1. What we collect
When you sign up for the free calculator
- Your email address (required)
- Your first name (optional)
- Your consent: the checkbox you tick to get the calculator and newsletter
Collected automatically by our email provider, MailerLite
- Consent record: the date and time you signed up, your IP address, the approximate location worked out from it, and the form you used. This is how we show you agreed to hear from us.
- Email activity: whether you open our emails and which links you click. A small tracking image and tracked links in each email do this.
When you buy from us on Etsy, Gumroad or Stan Store
These platforms run their own checkout. We receive your name, email address and order details (what you bought, price, date). We never receive your card or bank details. Gumroad and Stan Store may also share an email address with us when you get a free download there.
When you email us
Your email address and whatever you write to us.
Our books on Amazon
Our Kindle and paperback books are sold by Amazon. Amazon handles the purchase and does not give us buyers' names or contact details.
Cookies and analytics
Our signup page doesn't use analytics, advertising pixels or tracking cookies, and it doesn't load any third-party scripts. If that changes, we'll update this policy first. Our web host may keep standard server logs (such as IP address and browser type) for security and to keep the site running.
2. How we use it
- To send you the free calculator you asked for
- To send our 5-email welcome series and the Cents & Sheets newsletter: budgeting tips for uneven income and occasional product news
- To deliver your orders and help if a file won't open
- To answer your messages
- To see which emails are useful (opens and clicks) so we can improve them
- To keep records we're legally required to keep, such as sales records for taxes
We don't use your information for anything else without asking you first.
3. Who we share it with
We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioural (targeted) advertising.
We share it only with services that help us run the business:
| Service | What it does | Their privacy policy |
|---|---|---|
| MailerLite | Stores our email list and sends our emails | mailerlite.com/legal/privacy-policy |
| Etsy, Gumroad, Stan Store | Run checkout and file delivery for purchases | Each platform's own privacy policy |
| Our web host | Serves the signup page | The host's own privacy policy |
MailerLite says it may use industry-standard technologies to help us monitor and improve our newsletter. When you buy on Etsy, Gumroad or Stan Store, that platform also handles your information under its own privacy policy.
We may also disclose information if the law requires it, or to protect our rights or someone's safety.
4. Your choices and rights
- Unsubscribe anytime: every email has an unsubscribe link at the bottom. You can also email us.
- Access, correct or delete: email centsandsheets@mail.grokbot.com to ask what we hold about you, to fix it, or to delete it. We'll reply within 30 days and may need to confirm the request came from you, usually by replying from the same email address.
We won't treat you differently for using these rights.
5. California residents
If you live in California, you can ask us to:
- know what personal information we've collected about you, where it came from, why we collected it and who we've shared it with
- delete it
- correct it
- opt out of sale or sharing. We don't sell or share personal information, so there's nothing to opt out of.
- limit use of sensitive personal information. We don't collect any.
In the past 12 months we have collected these categories of personal information: identifiers (name, email address, IP address), commercial information (orders) and internet activity (email opens and clicks). They came from you, from MailerLite, and from the stores you buy on. We used them for the purposes in section 2 and disclosed them only to the service providers in section 3.
To use these rights, email us. You can also have an authorised agent ask for you; we may ask the agent for your signed permission. We won't treat you differently for using your rights.
Do Not Track: our site doesn't track you across other websites, so it works the same whether or not your browser sends a "Do Not Track" or Global Privacy Control signal. No other parties collect information about your activity across websites through our site.
Shine the Light: we don't share personal information with other companies for their own direct marketing.
6. If you're in the EU or UK
Controller: Cents & Sheets (contact details above) decides how your data is used.
Legal basis:
- Consent for the newsletter and welcome emails. You can withdraw it anytime by unsubscribing; that doesn't affect anything we sent before.
- Contract to deliver what you buy and to help with it.
- Legitimate interests for answering messages, keeping the service secure, and keeping your address on a "do not email" list after you unsubscribe, so we don't email you by mistake.
- Legal obligation to keep sales records.
International transfers: we're based in the United States. MailerLite stores subscriber data in data centres in the European Union. Some services we use are US companies, so your information may be handled in the US. Where the law requires it, we rely on the providers' standard data-protection terms (such as Standard Contractual Clauses).
Your rights: you can ask for access, correction, deletion, restriction, a portable copy, or object to how we use your data. If you're unhappy, you can complain to your local data protection authority, or in the UK to the Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk). Please contact us first so we can try to fix it.
7. Children
Our products and emails are for adults. We don't aim them at children under 16, and we don't knowingly collect information from anyone under 16. If you think a child has signed up, email us and we'll delete it.
8. How long we keep it
- Email list: while you're subscribed. If you unsubscribe, we remove you from our mailings but keep your email address on a "do not email" list so we honour your choice. We keep your consent record only as long as we may need it to show you agreed. We may remove subscribers who haven't opened an email in 12 months.
- Orders: as long as tax law requires, usually up to 7 years.
- Support emails: up to 2 years after the conversation ends, unless they're part of an order record.
9. Security
We use reputable providers, strong unique passwords and two-factor authentication on our accounts, and we limit access to the people who need it. No system is perfectly secure, but if a breach affects your information, we'll tell you as the law requires.
10. Changes to this policy
If we change this policy, we'll update the effective date at the top. For important changes, we'll also let subscribers know by email before the change takes effect.
11. Contact us
Cents & Sheets
785 Oak Grove Rd, Ste E2 #1277
Concord, CA 94518, USA
centsandsheets@mail.grokbot.com