Privacy Policy

1. Who We Are

Page and Pixel Designs ("we," "us," or "our") provides hosted author website services at pageandpixeldesigns.com. This policy explains how we collect, use, and protect information when you use our platform — whether you're an author with an account, or a reader visiting, messaging, or buying from an author's site.

2. Information We Collect

Account information: When you create an account, we collect your name and email address through Firebase Authentication (a Google service).

Payment information: Payments are processed by Stripe. We do not store your credit card number, CVV, or full card details — Stripe handles all payment data. We retain records of transaction amounts, dates, and Stripe customer IDs for billing and support purposes.

Content you create: Your author bio, book listings, blog posts, event listings, images, and other content you add through your author dashboard.

Contact email: If you give us a separate address for reader messages, we confirm you own it with a one-time code sent to that address. It is never shown on your site; we use it only to forward messages from your contact form.

Seller information: If you connect a Stripe account to sell through Direct Book Sales, Stripe collects your identity and bank details directly, under its own terms. We store only your Stripe account ID and whether it is ready to take payments.

Technical data: Like any website, our hosting providers (Netlify and Google) automatically record basic technical information such as your IP address, browser type, and the pages requested, to keep the platform running and secure. We don't use third-party analytics or advertising tools, and we don't track you across other websites. We keep a simple count of page views for each author site, with nothing that identifies you. Google reCAPTCHA collects device and browser information to protect the platform from bots (see Section 5). We never sell this data or use it for advertising.

3. Readers, Visitors, and Buyers on Author Sites

Visiting an author site: Our hosting providers record the same basic technical information described above, and Google reCAPTCHA checks that requests come from a real browser (see Section 5). We count page views without recording who you are.

Sending a message through an author's contact form: Your name, email address, and message are emailed to the author through Brevo so they can reply to you directly. We don't store the message itself; we keep only the times messages were sent, for about an hour, to prevent spam.

Buying from an author's store: Checkout is handled by Stripe on the author's own Stripe account — the author is the seller, and neither we nor the author ever see your card details. Stripe asks for your shipping address at checkout when your order includes something to ship. We keep an order record (your name, email address, shipping address, what you bought, the amount, and any shipping charge and tax) in the author's dashboard so they can fulfil your order. Only the author can see it. We email you an order confirmation, and a shipping update with tracking when the author sends your order, through Brevo.

Downloads you buy: Your download link is emailed to you and works like a key; we store only a scrambled (hashed) form of it, so it can't be recovered from our database. For each file we count how many times it has been downloaded and when it was last downloaded, to enforce the download limit. The files are stored privately and can only be reached with a valid link for an order that hasn't been refunded.

Authors are responsible for how they use the information they receive from their readers and buyers. For questions about an order or a message, contact the author directly; if you can't reach them, contact us and we'll help.

What's public: Anything an author publishes on their site (such as their name, bio, photos, books, and posts) is visible to everyone. Authors appear on our Featured Authors page only if they choose to.

4. How We Use Your Information

To create and manage your account
To operate and display your author website
To process payments and manage your subscription
To respond to your support requests and inquiries
To send important account and billing notifications
To keep the platform running, secure, and improving

We do not sell your personal information to third parties. We do not use your data for advertising. We do not share your information with third parties except as described in Sections 3 and 5.

5. Third-Party Services

We use a small number of trusted third-party services to operate the platform:

Firebase (Google) — Authentication, database storage, and file hosting. Your account data and content are stored on Firebase infrastructure. Firebase Privacy Policy
Stripe — Payment processing. Stripe handles all payment card data under PCI DSS compliance, and also runs author stores and seller payouts (Stripe Connect). Payments are made on Stripe's own checkout pages, where Stripe may collect device information to prevent fraud. Stripe Privacy Policy
Google reCAPTCHA — Protects the platform from bots and abuse by checking that requests come from a real browser. It collects hardware and software information, such as device and browser data, and sends it to Google. Its use is subject to Google's Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.
Google Fonts — Some page styles load fonts from Google, which receives your IP address when they load. Google Privacy Policy
Brevo — Sending account and billing emails (such as receipts, welcome emails, and payment notices). It also delivers messages from author contact forms and contact-email confirmation codes. Brevo receives the recipient's email address and the content of those emails. Brevo Privacy Policy
Netlify — Website hosting, link previews for author pages, and submissions from our own contact page. Netlify Privacy Policy

These services may process your data in the United States. By using our platform, you consent to this processing.

6. Cookies

We use a small number of essential cookies and local storage entries to keep you signed in and remember your display preferences (such as dark mode). Google reCAPTCHA may also set a cookie needed for its security check. We don't use analytics or advertising cookies.

7. Data Retention

We retain your account data and content for as long as your account exists — including while your subscription is canceled or paused, so you can relaunch your site without starting over.

Your data is permanently deleted only when you ask. You can delete your account from your dashboard (Account → Delete my account) or by emailing us. Deletion takes effect 14 days after your request, and you can cancel it any time during that window. If your site has been paused and you haven't signed in for about two years, we'll email you once to check in; we won't delete anything as a result of that email.

To protect against accidents, deleted images stay in recovery storage for 30 days, and backups of our database are kept for up to 14 weeks. After deletion, your data remains only in those backups until they expire, and we don't restore it except to recover from a fault on our side.

Messages sent through author contact forms aren't stored. Contact-email confirmation codes are stored only in scrambled (hashed) form and expire after 15 minutes. Order records stay in the author's dashboard until the author deletes their account.

Payment and transaction records may be retained longer as required by applicable tax and accounting regulations.

8. Your Rights

You have the right to:

Access: Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you
Correction: Update or correct inaccurate information through your dashboard or by contacting us
Deletion: Delete your account and associated data from your dashboard, or by contacting us
Export: Download a copy of your content and images any time from Account → Download my content in your dashboard, until your account is deleted
Opt out: Unsubscribe from non-essential communications at any time

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at info@pageandpixeldesigns.com.

9. Children's Privacy

Our services are intended for adults (18+). We do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 18. If you believe a minor has created an account, please contact us and we will delete it promptly.

10. Security

We take reasonable steps to protect your information, including HTTPS encryption across the platform; access rules that keep account, billing, order, and draft information private to the account it belongs to; bot protection with Google reCAPTCHA; and Firebase and Stripe's industry-standard security practices for data storage and payment handling. No system is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy from time to time. When we do, we'll update the effective date at the top of this page. For significant changes, we'll notify active customers by email. Continued use of our services after changes take effect constitutes acceptance.