Contents
Cookies are no secret, just badly explained. This article tells you briefly what cookies are, what they are used for, which ones we use on budnuts.de and how to delete or block them in your browser. It will grow over time. If something is missing, tell us in the chat.
What cookies are and how they work
A cookie is a small text file that a website stores in your browser. On your next visit the browser sends it back. That is how the site knows it is you and remembers, for example, what is in your cart. Without this trick, every page view would be a new visit with no memory for the server.
Two distinctions help you sort them:
- First-partybelongs to the site you are visiting
- Third-partycomes from another company whose content is embedded
- Sessiondisappears when you close the browser
- Persistentstays for days, months or years
First-party cookies are mostly harmless and often needed for a site to work at all. Third-party cookies are the critical kind: they come, for example, from ad networks embedded on many sites, and recognise you there every time.
Besides cookies there is browser storage (localStorage and sessionStorage). It also keeps data in your browser, just without sending it to the server automatically with every request. Legally and in practice we treat it like cookies, and you delete it in the same place. When we say cookies, browser storage is included, and where it makes a difference we name it explicitly.
What they can be used for
- Function: cart, login, language, light or dark mode. Without cookies you would have to set this up again on every page view.
- Audience measurement: sites count how often they are visited. This works with cookies, but also without.
- Recognition and advertising: a third party recognises you across many sites and builds a profile for targeted ads. This is exactly what many people do not want.
By the way, recognising visitors does not strictly need a cookie. With fingerprinting, properties of your device and browser, such as screen, fonts and settings, are read out and combined into a kind of identifier. Deleting cookies does not help against that. A browser with built-in fingerprinting protection helps more.
Which ones we use on budnuts.de
On 25 October 2026 we measured this as a normal visitor with a fresh browser. The result, also checked against our privacy policy:
- +When you simply open a page: no cookies, no connection to third parties, no advertising pixels.
- +Audience measurement with Matomo on our own server, without cookies and without storage in your browser. The IP address is only stored in shortened form. We do not read out device characteristics for fingerprinting, only the page load times are sent.
- +If your browser sends "Do Not Track" or "Global Privacy Control", or if you have objected to the measurement, it is not loaded at all.
- xNo tracking across sites, no advertising or analytics cookies.
What happens next depends on what you do. Each of these items only appears because of an action of yours:
| When you … | this is created … | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| put an item in your cart | cart cookies (WooCommerce session) | about 2 days, extended while you use it |
| add a product to the enquiry list | enquiry list cookies | 48 hours or until you close the browser |
| open a valid referral link | a cookie carrying the code | until the order, until you remove the code or until you close the browser |
| switch the language | cookie bst_lang | 1 year |
| log in | WordPress login cookies | until you close the browser, 14 days with "Remember me" |
| switch between light and dark | browser storage bst-theme | until you delete it |
| object to measurement | browser storage bst_matomo_optout | until you withdraw it or delete it |
| use the chat | chat browser storage | until you delete it |
The cache that makes the mini cart load faster is also only created once an item is in your cart or you are logged in. If you are not logged in, it contains nothing about you. If you are logged in, it also holds the account button at the top of the page, that is the first two letters of your name and your Bucks balance (the tier for business customers), and the name of the entry contains the internal number of your account. This part sits in session storage and disappears when you close the tab. The complete list with all names is in the cookie section of the privacy policy. The version there is always the binding one.
The special case: Amazon Pay
Amazon Pay is the only place where third-party cookies come into play. Before you click "Continue with Amazon Pay", not a single request goes to Amazon, not even at checkout. Only after your click and a notice does Amazon's script load. After that, Amazon sets its own cookies, also for amazon.com, some of them lasting a year. This is an Amazon service and we have no influence on it. If you do not want that, simply pay with another payment method. You lose nothing.
How to delete cookies and site data
Menu names change with browser updates all the time. The steps below come from the vendors' help pages and from the German consumer advice centre. If your menu looks different, the linked page will help.
Chrome (Windows, macOS, Android)
Delete everything on a computer: three-dot menu, "Delete browsing data", choose a time range, tick "Cookies and other site data", "Delete data".
One site only: three-dot menu, "Settings", "Privacy and security", "Third-party cookies", "See all site data and permissions", find the site and delete it.
Block third parties: choose "Block third-party cookies" in the same place.
Android: three-dot menu, "Settings", "Privacy and security", "Delete browsing data", choose a time range, tick "Cookies and site data", "Delete data". For a single site, open it, tap the site info icon at the left of the address bar and choose "Cookies and site data".
Google help page for computers · Google help page for Android
Firefox (desktop, Android)
Desktop: menu, "Settings", "Privacy & Security". In the "Cookies and Site Data" section, "Clear Data" deletes everything and "Manage Data" lets you pick single sites.
Third parties: by default Firefox already blocks cookies that follow you across sites. Under "Enhanced Tracking Protection" you can set it to "Strict" or "Custom".
Android: three-dot menu, "Settings", then "Delete browsing data".
Safari (macOS, iPhone and iPad)
Mac: "Safari" menu, "Settings", "Privacy" tab, button for managing website data. Select single websites and click "Remove", or click "Remove All". Note that this can also sign you out of other apps that use this data.
iPhone: "Settings", "Apps", "Safari", "Advanced", "Website Data", "Remove All Website Data". There is also an option to block all cookies, which however stops logins on some sites from working. Apple's guide describes the iPhone, and the iPad looks very similar.
Apple help page for the Mac · Apple help page for the iPhone
Edge
Delete everything: "Settings and more", "Settings", "Privacy, search, and services", "Clear browsing data", "Choose what to clear", pick a time range, tick "Cookies and other site data", "Clear now". The shortcut Ctrl + Shift + Delete opens the window directly.
One site only: in the same area "Cookies", then "See all cookies and site data", find the site and delete it.
Block third parties: under "Cookies" switch on "Block third-party cookies".
Samsung Internet
Three-dot menu, "Settings", "Personal browsing data", "Delete browsing data", select "Cookies and site data" and confirm. Menu names vary slightly between versions. How to delete single sites and block third-party cookies is described by the consumer advice centre linked below under "Further reading" (in German).
Brave
Settings, "Additional settings", "Privacy and security", "Delete browsing data", select cookies, delete. For a single site, click the lock or tune icon to the left of the address and delete the cookies and site data there. Brave blocks cross-site cookies by default (Brave Shields).
Opera
Settings (Alt + P), "Privacy & security" on the left, "Delete browsing data", choose a time range and "Cookies and other site data", delete. There you can also set the data to be deleted automatically when you quit Opera (section "On exit").
Two notes apply everywhere. After deleting, you are signed out of many sites, and settings such as language are gone. And blocking all cookies across the board is rarely sensible, because then, for example, the cart in online shops stops working. The middle way the consumer advice centre also advises: block third-party cookies and delete stored cookies regularly.
Further reading from reputable sources
Most of these pages are in German.
- Verbraucherzentrale: Cookies kontrollieren und verwalten (basics, using cookie banners properly and guides for Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Samsung Internet and Safari; in German)
- netzpolitik.org: Firefox erschwert Tracking mit Cookies (how tracking with cookies works and what browsers do about it, 2021; in German)
- netzpolitik.org: Tracker-Ranking der 50 Top-News-Webseiten (shows how widespread cookie tracking is, 2015; in German)
- Mozilla: Third-party cookies and Firefox tracking protection (what third-party cookies are and what helps against them)
- Chaos Computer Club: Ban tracking and personalised advertising (why surveillance-based advertising is a problem, 2024)
- Talk on media.ccc.de: Cookiebanner, das Online-Werbe-Ökosystem und Google (Rena Tangens, Digitalcourage, rc3 2021, about one hour, German with English audio track)
We are happy to answer questions about how we handle your data in the chat. Why we run it on our own technology has its own article.