Privacy Policy

About this website

This website’s address is: https://www.alexmakes.co.

My name is Alex and this is my website where I share my thoughts and creations — from here you can access my blog, shop, and portfolio. All work is my own unless otherwise stated. If I have accidentally neglected to link to sources or to provide credit correctly, please let me know and I will correct it as soon as possible.

I respect your right to own and manage your data, and I try only to utilise the information necessary to maintain the function of this site — to share my content, sell my products, and keep customers and subscribers updated. According to the policies of third party service providers, there is some information that is retained when you use this website. You can find out more about that below.

Using the website

This website is built using WordPress. If you are signed in to WordPress and use their services/features while using this site, you are subject to their privacy policy which can be accessed here: https://automattic.com/privacy/

This site utilises WordPress plugins and extensions. You can find out more about the privacy policy for those services here: https://jetpack.com/support/privacy/

Comments

When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.

Comments and their metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so any follow-up comments can be recognised and approved automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.

An anonymised string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service Privacy Policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.

Media

If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.

Cookies

If you leave a comment on this site, you may opt in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.

If you visit the login page, a temporary cookie is set to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.

When you log in, several cookies are set up to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me”, your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.

If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after 1 day.

Embedded content from other websites

Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.

These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

Subscribing to newsletters & emails – MailPoet

If you have subscribed to the newsletter or if you are a member of the website (you can log in) or if you have purchased on the website, there is a good chance you will receive emails from the website.

I will only send you emails which you have signed up to receive, or which pertain to the services provided to you.

To send you emails, the name and email address you provide us is used. The site also logs the IP address you used when you signed up for the service, to prevent abuse of the system.

This website can send emails through the MailPoet Sending Service. This service allows site owners to track opens and clicks on sent emails. This information is used to improve the content of newsletters and send more relevant content in future.

No identifiable information is otherwise tracked outside this website except for the email address.

Below is a list of cookies that may be generated by MailPoet (note that some cookies are only utilised when WooCommerce is installed and activated):

Cookie name: mailpoet_page_view
Cookie expiry: 3,650 days.
Cookie description: The purpose of this cookie is to track the last time a subscriber viewed any page on the site.

Cookie name: mailpoet_revenue_tracking
Cookie expiry: 14 days.
Cookie description: The purpose of this cookie is to track which newsletter sent from your website has acquired a click-through and a subsequent purchase in your WooCommerce store.

Cookie name: mailpoet_subscriber
Cookie expiry: 3,650 days.
Cookie description: The purpose of this cookie is to track subscriber engagement. It is used when the user logs in, signs up in a form, confirms subscription to a newsletter, or places an order through WooCommerce.
Note: User must be opted-in and a confirmed subscriber.

Cookie name: popup_form_dismissed_{$formId}
Cookie expiry: the expiration date varies and can be set per form.
Cookie description: This cookie is used to track if a user has previously dismissed a specific form, preventing the re-display of the form until the cookie’s expiration date. It is applicable for popup, slide-in, or fixed bar forms.

Shopping on this website – WooCommerce

Information about you is collected during the shop checkout process.

What is collected and stored

While you visit the site, the following is tracked:

• Products you’ve viewed: this may be used to, for example, show you products you’ve recently viewed
• Location, IP address and browser type: this is used for purposes like estimating taxes and shipping
• Shipping address: this can be used to estimate shipping before you place an order, and to send you the order!
• Cookies are used to keep track of basket contents while you’re browsing the site.

When you make a purchase, you’ll be asked to provide information including:

• Your name
• Billing address
• Shipping address
• Email address
• Phone number
• Credit card/payment details
• Optional account information like username and password.

This information is used for purposes, such as, to:

• Send you information about your account and order
• Respond to your requests, including refunds and complaints
• Process payments and prevent fraud
• Set up your account for our store
• Comply with any legal obligations we have, such as calculating taxes
• Improve our store offerings
• Send you marketing messages, if you choose to receive them.

If you create an account, your name, address, email and phone number will be stored, which will be used to populate the checkout for future orders.

Your comments or reviews are also stored, if you choose not to delete them.

The information about you is stored for as long as it is needed for the intended purposes. This may include storing transaction data for legal obligations such as tax purposes.

Who has access

Currently I am operating the website and shop independently. However, if in future I have team members such as an Administrator or Shop Manager, they will have access to the information you provide, to help fulfil orders, process refunds and support you. This information may include:

• Order information like what was purchased, when it was purchased and where it should be sent
• Customer information like your name, email address, and billing and shipping information.

What is shared with others

In order to maintain the functioning of this site, and fulfil requested services on your behalf, your information may be shared with third party services. Examples of the type of data shared, are given below:

• For payments with PayPal or Stripe: purchase total, currency, billing information. For more details, please see the respective third party’s privacy policy (Stripe’s Privacy Policy and PayPal’s Privacy Policy)
• For taxes: the value of goods in the cart, the value of shipping, and destination address. Please see TaxJar’s Privacy Policy for details about how they handle this information.
• For checkout rates: the destination ZIP/postal code and purchased product dimensions, weight and quantities are sent to the carrier directly or via EasyPost, depending on the service used.
• For shipping labels: the customer’s name, address, as well as the dimensions, weight, and quantities of purchased products are sent to EasyPost. We also store the purchased shipping labels on our server to make it easy to reprint them and handle support requests. See more about what data Jetpack syncs.

Managing Your Data

For users that register on this website, the personal information they provide in their user profile is stored. All users can see, edit, or delete their own personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information. If you request a password reset, your IP address will be included in the reset email.

What rights you have over your data

Being based in the United Kingdom, I follow General Data Protection Regulations when dealing with data. Find out more about your rights at https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/

You can request to manage the data stored on this website, for example: If you have an account on this site, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data held about you, including any data you have provided. You can also request that any personal data held about you is erased. Unfortunately, there is some data that has to be kept for administrative, legal, or security purposes.

Bear in mind that as some of the third party services used for the functioning of this website are based in other jurisdictions, your data may be processed outside of the UK for those purposes. Please contact those third parties directly to manage any of your data that is processed by them.

You are free to opt out from data collection by changing your preferences in cookie pop-ups and amending your browser settings. Opting out may affect your experience of using the site and the services I would be able to provide to you.

Avoid posting any information to any of the public areas (blogs, communities, forums) if you don’t want it to become publicly available. We cannot control the actions of other Users or members of the public who may access your User Content. Even after its removal, copies of user content may remain viewable in cached and archived pages or if any third parties have copied or stored such user content.

How your data is protected

I value your safety and privacy, and I aim to use services that support open and fair use of technology whilst respecting users and their rights. I will never sell your data, and I do not knowingly or willingly support businesses that do.

The devices, browsers, and accounts used to manage this website have been protected with secure passwords and multi-factor authentication. I take all reasonable measures, known to me, to protect your data and reduce the possibility of data leakage. This includes educating myself on data protection, digital security, and technological developments in the privacy sphere. I am very open to knowledgeable recommendations that would improve data protection and the safety of users of this website.

Please remember that no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. While I strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your personal data, I cannot guarantee its absolute security. I encourage you to be careful, set a strong password for your account, and avoid submitting any sensitive information which, if exposed, could cause you major harm.

If you have any privacy concerns regarding this website, or any of the data you have shared on this website, please contact me at hello@alexmakes.co

— Alex