Privacy Policy

Effective Date: August 28th 2026

At The Sparkle Bookstore, we value your privacy and are committed to protecting your personal information. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, and safeguard your data when you visit our website.

1. Information We Collect

We collect personal and usage information in the following ways:

  • When you sign up for our newsletter (email address)
  • When you create an account (email address and optionally a display name)
  • When you visit our site, we collect anonymized traffic and usage data through Google Analytics
  • For security and performance, we log connection details such as IP addresses via Cloudflare

We do not collect sensitive personal data, and we do not track you across other websites.

2. How We Use Your Information

We use your information to:

  • Send newsletters and updates (via Mailchimp)
  • Allow you to create and manage an account
  • Improve the content and experience of our website

We do not sell or share your data with third parties for advertising purposes.

3. Newsletter and Email Marketing

Our newsletter is managed through Mailchimp. When you sign up, your email address is stored securely by Mailchimp. You can unsubscribe at any time using the link provided in each email.

Mailchimp’s privacy practices are governed by their Privacy Policy.

4. Cookies and Tracking

We use basic cookies for essential site functionality and first-party analytics. We do not use cookies for advertising or third-party tracking, and we do not track you across other websites.

In order to save your shopping cart between visits we store a random session identifier in your browser as a cookie.

5. Search Terms

When you search on our site we record the words you searched for, along with the session identifier described above and whether the search was typed or chosen from the suggestions list.

We use this only in aggregate, to work out which books, authors and subjects people look for most often, and to order the suggestions shown in the search box. We do not build a profile of you, we do not show you different results from anyone else, and your individual search history is never displayed back to you or to anyone else.

Searches are not linked to your account, even when you are signed in.

6. Links to Bookshop.org

Some of our book listings link to Bookshop.org. We earn a small commission on purchases made through those links. We are not sponsored by Bookshop. When you follow such a link, we record data linked to your anonymous session ID to power our analytics.

What you do on Bookshop.org is governed by their privacy policy, not ours.

7. Blog and External Links

Our blog is publicly accessible. We may include links to other websites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of those external sites.

8. Your Rights

You may:

  • Request to view or delete your account information
  • Unsubscribe from the newsletter at any time
  • Request that we delete the search and link-click records associated with your session or account

To make a request, please contact us at: [email protected]

9. Data Security

We take reasonable steps to protect your data using industry-standard security measures, such as HTTPS encryption.

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Updates will be posted here with a revised effective date.