Privacy policy

WS Health Services Ltd (company number 12437945), trading as The Chemist Online, of 210 Bury New Road, Whitefield, Manchester M45 6GG, is the data controller for the personal data described here. Contact us about your data at info@thechemistonline.co.uk.

• Account details — your email address, used for passwordless sign-in codes and order updates.
• Order details — name, delivery address, phone number and the items you buy.
• Health questionnaire answers — when you buy a pharmacy medicine, the answers you give at checkout. This is special-category health data; we process it so a pharmacist can check the medicine is safe and appropriate for you.
• Payment — card payments are processed by Stripe; your full card number never touches our servers.
• Site usage — the pages you visit and where you arrived from (for example a TikTok link, an advert or a Google search). We only use cookies for this if you allow them (see Cookies below).
• How you heard about us — if you answer the optional question after checkout.

• To process and deliver your orders, including the pharmacist review of pharmacy medicines.
• To send you order confirmations, sign-in codes and delivery updates.
• To email you a one-off reminder if you start a checkout and leave items in your basket — only if you left the reminder box ticked at checkout. Every reminder includes an unsubscribe link, and we keep a record of opt-outs so your choice is honoured.
• To meet our legal and professional obligations as a pharmacy, including record keeping.
• To measure and improve how the shop performs, including how customers arrive from advertising.

We do not sell your personal data, and we never share your health answers for marketing.

• Our delivery carriers, to get your order to you.
• Stripe, to take payment securely.
• Our fulfilment and dispensing systems, to prepare and record your order.
• Our hosting and infrastructure providers, who store data on our behalf.
• PostHog (analytics, hosted in the EU), to understand how the site is used. If you accept analytics cookies, this includes recordings of how pages are used, with everything you type hidden. Never your health answers.
• Google (Analytics and Ads), to measure site use and our adverts. Google only sets cookies if you accept them.
• Meta (Facebook/Instagram), only if you accept marketing cookies, in limited, privacy-protective form (hashed identifiers) to measure advertising. Never your health answers. See Meta's privacy policy for how they process this data.

We ask before using any cookie the shop doesn't strictly need, and ask again every six months.

• Essential (always on) — sign-in, your basket and remembering your cookie choice.
• Analytics (optional) — PostHog and Google Analytics cookies that show us how the site is used, plus our own cookie recording which campaign or website brought you here (kept for 90 days). It lets us see which links and adverts lead to orders. If you don't accept, PostHog still counts visits without cookies or storing anything on your device, using an anonymous code that changes every day.
• Marketing (optional) — the Meta Pixel and Google Ads cookies, which measure our adverts on Facebook, Instagram and Google. If you accept, we also tell Meta about your purchase from our servers, using hashed contact details and never your health answers.

You can change your choice at any time with Cookie settings (also at the bottom of every page), or clear cookies in your browser settings.

Order and dispensing records are kept for as long as pharmacy regulations require. Account data is kept while your account is active. Saved baskets — including any items and questionnaire answers in them — are deleted after 45 days of inactivity; we keep a minimal log of basket reminders sent and of reminder opt-outs so your choice is honoured. You can ask us to delete your account at any time — some records must be retained by law even after deletion.

Under UK GDPR you can ask for a copy of your data, ask us to correct or delete it, object to or restrict processing, and ask for it in a portable format. Email us and we'll respond within one month. If you're unhappy with how we handle your data you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk).

Questions? See our contact page.