Privacy Policy of Star Anise Stories
Star Anise Stories ("we," "our," or "us") is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you visit our website, participate in our events, or purchase our products. We operate in Singapore and adhere to the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) 2012, as well as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for our customers in the European Union.
Information We Collect
We may collect personal data about you in various ways when you interact with our site and services.
Personal Data You Provide Directly To Us:
- Contact Information: When you make a purchase, register for an event, subscribe to our newsletter, or contact us, we may collect your name, email address, postal address, and phone number.
- Transaction Data: If you purchase books, gourmet spices, kitchenware, or tea blends, we collect information relating to your transactions, including products purchased, payment method (though we do not store full payment card details), and shipping details.
- Event Registration Data: When you register for author events or cooking demonstrations, we may collect information necessary for your participation, including dietary requirements for cooking demonstrations if applicable.
- Communications: When you communicate with us via email or other channels, we collect the content of those communications.
Information Collected Automatically:
- Usage Data: We automatically collect certain information when you access or use our online platform, including your IP address, browser type, operating system, referring URLs, pages viewed, and the dates and times of your visits.
- Cookies and Tracking Technologies: We use cookies and similar tracking technologies to track the activity on our site and hold certain information. This helps us enhance your browsing experience and analyze our site traffic. You can instruct your browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent.
How We Use Your Information
We use the information we collect for various purposes, primarily to provide and improve our services, including:
- To process and fulfill your orders for books, spices, kitchenware, and tea blends.
- To manage your registration and participation in author events and cooking demonstrations.
- To send you newsletters, marketing communications, and information about new products, events, and promotions that may be of interest to you, based on your consent.
- To improve our website functionality, products, and services based on usage patterns and feedback.
- To respond to your inquiries, comments, or service requests.
- To maintain the security and integrity of our online platform.
- To comply with legal obligations and enforce our terms and conditions.
Disclosure of Your Information
We may share your personal data with third parties in the following circumstances:
- Service Providers: We may share your information with third-party vendors, consultants, and other service providers who perform services for us or on our behalf, such as payment processing, website hosting, data analysis, email delivery, and marketing assistance. These service providers are obligated to protect your information and use it only for the purposes for which it was disclosed.
- Legal Requirements: We may disclose your information if required to do so by law or in response to valid requests by public authorities (e.g., a court or government agency).
- Business Transfers: In the event of a merger, acquisition, or sale of all or a portion of our assets, your personal data may be transferred to the acquiring entity.
- With Your Consent: We may disclose your personal data for any other purpose with your consent.
Data Retention
We retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements. To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorized use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements.
Your Data Protection Rights
Depending on your location, you may have certain rights regarding your personal data:
- Access: You have the right to request access to the personal data we hold about you.
- Correction: You have the right to request that we correct any inaccurate or incomplete personal data.
- Withdraw Consent: Where we rely on your consent to process your personal data, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time.
- Erasure (Right to be Forgotten): In certain circumstances, you may have the right to request the erasure of your personal data.
- Objection to Processing: You have the right to object to the processing of your personal data in certain situations.
- Data Portability: In some cases, you have the right to request a copy of your personal data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format.
To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the details provided below. We will respond to your request in accordance with applicable data protection laws.
Security of Your Information
We implement appropriate technical and organizational security measures designed to protect the security of any personal data we process. However, please remember that we cannot guarantee that the internet itself is 100% secure. Although we will do our best to protect your personal data, transmission of personal data to and from our online platform is at your own risk. You should only access the services within a secure environment.
Children's Privacy
Our online platform is not intended for use by children under the age of 16. We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from children under 16. If we become aware that we have collected personal data from a child under 16 without verification of parental consent, we take steps to remove that information from our servers.
Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or for other operational, legal, or regulatory reasons. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page and updating the "Last Updated" date at the top of this policy. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically for any changes.
Contact Us
If you have questions or comments about this Privacy Policy, please contact us:
Star Anise Stories
75 Tras Street, #02-01, Heritage Place
Singapore, Central Area, 079014