HappenStance Privacy Policy
Reviewed 07/05/2018
Respecting and protecting your data is of high importance to HappenStance Press. This is a tiny organisation, originated and run by poet and editor Helena Nelson, with voluntary assistance from two or three friends. Our aim is to publish and distribute good quality poetry, mainly by contemporary writers, at relatively low cost. We are a not-for-profit organisation and cover costs through sales of publications.
In order to do this efficiently, we request some information from users of the website and especially the online shop located there.
When you complete forms on the website, we may (depending on which process you use) collect the following data about you:
- Your email address when you sign up to follow the blog, Competition News or any other news service that may be offered here. This allows us, at your request, to send you relevant notifications.
- Your email address and other contact details if you sign up as an online or postal subscriber to the press. This allows us to send you subscriber newsletters, information about new publications, launches, services (eg reading windows) etc.
- Your postal address, email and phone number, if you purchase an item through the website shop. This ensures we can mail the goods you have ordered correctly to your receiving address, or contact you quickly if there is a problem.
- The postal address of any person to whom you request a shop item to be shipped, for example as a gift (a purchase of this kind expects that you have obtained the consent of the individual whose data you provided).
- A record of all purchases and payments made through the shop (this helps us to check dates of shipping and replace lost or mis-sent items if necessary).
- If you contact us, we may keep a record of that correspondence.
- Comments made publicly on the blog are retained on the blog page, though your email address is saved privately.
Information we ask from you is not shared with any other person or organisation and is not used for any purposes other than those listed above.
If you require a record of any personal data (eg contact details) we hold for you, we will let you have that quickly, and within a period of no longer than 15 working days. If you require personal data deleted from our systems, we will do that on request.
If we hold your email address on a list to which you have subscribed on the site, this will automatically be deleted instantly if you unsubscribe from that list. Details of how to do that are included with every communication to you from us.
Internet Provider (IP) Addresses
We may additionally collect information about your computer, including (where available) your IP address, operating system and browser type, for system administration. This is statistical information about our users’ browsing actions and patterns, and does not identify any individual. Again, this is usual and necessary to most online businesses and helps us understand how our website is being used and areas of it we could improve.
Cookies
We use cookies (a small piece of data sent from our website and stored on your computer by your web browser while you are browsing) to distinguish you from other users and to authenticate your activity. This helps us provide you with a good experience when you use our website and also allows us to improve our services. Please note that it is possible to disable cookies being stored on your computer by changing your browser settings. However, our website may not perform properly or some features may not be available to you in this case.
Where we store your personal information
The data we collect from you is stored in the European Economic Area (‘EEA’).
Your passwords are stored on HappenStance servers in encrypted form (i.e. no human being can read them). We will not disclose your account details, postal or email addresses to anyone, unless legally required to do so. It is your responsibility to keep your password secure. If you forget it, you will be able to change it for a new one easily, using the automated system or by emailing
Sensitive information between your browser and our website is transferred in encrypted form using Secure Socket Layer (‘SSL’).
Unfortunately, no transmission of information via the internet to even the most high profile sites is 100% secure. Although HappenStance will protect personal data stored on our site, we cannot guarantee the security of your data during transmission, which is at your own risk. Once we have received your information, however, we will use strict procedures and security features to prevent any unauthorised access. We regard this as a top priority.
How we use your information (summary)
We use information held about you (and others):
- to provide you with our services and products;
- to ensure you receive information relevant to you;
- to ensure the content on our website is presented in the most effective manner for you and your computer or mobile device;
- to notify you about changes to our service.
We will not use your personal data for any other reason than those listed above, and we will not share your data with any other person or organisation, unless legally required to do so.