Privacy Policy

This document sets out our legal notice (Impressum) and our privacy policy for handbookformothers.com.

1. Controller

CHRISTINA LIM SHIOU WEI, trading as "Handbook For Mothers" ("HFM")

LANDSTRASSE 29, 5430 WETTINGEN, SWITZERLAND.

Legal form : Sole proprietorship (Einzelunternehmen) under Swiss law.

2. Scope

This policy applies to visitors and customers of the HFM online store at handbookformothers.com, operated via Shopify, selling worldwide.

3. What data we collect

• Order and contact data: name, delivery address, email, and optionally a phone number, collected via the Shopify checkout.

• Payment data: processed directly by Shopify's supported payment providers; we do not store your payment card details ourselves.

• Content you provide: a photo that you upload so we can personalize your book, together with a name you submit. (Refer Note 5. Photos of children — special note)

• Technical data: standard website usage data collected by Shopify (cookies, IP address, device information), including cookie consent management via the cookie banner shown on our store — see Shopify's own cookie and privacy disclosures for platform-level details.

4. Purpose and legal basis

• To fulfil and ship your order (performance of a contract).

• To personalize your book using the photo you provide (performance of a contract).

• To meet our legal bookkeeping and tax record-keeping obligations (legal obligation).

• To send you marketing communications, such as newsletters or promotions, where you have given your consent at sign-up or checkout (consent, which you may withdraw at any time by unsubscribing or contacting us).

5. Photos of children — special note

Because our products are personalized using photos of children, only an adult may place an order and upload a photo with us. By placing an order and submitting a photo, you confirm — via a mandatory checkbox at checkout — that you are at least 18 years old (the legal age of majority), and that you are either the parent or legal guardian of the child shown, or have obtained the explicit permission of the child's parent or legal guardian to submit the photo and use it for this purpose. We do not knowingly process a child's photo without this confirmation, and we do not knowingly accept orders placed directly by a minor. If you believe a photo was submitted without proper authorization, please contact us immediately so we can investigate and delete it.

6. Third parties who process data on our behalf

• Shopify Inc. — our e-commerce and payment platform; order, contact and payment data is processed on Shopify's infrastructure. See Shopify's own privacy policy for details.

• Third-party AI-based image processing services — we use external AI image-generation tools to help create the personalized artwork for your book from the photo you provide. Your child's photo is transmitted to these providers solely for this purpose.

• Our print-on-demand production partner — receives the finished artwork and your delivery address in order to print and ship the physical book.

We only share data with these providers to the extent necessary to produce and deliver your order. These providers may process data outside Switzerland and the EU/EEA, in particular in the United States and/or Canada, under appropriate contractual safeguards (such as Standard Contractual Clauses); further details are available on request. We require our providers to use your data only for the purposes stated above, including a commitment from our AI-processing provider not to use your content to train its own models.

However, we cannot guarantee a third party's compliance with these commitments. To the extent permitted by law, we are not liable for a data breach or security incident that originates within a third-party provider's own systems and is not attributable to a failure on our part to exercise reasonable care in selecting that provider. This does not affect any liability that cannot be excluded under mandatory Swiss, EU, or other applicable law.

7. How long we keep your data

• Uploaded photos: deleted from our systems — including our own devices and any third-party tool used to process them — within approximately one month after your book has been delivered.

• Order and accounting records: retained for as long as required by Swiss commercial and tax law (currently up to 10 years for accounting-relevant records).

8. Your rights

Subject to applicable law, you have the right to request access to, correction of, deletion of, or a portable copy of your personal data, to object to or restrict certain processing, and to withdraw consent at any time for future processing (including unsubscribing from marketing communications at any time). To exercise these rights, contact us using the details above. Swiss residents may also contact the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC); EU residents may contact their local data protection authority.

9. International customers

If you order from the EU or elsewhere, we process your data in line with this policy and, where applicable, the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), in addition to Swiss data protection law.