Privacy
Policy

The Sinful Spine Ltd is the data controller for the personal information we collect and use.

We operate the website www.TheSinfulSpine.com and trade as The Sinful Spine, a UK-based bookshop and online bookstore.

For privacy queries, data protection requests or questions about this Privacy Policy, you can contact us through www.TheSinfulSpine.com.

We may collect and use the following types of personal information:

Account Information

This may include your name, email address, password, account preferences, saved addresses, order history, wishlist activity, store credit, gift card balance and account settings.

Order and Transaction Information

This may include your name, billing address, delivery address, email address, phone number, order details, products purchased, order value, payment status, delivery method, discount codes used, returns, refunds, exchanges and customer service notes.

Payment Information

Payments are processed by third-party payment providers. We do not usually store full card details. We may receive limited payment information such as payment confirmation, payment method, transaction ID, fraud checks, billing address and payment status.

Delivery Information

This may include your name, delivery address, phone number, email address, courier tracking details, delivery notes, safe place instructions and proof of delivery information.

Communication Information

This may include emails, contact form messages, customer service enquiries, complaints, social media messages, reviews, event queries, return requests and any information you choose to provide when contacting us.

Marketing Information

This may include your email address, marketing preferences, newsletter sign-up date, consent records, unsubscribe activity, email open rates, click activity and interests based on your interaction with our emails or website.

Website and Technical Information

This may include your IP address, browser type, device type, operating system, approximate location, pages visited, products viewed, referral source, session data, cookies, analytics data, error logs and security logs.

Event Information

If you attend or book an event, we may collect your name, contact details, ticket details, booking information, accessibility requests, dietary information where relevant, attendance records and event communications.

Reviews, Community and Social Media Information

This may include reviews, comments, photographs, usernames, social media handles, tags, testimonials and other content you share with us or post publicly about The Sinful Spine.

Age-Related Information

Some products may contain adult or mature themes. Where necessary, we may ask you to confirm that you are over 18 or otherwise eligible to purchase certain products or attend certain events.

We may collect personal information when you:

• Visit or use our website.
• Create an account.
• Place an order.
• Buy or redeem a gift card.
• Subscribe to a newsletter or mailing list.
• Contact us by email, contact form, social media or other channels.
• Return, exchange or complain about a product.
• Attend, book or enquire about an event.
• Leave a review or submit content.
• Take part in a promotion, competition, giveaway or survey.
• Interact with our adverts, emails, social media or website.
• Use cookies or similar technologies on our website.

We may also receive limited information from payment providers, delivery companies, analytics providers, email marketing platforms, fraud prevention providers and other service providers involved in operating our business.

We use your personal information for the following purposes:

To Process and Fulfil Orders

We use your information to accept orders, process payments, dispatch products, arrange delivery, provide order updates, manage returns and refunds, and provide customer support.

To Manage Your Account

We use your information to create and manage your customer account, show your order history, save preferences, manage wishlists, process store credit and improve your shopping experience.

To Provide Customer Service

We use your information to respond to enquiries, resolve problems, manage complaints, process returns, deal with faulty or missing items and keep records of customer communications.

To Send Service Messages

We may send emails or messages about your order, account, payment, delivery, returns, event bookings, security notices or important service updates.

These are not marketing messages.

To Send Marketing

Where permitted, we may send you emails about new releases, book recommendations, events, offers, restocks, pre-orders, exclusive editions, community updates and other news from The Sinful Spine.

You can unsubscribe from marketing emails at any time.

To Personalise Your Experience

We may use browsing, purchase and preference information to recommend products, remember your preferences, show relevant content and improve your experience on our website.

To Run Events

We use personal information to manage event bookings, tickets, attendance, updates, access needs, event communications, safety, photography notices and event follow-up.

To Manage Promotions and Giveaways

We may use personal information to administer promotions, competitions, discounts, giveaways, loyalty schemes and customer rewards.

To Improve Our Website and Business

We use technical, analytics and customer behaviour data to understand how our website is used, improve products, fix errors, improve stock planning, assess marketing performance and develop our services.

To Prevent Fraud and Protect Our Business

We may use information to detect, prevent and investigate fraud, payment disputes, chargebacks, misuse of discounts, suspicious orders, account misuse, security threats and unlawful activity.

To Meet Legal and Tax Obligations

We may use and retain information where required for accounting, tax, legal, regulatory, consumer rights, data protection or dispute purposes.

Under UK data protection law, we must have a lawful basis for using your personal information.

The lawful bases we may rely on include:

Contract

We use your information where necessary to fulfil a contract with you, such as processing your order, delivering products, managing returns, handling event bookings or providing account services.

Legal Obligation

We use your information where necessary to comply with legal duties, including tax, accounting, consumer rights, fraud prevention, data protection and regulatory obligations.

Legitimate Interests

We may use your information where we have a legitimate business interest, provided your rights and interests do not override it. This may include improving our website, preventing fraud, handling customer service, keeping business records, managing reviews, analysing sales, protecting our legal position and sending relevant marketing to existing customers where permitted.

Consent

We rely on consent where required, such as for certain marketing emails, non-essential cookies or specific uses of photographs, testimonials or sensitive information.

You can withdraw consent at any time where consent is the lawful basis.

Vital Interests

In rare cases, we may use personal information where necessary to protect someone’s life or safety, such as in an emergency at an event.

We may send marketing emails if you have subscribed to our mailing list, given consent, or where the law allows us to contact existing customers about similar goods or services.

The ICO explains that the “soft opt-in” may allow businesses to email their own customers about similar goods or services, provided the customer is given a clear opportunity to opt out when their details are collected and in every later marketing message.

You can unsubscribe from marketing emails at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in our emails or by contacting us through www.TheSinfulSpine.com.

We will still send important non-marketing messages about your orders, account, events, payments, returns or legal notices where necessary.

Our website may use cookies and similar technologies to operate the website, remember preferences, keep your basket active, support checkout, improve security, analyse website performance and support advertising or marketing.

Cookies may include:

• Essential cookies needed for the website to work.
• Preference cookies that remember your choices.
• Analytics cookies that help us understand website use.
• Marketing cookies that help us measure or show relevant advertising.

Where required by law, we will ask for your consent before using non-essential cookies.

You can usually control cookies through your browser settings or through any cookie settings tool provided on our website.

If you block some cookies, parts of the website may not work properly.

We may share personal information with trusted third parties where necessary to operate our business, fulfil orders, provide services or comply with the law.

This may include:

• Payment processors and fraud prevention providers.
• Delivery companies, couriers and postal services.
• Website hosting providers.
• Ecommerce platform providers.
• Email marketing platforms.
• Analytics providers.
• Customer service tools.
• IT, security and technical support providers.
• Accountants, bookkeepers, legal advisers and insurers.
• Event partners, venues or ticketing providers where needed.
• Regulators, law enforcement, courts, HMRC or other authorities where required.
• Business buyers, investors or advisers if we sell, restructure or transfer part of our business.

We only share the information needed for the relevant purpose.

We do not sell your personal information.

Some of our service providers may process personal information outside the United Kingdom.

Where this happens, we will take steps to ensure appropriate safeguards are in place, such as using providers in countries with an adequacy decision or using approved contractual protections where required.

We keep personal information only for as long as necessary for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy.

Typical retention periods include:

• Order and transaction records: normally up to 6 years for tax, accounting and legal purposes.
• Customer account information: for as long as the account remains active, then for a reasonable period after closure.
• Customer service messages: for as long as needed to resolve the issue and maintain business records.
• Marketing records: until you unsubscribe or your information is no longer needed.
• Consent records: for as long as needed to show how consent was obtained and managed.
• Event booking records: for as long as needed to manage the event and keep appropriate records.
• Website analytics: for a limited period depending on the analytics tool used.
• Legal, dispute or fraud records: for as long as necessary to protect our rights or comply with legal obligations.

We may anonymise information so it no longer identifies you, in which case we may use it for research, analytics or business planning.

We take reasonable steps to protect personal information from loss, misuse, unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration or destruction.

These steps may include secure payment processing, access controls, password protection, encryption where appropriate, secure hosting, staff access limits, system monitoring and keeping records only where necessary.

No website, email system or online service can be guaranteed to be completely secure. You are responsible for keeping your account login details confidential.

Under UK data protection law, you may have the following rights:

• The right to be informed about how your information is used.
• The right to access your personal information.
• The right to correct inaccurate or incomplete information.
• The right to request deletion of your information.
• The right to restrict how your information is used.
• The right to object to certain uses of your information.
• The right to data portability.
• The right to withdraw consent where processing is based on consent.
• Rights relating to automated decision-making and profiling, where applicable.

The ICO states that privacy notices should explain people’s rights, including rights of access, rectification, erasure, restriction and objection.

To exercise your rights, please contact us through www.TheSinfulSpine.com.

We may need to verify your identity before responding. Some rights are subject to legal limits, and we may need to retain certain information for tax, accounting, legal, fraud prevention or dispute purposes.

If you are unhappy with how we use your personal information, please contact us first so we can try to resolve the issue.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office, the UK regulator for data protection.

You can contact the ICO through www.ico.org.uk.

Our website is not intended for children under 13.

Some products sold by The Sinful Spine may contain mature or adult themes and may not be suitable for children or young people.

We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If we become aware that we have collected such information without appropriate consent, we will take steps to delete it.

Customers are responsible for ensuring that books and products purchased for children or young people are suitable.

Because The Sinful Spine sells books that may include romance, erotic content, dark themes, LGBTQ+ themes, violence, trauma, fantasy, paranormal content or other mature subject matter, we may process limited information about your purchases, preferences, wishlists or browsing activity.

This information may reveal reading interests or genre preferences. We use it only for normal ecommerce purposes, such as fulfilling orders, managing accounts, providing recommendations, customer service, stock planning and marketing where permitted.

We do not use reading preference data to make decisions that have legal or similarly significant effects on you.

If you leave a review, tag us, send us a testimonial, comment on our social media or share content with us, we may use that content for customer engagement, marketing, website content or social proof.

Where content is public, we may repost or refer to it. Where content is private or includes identifiable images, we may ask for permission where appropriate.

You can ask us to remove or stop using your testimonial or user-generated content, although we may not be able to remove content already printed, published by third parties or shared outside our control.

Photography or filming may take place at The Sinful Spine events for marketing, social media, community or record-keeping purposes.

Where practical, we will make this clear at the event.

If you do not want to be photographed or filmed, please tell a member of staff at the event.

We may still use crowd or background images where you are not the main focus, unless you tell us otherwise and it is reasonable for us to avoid or remove the image.

We do not use personal information to make decisions that have legal or similarly significant effects on you by fully automated means.

We may use limited profiling or segmentation for marketing, product recommendations, fraud checks, customer preferences, website analytics or advertising. For example, we may recommend books based on your previous purchases or browsing activity.

You can opt out of marketing emails at any time.

Our website may include links to third-party websites, social media pages, publisher websites, payment providers, delivery tracking pages or event platforms.

We are not responsible for the privacy practices, content or security of third-party websites.

You should read their privacy policies before providing personal information.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our business, website, services, technology, legal obligations or data protection practices.

The latest version will be published on www.TheSinfulSpine.com.

Continued use of our website after the Privacy Policy is updated means you acknowledge the updated version.

For privacy questions, data protection requests, account queries or concerns about how your personal information is used, please contact The Sinful Spine Ltd through www.TheSinfulSpine.com.

This Privacy Policy applies to The Sinful Spine Ltd, trading as The Sinful Spine, operating through www.TheSinfulSpine.com.