Cookie Policy

What are cookies?

Cookies are small text files stored in your browser when you visit a website. They can be used to remember preferences, track usage, or enable certain features. Some cookies are strictly necessary for a site to function; others are optional.

How we use cookies

Strictly necessary — cart storage

acanotes.com uses browser localStorage (not a traditional cookie) to save your shopping cart within your browser. This is required for the cart to function. It is stored locally in your browser only, is not sent to our servers, and is cleared when you complete a purchase or empty your cart.

No consent is required for this storage as it is strictly necessary for the shopping cart feature you have chosen to use.

We also use localStorage key acanotes_consent to remember your cookie choices. It stores a versioned record of your Analytics and Marketing choices so the banner does not repeatedly ask you.

Third-party cookies — Stripe Checkout

When you proceed to checkout, you are redirected to Stripe's hosted checkout page. Stripe may set their own cookies on their domain for security and fraud prevention purposes. These are governed by Stripe's Privacy Policy.

Cookieless analytics (no consent required)

We use PostHog, an analytics tool hosted in the EU (Frankfurt), to understand how visitors use our site. By default, PostHog runs in a cookieless, anonymous mode. No cookies are set, no persistent identifiers are stored, and individual visitors cannot be identified across sessions. This data is used to improve the site and understand general usage patterns.

Legal basis: Legitimate interest (Article 6(1)(f) GDPR). Anonymous usage data helps us improve the site without identifying individual users.

Cookie-based analytics (consent required)

If you accept analytics cookies via the consent banner, PostHog will set cookies to enable richer analytics features including session replays, heatmaps, and cross-session identification. The following cookies may be set:

• ph_* — PostHog analytics cookies. Used for user identification, session tracking, and feature flags. Expiry: up to 1 year.

These cookies are only set after you explicitly accept analytics cookies. You can withdraw consent at any time.

Marketing and advertising cookies (consent required)

If you grant Marketing consent, the Google Tag, Google Ads, and Microsoft Advertising UET may set or read cookies and identifiers to measure advertising performance and attribute purchases, checkout starts, cart activity, or sample requests to ads.

• _gcl_au — Google Ads conversion linker cookie. Expiry: typically up to 90 days.
• _gcl_aw — stores Google Ads click information when a gclid is present. Expiry: typically up to 90 days.
• _gcl_dc — Google advertising conversion cookie. Expiry: typically up to 90 days.
• _gac_* — Google Analytics / Ads campaign cookie where GA4 is configured. Expiry: typically up to 90 days.
• _uetvid and _uetsid — Microsoft Advertising UET cookies used for conversion attribution. Expiry: typically up to 13 months for visitor attribution and up to 24 hours for session attribution.

The Google Tag is initialised with advertising and analytics storage denied by default. Microsoft UET is not loaded until Marketing consent is granted. Analytics consent does not grant Marketing consent. Marketing/ad tracking uses consent as its legal basis.

Ad click identifiers

When a visitor lands with ad click identifiers such as gclid, gbraid, wbraid, or msclkid, we may store them in sessionStorage for the current tab so checkout attribution can work during that visit. If Marketing consent is granted, we may also store them in localStorage so attribution can continue across tabs or later visits. If Marketing consent is withdrawn, the persistent localStorage copy is removed.

Consent preference storage

We use a localStorage key (acanotes_consent) to remember your cookie preference. It stores version, analytics, marketing, and decidedAt. Older browsers that previously stored cookie_consent are migrated safely: an old "accepted" analytics choice does not become Marketing consent.

Your controls

You can change your cookie preferences at any time by clicking the "Cookie Preferences" link in the site footer. This reopens the consent banner where you can manage Necessary, Analytics, and Marketing categories.

You can also clear your browser's localStorage and cookies at any time through your browser settings. Clearing localStorage will remove your saved cart and cookie preference.

Most browsers also allow you to block cookies from third-party sites. See your browser's help documentation for guidance.

Changes to this policy

If our cookie use changes, we will update this policy and implement appropriate consent mechanisms before those changes take effect.

Questions

For any questions about cookies or data privacy, contact us at info@acanotes.com.