Privacy Policy

Last updated: 31 October 2026

SmartOnlineBuy (smartonlinebuy.org and shop.smartonlinebuy.org) helps you find and compare products sold on AliExpress. It is operated by an individual based in Cyprus, European Union. This page explains exactly what data the site processes and why. You can reach us via the contact details on our About page.

Summary

No account, no sign-up, no newsletter: we never ask for your name, email or address.
We set no cookies of our own and use no advertising or analytics trackers (no Google Analytics, no Facebook pixel).
Your IP address is not stored in our database; it is converted into a salted one-way hash.
The AI assistant runs on our own server. Your questions are not sent to any external AI provider.

1. Clicks on product links

When you click a product button, the link first passes through our server (/go/...) and then redirects you to AliExpress. For each click we record: date and time, the product and the page it was clicked on, your country (as reported by Cloudflare), the referring page, and salted one-way hashes of your IP address and browser user agent. We use this to understand which products and pages are useful, to detect automated or abusive traffic, and to keep the affiliate links working.

2. Smart Search (AI assistant)

When you use the assistant we record the text you typed, the search terms derived from it, your country and language, the number of results, the processing time and a salted hash of your IP address. Please do not type personal information into the search box.

Your question is processed by an open-source language model running on our own server. To find products, short English keywords derived from your question (never your IP address or identity) are sent to the AliExpress Affiliate API. Product comparisons are cached on our server so that identical comparisons load instantly for other visitors; the cache contains only product data and the comparison text.

3. Your country

We use the country reported by Cloudflare for your connection to show only products that AliExpress can deliver to you and to avoid sending you to listings that are unavailable in your region. We do not determine your precise location.

4. Server and security logs

Like every website, our web server keeps technical access logs (requested address, time, browser user agent and the address of the connecting Cloudflare server). They are used for security and troubleshooting and are rotated and deleted automatically after a short period (typically 14 days). We also limit request rates to protect the service from abuse.

5. Third parties

Cloudflare delivers and protects this site. It processes your IP address to route traffic and block attacks and may set strictly necessary security cookies. See Cloudflare's privacy policy.
AliExpress: product images are loaded directly from AliExpress servers, so your browser connects to them when you view a page. When you follow a product link you leave our site; AliExpress then uses its own cookies to attribute any purchase to us (this is how we earn a commission, at no extra cost to you). Your purchase, payment and delivery data are handled only by AliExpress under its privacy policy. We never see who you are or what you paid.

We do not sell, rent or share data with anyone else.

6. Retention

Click records and assistant queries are deleted automatically after 12 months. Cached comparisons and product availability data are deleted after 30 days. Aggregated statistics that cannot be linked to any visitor may be kept longer.

7. Legal basis and your rights

Under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) we process this pseudonymous data on the basis of our legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f)): operating, securing and improving the site and measuring affiliate performance. You have the right to request access to, correction or deletion of data about you and to object to processing. Because we store only hashes, we usually cannot link records to a specific person; if you contact us we will do our best to help. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Cyprus Commissioner for Personal Data Protection or your local data protection authority.

8. Children

This site is not directed at children under 16 and we do not knowingly process their data.

9. Changes

If our data practices change, we will update this page and the date at the top.