A cookie is a text file containing information that can be remembered by a web browser between pages. When an individual uses a web browser to access the internet their browser can create cookies which are stored on the user’s computer. Cookies are not programs and therefore cannot contain viruses or other malicious software. They are purely a string of text and numbers.
Session cookies only last during a single visit. When you close your web browser the session cookie information is automatically removed from your computer.
Persistent cookies are stored by the user's web browser even when the web browser has been closed, so that the next time a user goes back to the website that originally set the cookie, the web site can read information back from the cookie.
Persistent cookies have an expiry date which controls when they are automatically deleted. This can be anything from a few minutes to several years, depending on your own browser settings.
The Reillycycleworks website uses session cookies for two purposes:
- Two session cookies are set that temporarily store a unique identifier for each visitor to the website. This identifier is a random series of letters and numbers and doesn't contain any personal or identifiable information. It is used to help count the number of visitors to the Reillycycleworks website.
- Two cookies are set by the computer systems that run the Reillycycleworks website. These cookies are used as part of the process of sending web pages to the user's web browser and are essential - no website using Microsoft technology will work without these cookies.
Reillycycleworks use persistent cookies for the following purposes:
- Google Analytics is a system used by many website to record information about who visits a website. Google set six different cookies with expiry dates ranging from 30 minutes to 2 years. These cookies are used mainly to differentiate between first time visitors to a website and repeat visitors. They also allow us to ensure our website performs as well as possible for our users.The cookies are able to collect an anonymous customer number when a user is logged into the website, allowing our backend systems to ensure accuracy of Google Analytics data and help us ensure website experience remains relevant across devices. They do not contain any personally identifiable information. You can find out more about how Google use cookies at http://www.google.co.uk/policies/privacy/ (English only)
- Reillycycleworks use their own cookies to remember which items a customer has put into their basket. By using a persistent cookie for this, a customer can close their web browser and come back to the Reillycycleworks website subsequently and still be able to access items that had been put into their shopping basket on a previous visit. This cookie is essential for the functioning of the Reillycycleworks website as without it customers would be unable to place items into the shopping basket. The cookie lasts for 1 year but is cleared once an order has been placed.
- Reillycycleworks also use a cookie to remember a user's website preferences such as preferred language, currency and delivery country. The first time a customer visits the Reillycycleworks website they are asked to confirm this information which is then stored in a cookie set to last for 1 year. Without this cookie the customer would have to re-enter their preferences every time they visit the website.
- A number of persistent cookies are also set by the computers that run the Reillycycleworks website. These cookies are solely used to record technical information necessary for our web servers to work properly. No personally identifiable information in stored in these cookies.
- Reillycycleworks uses cookies to improve the relevancy of ads on Google and other websites; this is called remarketing and can be opted out of through Google’s Ad Settings.