Privacy and cookies
Last updated 14 October 2026
The Expat Club is run by Rory Phillips, who is based in the United Kingdom. It works alongside our guide site, relocatingtosouthafrica.com, and the two share one sign-up list. This page explains what we collect, why we collect it and how to change your mind.
- We collect what you give us, and nothing is measured until you press Accept on the cookie notice.
- We don't sell your details or pass them to advertisers.
- You can leave the list, or have your account and data deleted, at any time.
What we collect, and why
| What | Why we need it | How long we keep it |
|---|---|---|
| Founding list sign-up. Your email address. Your first name, if you choose to add it. The page you signed up on, who referred you, and where you're moving from if you tell us. If you join from our quiz, the three answers you gave: your city, how far along your move is and the kinds of gathering you picked. If you sign up through one of the three tools on relocatingtosouthafrica.com, we use your answers once, to put a link back to your result in your welcome email. They are not saved with your sign-up. | To send your welcome email, event invitations and Club news, and to count referrals for your place on the list. Quiz answers help us plan the gatherings people want. | Until you unsubscribe or ask us to delete it. When you unsubscribe, we delete your first name, where you're moving from and your quiz answers. We keep your email address and the basic sign-up record (when and where you signed up, your referral link, who referred you and which of our emails you were sent) so that we never email you again. Ask us and we'll delete that record as well. |
| Member account. Your email and a password. The password is stored in a scrambled form that we can't read. Your profile: display name, home country, city, stage of your move, a short bio, interests and a photo if you add one. | To run your membership. Your profile is shown to other signed-in members so that people can find each other. | Until you close your account or ask us to delete it. |
| Messages you send to other members through the site. | To deliver them. | Until you close your account or ask us to delete them. |
| Event bookings. Your name and email, the tickets you booked, what you paid, and a record of your ticket being scanned at the door. | To issue tickets, run the guest list and keep accounts. | For as long as tax and accounting rules require. |
| Introduction requests. Your name and email, what you need help with, your city, your timing and anything you add. | So Rory can reply to you with a named introduction. We don't pass your details to a partner unless you ask us to. | Until the request is closed, or sooner if you ask. |
| Notifications. A technical address for your browser, if you switch notifications on. | To send the alerts you asked for. | Until you switch them off. |
| Emails you send us. | To reply to you. | For as long as the conversation is useful to either of us. |
Card payments. When online payment is offered, it is handled by Stripe. We never see or store your card number.
Cookies and similar storage
Always on, because the site needs them
- Sign-in cookie. Set only when you log in to the members' area, so the site knows it's you.
- Your cookie choice, remembered in your browser for six months.
- Small preferences, such as having dismissed a prompt.
Only if you press Accept
| Tool | What it does | Who runs it, and for how long |
|---|---|---|
| Google Analytics 4 ( _ga, _ga_BRKK1S2570) |
Counts visits and pages viewed, and roughly where visitors come from. | Google Ireland Ltd. Up to 2 years. |
| Microsoft Clarity ( _clck, _clsk, MUID) |
Records how pages are used: scrolling, clicks and where people get stuck. We use it to find pages that are broken or confusing. | Microsoft Corporation. 90 days, then deleted. |
If you decline, or haven't chosen yet, no analytics cookies are set and nothing is recorded. Google Analytics stays in a consent-denied state: it stores nothing on your device and reports only anonymous totals.
About session recording
- Form fields are masked. Anything you type, including your name, email and password, is replaced with placeholder characters in your browser before anything is sent. We can't recover it.
- It isn't a video of your screen. Only your use of this website is captured. Other tabs, apps and files are never visible.
- It isn't linked to your name. Recordings are tied to a random identifier, not to your email or your account.
Who helps us run the site
These companies process data for us, under their own terms, and only for the jobs listed:
- Cloudflare: hosting, the database, and the bot check on the join form.
- MailerSend and MailerLite: sending our emails.
- Google: Analytics if you accept, a private backup of the sign-up list, our inbox, and the fonts on these pages.
- Microsoft: Clarity, if you accept.
- Stripe: card payments.
Legal basis
- Consent: analytics, session recording, and the emails you sign up for. You can withdraw it at any time, and declining costs you nothing, because every page works the same either way.
- Contract: running your membership and your event bookings.
- Legitimate interests: keeping the site secure and stopping spam sign-ups.
Many of our members are in South Africa. Where the Protection of Personal Information Act applies, we follow the same principles: we collect only what we need, for the purposes above, and you can object at any time.
Where your data goes
Some of the companies above process data outside the UK and South Africa, including in the United States and the European Union. They do so under recognised safeguards such as standard contractual clauses and the UK Extension to the EU–US Data Privacy Framework.
Changing your mind
- Cookies: reopen the choice with the button below. Withdrawing clears the analytics cookies straight away.
- Emails: every email has an unsubscribe link. Using it also takes you off our mailing tool and the backup copy of the list.
- Your account or anything else: email [email protected].
Your rights
You can ask for a copy of the personal data we hold about you, ask us to correct or delete it, or object to how we use it. Email [email protected] and you'll have a reply within 30 days. If you ask us to delete your data after you've unsubscribed, we keep only your email address, on a do-not-email list, so we can make sure you never hear from us again.
If you're unhappy with the response, you can complain to the UK Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk, or in South Africa to the Information Regulator.