Privacy Policy

Who We Are

Elena Marie Ball (“we”, “us”, or “our”) is an independent author, and this privacy policy (“policy”) will help you understand how we use and protect the data you provide to us when you visit and use https://elenamarieball.com (“our website”).

We do our best to protect your personal information and to be transparent about how your data is collected and used. We reserve the right to update this policy at any given time. To remain up to date with our policy, we advise you to frequently visit this page.

Website Use

We collect technical, behavioral, and personal data to provide services like security, analytics, and product orders. Key data that may be collected includes IP addresses, user agent strings, WordPress.com user IDs, site activity (such as page views), referral URLs, and location data. User data is not sold, and this information is primarily used for security, traffic analysis, and enabling features like site search or reviews.

Key Data Collected by Feature

Statistics and Analytics: IP address, WordPress.com user ID, browser language, country code, referring URL, and page views.
Security: IP address, user agent.
Messages, Reviews, and Subscriptions: Name, email address, and message/review content.
Site Search: Search queries and filters.
Orders: Purchase, address, and billing information.

Cookies

This site only uses Essential and Statistics cookies. We do not use Marketing cookies.

Name	Description	Duration
sbjs_session	The number of page views in this session and the current page path	30 minutes
sbjs_udata	Information about the visitor’s user agent, such as IP, the browser, and the device type	session
sbjs_first	Traffic origin information for the visitor’s first visit to your store (only applicable if the visitor returns before the session expires)	session
sbjs_current	Traffic origin information for the visitor’s current visit to your store	session
sbjs_first_add	Timestamp, referring URL, and entry page for your visitor’s first visit to your store (only applicable if the visitor returns before the session expires)	session
sbjs_current_add	Timestamp, referring URL, and entry page for your visitor’s current visit to your store	session
sbjs_migrations	Technical data to help with migrations between different versions of the tracking feature	session

Orders

When users place an order, purchase, address, and billing information is collected. This information is handled securely via Square and WooCommerce and is never shared.

Messages & Newsletter Subscriptions

When users send us messages or subscribe to our newsletter on our website, we collect the data shown in the relevant contact form as entered by the user, such as name and email address, and the user’s IP address may be logged for security and spam moderation purposes.

If you choose to provide your email address or any other personally identifiable information via the contact forms on our website, we will only use the information to respond to your queries or send you periodic newsletters, as applicable. If you choose to unsubscribe from newsletters, you will stop receiving newsletters and your information will be removed from our contact list. You can easily unsubscribe via the footer at the bottom of our newsletters or by a direct emailed request.

Reviews

When users leave product reviews on our website, the star rating, review, date, and name entered by the reviewer are visible to subsequent website visitors once the review is approved. In addition, we collect an email address to verify the user, which is hidden from view, and the user’s IP address may be logged for security and spam moderation purposes.

Spam Detection

User reviews and messages may be checked through an automated spam detection service.

Links to External Websites

Pages, posts, and widgets on this site may include links to external websites or social media platforms. If you click on these links, these sites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor or track your interaction with these links.

Visiting external websites or social media platforms is not governed by this policy. Make sure to read the privacy policy documentation of any site you navigate to from our website.

Data Security

We are committed to securing your data and keeping it confidential. We have done all in our power to prevent data theft, unauthorized access, and disclosure by implementing technologies and software, which help us safeguard the information we collect online.

Data Sharing

Your data is not shared with or sold to any third parties. We may share your data only in such circumstance that we are required to do so by law.

Data Retention

If you send us a message or leave a review, the contents and its metadata are retained indefinitely, unless the user requests removal. If you subscribe to our mailing list, the contact information you submitted is stored until you choose to unsubscribe, which can be done from the footer at the bottom of our newsletters or by emailed request.

If you place an order, we also store customer data after order completion, which includes name, email address, amount spent, and regional location data for metrics. Order details are also retained for our records.

Your Data Rights

If you have placed an order, left a review for a product, or sent us a message, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.