Privacy
Last updated 5 October 2026.
The short version
- If you scan a BackIn5 sign, we don't ask who you are, and we don't find out.
- Traders give us what we need to run their account, and nothing is sold, shared for advertising, or used to track anyone.
- There are no adverts, no tracking cookies and no third-party analytics on this site.
- Everything is deleted on a schedule, listed below.
- Want your account and everything in it gone? Here is how, and what happens.
- Questions, or want something deleted? Email hello@backin5.co.uk. A person reads it.
If you scanned a sign on a stall
We never ask for your name, number, email or anything else, and there is no account to create.
When you scan, we record that someone is waiting at that stall, when, and what the trader replied, so the page on your phone can show it. That record is linked to a random code, not to you. Our web server is configured not to record your IP address either. We keep it for 30 days.
Your browser keeps that random code while you wait, so that scanning again rejoins the same request instead of alerting the trader twice. It is removed when the request finishes. This is needed for the service you asked for, so it doesn't need a cookie banner.
If you choose to report a page, we keep what you tell us and what the page said at the time. We don't record who you are — no name, IP address or device.
If you registered interest
We keep your name, email, the market you chose and whatever else you told us, so we can reply and keep track of the conversation. It goes to our inbox and to this site's database, and nowhere else. We delete it a year after we were last in touch, or sooner if you ask. If you later open a trader account with the same email, we link the two.
Our basis for replying is our legitimate interest in answering you, which you started. We only email you about BackIn5 arriving at your market if you ticked the box that says so; we record when you ticked it and the words it said. Every such email has a link to stop them, and you can also just tell us.
If you asked about the iPhone app
We keep your email address, your name if you gave one, and the date — and nothing else, no market and no stall. It is used to confirm you are on the list and then to tell you when the iPhone app is ready, and then we are done. We do not add it to anything else, and it goes nowhere but this site's database. We delete it after a year, or sooner if you ask us.
If you wrote to us from the contact page
The form asks for your name, your email and what you wanted to say, and all three go straight into an email to our inbox. Nothing from it is stored on this site — there is no record of it here to look up, correct or delete, because none is made.
The email itself sits in our inbox like any other message you might have sent us, and we keep it while the conversation is live and for as long after as we would keep any correspondence. We use it to answer you and for nothing else: it is not added to any list, and you will not hear from us about anything you did not ask about. Our basis is our legitimate interest in answering you, which you started.
If you told us how the app behaved
The feedback page asks for one thing: what happened. Your stall, a way to reach you and what phone you were using are each optional, and plenty of useful notes arrive with all three left blank.
If you got to that page by tapping the link inside the app, the link also carries which version of the app you are running, so we can tell which build a fault came from. The page shows you that before you send anything, and a note typed straight into this website carries no version at all.
We keep what you wrote, along with whichever of those you chose to give, so we can fix the thing and tell you we have. If you leave an email address or a phone number it is used to reply to you about that note and nothing else — it is not added to any list, and you will not hear from us about anything you did not ask about. We delete the note 90 days after it is dealt with, or sooner if you ask.
If you're a trader
To run your account we hold your name, business name, email, the markets you trade at and any pitch label, your sign and logo, your waiting message and replies, who minds your stall, and whether your Stall Pass is running. Your phone gives us a notification address so we can alert you. We use all of this only to provide BackIn5 to you, under our agreement with you.
We also keep our own notes about your account — what we have agreed with you, anything that went wrong and what we did about it, and, while the app is still in testing, the Google account you install it with if that is not the address you sign in with. These are working notes for running your account, and you are entitled to see them: ask and we will send you what we hold, the notes included.
To keep your account safe, we record sign-ins. A request to sign in on the web records the IP address that asked and a short description of the browser (such as “Chrome on a Mac”), so we can look into it if you tell us a request wasn't you. We keep those records for 30 days.
Messages you write for customers are checked automatically for offensive language and links before they are saved. If one is refused, it isn't stored.
Other traders never see your details. Being registered at a market is used only to confirm that two traders can mind each other’s stalls; there is no list of who trades where.
How long we keep things
| What | How long |
|---|---|
| A visit to a stall page — the time, the trader and the replies | 30 days |
| Daily totals for each market, naming no one | 3 years |
| Your details if you registered interest | a year after we were last in touch |
| Your email and name, if you asked to hear when the iPhone app is ready | a year |
| A report about a page, once dealt with | a year |
| A note you sent us about the app, once dealt with | 90 days |
| What you sent from the contact page | Nothing is stored here — it becomes an email |
| A trader’s account, sign, replies and PitchMate arrangements | While the account is open |
| When a trader checked in and out of a market | 90 days after checking out |
| Web sign-in requests, including IP address and browser | 30 days |
| Emailed sign-in links | 7 days |
| A browser or phone sign-in, after signing out | 30 days |
| Our web server’s logs, which record no IP address | 14 days |
| Encrypted backups of all of the above | Up to 30 days, then overwritten |
Cookies and storage
If you sign in as a trader on the web, we set one cookie to keep you signed in. It lasts up to 7 days (a day for our own admin accounts) and ends when you sign out. That, and the waiting code described above, is all. Neither tracks you, neither is shared, and both are needed for something you asked for — which is why there is no cookie banner: there is nothing to ask your permission for.
Market metrics
Each day we count, for every market: how many traders were signed up and working, how many signs were scanned, how many got a reply and how quickly, how often a neighbour stepped in, and how often a shopper left. These totals don't name any trader or shopper, and they are only ever seen by BackIn5 — never by traders, markets or anyone else.
We use them only to understand how markets are doing, never to assess an individual trader. We keep them for 3 years.
Who we are
Andy Griffin, trading as BackIn5, is responsible for the personal information described here — in data protection terms, the “controller”. You can reach us at hello@backin5.co.uk, or by post at Unit 172917, PO Box 7169, Poole, BH15 9EL.
What we agree to provide, and what we do not promise, is set out in our terms.
Who else handles it
A small number of companies help us run the service. They handle information to do the job named, on our instructions — though a provider may also use limited technical information of its own accord, to prevent abuse and keep its own service running:
- A hosting provider, which runs this site and its database in the United Kingdom.
- An email service, which sends messages such as sign-in links.
- A notification service, which delivers alerts to traders' phones.
- An email host, for our inbox.
We don't list their names here, but we are not hiding them: ask us and we will tell you.
Some of these may process information in the United States. Where that happens, it is covered by safeguards recognised under UK law, such as the UK–US data bridge or standard contract terms.
We don't take payments yet. When we do, the payment provider will be added here first.
Your rights
You can ask to see what we hold about you, have it corrected or deleted, ask us to stop using it or to limit how we use it, and ask for a copy in a portable form. Email hello@backin5.co.uk. We'll reply within a month, and there is no charge.
Complaints
If you're unhappy with how we've handled your information, please tell us first so we can put it right. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint or on 0303 123 1113.
Changes
When something here changes, we'll update this page and the date at the top.