Cookies
Hive and your cookies
Your trust, privacy and data are important to us and we are committed to being transparent about our data practices and how we use and protect your data.
This notice provides more detail about the cookies and tracking technologies we use and should be read in conjunction with the information in our cookie preference centre where you can adjust your cookie settings.
Cookies Explained
A clear concise guide to cookies
We explain the basics of what cookies are and what they do, and talk about the different types of cookies you will find.
We also cover why cookies can be helpful to you and explain that you have the option to control which cookies your browser accepts
What are cookies?
A cookie is a piece of text that is stored on your computer or mobile device by your web browser.
What are cookies used for?
We use cookies to monitor how people use our website. They help us understand how our customers and potential customers use our websites so we can develop and improve their design, layout and provide more relevant content.
Cookies can also help in letting you navigate between pages more efficiently, by remembering your preferences and generally improving your browsing experience. In addition, they can also help ensure the marketing you see online is more relevant to you and your interests.
How they work
When you visit a website that uses cookies, cookies will be downloaded onto your computer or mobile device. Your web browser makes these cookies available to the website every time you visit, so it can recognise you and then tailor what you see on your device. Cookies may come from the website itself, advertising banners or other graphics that make up a webpage.
How long will cookies stay on my browsing device?
The length of time a cookie will stay on your browsing device depends on whether it is a ‘persistent’ or ‘session’ cookie. Session cookies will only stay on your device until you stop browsing. Persistent cookies stay on your browsing device after you have finished browsing until they expire or are deleted.
First and third-party cookies
‘First party cookies’ are cookies (that belong to us) that we place on your browsing device. ‘Third-party cookies’ are cookies that our partner place on your browsing device when you visit our website.
Third parties setting cookies from our website will be providing a service to us or constitute a function of the website. We do not always have control of how third party cookies are used. You should check the third party’s website for more information on how they use cookies.
How we use cookies
The cookies used on our websites are classified based on the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) guide for cookie categories. There are four broad groups of cookies.
Cookies which are essential so you can move around and use our websites - Strictly necessary.
Collect information about how you use our website. - Performance.
Cookies which remember choices you make and allow us to provide enhanced features - Functional.
Cookies which are placed by third party advertising networks and collect information about your browsing habits - Targeting.
To find our more about these types of cookies see our cookie policy.
The benefits of cookies
By using cookies, a site ‘knows’ that you have been there before, and in some cases, tailors web content to take account of this based on what you have looked at or done previously. For instance, it can be helpful to vary content according to whether this is your first ever visit to a site – or if you are a regular website visitor.
Some cookies are more sophisticated. They might record how long you spend on each page on a site, what links you click, even your preferences for page layouts and colour schemes. They can also be used to store data on what is in your ‘shopping cart’, adding items as you click.
Concerns about cookies
There is nothing secret about the information gathered by cookies, but you may be concerned about what your web behaviour is being used for. For transparency we provide a list of our third party tracking cookies with information about how to opt out of them if you wish in our cookies section.
Control your cookies
Almost all web browsers allow you the option to block cookies. That means you can block all cookies or you can choose which ones to accept. This can however make browsing difficult – some sites do not work or work less well with cookies turned off. For instructions on how to manage your cookie privacy setting in your browser see our section on cookie browser options.
Our Cookie Policy
An overview of the different types of cookies we use on our websites.
You should be aware that when you use our websites, mobile sites, or mobile apps, we may collect information by using ‘cookies’. Please note when you create or login to an online account you agree to our use of cookies as described in this cookie policy section.
We and our third party partners may set a range of cookies when you visit our website. The types of cookies used on our site can generally be put into one of the following categories: strictly necessary, performance, functionality and targeting. These categories are explained in more detail below.
For a list of the cookies we use on our websites please see our cookies page.
Essential for making our site work properly. (Strictly Necessary)
These cookies are essential to make our site work. They let you move around the website and use its essential features. Without these cookies, services that are necessary for you to be able to use our site such as accessing secure areas cannot be provided. These cookies don't gather any information about you that could be used for marketing or remembering where you've been on the internet.
We use these Strictly Necessary cookies to:
Remember things like information you've entered on order forms when you navigate to different pages in a single web browser session.
Remember the products and services you ordered when you get to the checkout page.
Identify you as being logged in to our website.
Make sure you connect to the right service on our website when we make any changes to the way the website works.
Cookies we have defined as 'Strictly Necessary' cookies will not be used to:
Gather information that could be used to advertise products or services to you.
Remember your preferences or username beyond your current visit.
Accepting these cookies is a condition of using the website, so if you prevent these cookies we can’t guarantee your security or predict how our website will perform during your visit.
Collect information about how you use our website. (Performance)
‘Performance’ cookies collect information about how you use our website, e.g. which pages you visit, how often and if you experience any errors. These cookies don’t collect any information that could identify you – all the information collected is anonymous and is only used to help us improve how our website works, understand what interests our users and measure how effective our advertising is.
We use performance cookies to:
Provide statistics on how our website is used.
See how effective our adverts are (we don't use this information to target adverts to you when you visit other websites).
Provide feedback to partners that one of our visitors also visited their website. This can include details of any products bought. This lets our partners improve their website, but we don't allow our partners to reuse this information for further advertising.
Help us improve the website by measuring any errors that occur.
Test different designs of our website.
Using our site indicates that you accept the use of 'Performance' cookies. Accepting these cookies is a condition of using the website, so if you prevent them we cannot guarantee how our site will perform for you.
Used to provide services or to remember settings to improve your visit. (Functionality)
'Functionality' cookies are used to provide services or to remember settings to improve your visit.
We use functionality cookies to:
Remember settings you've applied such as layout, text size, preferences and colours.
Remember if we've already asked you if you want to fill in a survey.
Provide proactive live chat sessions to offer you support.
Show you when you're logged in to the website.
Share information with partners to provide a service on our website. The information shared is only to be used to provide the service, product or function and not for any other purpose.
Cookies defined as 'Functionality' will not be used to target you with adverts on other websites.
Some of these cookies are managed for us by third parties – where this is the case we don’t allow the third party to use the cookies for any purpose other than those listed above.
Preventing these cookies may mean we can't offer you some services, and will reduce the support we can offer you. It's also possible that preventing these cookie stops us remembering that you didn't want a specific service.
Are linked to services provided by third parties. (Targeting)
'Targeting' cookies are linked to services provided by third parties, such as 'Like' buttons and 'Share' buttons. The third party provides these services in return for recognising that you have visited our website.
We use 'Targeting' cookies to:
Link to social networks like Facebook, who may subsequently use information about your visit to target advertising to you on other websites.
Provide advertising agencies with information on your visit so that they can present you with adverts that you may be interested in.
Preventing these cookies may stop us from offering you some services. All of these cookies are managed by third parties, and use the third parties' own tools to prevent these cookies.
Disabling cookies
If you do not want us to use cookies in your browser, you can remove cookies from your computer's hard drive, or set your browser to block cookies or to send a warning notice before a cookie is stored on your computer. However, please note that you may not be able to use many of the services on our website or other websites without cookies. For more information see our Cookie browser options section.
The advertising industry in the EU has also developed a scheme to help you opt-out of receiving cookies used for advertising purposes. You can find out more about the EU scheme from www.youronlinechoices.eu.
Any questions?
If you have any questions about our use of cookies, please feel free to contact us on help@hivehome.com.
Our cookies
A list of the types of cookies we use on our website.
Here is a list of cookies we use most frequently use on our website with an explanation of what they do including a link to opt out from being tracked by certain cookies (where this is an available function).
Strictly necessary
These cookies are essential for you to move around and use the features of our websites.
Hivehome.comOn our website we use cookies to check you have logged into your account and to record that you have asked the site to remember your login details.
Opt out detailsIf you wish to opt out of these cookies you will need to change your browser settings. Cookie browser options
Performance
These cookies collect information about how you use our websites.
Google AnalyticsGoogle Analytics service offered by Google that generates detailed statistics about the visitors to a website. Their cookies are used to store details how long a visitor spends on a website and where they came from.
Opt out detailsThe Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on is available for Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari and Opera. Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on
Adobe AnalyticsAdobe Analytics generates detailed statistics about the visitors to a website. Their cookies are used to store details how long a visitor spends on a website, what they do during their visit and where they came from.
Opt out detailsIf you wish to opt out of these cookies you will need to change your browser settings. Cookie browser options
QuBit OpenTagQuBit OpenTag is a JavaScript tag management tool that allows us to quickly and easily upload and make changes to the tags on our webpages. Cookies are used to capture details of which pages visitors browse.
Opt out detailsFor opt out information visit opentag.qubitproducts.com.
OptimizelyOptimizely cookies allow us to identify which online content and offers are most relevant to its visitors and which location on the page is the best place for them to sit. We sometimes show different versions of the page to different customers, so we can decide which page layout is best. This means we can show relevant material in a position that the customer is most likely to see it.
Opt out detailsFor opt out information visit https://www.optimizely.com/opt_out.
SessionCamSessionCam is a solution for recording and then replaying what visitors are doing on each page of a website. We use it to improve the usability of our website.
Opt out detailsIf you wish to opt out of these cookies you will need to change your browser settings. Cookie browser options
Functional
These cookies allow us to remember choices you make and provide enhanced features.
Hivehome.comWe use cookies to monitor how people use our website. They help us understand how our customers and potential customers use our websites so we can develop and improve their design, layout and provide more relevant content.
Opt out detailsIf you wish to opt out of these cookies you will need to change your browser settings. Cookie browser options
TwitterTwitter sets cookies on our to better understand how you interact with their service and they use a session cookie so you don't need to enter your login details for every tweet you send.
Opt out detailsNo opt out available. For further details see Twitter privacy policy
YouTubeWe use a YouTube embedded player for which YouTube uses cookies to collect details about video usage.
Opt out detailsNo opt out available. For further details see Google privacy policy
Targeting cookies
These cookies are placed by third party advertising networks and collect information about your browsing habits.
DoubleClickDoubleClick uses cookies to improve advertising. Some common applications are to target advertising based on what’s relevant to a user, to improve reporting on campaign performance and to avoid showing ads that the user has already seen.
DoubleClick sends a cookie to the browser after any impression, click or other activity that results in a call to the DoubleClick server. If the browser accepts the cookie, the cookie is stored on the browser.
Opt out detailsFor further details see Google’s ad settings: https://www.google.com/settings/u/0/ads/authenticated?hl=en
This list was last updated June 2017
Cookie browser options
Changing your browser cookie settings
The majority of web browsers allow you to see what cookies you have, and give you the option to accept, delete or block them.
On this page we give you the basics of how to change your setting in Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari and give you links to more detailed help.
Cookie options in browsers
Most browsers give you a range of options to help you manage your cookies. Each browser's settings are slightly different but typically you can.
- View your cookies
- Allow all cookies
- Delete all or individual cookies
- Delete all cookies when you close your browser
- Block third party cookies
If you decide to block third party cookies, while most will be the tracking cookies some might be adding useful functionality so it could impact on your browsing experience.
It is also important to know that if you set the option to delete all cookies when you close your browser any preferences, including any opt outs you have set will be deleted.
Instructions by browser
While there are differences across browser versions and operating systems such as Windows, Linux and Mac OS the instructions provide should help you find your cookie settings. For more in-depth advice we have provided links to more detailed instructions.
Google Chrome- Click the three-lines (hamburger) icon on the browser toolbar.
- Select Settings
- Click the Under the Hood tab
- Select Content Settings in the Privacy section.
- Click the Cookies tab in the Content Settings dialog that appears.
- Choose your preferred settings.
- Select the Close button when you've finished.
Google Chrome allows all cookies by default, but you can restrict the behaviour of first-party and third-party cookies or even block them completely. For more detailed help on changing settings see Manage Cookies in Chrome.
Firefox 3+ for Windows- From the Tools menu select Options or in Linux from the Edit menu select Preferences.
- Select the Privacy tab.
- Select Cookies if the option is available otherwise select the option 'Use custom settings for history' from Firefox: drop down.
- Choose your preferred settings.
- Choose Preferences from the Firefox menu or the Edit menu depending on which version you have.
- Select the Privacy tab.
- Select Cookies if the option is available otherwise select the option 'Use custom settings for history' from Firefox: drop down.
- Choose your preferred settings.
You can configure which sites are allowed to set cookies, how long to keep them for, and view and manage your existing cookies.For more detailed help on changing settings see Enabling and disabling cookies in Firefox.
Internet Explorer 7+- From the Tools menu choose Internet Options.
- Select the Privacy tab.
- Move the slider to choose your preferred setting between Block All Cookies and Accept All Cookies.
- For more detailed cookie settings click on Advanced, check the 'Override cookie handling' checkbox and modify the settings to your preference.
For more detailed instructions see How to Set and Customise Cookies Settings in Internet Explorer.
Safari 4+- From the Safari menu choose Preferences.
- Select the Privacy tab.
- Choose your preferred settings.
For more detailed instructions see Managing cookies in Safari.
Mobile browsers
Below are links for instructions for setting your cookie preferences in the most popular mobile phone browsers.