Privacy Policy
As of October 14, 2026
In this Privacy Policy, you will learn what personal data we process when you visit our website and place an order in our online store, how we use this data, and what rights you have. Personal data refers to any information that can be used to identify you personally, such as your name, address, email address, or IP address.
1. Data Controller
The entity responsible for data processing on this website is the
Franz Güde GmbH
Katternberger Straße 175
42655 Solingen
Phone: 0212 / 81 61 66
Email: info@guede-solingen.de
If you have any questions about data protection or would like to exercise one of your rights, you can reach us at any time using the contact information provided.
2. General Information on Data Processing
Legal Basis
We process your data in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Telecommunications and Digital Services Data Protection Act (TDDDG). We specify the legal basis for each processing activity. In most cases, this is your consent (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR), the performance of a contract or precontractual measures (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR), a legal obligation (Art. 6(1)(c) GDPR), or our legitimate interest (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR). If we store or access information on your device—for example, using cookies—Section 25 of the TDDDG also applies. We do this only with your consent (Section 25(1) TDDDG), unless it is absolutely necessary for a service you have requested (Section 25(2)(2) TDDDG).
Retention period
We store personal data only for as long as is necessary for the respective purpose or as required by a statutory retention obligation. For order and invoice data, the retention periods under commercial and tax law of six, eight, or ten years apply (Section 257 of the German Commercial Code (HGB), Section 147 of the German Fiscal Code (AO)), after which we delete the data. If you revoke your consent, we will delete the data based on that consent, unless another legal basis permits continued storage. You can find more detailed information under the individual processing activities.
Recipients and Data Processors
To operate the website and the online store, we use service providers who process data on our behalf and in accordance with our instructions (Art. 28 GDPR), such as our web hosting provider and our email service provider. We have entered into data processing agreements with these service providers. Other recipients process the data on their own responsibility, such as payment service providers and shipping companies, to whom we only disclose data to the extent necessary for your order. We list the individual recipients in the following sections.
Transfer to Third Countries
Some of the service providers we use are based in the U.S. or also process data there. On July 10, 2023, the European Commission issued an adequacy decision for the U.S.—the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework—which applies to companies certified under this framework. We base the transfer of data to certified companies on this decision (Art. 45 GDPR). If a provider is not certified, we base the transfer on the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses (Art. 46(2)(c) GDPR), a copy of which you can obtain from us upon request.
3. Your Rights
You have the following rights with respect to us:
- the right to access the data we have stored about you (Art. 15 of the GDPR),
- the right to have inaccurate data corrected (Art. 16 of the GDPR),
- the right to erasure (Art. 17 of the GDPR),
- the right to restriction of processing (Art. 18 of the GDPR),
- the right to data portability (Art. 20 of the GDPR) and
- the right to object to processing (Art. 21 of the GDPR).
You may withdraw your consent at any time with future effect (Art. 7(3) of the GDPR), although the processing remains lawful until such withdrawal. You can change or withdraw the consents you have provided in our cookie banner via the cookie settings.
In addition, you may file a complaint with any data protection supervisory authority (Art. 77 GDPR), in particular with the authority in the Member State where you reside. The authority responsible for us is the State Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information of North Rhine-Westphalia, Kavalleriestraße 2–4, 40213 Düsseldorf, www.ldi.nrw.de.
We do not make automated decisions as defined in Article 22 of the GDPR.
Right to Object Under Article 21 of the GDPR
If we process your data based on our legitimate interest (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR), you may object to this processing at any time for reasons arising from your particular situation. We will then no longer process the data unless we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds for the processing that override your interests, rights, and freedoms, or the processing is necessary for the establishment, exercise, or defense of legal claims.
If we process your data for direct marketing purposes, you may object to this processing at any time without providing a reason. We will then no longer use your data for this purpose. To object, simply send an email to info@guede-solingen.de.
4. Hosting and Server Log Files
Our website is hosted on a server operated by Hetzner Online GmbH, Industriestraße 25, 91710 Gunzenhausen, in a data center in Germany. Hetzner processes the data exclusively on our behalf.
Every time you visit our website, the server automatically stores the information transmitted by your browser in what are known as server log files. This includes your IP address, the date and time of access, the page accessed, the status code, the amount of data transferred, the previously visited page, as well as your browser and operating system. We need this data to deliver the website, ensure its stable and secure operation, and defend against attacks, which includes automatically blocking IP addresses from which attacks originate for a limited period of time. The legal basis for this is Article 6(1)(f) of the GDPR. The log files are deleted after ten days.
All data transmitted between your browser and our server is encrypted using TLS. You can recognize the encrypted connection by the "https://" in the address bar and the lock icon in your browser.
5. Cookies and Consent Management
Our website uses cookies and similar technologies, such as your browser’s local storage. Cookies are small text files that your browser stores on your device. Some of these are technically necessary for the website and online store to function, for example, for the shopping cart, checkout, language settings, forms, and saving your cookie preferences. We set these cookies in accordance with Section 25(2)(2) of the TDDDG and Article 6(1)(b) and (f) of the GDPR.
We use all other cookies and services—in particular those for statistics, marketing, and external media—only if you have given your consent (Section 25(1) TDDDG, Article 6(1)(a) GDPR). An exception applies to the limited tracking by Google Ads without cookies, which we describe in Section 16. We obtain your consent using the Borlabs Cookie consent tool, which runs on our own server. Borlabs Cookie stores your selection in a cookie so that we do not have to ask you again on every visit, and logs it with a random identifier so that we can verify your consent (Art. 6(1)(c) in conjunction with Art. 7(1) of the GDPR). In the cookie settings, you will find a list of all services used, along with their cookies and storage durations, and you can change or revoke your selections there at any time.
6. Orders in Our Online Store
When you place an order with us, we process the information you provide at checkout. This includes your name, billing and shipping addresses, email address, phone number (if provided), company name, the items ordered, the selected payment and shipping methods, and, if applicable, your VAT ID number.
We use this data to conclude and fulfill the sales contract. We use it to confirm your order, ship the goods, process the payment, issue the invoice, and handle inquiries, complaints, or cancellations. The legal basis is Article 6(1)(b) of the GDPR. The required fields at checkout are marked, and we cannot conclude the contract without this information. After the contract has been fulfilled, we retain the data for as long as required by law (Article 6(1)(c) of the GDPR in conjunction with Section 257 of the German Commercial Code (HGB) and Section 147 of the German Fiscal Code (AO)).
You can place an order with us without creating a customer account. We will send you the order confirmation and other emails regarding your order via our email service, Brevo (see Section 9).
If you are a business customer and provide a VAT identification number, we will automatically verify its validity through the European Commission’s VAT Information Exchange System (MIAS) and submit the number to the Commission for that purpose. The legal basis for this is Article 6(1)(b) and (c) of the GDPR.
7. Payment Processing
Depending on the payment method you select, we will share the information necessary for the payment with the respective payment service provider, including, in particular, your name, address, email address, the invoice amount, and the order number. The payment service providers process this information on their own responsibility, including to prevent fraud and to fulfill their legal obligations, such as those related to anti-money laundering. You enter your card information directly with the payment service provider, so we do not receive it. The legal basis for this transfer is Article 6(1)(b) of the GDPR. You can find out how the providers process the data beyond this in their privacy policies.
Bank Transfer
If you pay by bank transfer, our bank will provide us with your name, your account information, the amount, and the payment description.
PayPal
If you pay with PayPal or via PayPal using a credit card, the payment will be processed by PayPal (Europe) S.à r.l. et Cie, S.C.A., 22–24 Boulevard Royal, 2449 Luxembourg. PayPal's privacy policy is available at https://www.paypal.com/de/legalhub/privacy-full.
Mollie
We process payments made via credit card, Apple Pay, Klarna, SEPA direct debit, Sofortüberweisung, iDEAL | Wero, eps, and Przelewy24 through Mollie B.V., Keizersgracht 126, 1015 CW Amsterdam, Netherlands. Depending on the payment method, Mollie forwards the data to the relevant parties, such as card organizations, banks, Apple, or Klarna. You can find Mollie’s privacy policy at https://www.mollie.com/de/privacy.
Klarna
When you pay with Klarna, Klarna Bank AB (publ), Sveavägen 46, 111 34 Stockholm, Sweden, receives your contact and order information via Mollie. Klarna is solely responsible for verifying your identity and, if necessary, your creditworthiness; it may obtain information from credit bureaus for this purpose and will then determine which payment methods to offer you. You can find Klarna’s privacy policy at https://www.klarna.com/de/datenschutz/.
Apple Pay
When you pay with Apple Pay, Apple Distribution International Ltd., Hollyhill Industrial Estate, Hollyhill, Cork, Ireland, processes the payment information on your device and when you authorize the payment. Apple's privacy policy is available at https://www.apple.com/de/legal/privacy/.
8. Shipping
In order to deliver your order, we share your name and shipping address with the shipping company we’ve contracted, which is typically United Parcel Service Deutschland S.à r.l. & Co. OHG, Görlitzer Straße 1, 41460 Neuss. The legal basis for this is Article 6(1)(b) of the GDPR. If you pick up your order from us at Solingen , we will not share any data with a shipping company.
9. Sending Emails via Brevo
We send emails that our store sends automatically—such as order confirmations, shipping notifications, and form confirmations—via the Brevo service provided by Sendinblue SAS, 17 rue de Salneuve, 75017 Paris, France. Brevo processes your email address, your name, and the content of the message on our behalf for this purpose. The legal basis is Article 6(1)(b) of the GDPR; for forms not related to an order, the legal basis is Article 6(1)(f) of the GDPR. We also use Brevo for our newsletter and to request reviews (see Sections 12 and 13). Brevo’s privacy policy can be found at https://www.brevo.com/de/legal/privacypolicy/.
10. Contact
If you contact us by email, phone, or through our contact form, we will process your information in order to respond to your inquiry. Inquiries submitted via the contact form are sent to us by email and are also stored in our website’s database. To prevent automated abuse of the form, it includes a security check that runs on our own server. The legal basis is Article 6(1)(b) of the GDPR if your inquiry relates to a contract or an order, and otherwise our legitimate interest in responding to your inquiry (Article 6(1)(f) of the GDPR). We delete the data as soon as your request has been resolved and there are no legal retention requirements to the contrary. We delete the entries stored in the contact form no later than twelve months after receipt.
11. Cancellation via Our Website
On the “Cancel Contract” page, you can submit a request to cancel a contract online. In doing so, we process your name, your email address, your order details, your message, and the date and time of receipt, and we will confirm receipt via email. The legal basis for this is Article 6(1)(c) of the GDPR in conjunction with Section 356a of the German Civil Code (BGB) and Article 6(1)(b) of the GDPR. To protect against misuse, we also store your IP address in a truncated form (Article 6(1)(f) of the GDPR). We retain the entry in our website’s database for 36 months so that we can verify when your withdrawal was received, and we automatically delete it thereafter. We retain the withdrawal notice itself as business correspondence for six years (Article 6(1)(c) of the GDPR in conjunction with Section 257 of the German Commercial Code (HGB)).
12th Newsletter
If you subscribe to our newsletter—either via the sign-up form or by checking the box at checkout—we’ll send you emails about new knife collections, limited editions, stories from our workshop at Solingen , and special promotions. To sign up, we only need your email address; all other information is optional. When you sign up via the form, we use the double opt-in process, in which you’ll receive an email with a confirmation link and will only be added to the mailing list after you’ve confirmed your subscription. To verify your registration, we store the time of registration and confirmation, as well as your IP address. We retain this verification data on the basis of Article 6(1)(c) in conjunction with Article 7(1) of the GDPR for up to three years after you unsubscribe. If you sign up at checkout, we store your consent along with your order.
The legal basis is your consent (Art. 6(1)(a) of the GDPR). You can unsubscribe from the newsletter at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in each issue or by sending us an email. We will then remove your email address from the mailing list. To ensure you do not receive any further marketing communications from us, we may add you to a suppression list (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR).
We send the newsletter via Brevo (see Section 9). Brevo tracks on our behalf whether a newsletter has been opened and which links within it have been clicked. To do this, the emails contain a small tracking pixel and personalized links. This tracking is based on your consent to receive the newsletter; if you do not wish to receive it, please unsubscribe from the newsletter.
13. Request for a Review
A few days after you place your order, we will send you a one-time email asking you to leave a review. To do this, we will share your email address, first and last name, and order number with Brevo. The legal basis for this is our legitimate interest in receiving feedback on our products (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR). You can object to this use of your email address at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in the email or by sending a message to info@guede-solingen.de. Brevo provides the form through which you can subsequently submit your review to us. We process the information you provide in that form in order to send you the thank-you gift we’ve offered (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR).
14. Waiting List for Sold-Out Products
If a product is sold out, you can add yourself to the waiting list using your email address. You will then receive an email with a confirmation link, and your entry will become active only after you confirm it. As soon as the product is back in stock, we will notify you once via email. The legal basis for this is your consent (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR). We delete unconfirmed entries after 14 days, and you can unsubscribe at any time using the link in our emails.
15. AI Knife Advisor
Our knife advisor will suggest knives that match your preferences based on your answers. To generate the recommendation, we transmit your answers and any optional notes you provide to the AI service Claude, operated by Anthropic Ireland, Limited, Dublin, Ireland. Anthropic processes the data on our behalf, does not use it to train its models, and may also process it in the United States (see Section 2). We do not transmit your name, contact information, or IP address, and we ask that you refrain from entering any personal data in the free-text field. We use the advisor only after you have given your consent within the advisor (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR).
We store the consultation without names, contact information, or IP addresses in order to improve the quality of our recommendations. After a consultation, the consultant sets a cookie containing a consultation number, which remains stored for 30 days. If you place an order during this time, we link the consultation to your order and can thus determine whether the consultation helped you with your purchase. Once this link is established, the consultation is associated with your order and is therefore no longer anonymous. We delete the consultation logs as soon as we no longer need them to improve our recommendations. This is also done based on your consent provided during the consultation (Section 25(1) TDDDG, Article 6(1)(a) GDPR).
16. Statistics and Marketing with Your Consent
We use the following services only if you have consented to the “Statistics” or “Marketing” categories in the cookie banner (Section 25(1) TDDDG, Article 6(1)(a) GDPR). One exception is Google Ads. Even without your consent, limited tracking without cookies takes place there, as described under “Google Ads.” You can revoke your consent at any time in the cookie settings.
Google Analytics
We use Google Analytics 4 to analyze how our website is used—for example, which pages are visited, how long a visit lasts, and how visitors find their way to our site. The provider is Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland, which processes the data on our behalf. To do this, Google Analytics sets cookies that recognize your browser and collects information about your device, your browser, and your approximate region. Google Analytics 4 does not store IP addresses. The data may also be transferred to Google LLC in the United States. Google stores the analytics data for a maximum of 14 months. You can find Google’s privacy policy at https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=de.
Google Ads
We run ads through Google Ads and track whether visitors place an order with us after clicking on an ad. To do this, Google sets cookies and tracks your page views, as well as the order value and order number when you complete an order. In addition, we send your email address to Google as a hash value—that is, as a non-reversible checksum—so that Google can associate the order with an ad click (enhanced conversions). Google may also use your visits to our website to show you relevant ads at a later time. The provider is Google Ireland Limited. The data may also be transferred to Google LLC in the United States. Google’s privacy policy can be found at https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=de.
If you did not give your consent in the cookie banner or have not yet made a decision, our website will still load the Google Ads script, but in Google’s restricted consent mode (Consent Mode). Google will then not set any cookies, will not read any existing cookies, and will not receive your email address or any other identifier that could be used to recognize you. The information transmitted includes the fact that a page was viewed or an order was completed; in the case of an order, this includes the order value, currency, and order number. Additionally, the data includes the address of the page viewed, the previously visited page, information about your browser, your consent status, a random number for each page view, and—for technical reasons—your IP address. According to Google, it uses this information solely to estimate the total number of orders attributable to ads and does not use it to identify or track individual users across websites. Google is solely responsible for the processing of this data in Google Ads. The legal basis is our legitimate interest in measuring the success of our advertising (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR). You may object to this processing at any time pursuant to Art. 21 GDPR, as described in Section 3. Technically, the surest way to prevent this data transmission is to block Google scripts in your browser, for example, using an ad blocker.
Meta-Pixel and Conversions API
We use the Meta Pixel from Meta Platforms Ireland Limited, Merrion Road, Dublin 4, D04 X2K5, Ireland, to measure the success of our advertising on Facebook and Instagram and to show you relevant ads there. The Pixel tracks which pages and products you view, whether you add items to your shopping cart, and whether you place an order, and uses cookies to do so. The PixelYourSite plugin, which we use to integrate the Pixel, also stores information in cookies about which page you came to us from. Our server also transmits these events directly to Meta (Conversions API), along with your IP address and browser identifier, and—for orders—your email address, name, phone number, and mailing address as hashed values, so that Meta can associate the events with a user account. We are jointly responsible with Meta for the collection of this data and its transmission to Meta (Art. 26 GDPR). You can find the relevant agreement at https://www.facebook.com/legal/controller_addendum. According to this agreement, Meta is responsible for fulfilling your rights under the GDPR with regard to this joint processing. Meta may also transfer the data to Meta Platforms, Inc. in the United States. Meta’s privacy policy can be found at https://www.facebook.com/privacy/policy/.
Advertising in ChatGPT
We place ads in ChatGPT and measure their success using the pixel from OpenAI Ireland Limited, 1st Floor, The Liffey Trust Centre, 117–126 Sheriff Street Upper, Dublin 1, D01 YC43, Ireland. The pixel tracks which pages and products you view, whether you add items to your cart, proceed to checkout, and place an order. Our server also transmits orders directly to OpenAI, along with your email address, name, and phone number (as hashed values), as well as your ZIP code, city, country, IP address, and browser identifier. The data may also be transferred to OpenAI OpCo, LLC in the United States. OpenAI’s privacy policy can be found at https://openai.com/policies/eu-privacy-policy/.
Brevo Tracking
When you consent to marketing services, we use Brevo’s tracking code (see Section 9). Brevo uses this code to track which pages of our website you visit and can associate this information with your email address if you have subscribed to our newsletter or arrived at our site via a link in one of our emails. This allows us to send you content that matches your interests.
Source of Orders
With your consent, our store uses cookies to record the source through which you reached us—for example, a search engine, an ad, or a newsletter—and associates this information with your order. This data is stored on our server.
17. Embedded Services and Content
Translation using Weglot
Our website is available in several languages. The translations are provided by the Weglot service from Weglot SAS, Paris, France. When you visit our site, your browser downloads files from Weglot’s servers and transmits your IP address in the process. Weglot processes this data on our behalf. The legal basis for this is our legitimate interest in presenting our offerings to customers from other countries in their own language (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR).
Fonts
The fonts on our website are hosted on our own server. For one of the fonts, we hold a license from Monotype Imaging Inc., 600 Unicorn Park Drive, Woburn, MA 01801, USA, which tracks the number of page views. To do this, when our pages load, your browser retrieves a small file from a Monotype server (fonts.net) and transmits your IP address in the process. Monotype is certified under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework. The legal basis is our legitimate interest in the licensed use of the font (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR).
Videos from YouTube and Vimeo
On some pages, we embed videos from YouTube (Google Ireland Limited, Dublin, Ireland) and Vimeo (Vimeo.com, Inc., New York, USA). The videos are not loaded until you have given your consent, either via the cookie banner or through the notice that appears in place of the video. Only then does your browser establish a connection to the provider’s servers, which in turn receives your IP address and the page you are viewing and may set cookies. If you are logged in to the provider’s service, it can associate your visit with your account. The legal basis for this is your consent (Section 25(1) TDDDG, Article 6(1)(a) GDPR).
Map in the Dealer Locator
Our dealer locator displays the locations of our authorized dealers on a Google Maps map (Google Ireland Limited, Dublin, Ireland). The map will not load until you have given your consent. After that, your browser will send your IP address and your search criteria—such as a ZIP code—to Google. The legal basis for this is your consent (Section 25(1) TDDDG, Article 6(1)(a) GDPR).
Social Networks
On our website, we provide links to our Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube pages. These are simple links, so data is not transferred to the network operator until you click on a link.
When you visit our pages on Facebook or Instagram, we receive aggregated statistics from Meta regarding the use of our pages (Page Insights). We are jointly responsible with Meta Platforms Ireland Limited for this processing (Art. 26 GDPR). You can find the relevant agreement at https://www.facebook.com/legal/terms/page_controller_addendum. We do not have access to individual user data. The legal basis is our legitimate interest in presenting our offerings on social networks (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR). You can find out what other data Meta processes in Meta’s privacy notices mentioned above.
18. Changes to This Privacy Policy
We will update this Privacy Policy if our website, the services we use, or the legal situation changes. The version published here is always the current one.
