Privacy Policy - Spectrum Threadz Press

spectrumthreadz.co.uk

Last updated: 8 November 2026

This Privacy Policy explains what personal data we collect when you use spectrumthreadz.co.uk, why we collect it, who we share it with, how long we keep it, and the rights you have under UK data protection law. Please read it before you buy, create an account, download a book, or sign up for our free chapter or newsletter.

Short version: We collect only what we need to sell and deliver your ebooks, run your My Library account, send the emails you asked for, and keep the site safe. We do not sell your personal data. We do not store your card details. Payment is handled by Stripe. You can ask us to delete, correct, or export your data at any time via the Contact page.

1. Who we are

Spectrum Threadz Press is an independent publishing imprint run by Trevor Stephenson in London, United Kingdom.

Website: https://spectrumthreadz.co.uk

Contact: via https://spectrumthreadz.co.uk/contact/ or by email at [insert your privacy contact email, for example [email protected]]. Please replace this placeholder before you publish.

For the purposes of UK GDPR and the UK Data Protection Act 2018, Spectrum Threadz Press, run by Trevor Stephenson, is the data controller for personal data collected on this website. That means we decide why and how your personal data is used on this site.

If you buy one of our books from a third-party retailer, for example Google Play Books, Etsy, Barnes and Noble, Lulu, or Gumroad, that retailer is a separate data controller for that purchase. Their privacy policy applies to that purchase, not this one. This policy covers only purchases and activity on spectrumthreadz.co.uk.

2. What personal data we collect

We collect personal data in the following ways:

When you buy or download

Order details: Name, email address, billing country and any billing details you provide at checkout.
Purchase and download history: Order history, products purchased, download links, download count, and download dates, so we can give you lifetime access in My Library.
Account details: Account username and encrypted password if you create an account, plus account preferences.
Payment details: We do not collect or store your full card number, CVV, or bank details. Those are handled securely by our payment processor, Stripe. See Section 6.

When you create an account or use My Library

My Account / Library: Name, email, username, and account activity, including orders, downloads, and support requests, so you can re-download your books at any time.

When you contact us or ask for help

Contact and support: Name, email, message content, order reference if you provide one, and any files you choose to send, so we can answer your question and fix download or account issues.

When you sign up for the free chapter or newsletter

Free chapter and newsletter: First name if you provide it, email address, signup date, and whether you opened or clicked our emails, so we can send the free chapter and relevant book updates.
Unsubscribe: You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking Unsubscribe in any email, or by contacting us.

When you browse the site

Technical and usage data: Device and browser type, pages visited, approximate location from IP address, and cookie identifiers, so we can keep the site working, prevent fraud, and understand which books and articles are useful. See Section 5 on cookies.

We do not ask you for health data, medical history, diagnosis information, or other special category data. Our books are educational. They do not require you to tell us about your health to buy or read them. Please do not send us sensitive health information in contact forms or emails.

3. Why we use your data and our lawful bases

Under UK GDPR, we must have a lawful basis for each use. This table explains the main uses:

Why we use your data	Examples	Lawful basis
To fulfil your order	Process payment, deliver EPUB, PDF and MOBI files, give you My Library access, send order confirmation	Contract
To run your account	Let you log in, see orders, re-download books, reset password	Contract
To send the free chapter and newsletter you asked for	Send free chapter PDF, book news, new releases, offers	Consent
To answer support requests	Reply to contact form, fix download issues, handle refunds	Contract and Legitimate Interests
To keep the site safe and legal	Prevent fraud, protect downloads, keep accounts secure, keep tax and accounting records	Legal Obligation and Legitimate Interests
To improve the site	Understand which pages are visited, fix broken links, improve checkout	Legitimate Interests

Where we rely on consent, for example for the newsletter, you can withdraw consent at any time by clicking Unsubscribe or contacting us. Withdrawing consent will not affect orders you have already placed.

Where we rely on legitimate interests, we have balanced our interests against your rights. If you want to object to a use based on legitimate interests, contact us using the details in Section 14.

4. How we collect your data

Directly from you, when you fill in checkout, create an account, sign up for the free chapter or newsletter, or contact us.
Automatically, via cookies and similar technologies when you browse, as described in Section 5.
From third parties who help us run the site, for example Stripe for payment confirmation, and our email provider for delivery and open tracking, only to the extent needed to fulfil your order or send your emails.

5. Cookies

We use cookies and similar technologies to make the site work and to understand how it is used. Cookies are small files stored on your device.

Necessary: Strictly necessary cookies: Keep you logged in, remember what is in your cart, keep checkout secure, and remember your cookie choices. The site will not work without these. These do not require consent.
Preferences: Functional cookies: Remember your preferences, for example your My Library view. These are optional.
Analytics: Analytics cookies: Help us count visits and see which pages are popular, so we can improve the site. These are anonymised where possible and only used if you accept them.
Marketing: Marketing cookies: Used only if you accept them, to measure whether our emails or ads led to a visit. We do not use these to build detailed profiles of you.

When you first visit, you will see a cookie banner. You can accept all, reject non-essential cookies, or change your choices at any time via the Cookie Settings link in the footer. Your choices are stored so we remember them.

For full detail on each cookie, see our Cookie Policy at https://spectrumthreadz.co.uk/cookie-policy/.

6. Who we share your data with

We share personal data only with trusted providers who need it to run the site, and only for the purposes in this policy. We do not sell your personal data to third parties.

Website and shop: WooCommerce and WordPress: Run the shop, checkout, accounts, and downloads on spectrumthreadz.co.uk.
Payment: Stripe: Processes your payment securely. Stripe receives your payment details, name, email, and order total to process the transaction and prevent fraud. We do not see or store your full card number. Stripe has its own privacy policy.
Hosting and security: Hosting provider and Cloudflare: Host the site and protect it from attacks, spam, and bots. They may process IP addresses and technical logs to keep the site secure and fast.
Email: Email provider, FluentCRM or Mailchimp: Sends order confirmations, download links, password resets, free chapter emails, and newsletters you asked for. They process your name, email, and email engagement data.
Contact forms: Forms provider, WPForms: Processes contact form submissions so we can reply to you.
Analytics: Analytics provider, if enabled: Helps us understand site usage in aggregated form. We configure it to anonymise IP addresses where possible.
Professional advisers: Accountants, tax advisers, and legal advisers: Only if needed to comply with tax, accounting, or legal obligations.

All providers who process personal data on our behalf are required to keep it secure, use it only on our instructions, and comply with UK data protection law. We have data processing agreements in place where required.

We may disclose personal data if required by law, for example to HMRC, a court, or a regulator, or to protect the safety of the site and our customers.

7. International transfers

Some of our providers, for example Stripe, email providers, and analytics providers, may store or process data outside the United Kingdom, including in the United States or the European Economic Area.

Where data is transferred outside the UK, we rely on an appropriate safeguard, such as the UK Extension to the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, UK International Data Transfer Agreement (IDTA), or EU Standard Contractual Clauses with UK Addendum, as applicable to that provider. You can ask us for more detail about the safeguards for a specific provider by contacting us.

8. How long we keep your data

Orders: Order and download history: Kept for as long as your My Library account is active, so you can re-download your books, plus up to 7 years after your last order for tax and accounting records.
Account: Account data: Kept while your account is active. If you ask us to delete your account, we will delete or anonymise your account data, except for order records we must keep for legal reasons.
Newsletter: Free chapter and newsletter data: Kept until you unsubscribe, then we will suppress your email so we do not email you again, unless you ask us to delete it fully.
Support: Contact and support messages: Kept for up to 2 years after your query is resolved, so we can follow up if the same issue returns.
Logs: Technical logs and cookies: Kept for up to 12 months, then deleted or anonymised.

After the retention period ends, we will delete or anonymise your data. If we need to keep some data for legal reasons, we will keep only what is required and keep it secure.

9. Your rights

Under UK GDPR, you have the following rights. You can exercise them free of charge by contacting us via https://spectrumthreadz.co.uk/contact/. We may ask you to confirm your identity before we act, to protect your account.

Access: Right of access: Ask for a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
Correction: Right to rectification: Ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data, for example your name or email in My Account.
Deletion: Right to erasure: Ask us to delete your data, where we have no legal reason to keep it.
Restriction: Right to restriction: Ask us to pause using your data while we check a dispute.
Portability: Right to data portability: Ask for a copy of your data in a structured, machine-readable format, for example your order history.
Objection: Right to object: Object to processing based on legitimate interests, and object to direct marketing at any time.
Withdraw consent: Right to withdraw consent: Withdraw consent for the newsletter or other consent-based processing at any time.
Complaint: Right to complain: Complain to us, and if you are not satisfied, to the Information Commissioner’s Office, ICO, at https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint or by calling 0303 123 1113.

We will respond to your request within one month. If your request is complex, we may extend this by up to two months and will tell you why. We will not charge you unless your request is manifestly unfounded or excessive.

10. Security

We take security seriously. We use:

HTTPS encryption across the site, including checkout and My Account.
Secure password storage, with encrypted passwords in WordPress. Please choose a strong, unique password and do not share it.
Stripe for payment processing, so card details are not stored on our servers.
Access controls, so only people who need your data to fulfil your order or answer your query can access it.
Regular updates to WordPress, WooCommerce, and plugins, plus security monitoring via Cloudflare.

No system is completely secure. If you suspect your account has been accessed without permission, change your password immediately and contact us. If you receive a suspicious email claiming to be from us, do not click links in it. Go directly to spectrumthreadz.co.uk and log in from there.

11. Children

Our books and website are intended for adults. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children under 18. If you are under 18, please ask a parent or guardian before you create an account or sign up for emails. If you believe we have collected data from a child, contact us and we will delete it.

12. Links to other sites and retailers

Our site links to third-party retailers where you can also buy our books, for example Google Play Books, Etsy, Barnes and Noble, Lulu, and Gumroad, and to social media and other websites. Those sites have their own privacy policies and cookie practices. We are not responsible for their privacy practices. Please read their policies before you buy from them or give them your data.

Our articles may also link to external resources. Clicking those links will take you to another site. This policy does not apply to those sites.

13. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time, for example if we add a new payment provider, email tool, or feature to My Library. The Last updated date at the top will change when we do. If we make a material change that affects your rights, we will notify you by email or by a notice on the site before the change takes effect. The current version will always be at https://spectrumthreadz.co.uk/privacy-policy/.

14. Contact us and complaints

If you have questions about this policy, want to exercise your rights, or want to make a complaint, contact us:

Via the Contact page: https://spectrumthreadz.co.uk/contact/
By email: [insert your privacy contact email, for example [email protected]]
By post: [insert postal address if you have one, or state that we do not accept postal requests]

We will try to resolve your concern promptly. If you are not satisfied with our response, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office, ICO, the UK regulator for data protection:

Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF. Website: https://ico.org.uk. Helpline: 0303 123 1113.

This policy does not constitute legal advice. It is a plain-language explanation of how Spectrum Threadz Press handles personal data on spectrumthreadz.co.uk. If you need legal advice about UK GDPR compliance, please consult a qualified solicitor.