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How Craft Commerce handles cookies and personal data, and what European websites must do to use it in a GDPR and ePrivacy compliant way.
Craft Commerce is a self hosted ecommerce platform. It is an ecommerce plugin for the Craft content management system that adds a basket, orders and checkout to a self hosted site. When it runs on a website it operates as a third party processor whose scripts, cookies and network requests are loaded into the browsers of your European visitors.
In a typical deployment Craft Commerce processes shopping basket contents, order and account data, session identifiers and, where analytics modules are enabled, usage statistics. Most of this information qualifies as personal data under the GDPR because it can be linked to an identifiable person, directly or through online identifiers stored on the device.
Any storage of or access to information on a visitor device is governed by Article 5(3) of the ePrivacy Directive, transposed into national law across the EU. The GDPR then governs the subsequent processing, so Craft Commerce must have a valid legal basis, a clear retention period and transparent information for the data subject.
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Because Craft Commerce sets cookies or identifiers that are not strictly necessary to deliver a service the visitor explicitly requested, prior, freely given, specific and informed consent is required before it loads. Scripts must stay blocked until the visitor accepts, and refusal must be as easy as acceptance.
Craft Commerce reports hosting in merchant defined servers (self hosted), which keeps the core processing inside the European Economic Area. You should still confirm the location of any subprocessors and content delivery nodes, because a single non European endpoint can still trigger a transfer.
List Craft Commerce in your records of processing and your cookie policy, load it only through a consent management platform, document the consent you collect and review the vendor data processing agreement at least once a year. Test the site with consent refused to make sure no identifier is set before a choice is made.
Websites using Craft Commerce must obtain user consent under GDPR regulations.
DPIA considerations
Assess the volume and sensitivity of data processed through Craft Commerce, whether visitors are profiled or tracked across sites, and any transfer outside the EEA. A formal DPIA is advisable where Craft Commerce enables large scale monitoring or combines data from several sources.
Sample consent text
We use Craft Commerce to power parts of this site. It may store cookies and identifiers on your device and process related data. With your consent we activate Craft Commerce. You can withdraw your consent at any time from the cookie settings.
Third-party domains contacted
craftcms.comCookies placed
| Name | Type | Duration | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| CraftSessionId | necessary | Session | Identifies the user session |
| CRAFT_CSRF_TOKEN | necessary | Session | Protects forms against cross site request forgery |
| commerce_cart | necessary | 1 month | Links the visitor to their shopping cart |
Craft Commerce uses cookies for user preferences — inform visitors with a consent banner.
Craft Commerce typically stores session identifiers and, depending on configuration, analytics or marketing cookies. The exact names and lifetimes appear in the cookie table on this page, and you should scan your own site because deployments differ.
Yes. Craft Commerce sets cookies or identifiers that are not strictly necessary, so under Article 5(3) ePrivacy you must obtain prior consent before it loads.
The non essential cookies rely on consent under Article 6(1)(a) GDPR combined with Article 5(3) ePrivacy. Strictly necessary processing can rely on contract under Article 6(1)(b) or legitimate interest under Article 6(1)(f).
Craft Commerce reports hosting in merchant defined servers (self hosted), so by default data stays in the EEA. Verify subprocessors and CDN nodes, since one non European endpoint can still create a transfer to a third country.
A DPIA is required when processing is likely to result in a high risk, for example large scale tracking or profiling. Where Craft Commerce monitors behaviour at scale or combines data sources, run a DPIA before going live.
Load Craft Commerce only after consent through a consent management platform, keep it blocked by default, document each consent, list it in your records and cookie policy, and sign a data processing agreement with the vendor.
Yes. Depending on your goal you can choose privacy first or cookieless tools, or self hosted options that keep data in the EEA. Whichever you pick, the same consent and transparency duties apply.
Add Craft Commerce to the cookie policy with its purpose, the cookies it sets, their duration and the recipient, note any third country transfer and the safeguard used, and refresh the entry whenever you change configuration or after a new cookie scan.