Usborne Privacy Policy
Usborne Publishing Privacy Notice
Your privacy is important to us, we respect your privacy and are committed to protecting your data. This Privacy Notice provides you with information as to how we use and treat your personal data when you utilise our website and/or when we provide you with our services (“services”).
Wherever you see the words ‘Usborne’ “we”, “us”, “our”, in this Notice, these words refer to Usborne Publishing Limited.
Please take a moment to read and understand this Notice carefully and if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.
1. Introduction and General Terms
Usborne Publishing is committed to safeguarding your personal data. Whenever you provide such information, we are legally obliged to use your personal data in line with all relevant local laws concerning the protection of personal data derived from the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (thereafter the "GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation)"), UK General Data Protection Regulation, Data Protection Act 2018 and relevant privacy laws.
The Data Controller is Usborne Publishing Limited.
This Privacy Notice sets out how we collect, process, and protect any personal data you provide to us, whether online, via phone, text, email, in letters or other correspondence. Data Protection Laws and this Notice pertain to personal data processing functions, including those performed on customers’, clients’, suppliers’ and Independent Usborne Partners’ personal data, and any other personal data the organisation processes from any source.
Independent Usborne Partners refer to self-employed individuals who operate in partnership with Usborne Community Partnerships to sell Usborne products.
For the purpose of this Notice the word “Partner(s)” refers to Independent Usborne Partners.
2. Who are we?
We are Usborne Publishing (“Usborne”/”We”/”Us”). We operate the website Usborne.com together with others including our Partner ordering website. Usborne is a company registered in England and Wales under company number 01124359 and with our registered office at 83-85 Saffron Hill, London, EC1N 8RT. To contact us, please see our Contact Us page.
Usborne Community Partnerships is the direct selling division of Usborne Publishing Limited, operating in the UK, Ireland and across various European countries.
3. What personal data do we collect?
The categories of personal information we collect include:
- Contact information: Name, email address, home address, delivery address, telephone number, country of residence;
- Transactional information: Billing address and credit or debit card details;
- Technical information: Information from your visits to our website such as pages accessed and device information including IP addresses.
- Personal information: Date of birth (Independent Usborne Partners only);
- Additional Information: Bank account details (Independent Usborne Partners only)
We will use the details that you provide us to provide the services and discharge our obligations to you that we have stated to provide.
4. How will we use the personal data we collect about you?
We will use the personal data you provide to us for administration purposes, namely to:
- Process your order(s) and payment(s);
- Send updates regarding the status of your order(s);
- Deliver the product(s) you have ordered;
- Deal with enquiries and requests;
- Ensure the safe and secure use of our website;
- Prevent fraud;
- Contact you for any other purposes that we state, and you have expressly agreed to;
- Enable third parties to carry out technical, logistical or other functions on our behalf.
In addition, we use additional personal data we capture from Independent Usborne Partners in order to:
- Process the registration of Independent Usborne Partners and pay commissions;
- Verify eligibility to register as an Independent Usborne Partner (only those aged 18 years and over can register).
5. What is our lawful basis for processing your personal data?
We will use your personal data only when legally permitted. We may use your personal data in a variety of ways that enables us to provide our service to you or to assist in the prevention of fraud; where it is necessary for our legitimate interests and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests; or where we need to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation.
Please note that we may process your personal data for more than one legal purpose depending on the specific purpose for which we are using your personal data.
6. Will Usborne share my personal data with anyone else?
We will not share your personal data except:
- as set out in paragraphs 3, 4 and 5 above;
- to regulatory and law enforcement agencies where lawfully required to do so;
- to third parties who we use to deliver customer orders or provide other services including, but not limited to accounting systems, online shopping platforms and email systems;
- with Independent Usborne Partners where you have clearly indicated you are shopping with a Partner (more on this below).
Where legally required you will have the option to ‘opt in’ or ‘opt out’ of your personal data being shared. The only exception to this may be for Independent Usborne Partners who, under the terms of their Agreement with Usborne Publishing, are opted into their personal data being shared for the duration of their contract, in order for Usborne Publishing to fulfil their obligations.
Usborne Publishing Limited uses an email platform for email communications. Our Data Processing Agreement with the email marketing platform provider means that personal data is processed in accordance with the GDPR and all applicable data protection laws. You have the option to ‘opt out’ of marketing emails by clicking on the link at the bottom of such emails or writing to us here Contact Us.
Customers may choose to associate with an Independent Partner by shopping at their events or choosing to shop online with a Partner. If you have associated with a Partner, we will share your information with your chosen Partner and that Partner’s mentor(s) in order to communicate and deliver your order. The details shared will relate to your order, including your phone number, address, email address and any other information required to complete the order.
You can choose to disassociate from an Independent Usborne Partner or associate with a different Partner. This option is provided by the website prior to you commencing each online order.
An Independent Usborne Partner’s contact information is shared/made visible to their Upline Leader(s) and Mentors for the primary purpose of business-related contact and support. Your immediate upline is the person who recruited you / Your Mentor, and beyond that, their own Mentor.
7. How long will Usborne keep my personal data?
We will hold your personal data only for as long as is necessary to discharge our contractual obligations to you or for so long as we have a legitimate and lawful purpose for doing so, to allow us to comply with our retention policy and satisfy any legal requirements.
When it is no longer necessary to keep your information, we will delete it or anonymise it.
8. International Transfers
In order to provide some of our services, we may use the services of third-party providers situated in countries outside of the EU (such as the USA) that do not always have the same standards of Data Protection laws as the UK. However, we will ensure that contractual or other safeguards are in place to ensure that your personal data is adequately protected, and that enforceable rights and effective legal remedies are available for data subjects.
You can only order Usborne books via the Usborne.com website for delivery within the UK and certain EU countries as listed on the Usborne website Delivery Options. If you place an order with us, we will use your personal data as set out in this Privacy Notice.
For other countries where we do not deliver Usborne books, you can browse Usborne books via the Usborne website but you will be directed to a third-party website to make your purchase. If you place an order for Usborne books with a third party, your personal information will be used by the third party to fulfil your order in accordance with the third party’s terms and conditions and their own privacy policy.
9. Competitions
In order for you to participate in our competitions or for us to send you free materials such as posters, badges and bookmarks, we may ask you to provide us with personal data, such as your name, email address, age and postal address. We will process your personal data on the basis that it is necessary for the legitimate interests we have in promoting Usborne Publishing and the sale of its goods (as described above). After sending you materials or notifying you that you have won a competition, your personal data will not be retained on our files, unless you have indicated that you would like to receive Usborne emails. You can unsubscribe from non-transactional Usborne emails at any time.
10. Children
We do not knowingly process children’s personal data.
11. Security and Confidentiality
We are committed to ensuring the security of the personal data provided to us and we have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used, accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. Also, we limit access to your personal data to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know. They will only process your personal data on our instructions, and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality. Information security and confidentiality are ensured through best-practice measures, IT systems and controlled access to personal data.
As part of our obligation to secure your personal data, Independent Usborne Partners are required to sign an agreement and abide by the requirements of the Usborne Partner Handbook.
If at any point you suspect or become aware of a security incident (i.e., your password is stolen, or you receive suspicious communication from someone purporting to be from Usborne Publishing) please let us know using the contact information provided below or on our Contact Us page.
12. Linking to other sites
Our website may contain hyperlinks to third party websites, or applications that are not operated by us. Our Privacy Notice only applies to personal data that is collected by Usborne Publishing Limited.
13. Your rights as a data subject
As a data subject, you have the following rights under Data Protection Laws:
- The right to be informed about Usborne Publishing collection and use of personal data;
- The right of access to the personal data Usborne Publishing holds about you;
- The right to rectification if any personal data Usborne Publishing hold about you is inaccurate or incomplete;
- The right to be forgotten – i.e., the right to ask Usborne Publishing to delete any personal data they hold about you (Usborne Publishing only hold your personal data for a limited time, as explained in this Notice but if you would like Usborne Publishing to delete it sooner, please Contact Us;
- The right to restrict (i.e., prevent) the processing of your personal data;
- The right to data portability (obtaining a copy of your personal data to re-use with another service or organisation);
- The right to object to Usborne Publishing using your personal data for particular purposes;
- Rights with respect to automated decision making and profiling (please note that Usborne Publishing does not ordinarily utilise automated decision making, including profiling in the normal course of its activities).
We may require you to confirm your identity by providing further identification to assist us with your request to access your personal data (or to exercise any of your other rights).
In most circumstances, you will not have to pay a fee to exercise any of your rights. However, if your request is unfounded or excessive, we may decide to charge an administrative fee or in some cases refuse to comply with it. We will provide you with a reason as to why your request was refused.
If you have any cause for complaint or would like to talk to us about Usborne’s use of your personal data, please contact us using our Contact Us page.
You also have the right to lodge a complaint regarding how your personal data are being handled, with the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) or the relevant supervisory authority in your country responsible for enforcing data protection legislation.
Supervisory authority contact details for EU countries are accessible here.
14. Can I update, correct, or delete my personal data or contact preferences?
The accuracy of your personal data is important to Us. If any of the information we hold about you is inaccurate or out of date or you wish to amend your contact preferences, please contact us using our Contact Us page.
You may also request for your personal data to be removed from our database(s).
Please address requests and questions about this or any other question about this Privacy Notice to the Data Protection Officer using our Contact Us page.
15. Information about the use of Cookies on our website
Our websites use cookies to identify you and distinguish you from other visitors enhancing your user experience. A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers that we put on your computer if you agree. The cookies we use are “Necessary/Functional”, “Third party “and “Analytical" cookies. These cookies allow us to distinguish you from other users of our website, which helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our website and also allows us to improve our site. Enabling cookies can provide a tailored browsing experience and will allow sections of our websites to operate. In most instances, the cookie does not retain personal data about you.
You can amend or withdraw your consent for any of the cookies we use in your browser settings at any time but please note this action can affect the performance and functionality of our websites and your browsing experience. Click on Cookies Setting in our website footer to amend your cookie preferences.
In case of questions, comments or requests regarding our use of your personal data, please contact us by email to: [email protected], or write to us at the following address:
Data Protection Officer – Finance Department
Usborne Publishing Limited,
83-85 Saffron Hill,
London,
EC1N 8RT
For queries relating to this website for visitors within the EU:
Our EU data protection representative is
Usborne Verlag GmbH
Prüfeninger Str. 20
93049 Regensburg
Deutschland
Please email any queries to: [email protected].
For further information regarding the processing of personal data within the UK you can contact the UK Supervisory Authority, the Information Commissioners Office at:
Information Commissioners Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Helpline number: 0303 123 1113
ICO website: https://www.ico.org.uk
16. Changes to our Privacy Notice
This Privacy Notice may be updated from time to time. It is your sole responsibility to check it frequently on Usborne.com and each time you submit personal data to us. Where we are legally required to do so, we will notify you of any changes.
This policy was updated November 11th 2023.