge) | Performing our contract with you |
| Buy, wrap and send gifts on your behalf (Concierge) | Performing our contract with you |
| Take payment, issue invoices, keep accounts | Contract, and our legal obligations under Irish tax law |
| Reply to your emails and questions | Performing our contract, or legitimate interests if you are not yet a customer |
| Send news and offers | Your consent only. Every email has an unsubscribe link |
| Understand how our website is used | Your consent, asked for before any analytics cookie is set |
Every recommendation is chosen and approved by Emily personally.
We never contact the people you buy for, and we never sell anyone's information.
4. Who we share it with
We share information only with the services that run Gifts by Emily, each bound by a contract to protect it and use it only on our instructions.
| Service | What it does for us | Where data is held |
|---|---|---|
| HubSpot | Customer records, forms, emails, invoices and payments | EU data centre |
| Stripe | Card payment processing, through HubSpot payments | EU and USA |
| Anthropic (Claude) | Research and drafting tools that support Emily's recommendations | USA |
| Lovable | Hosts our website | EU company; hosting may be outside the EU |
| Forward Email | Forwards email sent to hello@giftsbyemily.com | USA |
| Email inboxes used by our team | EU and USA | |
| Retailers and couriers | Deliver Concierge gifts to the address you give | Depends on the retailer |
Where information leaves the European Economic Area, we rely on the EU-US Data Privacy Framework or the European Commission's standard contractual clauses to keep it protected. We may also share information if the law requires it.
5. Cookies and website chat
Our website uses essential cookies to work, and HubSpot cookies to understand how visitors use the site and to run our website chat. HubSpot analytics cookies are only set if you accept them in the cookie banner, and you can change your choice at any time through the cookie settings link at the bottom of every page.
Our website chat is answered first by an AI assistant, which can answer common questions about our service using the information on this website. If it cannot help, it passes your question to Emily. Messages you send in the chat are stored in our HubSpot account and handled as described in this policy.
6. How long we keep it
We keep information only as long as it is useful to you or the law requires, then delete it.
| Information | How long we keep it |
|---|---|
| Gift briefs and the ideas we sent | 2 years after your last order, so we never suggest the same gift twice |
| Gift Calendar and Concierge dates and addresses | While your plan is active, then 12 months |
| Emails with you | 2 years after our last contact |
| Invoices and payment records | 6 years, as Irish tax law requires |
| Marketing preferences | Until you unsubscribe, plus a record of that choice |
You can ask us to delete your information sooner at any time, except records we must keep by law.
7. Your rights
You can ask us at any time to:
- see the information we hold about you, and get a copy
- correct anything that is wrong
- delete your information
- limit how we use it, or object to a use based on legitimate interests
- move your information to another service
- withdraw consent you gave, such as for marketing
Email hello@giftsbyemily.com and we will reply within one month, free of charge. We may ask you to confirm who you are first.
If you are a gift recipient, these rights apply to you too. We never contact recipients directly, because that would spoil the surprise, so this policy is how we tell you. You can ask us to see or delete what we hold about you.
If you are unhappy with how we handle your information, you can complain to the Data Protection Commission, 21 Fitzwilliam Square South, Dublin 2, D02 RD28, or at dataprotection.ie. We would appreciate the chance to put things right first.
8. Children, security and changes
Children. Our service is for adults aged 18 or over. When you buy for a child, we ask only for their first name, age range and interests, and we never ask for photos or social media links for anyone under 18.
Security. Only Emily and the person who runs our systems can see customer information. Our accounts use two-factor sign-in, and our customer records are held in an EU data centre. No system is perfectly secure, and if a breach puts you at risk we will tell you and the Data Protection Commission as the law requires.
Changes. If we change this policy, we will update the date below. If a change affects how we use information you have already given us, we will email you first.
Last updated: 11 October 2026