PRIVACY POLICY FOR DESIGNSPARK AND OKDO
DesignSpark and OKdo are part of RS Components Limited, when we say “we”, “our” or “us” in this policy we are referring to DesignSpark and OKdo.
We are committed to safeguarding your privacy online. Please read the following privacy policy to understand how your personal information will be treated when you use, purchase a product, register with us at www.rs-online.com/designspark (“the Website"), speak to a member of our customer services team, contribute to a community forum, otherwise interact with us including on any of applications on the Website.
We want to offer you the best possible online community experience. Additional functions, features, products or services are incorporated into the Website from time to time. As a result, there may be changes to this privacy policy at any time. Please remember to refer back regularly to review any amendments.
The Website is provided by RS Components Limited, who is the data controller of personal information collected via the Website. If you have any questions regarding this policy please email: support@designspark.com
What personal information do we collect?
We collect personal information from you when you provide it to us directly, or through your use of our website, for example:
Information you provide when you register on the Website. When you first register, we ask you to provide certain mandatory information, including your name, email address, a Username and Password, country of residence and job title. If you choose, you may provide further personal information such as your company name, address and notification preferences. You may also choose to post a picture of yourself alongside your profile (“Personal Profile”).
Information to enable you to post on our community forum on the Website. This may include your name, email address, IP address, your browser/device information (e.g. device ID, operating system, browser type), telephone number, home/delivery address, username, password, any images you upload (such as an avatar), and information cookies may collect (for further information on the cookies we use on the Website, see the Cookies section below). It also includes any information you post about yourself on the community forum on the Website. However, please be aware that your posts are visible to other registered users, so when posting, please bear in mind that any personal information you include in text/pictures could be seen by other registered users.
Any posts, information or content you upload to or create within the Website, or exchange with another user via any of our applications on the Website .
Records of your interactions with us, e.g. if you send email feedback to the Website, ask a technical question, report a problem or otherwise contact us. Please note that if you telephone us, we may record the call for compliance, quality and staff training purposes.
If you respond to one of our user surveys or enter into a competition.
If accessing the marketplace, as a seller, you may be asked additional information, including location, which can be seen by other users.
We may also record certain details of how you use the Website (including the marketplace and the community forum), such as the website you came from or are going to, your device's unique ID, your IP addresses and operating system, adverts you click on, products you search for, products you purchase, and information you download. Marketing emails we send you may also automatically detect whether you have received or opened the email or clicked on a link in our marketing materials. We use this information for our own performance measurement, but also so that we can tailor our promotional messages and advertising to you.
We sometimes also receive information about you from third parties. In particular, we may receive details about your role and the company you work for from business databases.
Some of the information above is mandatory for creating accounts and making purchases. Whether information is mandatory is indicated when you sign up or purchase our products or services. If you do not provide it, we may not be able to create an account for you or fulfil your purchases. Unless indicated all other information is optional but if you choose not to provide it any marketing you receive may be less relevant and your experience won’t be personalised.
How do we use your personal information and what is the legal basis for this use?
Depending on how you use the Website, your interactions with us and the permissions you give us, we will use your personal information for the following purposes and legal bases:
| Purpose | Type of Data | Legal Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Register you as a customer, create and administer your website account and homepage Fulfil your order and/or provide you with services |
Your contact details Information about your role and the company you work for Your delivery and billing information |
Performance of a contract with you To take steps, at your request, before entering into a contract with you. |
| Manage and respond to any queries or complaints you may have | Your contact details and any interactions with us | Legitimate interest (managing our business and providing services to our customers) |
| Personalise the Website to you and show you content we think you will be most interested in. | Your account information Your purchase history Your browsing activity |
Legitimate interest (promoting our products and services to our customers) |
| Invite you to take part in and manage customer surveys, reviews and other market research activities carried out by us and other organisations on our behalf. | Your contact details | Your consent Legitimate interest (managing our business, providing services to our clients, and improving our products and services) |
| Send you marketing messages and show you targeted advertising in relation to our products and services | Your account information Your purchase history Your browsing activity Your company details |
Your consent Legitimate interest (promoting our products and services) |
| Manage any competitions you enter. | Your contact details Your delivery information |
Legitimate interest (promoting our products and services via competitions and managing our competitions) |
| Improve and maintain the Website and monitor its usage. | Your browsing activity Your interactions with our website |
Your consent. Legitimate interest (operating our website and improving its operation) |
| Investigate fraud and, where necessary, to protect ourselves and third parties. | Your account information Your transaction history Your website usage |
Legitimate interest (preventing and detecting fraud or other wrongdoing) |
| Complete our financial reporting and disclosure obligations to our parent company, tax agencies and regulators. | Your transaction history Your delivery and billing information |
Legal obligation. |
| To administer the Website incentives and points. | Your account information Your transaction history Your website usage |
Your consent Legitimate interest (managing our business, providing services to our clients and improving our products and services) |
| To moderate use of the Website and the community forum and investigate any complaints. | Your website usage | Legitimate interest (preventing and detecting fraud or other wrongdoing) |
| RS Components Limited also provides RS Online. If you also have an account with RS Online, information collected about you via the Website may be combined with your information from RS Online. We do this to better personalise your experience on both websites and promote and advertise products we think may interest you (including as a result of your activity on the Website). | Your account information Your transaction history Your website usage |
Where we process personal information on the basis of a legitimate interest
Posting content on the Website
Please be aware that any information, content or material you choose to post or upload to the Website or the community forum will be visible to all other community members of DesignSpark and Okdo as well as staff at RS Group (for more details about the RS Group see ‘With whom do we share your personal information?’)
When you post content, other community members will also be able to see some elements of your Personal Profile, including username, country of residence, job title, company name, details of content created, experience level points (XP) and any associated badges.
As any information you post in these areas can be seen by others, you should always be careful when deciding to disclose personal information and ensure you have sought permission before posting personal information about other individuals.
We will automatically notify you each time another community member comments on content or on posts added by you to the Website or the community forum.
With whom do we share your personal information?
As explained in ‘Posting content on the Website’, any content you post on the Website will be available to all community members.
In addition, RS Components Limited needs to share information with certain selected third parties in order to operate our business:
RS Group: We are part of RS Components Limited which is a member of a world-wide group of companies, of which RS Group plc is the parent company. For full details of the RS Group of companies, please visit https://www.rsgroup.com/. RS shares personal information with other members of the RS Group as necessary to support our services and to improve our customer insights.
Service Providers: We provide information to our service providers acting on our behalf such as companies we use for our email campaigns, companies who provide payment solutions such as Visa, Mastercard and Paypal, companies that manage and maintain the Website. On occasion, we also share personal information with our professional and legal advisers.
Government Authorities: We may share personal information with law enforcement or other governmental authority, e.g. to report a fraud or in response to a lawful request.
Credit & Fraud Checking: We may share information with credit reference agencies and with third parties engaged in fraud prevention and detection.
Business or Asset Sale: In the event that we sell any business assets, the personal data of our customers may be disclosed to a potential buyer. In this event, we will make reasonable attempts to ensure the buyer will be bound by the terms of this Privacy Policy.
RS Group may also disclose personal information in cases where we believe the disclosure is necessary to protect the rights, property or personal safety of RS, our customers, employees or the public, or where we are otherwise legally permitted to do so.
The Website may contain links to websites operated by other third parties. If you click on these links, you will leave the Website, and your personal information will be processed in accordance with the privacy practices of the operators of those websites. You should always read the privacy policies of these websites
We may, from time to time, supply the owners or operators of third party sites from which it is possible to link to us, with information relating to the number of community members linking to the Website from their sites. You cannot be identified from this information.
Where do we store your personal information and how long for?
The RS Group is a global group of companies, and RS Group also uses service providers based around the world. Consequently, your personal information may be processed in countries outside of the UK and European Economic Area, including in countries where you may have fewer legal rights in respect of your information than you do under local law. If we transfer personal data outside the UK and European Economic Area we will, as required by applicable law, ensure that your privacy rights are adequately protected by appropriate safeguards. Please contact us if you would like more information about these safeguards.
We keep your personal information for as long as we need it for the purposes set out above, and so this period will vary depending on your interactions with us. Where we no longer have a need to keep your information, we will delete it. If you close your Website account, we will delete your account within a maximum of 30 days, unless we have a compelling reason to retain the information (for example, due to a legal dispute). Please note that where you unsubscribe from our marketing communications, we will keep a record of your email address to ensure we do not send you marketing emails in future.
What do we do to protect your personal information?
Your Personal Profile is password-protected so that you and only you have access to this personal information. You may edit your Personal Profile by using your Website user name and password and by clicking on the Account Details button on your home page navigation bar. We recommend that you do not divulge your password to anyone. We will never ask you for your password in an unsolicited phone call or in an unsolicited email.
How do we use your personal information for marketing?
Unless you opted out during your account registration and purchase or we requested your consent to marketing and you did not give it, RS Components Ltd may send you emails regarding DesignSpark, RS Online and OKdo. In addition, we may occasionally send you direct mail about products that we feel may be of interest to you.
It is likely that some or all of these marketing messages may be tailored to you, based on what we know about you, for example from your Personal Profile, your previous activity on the Website and/or your use of RS Online.
If you no longer want to hear from us, at any time you can:
Edit your preferences in your Personal Profile;
Unsubscribe from emails by clicking on the link in each email; or
Email us at support@designspark.com.
You may also see adverts from us or RS on third party websites, including on social media. These adverts may be tailored to you using cookies (which track your web activity, to enable us to serve adverts to customers who have visited the Website). Where you see an ad on social media, this may because we have engaged the social network to show adverts to our customers, or users who match the demographic profile of our customers. In some cases, this may involve sharing your email address with the social network. If you no longer want to see tailored ads you can change your cookie and privacy settings on your browser and these third-party websites.
How can I access, update, correct or delete my personal information?
You can view and edit your Personal Profile information at any time by clicking on the Account Details button on your home page navigation bar. You can also download any designs you have created in the Website in a portable format, so that you can use them outside the Website if you wish.
If you have problems accessing the Website, please visit https://www.rs-online.com/designspark/website-support-faqs
If you have a query regarding your personal information which you cannot resolve via your Personal Profile, please contact us using the details below. Under data protection law, you have the right to access (including in a machine-readable format), correct, request erasure, object to or restrict our processing, request the transfer (porting) to another company or third party of your personal data, and RS Components Ltd will comply with any requests to exercise these rights in accordance with applicable law. Please be aware, however, that there are a number of limitations to these rights, and there may be circumstances where we are not able to comply with your request.
Where we rely on your consent, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time, without affecting the lawfulness of processing based on consent before its withdrawal. We may however have other legal grounds for processing your data for other purposes, such as those set out above.
How can I opt out from DesignSpark and OKdo?
You have the right to opt out, at any time, from brands within the RS Group by submitting an opt out request on one or more of the RS Group websites you wish to opt out from. Your opt out will be specific to the brand you are interacting with (in this case, Design Spark and OKdo) and will not apply to other brands within the RS Group for example RS Online (for more details about the RS Group see ‘With whom do we share your personal information?’).
Cookies
We use cookies in accordance with our Cookie Policy. Please read this carefully for more information about why we use such cookies and how to change your cookie settings.
Contact us
Please contact us at support@designspark.com if you would like to find out more about any matters relating to this privacy policy.
If you have unresolved concerns, you have the right to complain to a data protection authority in the country that you reside in or, the country of your place of work or the country where the alleged infringement took place. In the UK, the data protection regulator is the Information Commissioner’s Office.
Updates to this Privacy Policy
We may change this privacy policy from time to time in order to reflect changes in the law, regulatory guidance or our data privacy practices in compliance with the law. When this happens and where required by law, we will provide you with a new or an updated notice detailing how the use of your personal information is changing and, if necessary, obtain your consent for the further processing.
This Privacy Policy was last updated in December 2024.