This privacy policy was last updated on 28^th November 2023.

1. Introduction 

​I am a registered sole trader operating as The Abundant Word. The Abundant Word offers beta reading and copywriting services to authors and businesses. I also offer digital tools and resources for readers and writers.  

2. Contact

You can contact me in the following ways:

by emailing me directly at; contact@theabundantword.com

or by writing to me at; _{^{The Lansdowne Building, 2 Lansdowne Road, Croydon, CR9 2ER, ENGLAND}}

This policy describes how I protect and make use of the information that you give me via this website. If you are asked to provide information, it will only be used in ways stated in this policy. Please read this privacy notice carefully. This document can be printed for reference by using the print command of your browser.

3. Why do I collect data from you?

I gather and use certain information about you to:

• Respond to any requests for information.
• Provide quotes for projects.
• Process financial transactions for goods, products, or services.
• Allow me to contact you about goods, services and enquiries.
• Keep records of orders and communication.
• Enable certain functions on this website.
• Better understand how visitors use this website.
• Deliver relevant website content, advertisements, and notifications to you where those services are permitted.
• Obtain and maintain insurance.
• Provide administration and support to the business and website.
• Comply with any legal obligations.

4. What Data do I collect from you?

We may collect the following data about you:

• Your name.
• Your email address.
• Your address.
• Your phone number.
• Your business name.
• Your financial details.
• Any personal data you post on our website.
• Data about how you use our website.
• Technical data such as your IP address, your login data, details about your browser, length of visit to pages on our website, page views and navigation paths, details about the number of times you use our website, time zone settings and other technology on the devices you use to access our website.
• Your marketing and communication preferences.
• Any other information that you directly provide to us whether through our contact form, over the phone, by email or otherwise, may be freely provided by the User, or, in case of Usage Data, collected automatically when using this site.

Unless specified otherwise, all data requested by this site is mandatory and failure to provide this data may make it impossible for me to provide services. In cases where this website specifically states that some data is not mandatory, Users are free not to communicate this data without consequences to the availability or the functioning of the Service.

5. How I get the personal information and why I have it

Most of the personal information we process is provided to us directly by you (for example by filling in forms on the website or by sending me an email). Certain data may be collected automatically from you as you use the website by using cookies and similar technologies. Please see the cookie policy for more details about this here.

I may receive data from third parties such as analytics providers such as Google based outside the UK, advertising networks based inside or outside of the UK, search information providers, providers of technical, payment and delivery services, fraud detection agencies, data brokers or aggregators, and any publicly available information.

6. Processing Data

Under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the lawful bases we rely on for processing this information are:

• Your consent. Data may be processed to enable me to respond to an enquiry about my products or services (whether that be through the website or otherwise) and keep records of this. The processing is necessary in order to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract. Data that I have obtained when you signed up for any of the free resources may be processed in order to send you those free resources, reply to your communications about the resources and to keep relevant records. Data that I have obtained in order for you to take part in any competitions, giveaways or any other promotion may be processed in order to deliver relevant items, information, or website content and to measure the effectiveness of this advertising. This processing enables me to understand how best to develop and grow the business and website. You are able to remove your consent at any time using the information provided in the contact section of this policy.
• I have a contractual obligation. Data may be processed for the purpose of fulfilling a contract, informing you about updates to a product or service and keeping records of the contract.
• I have a legal obligation such as tax or accounting requirements. I process data in order to comply with legal requirements or as required by a government authority or to obtain professional advice and insurance.
• I have a legitimate interest such as informing you about updates to a product or service, record keeping and to establish, pursue or defend legal claims as responsible business operations.
• User Data that has been obtained through cookies on the website or other online services for the purposes of operating the website ensures relevant content is provided to you. It also ensures the security of the website, allows for maintaining back-ups of the website and/or databases, and enables publication and administration of the website, other online services and business.
• Technical data may be processed in order to analyse your use of our website and other online services, to administer and protect our business and website, to deliver relevant website content and advertisements to you and to understand the effectiveness of our advertising. This allows me to properly administer the website and business.

7. Cookies

A cookie is a piece of data stored on your computer by a web browser. It allows the website to remember you when you return to the site and view different pages.

You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when websites set or access cookies. If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of this website may become inaccessible or not function properly. For more information about the cookies this website uses, please see the cookies policy.

8. Disclosure of Data

The Abundant Word may have to share your personal data with the parties set out below:

• Service providers who provide IT and system administration services.
• Professional advisers including lawyers, accountants, and insurers.
• Government bodies that require me to report processing activities or otherwise disclose your personal data.
• Fraud prevention agencies.

The Abundant Word requires all third parties to whom data is transferred to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law. The Abundant Word only allows such third parties to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with specific instructions. Where we transfer your data to third parties outside of the UK, The Abundant Word will ensure that certain safeguards are in place to ensure a similar degree of security for your personal data.

9. Third Party Services

• Titan is an email provider used to contact you about services. Privacy policy. https://support.titan.email/hc/en-us/articles/360038535773-Titan-Privacy-Policy
• WordPress allows The Abundant Word to build, run and host an e-commerce website. https://en-gb.wordpress.org/about/privacy/
• Instagram widget (Meta Platforms, Inc.). Instagram allows me to incorporate visual content on site pages. Privacy policy: https://privacycenter.instagram.com/policy/?entry_point=ig_help_center_data_policy_redirect
• Google Tags helps to manage tags or scripts on the website. Privacy policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy

10. Storing Data

The minimal information I collect is stored on the following data servers:

WordPress. This is my website host. You can access the WordPress privacy policy here: https://en-gb.wordpress.org/about/privacy/

One Drive. This is my cloud-based file management system accessed via my password-protected computer. It is owned by Microsoft. You can access Microsoft’s privacy policy here: https://privacy.microsoft.com/en-gb/privacystatement

11. Handling payments

Unless otherwise specified, this website processes any payments by credit card, bank transfer or other means via external payment service providers. In general and unless where otherwise stated, Users are requested to provide their payment details and personal information directly to such payment service providers. This site isn’t involved in the collection and processing of such information: instead, it will only receive a notification by the relevant payment service provider as to whether payment has been successfully completed.

STRIPE

Stripe is a payment service provided by Stripe Inc., which allows users to make online payments.

Stripe privacy policy: https://stripe.com/gb/privacy#9-contact-us

Cookie opt-out information: https://stripe.com/gb/legal/cookies-policy

PAYPAL

PayPal is a payment service provided by PayPal Inc., which allows Users to make online payments.

PayPal invoices may be used to enable payments for beta reading, editing, or other services.

PayPal privacy policy: https://www.paypal.com/webapps/mpp/ua/privacy-full

QUICKBOOKS

QuickBooks invoices are provided by Intuit Ltd., and may be used to enable payments for beta reading, editing, or other services.

QuickBooks privacy policy: https://quickbooks.intuit.com/hk/privacy/

12. Data Retention

Unless specified otherwise in this document, Personal Data shall be processed and stored for as long as required by the purpose they have been collected for and may be retained for longer due to applicable legal obligation or based on the Users’ consent.

13. Opt-Out

To opt out of receiving marketing and promotional communications from Theabundantword.com, you can:

Click the “unsubscribe” link located at the bottom of any marketing or promotional email you receive. This link will take you to a page where you can confirm your request to unsubscribe.

You can contact me at any time at contact@theabundantword.com and request removal from the marketing and communications list.

Once you have unsubscribed or requested to be removed from the list, you will no longer receive marketing or promotional communications. Please note that your request may take up to 10 business days to process.

14. Legal Rights

Under data protection laws you have rights in relation to your personal data that include the right to request access, correction, erasure, restriction, transfer, to object to processing, to portability of data and (where the lawful ground of processing is consent) to withdraw consent.

You can see more about these rights at:

https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr/individual-rights/

If you wish to exercise any of the rights set out above, please email contact@theabundantword.com

You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal data (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, you may be charges a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive or excessive or refuse to comply with your request in these circumstances.

I may need to request specific information from you to help confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your personal data (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is a security measure to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it. I may also contact you to ask you for further information in relation to your request to speed up our response.

I will try to respond to all legitimate requests within one month. Occasionally it may take longer than a month if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests. In this case, I will notify you.

If you are not happy with any aspect of how I collect and use your data, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues (www.ico.org.uk). Please  contact me first if you do have a complaint so that I can try to resolve it for you.