Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy explains how M. A. Shieldhouse collects, uses, and protects your personal information when you visit or make a purchase through https://mashieldhouse.com (the Site).
We are committed to protecting your privacy and handling your personal information responsibly. We adhere to the Australian Privacy Principles contained in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and, to the extent applicable, the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
If you have any questions about this policy, please contact us at mel@mashieldhouse.com.
This policy was last updated on 4th May 2026.
What Personal Information We Collect
We may collect the following types of personal information:
- Your name and email address when you sign up to our mailing list or create an account on our Site
- Your name, email address, and billing address when you make a purchase
- Any information you provide voluntarily when contacting us, responding to surveys, or interacting with us in other ways
- Technical information such as your browser type, operating system, and pages visited, collected automatically when you use our Site
We do not collect or store your payment card details. All payment transactions are handled securely by third-party payment processors. Please refer to the relevant processor’s privacy policy for information on how your financial data is handled.
How We Collect Your Personal Information
We collect personal information in the following ways:
- When you sign up to our mailing list
- When you create an account or purchase a product through our Site
- When you contact us directly by email or through our Site
- Automatically through cookies and similar tracking technologies when you browse our Site (see the Cookies section below)
- Through third-party services such as email marketing platforms, payment processors, and analytics tools, which may share data with us in accordance with their own privacy policies
How We Use Your Personal Information
We use your personal information to:
- Fulfil your orders and provide access to purchased digital content
- Send you emails you have subscribed to, including updates, new releases, and offers related to our books and digital products
- Manage your account and respond to any enquiries or complaints
- Improve our Site and understand how visitors use it
- Serve relevant advertising to you on third-party platforms, where you have not opted out of such targeting (see Cookies and Advertising below)
- Comply with legal obligations
We will only use your personal information for the purposes for which it was collected, or for closely related purposes you would reasonably expect.
Email Marketing
If you sign up to our mailing list, you are consenting to receive emails from M. A. Shieldhouse. These may include news about upcoming books, digital products, behind-the-scenes updates, and occasional offers.
We use a third-party email marketing platform to manage our subscriber list and send emails. Your name and email address are stored and processed by that platform on our behalf.
You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link at the bottom of any email, or by contacting us directly at mel@mashieldhouse.com. Once unsubscribed, we will not send you further marketing emails, though we may still contact you in relation to an active purchase or account.
Third-Party Services
We use a number of third-party services to operate our Site and deliver our products. These include services for payment processing, email marketing, audio content delivery, website hosting, and analytics. Each of these services may process some of your personal information in order to function.
We take reasonable steps to ensure that third-party services we use handle your data responsibly. However, once data is passed to a third party, it is also subject to that party’s own privacy policy. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any third-party services you interact with through our Site.
We do not sell your personal information to third parties.
Cookies and Advertising
What Are Cookies
Cookies are small files stored on your device when you visit a website. They help websites remember your preferences and understand how you use the site. Most browsers accept cookies automatically, but you can adjust your browser settings to decline or delete them.
How We Use Cookies
We use cookies and similar tracking technologies (such as pixels and web beacons) for the following purposes:
- To keep you logged in and remember your preferences on our Site
- To understand how visitors navigate our Site so we can improve it
- To measure the performance of our content and any advertising we run
- To serve relevant ads to you on third-party platforms such as Meta (Facebook and Instagram) and Google, based on your browsing behaviour
Advertising and Retargeting
We use advertising pixels and tracking tools provided by third-party platforms to run targeted advertising campaigns. This means that if you visit our Site, you may later see ads for our products on other websites or social media platforms. This is sometimes called retargeting.
These tools may collect information about your device and browsing behaviour in order to show you relevant ads. We do not share personally identifiable information with advertisers directly, but third-party advertising platforms may use cookies and pixels to build a profile of your interests.
You can opt out of interest-based advertising through your browser cookie settings, or through opt-out tools provided by advertising platforms. Opting out means you may still see ads, but they will not be tailored to your interests based on your visit to our Site.
Types of Cookies We Use
- Session cookies: temporary cookies that expire when you close your browser
- Persistent cookies: cookies that remain on your device to remember your preferences across visits
- First-party cookies: set by our Site directly
- Third-party cookies: set by external services we use, such as analytics and advertising platforms
Managing Cookies
You can manage your cookie preferences through the cookie settings on our Site, or by adjusting your browser settings. Please note that disabling certain cookies may affect the functionality of our Site, including your ability to access members-only content.
Disclosure of Your Personal Information
We may disclose your personal information to:
- Third-party service providers who assist us in operating our Site and delivering our products (such as payment processors, email platforms, and hosting services)
- Law enforcement agencies or regulatory bodies where we are required to do so by law
- A successor business in the event of a sale or transfer of our business, to the extent permitted by law
We do not disclose your personal information to any other parties without your consent, except as described in this policy.
Your Rights
You have the right to:
- Request access to the personal information we hold about you
- Ask us to correct any inaccurate or incomplete information
- Ask us to delete your personal information, subject to any legal obligations we may have to retain it
- Withdraw your consent to email marketing at any time by unsubscribing
If you are based in the EU or UK, you also have the right to request a copy of your data in a portable format, and to object to or restrict certain types of processing.
To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at mel@mashieldhouse.com. We will respond within a reasonable timeframe and in accordance with our obligations under applicable law.
Security
We take reasonable steps to protect your personal information from misuse, loss, and unauthorised access. However, no method of transmission over the internet is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee the absolute security of your data.
Where we use third-party services to process data on our behalf, we take reasonable steps to ensure those services maintain appropriate security standards.
Links to Third-Party Websites
Our Site may contain links to other websites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of those sites and encourage you to read their privacy policies before providing any personal information.
Complaints
If you have a complaint about how we have handled your personal information, please contact us at mel@mashieldhouse.com. We take all complaints seriously and will respond promptly.
If you are not satisfied with our response, you may contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) at www.oaic.gov.au. EU or UK residents may also contact their local data protection authority.
Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Any changes will be posted on this page with an updated date. We encourage you to check back periodically to stay informed about how we protect your information.
Last updated: 4th May 2026