What a cookie is
A cookie is a small text file that a website asks your browser to keep. This website uses them only to make the cart, the checkout and the chat work. They are set by us, on our own domain.
The cookies we set
| Cookie | What it does | How long it lasts | When it is set |
|---|---|---|---|
PHPSESSIDStrictly necessary |
Holds your cart and your progress through checkout, so the courses you chose are still there on the next page. | Until you close your browser. | The first time you add a course to your cart or open the checkout. Visitors who only browse do not get it. |
supchat_vStrictly necessary |
A random identifier that connects you to your own chat conversation, so you see our replies and nobody else’s. | 12 months. | The first time you send a message in the chat. Opening the chat does not set it. |
buyerOptional, with your consent |
Remembers the details you typed at checkout (name, email, address and the rest), so the form is filled in next time. It is read by our server when the form is displayed, not by scripts. | 180 days. | Only if you tick “remember my details” and then go to pay. Going to pay with the box unticked deletes it. |
That is the complete list. We set no analytics cookies, no advertising cookies and no cookies for tracking you across other websites.
Why there is no cookie banner
The law lets a website set cookies that are strictly necessary for something you have asked for, such as keeping a cart together or delivering a chat message, without asking first. The one cookie that is not strictly necessary, buyer, is off unless you switch it on yourself with a tick box that is unticked by default. Because of that, we have nothing to ask you about on arrival, so there is no banner to dismiss.
Files fetched from other servers
Cookies are not the only thing a browser exchanges with a website. To draw these pages, your browser also fetches three kinds of file from content delivery networks: the typefaces, the photographs, and the small payment-method icons in the footer. Those networks do not set cookies for us, but any server your browser contacts receives your IP address and some browser details, as it must in order to send the file back. We do not send them anything else. The Privacy Policy lists them among the organisations that receive information.
Controlling cookies yourself
Every browser lets you see, block and delete cookies; look under its privacy or site settings. If you block PHPSESSID, the cart and checkout cannot work, because there is nowhere to keep your basket between pages. Deleting supchat_v means the chat will no longer show your earlier conversation to you, though we still hold it for the period in the Privacy Policy, and you can ask us to delete it. Deleting buyer simply means the checkout form starts empty again.
If this changes
If we ever add a cookie, we will put it in the table, with its date, before it is set. If it is not strictly necessary, we will ask you first.