What we collect and why

Compare Electronic does not require an account. We do not collect names, email addresses, or payment information from visitors. Server-side request logs hold the standard fields web servers retain: IP address, timestamp, user agent, and the URL requested. We keep those logs for 30 days for security and capacity planning, then delete them.

Compare Electronic uses Google Tag Manager to load analytics tools — currently Google Analytics 4 (GA4) and Microsoft Clarity. GA4 records page views, click paths inside the catalogue, and aggregate engagement metrics. Clarity records anonymised heatmaps and session replays so we can spot dead clicks and broken layouts on individual product or comparison pages. Both vendors process the data under their own policies: Google · Microsoft.

Google Analytics sets cookies (typically _ga and _ga_*) to distinguish visitors and sessions. Microsoft Clarity sets _clck, _clsk, and a session-identifier cookie. To opt out across every Google Analytics site, install Google's opt-out browser add-on. You can also opt out by refusing on the cookie banner, blocking analytics cookies in your browser's privacy settings, or enabling Do Not Track.

Product detail pages on Compare Electronic include a "Videos" section that surfaces independent third-party review videos sourced from YouTube. The video metadata (title, channel name, thumbnail URL, published date) is retrieved through YouTube API Services and cached in our database. When you click a video thumbnail, playback occurs inside the official YouTube IFrame embed loaded from youtube.com.

Use of YouTube API data on Compare Electronic is subject to the YouTube Terms of Service. Once you press play on an embedded video, YouTube and its parent Google may set cookies on your browser and process your interaction data under the Google Privacy Policy. You can revoke any data Google holds about you at myaccount.google.com/permissions. Compare Electronic itself never receives or stores your YouTube viewing data; we only store the public metadata returned by YouTube's search API and refresh or delete that metadata at least every 30 days.

Outbound retailer links carry an affiliate tag so the retailer can attribute a sale to Compare Electronic. The retailer then handles all checkout, payment, and account data under their own privacy policy. We never see your name, email address, or payment details. See the affiliate disclosure for the full list of affiliate partners.

Compare Electronic uses three categories of cookies, gated by your consent choice on the banner that appears on your first visit:

• Functional — always on. Keeps the site working: the compare drawer, navigation state, route caching, and your consent record itself (cookie name clearcookie). No third-party access.
• Analytics — only set if you accept on the banner. Google Analytics 4 sets _ga and _ga_*. Microsoft Clarity sets _clck and _clsk for basic page analytics. See the Analytics section above for what each measures.
• Advertising — only set if you accept on the banner. Unlocks Microsoft Clarity's full session-replay and heatmap capture, plus any future advertising pixels (e.g. Google Ads, Meta). We do not currently run paid advertising; this category is wired so we can switch it on in future without re-prompting your consent.

Until you choose on the banner, Google Consent Mode v2 keeps both analytics_storage and ad_storage denied — vendors that respect Consent Mode (GA4, Clarity, Google Ads, Meta) fall back to cookieless pings or skip the call entirely.

Manage your preferences: the small cookie icon in the bottom-left of every page reopens the consent banner. Clearing your browser storage also resets all of the above.

Under UK GDPR you can ask us what data we hold about you, ask us to correct it, or ask us to delete it. Because we hold no account data and only short-lived server logs, in practice the only request we can act on is deletion of any open correspondence you have had with the editorial team. Email hello@compareelectronic.com with the subject line "Data request".

We update this page when we change tooling. The version date below increments on any material change.

Last updated 2026-05-27