Privacy Policy

Who we are

Smith & Anders runs smithundanders.de. We build custom broker websites for independent agents in Germany and the UK. For data protection questions, email hello@smithundanders.de.

We act as the data controller for personal data collected through this marketing site.

What we collect

• Contact details you send us: name, email address, and enquiry topic from the contact form.
• When you submit the contact form, we also process your IP address briefly to prevent abuse (rate limiting).
• Email content if you write to us directly.
• Technical data from your browser and device when you load pages: IP address, browser type, operating system, and referrer. Our hosting provider generates server logs.
• Cookie and storage data described in our cookie policy, including your consent choice and language preference.
• AI chat: message content you send in the website chat widget, plus a temporary session identifier in your browser.
• If you opt in to analytics: aggregated page views and routes (Vercel Web Analytics) and anonymous performance metrics such as Core Web Vitals, device type, and country (Vercel Speed Insights). Neither tool stores your IP address or sets persistent cookies in our configuration.

Why we use your data

• To reply to demo requests and sales enquiries (legal basis: steps at your request before a contract, UK GDPR Art. 6(1)(b); or consent where you tick the form checkbox).
• To deliver contact form submissions to our team by email through Resend, Inc. (same legal bases as above).
• To protect the contact form from abuse (legal basis: legitimate interests in security and service integrity, Art. 6(1)(f)).
• To operate and secure the website (legal basis: legitimate interests in running a secure site, Art. 6(1)(f)).
• To measure site use if you opt in to analytics cookies (legal basis: consent, Art. 6(1)(a) and UK PECR Reg. 6). We use Vercel Web Analytics for page views and Vercel Speed Insights for performance metrics.
• To answer questions through the AI chat widget (legal basis: consent, Art. 6(1)(a); given in the chat before your first message).
• To protect the AI chat from abuse (legal basis: legitimate interests in security, Art. 6(1)(f); brief IP processing for rate limiting).

Cookies

Non-essential cookies and similar storage stay off until you choose otherwise. See our cookie policy for names, purposes, and retention. You can change your choice any time through Cookie settings in the site footer.

AI chat on this site

When you use the chat assistant, we route your messages through our website to an AI service on a server we operate in Germany (Hostinger VPS). We use OpenRouteras a sub-processor for text generation. We do not permanently store chat content on the website; session data stays in your browser's sessionStorage until you close the tab. To prevent abuse we briefly process your IP address for rate limiting on Vercel and in VPS server logs where applicable.

You can withdraw consent by closing the tab or email hello@smithundanders.de to request deletion of ongoing conversations.

Who receives your data

We use infrastructure providers to host the site. For the contact form we use Resend, Inc. (United States) to send enquiry notifications by email. Resend processes the form fields you submit (name, email, interest, and language) and may process delivery metadata such as timestamps and IP addresses in email content or service logs. Resend acts only on our instructions as a processor under a data processing agreement. For the AI chat we use Hostinger (EU hosting) and OpenRouter (inference). If you opt in to analytics, we use Vercel Inc. for Web Analytics and Speed Insights. We do not sell your personal data.

International transfers

Hosting and email providers may process data in the UK, EEA, or other countries. Resend, Inc. is established in the United States. If you opt in to analytics, Vercel Inc. (United States) processes aggregated usage and performance data on our behalf as a processor under a data processing agreement. Where data leaves the UK or EEA without an adequacy decision, we rely on appropriate safeguards such as the UK IDTA or EU Standard Contractual Clauses, and we assess whether supplementary measures are needed for the transfer.

Retention

• Enquiry emails: kept while we handle your request, then deleted unless we need a record for a contract or legal claim.
• Contact form rate-limit data (IP address): held in server memory for up to 15 minutes, then discarded.
• AI chat rate-limit data (IP address): held in server memory for up to 15 minutes, then discarded.
• Chat session in the browser (sessionStorage): until you close the tab.
• Resend delivery logs: retained by Resend according to their policy for email delivery and troubleshooting.
• Server logs: typically 30–90 days, depending on the host.
• Cookie consent records: 12 months, then we ask again.
• Vercel Web Analytics and Speed Insights: aggregated data retained by Vercel according to their analytics retention settings (typically up to 24 months). No analytics data is collected if you decline consent.

Your rights

Under UK GDPR you can ask for access, correction, deletion, restriction, portability, or object to processing based on legitimate interests. You can withdraw consent at any time without affecting earlier processing. Contact hello@smithundanders.de. We respond within one month.

Complaints

You can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). If you are in the EU, you may also contact your local supervisory authority. Our German privacy notice is at Datenschutz.

Changes

We update this page when our processing changes. Check the date at the top when you visit.