Privacy policy
1) Introduction and Controller’s Contact Details
1.1 We are pleased that you are visiting our website and thank you for your interest. Below, we inform you about the handling of your personal data when using our website. Personal data means all data by which you can be personally identified.
1.2 The controller responsible for data processing on this website within the meaning of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is Anna-Maria Scherer, Fraunhoferstr. 41, 61118 Bad Vilbel, Germany, Phone: +49 176 23231451, Email: info@valoracollective.de. The controller responsible for the processing of personal data is the natural or legal person who alone or jointly with others determines the purposes and means of the processing of personal data.
2) Data Collection When Visiting Our Website
2.1 When you use our website for informational purposes only, i.e. if you do not register or otherwise provide us with information, we only collect such data as your browser transmits to the server (so-called “server log files”). When you access our website, we collect the following data, which is technically necessary for us to display the website to you:
Our visited website
Date and time at the moment of access
Amount of data sent in bytes
Source/reference from which you reached the page
Browser used
Operating system used
IP address used (if applicable: in anonymized form)
Processing is carried out in accordance with Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR on the basis of our legitimate interest in improving the stability and functionality of our website. The data will not be passed on or used in any other way. However, we reserve the right to subsequently review the server log files if there are concrete indications of unlawful use.
2.2 For security reasons and to protect the transmission of personal data and other confidential content (e.g. orders or inquiries sent to the controller), this website uses SSL or TLS encryption. You can recognize an encrypted connection by the character string “https://” and the lock symbol in your browser bar.
3) Hosting & Content Delivery Network
3.1 Shopify
For the hosting of our website and the presentation of the page content, we use the system of the following provider: Shopify International Limited, Victoria Buildings, 2nd Floor, 1-2 Haddington Road, Dublin 4, D04 XN32, Ireland (“Shopify”)
Data is also transferred to: Shopify Inc., 150 Elgin St, Ottawa, ON K2P 1L4, Canada
All data collected on our website is processed on the provider’s servers. We have concluded a data processing agreement with the provider that ensures the protection of our website visitors’ data and prohibits unauthorized disclosure to third parties.
For data transfers to Canada, an adequate level of data protection is guaranteed by an adequacy decision of the European Commission.
3.2 Cloudflare
We use a content delivery network from the following provider: Cloudflare Inc., 101 Townsend St., San Francisco, CA 94107, USA
This service enables us to deliver large media files such as graphics, page content, or scripts more quickly via a network of regionally distributed servers. The processing is carried out to safeguard our legitimate interest in improving the stability and functionality of our website pursuant to Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR. We have concluded a data processing agreement with the provider that ensures the protection of our website visitors’ data and prohibits unauthorized disclosure to third parties.
For data transfers to the USA, the provider has joined the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, which, on the basis of an adequacy decision of the European Commission, ensures compliance with the European level of data protection.
4) Cookies
In order to make visiting our website attractive and to enable the use of certain functions, we use cookies, i.e. small text files that are stored on your device. Some of these cookies are automatically deleted after the browser is closed (so-called “session cookies”), while others remain on your device for a longer period and enable page settings to be saved (so-called “persistent cookies”). In the latter case, you can find the storage period in the overview of your web browser’s cookie settings.
If personal data is also processed by individual cookies used by us, the processing takes place in accordance with Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR either for the performance of the contract, in accordance with Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR in the case of consent given, or in accordance with Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR to safeguard our legitimate interests in the best possible functionality of the website and a customer-friendly and effective design of the website visit.
You can set your browser so that you are informed about the setting of cookies and can decide individually on their acceptance, or can exclude the acceptance of cookies for certain cases or in general.
Please note that if cookies are not accepted, the functionality of our website may be restricted.
5) Contacting Us
When contacting us (e.g. via contact form or email), personal data is processed exclusively for the purpose of handling and responding to your request and only to the extent necessary for this purpose.
The legal basis for processing this data is our legitimate interest in responding to your request in accordance with Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR. If your contact aims at concluding a contract, the additional legal basis for processing is Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR. Your data will be deleted when the circumstances indicate that the matter concerned has been conclusively clarified and provided that there are no statutory retention obligations to the contrary.
6) Data Processing When Opening a Customer Account
In accordance with Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR, personal data continues to be collected and processed to the extent necessary if you provide it to us when opening a customer account. You can see which data is required for opening an account from the input form of the corresponding form on our website.
You can delete your customer account at any time by sending a message to the above-mentioned address of the controller. After deletion of your customer account, your data will be deleted provided that all contracts concluded through it have been fully processed, there are no statutory retention periods to the contrary, and we no longer have any legitimate interest in further storing the data.
7) Use of Customer Data for Direct Advertising
Subscription to Our Email Newsletter
If you subscribe to our email newsletter, we will regularly send you information about our offers. The only mandatory information required for sending the newsletter is your email address. The provision of further data is voluntary and is used in order to address you personally. For sending the newsletter, we use the so-called double opt-in procedure, which ensures that you only receive newsletters once you have expressly confirmed your consent to receiving the newsletter by activating a verification link sent to the specified email address.
By activating the confirmation link, you grant us your consent to the use of your personal data in accordance with Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR. In this context, we store the IP address entered by your Internet Service Provider (ISP) as well as the date and time of registration in order to be able to trace any possible misuse of your email address at a later point in time. The data collected by us when you register for the newsletter is used strictly for a specific purpose.
You can unsubscribe from the newsletter at any time via the link provided for this purpose in the newsletter or by sending a corresponding message to the controller named at the beginning. After you unsubscribe, your email address will be deleted from our newsletter mailing list without undue delay, unless you have expressly consented to further use of your data or we reserve the right to use data beyond this, which is permitted by law and about which we inform you in this declaration.
8) Data Processing for Order Handling
8.1 Insofar as necessary for contract processing for delivery and payment purposes, the personal data collected by us will be passed on to the commissioned transport company and the commissioned credit institution in accordance with Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR.
If, on the basis of a corresponding contract, we owe you updates for goods with digital elements or for digital products, we process the contact data you provided when placing the order in order to inform you personally within the framework of our statutory information obligations pursuant to Art. 6(1)(c) GDPR. Your contact data is used strictly for the purpose of notifications about updates owed by us and is processed by us for this purpose only to the extent necessary for the respective information.
For the processing of your order, we also work together with the following service provider(s), which support us in whole or in part in the performance of concluded contracts. Certain personal data is transmitted to these service providers in accordance with the following information.
8.2 Use of Payment Service Providers (Payment Services)
- Apple Pay
If you choose the “Apple Pay” payment method of Apple Distribution International (Apple), Hollyhill Industrial Estate, Hollyhill, Cork, Ireland, payment processing takes place via the “Apple Pay” function of your device operated with iOS, watchOS, or macOS by charging a payment card stored with “Apple Pay.” Apple Pay uses security features integrated into the hardware and software of your device in order to protect your transactions. Authorizing a payment therefore requires entering a code previously specified by you as well as verification via the “Face ID” or “Touch ID” function of your device.
For the purpose of payment processing, the information you provide during the order process together with information about your order is transmitted to Apple in encrypted form. Apple then encrypts this data again with a developer-specific key before the data is transmitted to the payment service provider of the payment card stored in Apple Pay in order to process the payment. The encryption ensures that only the website through which the purchase was made can access the payment data. After the payment has been made, Apple sends your device account number and a transaction-specific, dynamic security code to the originating website in order to confirm the success of the payment.
If personal data is processed during the transmissions described, the processing takes place exclusively for the purpose of payment processing in accordance with Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR.
Apple retains anonymized transaction data, including the approximate purchase amount, the approximate date and time, and whether the transaction was successfully completed. Anonymization completely excludes any personal reference. Apple uses the anonymized data to improve “Apple Pay” and other Apple products and services.
If you use Apple Pay on iPhone or Apple Watch to complete a purchase you made via Safari on Mac, the Mac and the authorization device communicate via an encrypted channel on Apple’s servers. Apple does not process or store any of this information in a format that can identify you personally. You can disable the ability to use Apple Pay on your Mac in the settings of your iPhone. Go to “Wallet & Apple Pay” and disable “Allow Payments on Mac.”
Further information on data protection with Apple Pay can be found at the following internet address: https://support.apple.com/de-de/HT203027
- PayPal
One or more online payment methods from the following provider are available on this website: PayPal (Europe) S.à r.l. et Cie, S.C.A., 22-24 Boulevard Royal, L-2449 Luxembourg
If you select a payment method of the provider for which you make advance payment, your payment data communicated during the order process (including name, address, bank and payment card information, currency and transaction number) as well as information about the content of your order will be passed on to the provider in accordance with Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR. In this case, your data will only be passed on for the purpose of payment processing with the provider and only to the extent necessary for this purpose.
If you select a payment method for which we make advance payment, you will also be asked during the order process to provide certain personal data (first and last name, street, house number, postal code, city, date of birth, email address, telephone number, and, if applicable, data relating to an alternative means of payment).
In order to safeguard our legitimate interest in determining your ability to pay in such cases, this data is forwarded by us to the provider for the purpose of a credit check in accordance with Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR. On the basis of the personal data you provide and other data (such as shopping cart, invoice amount, order history, payment experience), the provider checks whether the payment option selected by you can be granted with regard to payment and/or default risks.
The credit report may contain probability values (so-called score values). Insofar as score values are included in the result of the credit report, they are based on a scientifically recognized mathematical-statistical procedure. Address data, among other things, but not exclusively, is included in the calculation of the score values.
You can object to this processing of your data at any time by sending a message to us or to the provider. However, the provider may still be entitled to process your personal data if this is necessary for contractual payment processing.
- Shopify Payments
One or more online payment methods from the following provider are available on this website: Shopify International Limited, Victoria Buildings, 1-2 Haddington Road, Dublin 4, D04 XN32, Ireland
If you select a payment method of the provider for which you make advance payment (such as credit card payment), your payment data communicated during the order process (including name, address, bank and payment card information, currency and transaction number) as well as information about the content of your order will be passed on to the provider in accordance with Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR. In this case, your data will only be passed on for the purpose of payment processing with the provider and only to the extent necessary for this purpose.
9) Web Analytics Services
Shopify Analytics
This website uses the web analytics service of the following provider: Shopify International Limited, Victoria Buildings, 2nd Floor, 1-2 Haddington Road, Dublin 4, D04 XN32, Ireland
Data is also transferred to: Shopify Inc., 150 Elgin St, Ottawa, ON K2P 1L4, Canada
With the help of cookies and/or comparable technologies (tracking pixels, web beacons, algorithms for reading device and browser information), the service collects and stores pseudonymized visitor data, including information about the device used such as the IP address and browser information, in order to evaluate it for statistical analyses of user behavior on our website and to create pseudonymized user profiles. Among other things, this makes it possible to analyze movement patterns (so-called heat maps), which show the duration of page visits as well as interactions with page content (e.g. text entries, scrolling, clicks and mouse-overs). As a matter of principle, pseudonymization excludes direct personal identifiability. Your data is not merged with clear personal data collected in any other way.
All processing described above, in particular reading or storing information on the device used, is only carried out if you have given us your express consent in accordance with Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR. You can withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future by deactivating this service in the “cookie consent tool” provided on the website.
We have concluded a data processing agreement with the provider that protects the data of our website visitors and prohibits disclosure to third parties.
For data transfers to Canada, an adequate level of data protection is guaranteed by an adequacy decision of the European Commission.
10) Tools and Miscellaneous
- Lexware Office
For accounting purposes, we use the service of the cloud-based accounting software of the following provider: Haufe-Lexware GmbH & Co. KG, Munzinger Straße 9, 79111 Freiburg, Germany
The provider processes incoming and outgoing invoices as well as, where applicable, our company’s bank transactions in order to automatically record invoices, match them to transactions, and from this create financial accounting in a partially automated process.
Insofar as personal data is also processed in this context, the processing is carried out on the basis of our legitimate interest in the efficient organization and documentation of our business transactions in accordance with Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR.
- PayJoe
For accounting purposes, we use the “PayJoe” service of NetConnections GmbH, Jesinger Str. 52, 73230 Kirchheim unter Teck (“PayJoe”).
PayJoe acts as an interface between the payment service providers used and our accounting software by processing individual transactions of the payment service providers and enriching them with receipt data. In this way, incoming payments, refunds, fees, and payout amounts of the payment service providers can be automatically recorded and processed in the accounting software used. In addition, PayJoe enables the automatic and format-compliant transfer of physical or digital incoming invoices to the accounting software used for recording there.
Insofar as personal data is also processed in these procedures, the processing is carried out on the basis of our legitimate interests in the efficient organization and documentation of our business transactions as well as in proper and complete accounting processing in accordance with Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR.
We have concluded a data processing agreement with NetConnections GmbH as the operator of PayJoe, by which we oblige the company to protect our customers’ data and not to pass it on to third parties.
11) Rights of the Data Subject
11.1 The applicable data protection law grants you the following data subject rights vis-à-vis the controller with regard to the processing of your personal data (rights of access and intervention), whereby reference is made to the legal basis stated for the respective requirements for exercising them:
Right of access pursuant to Art. 15 GDPR;
Right to rectification pursuant to Art. 16 GDPR;
Right to erasure pursuant to Art. 17 GDPR;
Right to restriction of processing pursuant to Art. 18 GDPR;
Right to notification pursuant to Art. 19 GDPR;
Right to data portability pursuant to Art. 20 GDPR;
Right to withdraw consent given pursuant to Art. 7(3) GDPR;
Right to lodge a complaint pursuant to Art. 77 GDPR.
11.2 RIGHT TO OBJECT
IF WE PROCESS YOUR PERSONAL DATA ON THE BASIS OF OUR OVERRIDING LEGITIMATE INTEREST WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF A BALANCING OF INTERESTS, YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO OBJECT TO THIS PROCESSING AT ANY TIME WITH EFFECT FOR THE FUTURE ON GROUNDS RELATING TO YOUR PARTICULAR SITUATION.
IF YOU EXERCISE YOUR RIGHT TO OBJECT, WE WILL STOP PROCESSING THE DATA CONCERNED. HOWEVER, FURTHER PROCESSING REMAINS RESERVED IF WE CAN DEMONSTRATE COMPELLING LEGITIMATE GROUNDS FOR THE PROCESSING WHICH OVERRIDE YOUR INTERESTS, FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS, OR IF THE PROCESSING SERVES TO ESTABLISH, EXERCISE OR DEFEND LEGAL CLAIMS.
IF YOUR PERSONAL DATA IS PROCESSED BY US FOR DIRECT MARKETING PURPOSES, YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO OBJECT AT ANY TIME TO THE PROCESSING OF PERSONAL DATA CONCERNING YOU FOR THE PURPOSE OF SUCH MARKETING. YOU MAY EXERCISE THE OBJECTION AS DESCRIBED ABOVE.
IF YOU EXERCISE YOUR RIGHT TO OBJECT, WE WILL STOP PROCESSING THE DATA CONCERNED FOR DIRECT MARKETING PURPOSES.
12) Duration of Storage of Personal Data
The duration of storage of personal data is determined by the respective legal basis, the purpose of processing and, if applicable, additionally by the respective statutory retention period (e.g. retention periods under commercial and tax law).
When processing personal data on the basis of express consent pursuant to Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR, the data concerned is stored until you withdraw your consent.
If there are statutory retention periods for data that is processed within the framework of legal or quasi-legal obligations on the basis of Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR, this data will be routinely deleted after expiry of the retention periods, provided that it is no longer required for contract fulfillment or contract initiation and/or we no longer have any legitimate interest in further storage.
When processing personal data on the basis of Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR, this data is stored until you exercise your right to object pursuant to Art. 21(1) GDPR, unless we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds for the processing which override your interests, rights and freedoms, or the processing serves to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.
When processing personal data for the purpose of direct marketing on the basis of Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR, this data is stored until you exercise your right to object pursuant to Art. 21(2) GDPR.
Unless otherwise stated in the other information in this declaration concerning specific processing situations, stored personal data will otherwise be deleted when it is no longer necessary for the purposes for which it was collected or otherwise processed.