Privacy Policy

Last updated 7/5/2024

I collect some information about you when you interact with my website and services. Let’s go over what information I collect, how I use it, how I store it, and when I delete it.

When you visit my website, I may receive personal information from you if you enter it.

  • If you leave a comment, I will receive the information you enter into the comment form, like name, email address, and any other information you enter. That information stays within my website indefinitely.
  • If you send me an email or a message, I will receive your email address, username, or any other information that you include.
    • Emails are stored in my gmail inbox for two years and then deleted.
    • Messages sent through Etsy, Ravelry, or social media sites are stored on their systems only. I do not manually delete these, so they will remain until the social media site deletes them.

Additionally, there are a number of tracking things going on in the background that may keep track of you, your computer/device, or your behavior when on my website.

  • My website does use cookies. These are used to track and keep a record of your behavior. Those cookies are used to help serve you relevant advertising and to track various behaviors so that Google Analytics can give me insights about how my users interact with my website. This helps me make decisions about future posts and marketing. I do not personally see any identifying information from these cookies.
  • However, I use Google Analytics to interpret behavior on my site to help me make future decisions about posts, products, and marketing. This program does not collect identifiable information like your name or contact info. It is tracking things about your device or computer, and details about behavior like what site referred you to my website, pages you view on my site, how long you stay on a page, and more. You can learn more about Google Analytics, and the information it is collecting, in their privacy policy here https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites
    • This information is kept within Google’s servers and handled according to their policies.
  • Also, my ad partner, SHEMedia, utilizes cookies and tracks behavior on my site to help make decisions about ads. You can see their privacy policy here https://www.shemedia.com/ad-services-privacy-policy/
    • This information is stored and handled by them according to their policies.
  • Also, I include affiliate links on my site. These allow me to earn a little money when a user clicks an affiliate link and then makes a purchase on the affiliate site. A cookie is used to track that you visited their website after clicking my link. I interact with affiliate programs and obtain these links through ShareASale, an Awin company. You can find their privacy policy here https://www.shareasale.com/PrivacyPolicy.pdf
    • This information is stored and handled by them according to their policies.

Also, my website uses a few other programs that may collect information about you.

  • Akismet is used for spam message prevention. They check comments against known spam content across the internet and remove spam messages left on my site from ever reaching me. You cannot even imagine the loads of spam comments that bots try to leave on my site every single day. Hundreds. Only the personal data needed to carry out Akismet’s function of protecting my site against comment spam is collected from commenters. They do not sell the data sent to them, and they have short retention periods of between two weeks and ninety days for the vast majority of spam‑related data, at which point it is automatically deleted from their databases. You can find their privacy policy here for more info https://akismet.com/privacy/ 
  • Grow is used for various functions on my site to do with unlocking exclusive content for subscribers, social media shares, favoriting pages on my site, and subscribing to my email list. If you log in to unlock exclusive content, favorite a page, share to social media, or subscribe to my email list, you will be voluntarily sharing information with Grow. Learn more about their privacy practices here https://www.grow.me/publishers/privacy/ 
  • Social sharing buttons on my site are provided through wpsocialrocket.com. If you click one of the social sharing buttons on my site, it will log a little information about you in order to connect with your social media accounts and share the appropriate post. You can read their privacy policy here https://wpsocialrocket.com/privacy-policy/ 

Along with my website, I send email newsletters to those that opt in for these.

  • I use a service called Mailerlite to collect signups and send newsletters. You can find their privacy policy here https://www.mailerlite.com/legal/privacy-policy 
  • When you sign up for my newsletter mailerlite stores your name and email address, which you have to voluntarily give in order to sign up. That’s the primary information that I will interact with when I work with my newsletters. However, they also track things like location, date, and time when you sign up. As you interact, or don’t interact, with my emails, it tracks what you opened, or didn’t, and what you clicked. It tracks the type of device you used to open an email, the date, and time that you open the email, and what email server you use.
    • This information is stored within mailerlite and my account with them. When you unsubscribe, your data is not deleted, but I can delete your information if you wish. You can contact me at the email address below for this.

I sell patterns on Etsy.

  • When you make a purchase on Etsy, I see your username, email address, and mailing address. Etsy sends me an email about every purchase, so your information winds up in my email as well as in Etsy. I don’t do anything with that information, since pattern delivery is automatic. But Etsy might do something with it; you can find their privacy policy here https://www.etsy.com/legal/privacy/
    • Emails are deleted from my inbox after two years.
    • Etsy keeps these purchase records for at least 14 years, as my current sales records go back to when I opened my shop in 2010.

I also sell patterns on Ravelry.

  • When you make a purchase on Ravelry, I see your username, email address, date and time of purchase, and country of your location. Ravelry also sends me an email about every purchase, including some of that information, so that will wind up in my email as well as in Ravelry. I don’t do anything with that information, since pattern delivery is automatic. But Ravelry might do something with it. You can find their privacy policy here https://www.ravelry.com/about/privacy
    • Emails are deleted from my inbox after two years.
    • Ravelry keeps these purchase records for at least 14 years, as my current sales records go back to when I opened my shop in 2010.

All Ravelry purchases and some Etsy purchases are paid via PayPal.

  • In PayPal I am given date and time of purchase, transaction type, your name, physical address, and email address. I also get an email from PayPal every time a purchase is made through their service. That email includes some of your personal information. I don’t do anything with that information unless an issue comes up and I need to contact you about your purchase. You can find PayPal’s privacy policy here to learn more about what else is happening with your personal information https://www.paypal.com/myaccount/privacy/privacyhub
    • Emails are deleted from my inbox after two years.
    • PayPal only allows me to access records for about one year. Their privacy policy may give further details about how long they maintain records.

I use Google’s gmail for my business emails.

  • If you send me an email, I will have your email address and any other information that you send me. 
  • I get emails from Etsy and Ravelry about all purchases, and those will contain some information about the purchaser, as explained above.
  • Emails are deleted after two years.

If you interact with me over social media or some other site like YouTube, Ravelry, Etsy, etc, the information exchanged there stays on their site and is handled in accordance with their policies.

You can contact me about this privacy policy or about removing your information from my records at april@bananamoonstudio.com.

Please note, that I cannot delete your information from other services records even though I may partner with them.