Privacy Policy

Who this policy covers

This policy explains how [Legal Business Name], trading as MC Golden Candles, handles personal information when you visit this website, place an order, create an account, sign up for emails, leave a review or contact us.

Where this policy says "we", "us" or "our", that's us. "You" means the person visiting or ordering. If you don't agree with how we handle information, please don't use the site.

Information you give us

Most of what we hold is what you type in yourself:

• Order details — name, email, phone, billing address, shipping address, and what you bought.
• Account details — your email, password (stored encrypted) and saved addresses, if you create an account.
• Payment details — handled by our payment provider. We receive only a confirmation, the card type and the last four digits.
• Messages — anything you send through the contact form, by email, text or social media, including photos you attach to a return or damage claim.
• Marketing sign-ups — your email address, and your phone number if you opt into texts.
• Reviews — your name or display name, rating, review text and any photos you post.
• Wholesale enquiries — business name, address, resale certificate details where required.

Information collected automatically

When you browse, some information is collected by the site and its tools without you typing anything: your IP address, device and browser type, the pages you visit, what you clicked, the site that referred you, and rough location at city level derived from your IP.

This is used to keep the site working, spot fraud, and understand which pages and products people actually look at. We don't use it to identify you personally.

How we use your information

We don't make decisions about you by automated means alone, and we don't build behavioural profiles beyond basic shop analytics.

Who we share it with

We share only what a company needs to do its job for us, and only under contract. These are the categories:

• Payment processing — to take payment and handle refunds and chargebacks.
• Shipping carriers — your name, address and phone so your parcel can be delivered.
• Website and hosting platform — the system this store runs on.
• Email and text marketing platform — if you've opted in.
• Analytics — aggregated traffic and page data.
• Reviews platform — if reviews are collected through a third-party tool.
• Professional advisers — accountants or lawyers, where genuinely needed.

We may also disclose information where the law requires it, to enforce our terms, or to protect someone's rights or safety. If the business is ever sold or merged, customer records may transfer as part of it — you'd be told before that happened.

Cookies & similar technology

Cookies are small files stored by your browser. We use them to keep your cart working, remember you between visits and understand how the site is used.

You can clear or block cookies in your browser settings, and where a consent banner is shown you can change your choice at any time. Blocking essential cookies will break checkout.

Some browsers send a Global Privacy Control or Do Not Track signal. Where the law requires us to honour it, we treat it as an opt-out of sale and sharing.

Marketing emails & texts

We only send marketing to people who asked for it. Every email has an unsubscribe link at the bottom, and you can reply STOP to any text. Unsubscribing takes effect within a few days at most.

Transactional messages — order confirmations, shipping notices, refund confirmations and replies to your questions — aren't marketing and will keep coming as long as you have an order with us.

How long we keep it

• Order and transaction records — kept as long as tax and accounting law requires, typically seven years.
• Account details — until you ask us to close the account.
• Marketing contacts — until you unsubscribe, plus a short suppression record so we don't email you again by mistake.
• Support messages — usually two years, so we have context if you write again.
• Analytics data — retained in aggregate, with identifiers removed.

When information is no longer needed, we delete it or strip out anything that identifies you.

Selling & targeted advertising

We do not sell personal information for money. Some privacy laws, including California's, define "sale" and "sharing" broadly enough to cover advertising and analytics cookies that pass identifiers to platforms like Meta or Google.

Where we use tools like that, you can opt out through the cookie settings on this site, or by emailing us. Opting out won't change your prices, your shipping or the service you get.

Your privacy rights

Depending on where you live, you may have some or all of these rights. We extend them to every customer as a matter of practice, regardless of state.

If you're in the EU or UK, you also have the right to object to processing, restrict it, and complain to your local data protection authority.

How to make a request

Email us at [email protected] with what you'd like us to do. Use the email address on your orders so we can find you.

• We'll confirm we've received it within 10 business days.
• We'll complete it within 45 days, or tell you if we need longer.
• We may ask you to verify your identity before we release or delete anything.
• An authorised agent can act for you with written permission.
• There's no charge, unless a request is repetitive or excessive.

How we protect your information

The site runs over an encrypted connection, payments are handled by a PCI-compliant provider, passwords are stored hashed, and access to customer records is limited to people who need it to do their job.

No system is perfectly secure, and we can't guarantee absolute security. If a breach ever affects your personal information, we'll notify you and the relevant authorities as the law requires.

Children's privacy

This site is meant for adults. We don't knowingly collect information from anyone under 13, and we don't sell or share the information of anyone under 16. If you believe a child has given us their details, contact us and we'll delete it.

Reviews & social media

Reviews are public. Whatever name and photo you attach can be seen by anyone, so use a display name or first name and last initial if you'd rather not be identifiable.

If you tag us or comment on our social posts, that content is governed by that platform's privacy policy as well as ours. Ask us any time and we'll take your content down from our own channels.

Links to other sites

Our pages sometimes link out to carriers, payment providers or partners. Once you're on their site, their privacy policy applies, not ours. We're not responsible for how they handle your information.

International visitors

We operate from the United States, and information you give us is stored and processed there. U.S. privacy law may differ from the law where you live. By ordering from us, you understand your information will be handled in the United States.

Changes to this policy

We'll update this page as the business or the law changes, with a new "last updated" date at the top. If a change materially affects how we use your information, we'll tell you by email or with a notice on the site before it takes effect.

How to reach us

Questions about privacy, or want to make a request? A real person reads these.