Privacy Policy

1. Information We Collect

When you use PicBooks we may collect the following information:

• Personal details — name, email address, delivery address
• Payment information — processed securely via our payment provider; we never store your card details
• Photos you upload — solely for the purpose of creating your colouring book
• Usage data — how you interact with our website (basic aggregated counters; see our Cookie Policy)

2. Your Photos & Children's Images

Many of our customers create colouring books featuring photos of children — their own or family members. We are committed to handling these images with the utmost care and responsibility:

• Photos containing images of children are treated with the highest level of privacy protection
• Images of children are never shared, published, displayed, or used for any purpose other than printing your specific order
• We do not use any uploaded photos — including those containing children — for AI training, marketing, advertising, or any other secondary purpose
• Photos are stored securely with restricted access — only authorised personnel involved in fulfilling your order can access them
• You must be the parent or legal guardian of any child featured in photos you upload, or have explicit written permission from the child's parent or guardian
• By uploading photos containing images of minors, you confirm you have the legal right to share those images

3. How We Use Your Information

We use your information exclusively to:

• Process and fulfil your order
• Convert your photos into colouring book line art
• Print and deliver your colouring book
• Communicate with you about your order
• Improve our website and service (using anonymised, aggregated metrics only — no individual tracking)
• Comply with legal obligations

We will never sell, rent, or share your personal data or photos with third parties for marketing or commercial purposes.

4. Data Storage & Security

We take data security seriously and implement industry-standard measures including:

• SSL/TLS encryption for all data in transit between your browser and our servers
• Secure storage with strict access controls — only authorised staff involved in order fulfilment can access your data
• Regular security updates and reviews

5. Photo Deletion Policy

Photo deletion is automated by a daily job that scans for fulfilled orders older than 30 days and removes the associated image files. Order metadata (name, address, total paid) is retained for 7 years to comply with HMRC financial-record requirements; the photos themselves are not.

If you would like your photos deleted immediately after printing, or before your order is processed, contact us at hello@picbooks.co.uk and we will action this promptly.

6. Third Parties

We share limited personal data with trusted third parties solely for the purpose of fulfilling your order:

• Google (Gemini API) — your photos are processed by Google's Gemini service to convert them into line art. Google holds UK Adequacy / Data Privacy Framework certification covering this transfer; photos are not retained or used to train Google's models. See our GDPR Notice for the legal detail.
• Stripe — handles payment processing securely; we never see or store your card details
• Royal Mail / our delivery courier — to ship your order
• Email service provider — to deliver order confirmations and status emails

These partners are contractually bound to handle your data in accordance with UK GDPR and are not permitted to use it for any other purpose.

7. Your Rights

Under UK GDPR you have the right to:

• Access — request a copy of the personal data we hold about you
• Rectification — ask us to correct inaccurate data
• Erasure — ask us to delete your personal data
• Restriction — ask us to restrict how we use your data
• Portability — receive your data in a portable format
• Object — object to our processing of your data

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at hello@picbooks.co.uk. We will respond within 30 days.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk.

8. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your data, please contact us: