Privacy Policy
We are pleased that you are visiting our website and thank you for your interest in our company and our products.
We have drafted this privacy policy (Version 04.01.2021-311246969) to explain to you, in accordance with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679, what information we collect, how we use data, and what choices you as a visitor to this website have.
Unfortunately, it is inherent to the nature of these explanations that they sound very technical, but we have endeavored to describe the most important things as simply and clearly as possible.
Automatic Data Storage When you visit websites nowadays, certain information is automatically created and stored, including on this website.
When you visit our website, as you are doing right now, our web server (the computer on which this website is stored) automatically stores data such as:
the address (URL) of the visited webpage browser and browser version the operating system used the address (URL) of the previously visited page (referrer URL) the hostname and IP address of the device from which access is made the date and time in files (web server log files).
The web server log files are usually stored for two weeks and then automatically deleted. We do not pass on this data, but we cannot exclude the possibility that this data may be viewed in the event of unlawful behavior.
Cookies Our website uses HTTP cookies to store user-specific data.
Below, we explain what cookies are and why they are used, so that you can better understand the following privacy policy.
What exactly are cookies? Whenever you surf the internet, you use a browser. Common browsers include Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Microsoft Edge. Most websites store small text files in your browser. These files are called cookies.
One thing is undeniable: cookies are really useful little helpers. Almost all websites use cookies. More precisely, these are HTTP cookies, as there are other cookies for different applications. HTTP cookies are small files that are stored by our website on your computer. These cookie files are automatically stored in the cookie folder, which is like the "brain" of your browser. A cookie consists of a name and a value. When defining a cookie, one or more attributes must also be specified.
Cookies store certain user data about you, such as language or personal page settings. When you return to our website, your browser sends the "user-specific" information back to our website. Thanks to the cookies, our website knows who you are and offers you your usual default settings. In some browsers, each cookie has its own file, while in others, like Firefox, all cookies are stored in a single file.
There are both first-party cookies and third-party cookies. First-party cookies are created directly by our website, while third-party cookies are created by partner websites (e.g., Google Analytics). Each cookie must be evaluated individually, as each cookie stores different data. The expiration time of a cookie also varies from a few minutes to several years. Cookies are not software programs and do not contain viruses, trojans, or other "malware". Cookies also cannot access information on your PC.
The cookie data may look like this:
Name: _ga Expiration time: 2 years Purpose: Differentiation of website visitors Example value: GA1.2.1326744211.152311246969 A browser should support the following minimum sizes:
A cookie should be able to contain at least 4096 bytes. It should be possible to store at least 50 cookies per domain. In total, at least 3000 cookies should be able to be stored. What types of cookies are there? The question of which cookies we use depends on the services used and will be clarified in the following sections of the privacy policy. At this point, we would like to briefly discuss the different types of HTTP cookies.
We can distinguish between 4 types of cookies:
Essential cookies. These cookies are necessary to ensure basic functions of the website. These cookies are needed, for example, when a user adds a product to the shopping cart, then browses to other pages, and only later goes to checkout. These cookies do not delete the shopping cart even if the user closes their browser window.
Functional cookies These cookies collect information about user behavior and whether the user receives error messages. In addition, these cookies are also used to measure the loading time and behavior of the website with different browsers.
Targeting cookies These cookies ensure a better user experience. For example, entered locations, font sizes, or form data are stored.
Advertising cookies These cookies are also called targeting cookies. They are used to deliver tailored advertising to the user. This can be very convenient but also very annoying.
When you visit a website for the first time, you are usually asked which of these types of cookies you want to allow. And of course, this decision is also stored in a cookie.
How can I delete cookies? Whether and how you want to use cookies is up to you. Regardless of which service or website the cookies come from, you always have the option to delete cookies, allow only partial acceptance, or deactivate them. For example, you can block third-party cookies but allow all other cookies.
If you want to find out which cookies are stored in your browser, if you want to change or delete cookie settings, you can do this in your browser settings:
Safari: Manage cookies and website data with Safari.
Firefox: Delete cookies to remove data that websites have placed on your computer
Internet Explorer: delete and manage cookies
Microsoft Edge: delete and manage cookies
If you generally do not want cookies, you can set your browser to notify you when a cookie is about to be set. This way, you can decide for each cookie whether you want to allow it or not. The procedure varies depending on the browser. It's best to search for the instructions on Google using the search term "delete cookies Chrome" or "disable cookies Chrome" for a Chrome browser, or replace the word "Chrome" with the name of your browser, such as Edge, Firefox, Safari.
What about my privacy? Since 2009, there have been the so-called "Cookie Policies". These state that storing cookies requires your consent. However, within the EU countries, there are still very different reactions to these policies. In Germany, the cookie policies have not been implemented into national law. Instead, this directive has largely been implemented in § 15 (3) of the German Telemedia Act (TMG).
If you want to know more about cookies and are not afraid of technical documentation, we recommend https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6265, the Request for Comments from the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) titled "HTTP State Management Mechanism".
Storage of personal data Personal data that you transmit to us electronically on this website, such as your name, email address, address, or other personal information when submitting a form or commenting on the blog, will only be used by us for the specified purpose, securely stored, and not passed on to third parties, together with the time and IP address.
So, we only use your personal data to communicate with those visitors who expressly wish to be contacted and for the processing of the services and products offered on this website. We do not pass on your personal data without your consent, but we cannot exclude that access to this data may be possible in the event of unlawful behavior.
If you transmit personal data to us by email - outside of this website - we cannot guarantee the secure transmission and protection of your data. We recommend that you never send confidential data unencrypted by email.
The legal basis according to Article 6 (1) letter a GDPR (lawfulness of processing) is that you give us consent to process the data you have entered. You can revoke this consent at any time - an informal email is sufficient; you can find our contact details in the imprint.
Shopify For the operation of our online shop, we use Shopify, a service of Shopify Inc, 126 York Street, Suite 200, Ottawa, ON, Canada, K1N 5T5. This service provides an e-commerce platform through which we offer our goods for sale. The data transmitted as part of your order is stored on a Shopify server in the USA. Shopify has submitted to the EU-US Privacy Shield, https://www.privacyshield.gov/EU-US-Framework. Further information on data protection can be found in Shopify's privacy policy at http://www.shopify.com/legal/privacy.
The legal basis for the transmission of data to third parties for the purpose of contract processing or for billing purposes is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. b DS-GVO and for the transmission in legally ordered cases Art. 6 para. 1 lit. c DS-GVO.
Rights under the General Data Protection Regulation According to the provisions of the GDPR, you generally have the following rights:
Right to rectification (Article 16 GDPR). Right to erasure ("right to be forgotten") (Article 17 GDPR) Right to restriction of processing (Article 18 GDPR) Right to notification - obligation to notify in connection with the rectification or erasure of personal data or the restriction of processing (Article 19 GDPR) Right to data portability (Article 20 GDPR) Right to object (Article 21 GDPR) Right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing - including profiling (Article 22 GDPR). If you believe that the processing of your data violates data protection law or your data protection rights have otherwise been violated, you can contact the Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (BfDI).
Evaluation of visitor behavior In the following privacy policy, we inform you whether and how we evaluate data from your visit to this website. The evaluation of the data collected is generally anonymous, and we cannot draw any conclusions about your person from your behavior on this website.
You can find out about options to object to this evaluation of visit data in the following privacy policy.TLS encryption with https We use https to transfer data securely on the Internet (data protection by design Article 25 (1) GDPR). By using TLS (Transport Layer Security), an encryption protocol for secure data transmission over the Internet, we can ensure the protection of confidential data. You can recognize the use of this data transmission protection by the small lock symbol at the top left of the browser and by the use of the https scheme (instead of http) as part of our internet address.
Google Analytics Privacy Policy We use the Google Analytics (GA) analysis tool on our website, provided by the American company Google Inc. For the European region, the company Google Ireland Limited (Gordon House, Barrow Street Dublin 4, Ireland) is responsible for all Google services. Google Analytics collects data about your actions on our website. For example, when you click on a link, this action is stored in a cookie and sent to Google Analytics. Based on the reports we receive from Google Analytics, we can better tailor our website and service to your preferences. Below, we go into more detail about the tracking tool and especially inform you about what data is stored and how you can prevent this.
What is Google Analytics? Google Analytics is a tracking tool used to analyze traffic on our website. In order for Google Analytics to work, a tracking code is embedded in the code of our website. When you visit our website, this code records various actions you perform on our website. Once you leave our website, this data is sent to and stored on Google Analytics servers.
Google processes the data, and we receive reports about your user behavior. These reports may include, among other things:
Audience reports: Audience reports help us get to know our users better and know exactly who is interested in our service. Advertisement reports: Advertisement reports help us analyze and improve our online advertising.
Acquisition reports: Acquisition reports provide us with helpful information on how to attract more people to our service. Behavior reports: Here we learn how you interact with our website. We can track the path you take on our website and which links you click on.
Conversion reports: A conversion occurs when you take a desired action based on a marketing message. For example, you go from being a mere website visitor to being a buyer or a newsletter subscriber. These reports help us learn more about how our marketing efforts affect you. This way, we want to increase our conversion rate.
Real-time reports: Here we always know immediately what is happening on our website. For example, we can see how many users are currently reading this text.
Why do we use Google Analytics on our website? Our goal with this website is clear: We want to provide you with the best possible service. The statistics and data from Google Analytics help us achieve this goal.
The statistically evaluated data gives us a clear picture of the strengths and weaknesses of our website. On the one hand, we can optimize our site so that it is better found by interested parties on Google. On the other hand, the data helps us understand you as a visitor better. So we know very precisely what we need to improve on our website to provide you with the best possible service. The data also helps us carry out our advertising and marketing measures more individually and cost-effectively. After all, it only makes sense to show our products and services to those who are interested.
What data does Google Analytics store?
Google Analytics uses a tracking code to create a randomly generated unique ID that is associated with your browser cookie. This allows Google Analytics to recognize you as a new user. The next time you visit our website, you will be recognized as a "returning" user. All collected data is stored along with this user identifier. This makes it possible to evaluate pseudonymous user profiles.
Your interactions on our website are measured through identifiers such as cookies and app instance IDs. Interactions include all types of actions you perform on our website. If you also use other Google systems (e.g., a Google account), the data generated by Google Analytics may be linked to third-party cookies. Google does not share Google Analytics data unless we, as the website operator, approve it. Exceptions may occur if required by law.
Here is an overview of the key data collected by Google Analytics:
- Heatmaps: Google creates so-called heatmaps. Heatmaps allow you to see exactly the areas you click on. This provides us with information about where you are "navigating" on our website.
- Session duration: Google defines session duration as the time you spend on our website without leaving it. If you have been inactive for 20 minutes, the session will automatically end.
- Bounce rate: A bounce rate occurs when you only view one page on our website and then leave our website.
- Account creation: If you create an account or place an order on our website, Google Analytics collects this data.
- IP address: The IP address is displayed only in truncated form, so that no unique assignment is possible.
- Location: The country and approximate location can be determined based on the IP address. This process is also known as IP geolocation.
- Technical information: Technical information includes, among other things, your browser type, your internet service provider, or your screen resolution.
- Source of origin: Google Analytics, or we, are naturally also interested in which website or advertisement you came from to our site.
Additional data includes contact information, any reviews, media playback (e.g., if you play a video on our site), sharing content via social media, or adding to your favorites. This list is not exhaustive and is merely intended to provide general guidance on data storage by Google Analytics.
Where and for how long are the data stored?
Google has servers distributed around the world. Most servers are located in America, so your data is mostly stored on American servers. You can find out exactly where Google's data centers are located here: Google Data Centers Locations.
Your data is distributed across various physical hard drives. This has the advantage that the data can be accessed more quickly and is better protected against manipulation. In each Google data center, there are corresponding emergency programs for your data. For example, if the hardware at Google fails or natural disasters disable the servers, the risk of a service interruption at Google remains low.
Google Analytics has a default retention period of 26 months for your user data. After that, your user data will be deleted. However, we have the option to choose the retention period of user data ourselves. We have five options available for this purpose:
- Deletion after 14 months
- Deletion after 26 months
- Deletion after 38 months
- Deletion after 50 months
- No automatic deletion
After the specified period has expired, the data will be deleted once a month. This retention period applies to your data related to cookies, user identification, and advertising IDs (e.g., DoubleClick domain cookies). Reporting results are based on aggregated data and are stored separately from user data. Aggregated data combines individual data into a larger unit.
How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?
Under the data protection law of the European Union, you have the right to access, update, delete, or restrict your data. With the browser add-on to disable Google Analytics JavaScript (ga.js, analytics.js, dc.js), you can prevent Google Analytics from using your data. You can download and install the browser add-on from here. Please note that this add-on only prevents Google Analytics from collecting data.
If you want to disable, delete, or manage cookies in general (independent of Google Analytics), each browser has its own instructions:
- Chrome: Delete, enable, and manage cookies in Chrome
- Safari: Manage cookies and website data with Safari
- Firefox: Delete cookies to remove data that websites have placed on your computer
- Internet Explorer: Delete and manage cookies
- Microsoft Edge: Delete and manage cookies
Google Analytics is an active participant in the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework, which regulates the correct and secure transmission of personal data. For more information, please visit here. We hope that we have provided you with the most important information about data processing with Google Analytics. If you would like to learn more about the tracking service, we recommend these two links: Google Analytics Terms of Service and Google Analytics Help.
"How can I delete my data or prevent data storage? Hotjar does not store any personal data from you for analysis. The company even advertises with the slogan "We track behavior, not individuals." You also have the option to prevent the collection of your data at any time. To do this, you simply need to go to the "Opt-out page" and click on "Disable Hotjar". Please note that deleting cookies, using your browser's private mode, or using a different browser will result in data being collected again. Additionally, you can also activate the "Do Not Track" button in your browser. In the Chrome browser, for example, you need to click on the three bars in the upper right corner and go to "Settings". There you will find the option "Send a 'Do Not Track' request with your browsing traffic" under the "Privacy" section. Now simply activate this button and Hotjar will not collect any data.
For more details on the privacy policy and how Hotjar collects data, please visit https://www.hotjar.com/legal/policies/privacy?tid=311246969.
Newsletter Privacy Policy When you sign up for our newsletter, you provide the above-mentioned personal data and give us the right to contact you by email. We use the data stored during the newsletter registration exclusively for our newsletter and do not pass it on to third parties.
If you unsubscribe from the newsletter - you can find the link to do so at the bottom of each newsletter - we will delete all data stored during the newsletter registration.
MailChimp Privacy Policy Like many other websites, we also use the services of the newsletter provider MailChimp on our website. The operator of MailChimp is The Rocket Science Group, LLC, 675 Ponce de Leon Ave NE, Suite 5000, Atlanta, GA 30308 USA. Thanks to MailChimp, we can easily send you interesting news via newsletter. With MailChimp, we don't need to install anything and can still draw from a pool of truly useful features. In the following, we will take a closer look at this email marketing service and inform you about the most important data protection aspects.
What is MailChimp? MailChimp is a cloud-based newsletter management service. "Cloud-based" means that we do not need to install MailChimp on our own computer or server. Instead, we use the service via an IT infrastructure available over the Internet on an external server. This type of software usage is also called Software as a Service (SaaS).
At MailChimp, we can choose from a wide range of different types of emails. Depending on what we want to achieve with our newsletter, we can conduct one-time campaigns, regular campaigns, autoresponders (automatic emails), A/B tests, RSS campaigns (sending at predefined times and intervals), and follow-up campaigns.
Why do we use MailChimp on our website? Basically, we use a newsletter service to stay in touch with you. We want to inform you about what's new with us or what attractive offers we currently have in our program. For our marketing activities, we are always looking for the simplest and best solutions. And that's why we chose Mailchimp's newsletter management service. Although the software is very easy to use, it offers a large number of helpful features. This way, we can create interesting and beautiful newsletters in no time. Thanks to the design templates offered, we design each newsletter individually, and thanks to "Responsive Design," our content is also readable and beautifully displayed on smartphones (or any other mobile device).
Through tools like the A/B test or the extensive analysis options, we quickly see how our newsletters are received by you. This allows us to react if necessary and improve our offer or services.
Another advantage is Mailchimp's "cloud system." The data is not stored and processed directly on our server. We can retrieve the data from external servers, saving our storage space. Additionally, maintenance effort is significantly reduced.
What data is stored at MailChimp? The Rocket Science Group LLC (MailChimp) maintains online platforms that allow us to communicate with you (if you have subscribed to our newsletter). When you sign up for our newsletter via our website, you confirm by email that you are a member of a MailChimp email list provider. So that MailChimp can also prove that you have registered with the "list provider," the date of registration and your IP address are stored. In addition, MailChimp stores your email address, your name, your address, and demographic information such as language or place of residence.
This information is used to send you emails and activate certain other MailChimp features (e.g., newsletter evaluation).
MailChimp also shares information with third parties to provide better services. MailChimp also shares some information with advertising partners to better understand the interests and concerns of its customers so that we can offer more relevant content and targeted advertising.
Through so-called "web beacons" (small graphics in HTML emails), MailChimp can determine whether the email has arrived, whether it has been opened, and whether links have been clicked. All this information is stored on MailChimp's servers. This way, we receive statistical evaluations and can see exactly how well our newsletter has been received by you. This allows us to better tailor our offer to your wishes and improve our service.
MailChimp can also use this data to improve its own service. This can optimize, for example, the technical dispatch or determine the location (country) of the recipients.
Sometimes you may open our newsletter via a specific link for better display. This is the case, for example, if your email program is not working or the newsletter is not displayed correctly. The newsletter is then displayed via a MailChimp website. MailChimp also uses cookies (small text files that store data in your browser) on its own websites. Personal data may be processed by MailChimp and its partners (e.g., Google Analytics) in this process. This data collection is the responsibility of MailChimp, and we have no influence on it. In MailChimp's "Cookie Statement" (at: https://mailchimp.com/legal/cookies/), you can read exactly how and why the company uses cookies.
How and where are the data stored? Since MailChimp is an American company, all data collected is also stored on American servers.
In principle, the data remains permanently stored on Mailchimp's servers and is only deleted at your request. You can have us delete your contact. This will permanently remove all your personal data for us, and you will be anonymized in the Mailchimp reports. However, you can also ask MailChimp to delete your data directly. Then all your data will be removed there, and we will receive a notification from MailChimp. After receiving the email, we have 30 days to delete your contact from all connected integrations.
How can I delete my data or prevent data storage? You can revoke your consent to receive our newsletter at any time in the email you receive by clicking on the link at the end of the email. Once you have unsubscribed by clicking on the unsubscribe link, your data will be deleted from MailChimp.
If you arrive at a MailChimp website via a link in our newsletter and cookies are set in your browser, you can delete or disable these cookies at any time.
Depending on the browser, disabling or deleting works slightly differently. The following guide shows you how to manage cookies in your browser:
Chrome: Delete, enable and manage cookies in Chrome.
Safari: Manage cookies and website data with Safari.
Firefox: Delete cookies to remove data that websites have placed on your computer
Internet Explorer: delete and manage cookies
Microsoft Edge: delete and manage cookies
If you do not want cookies in general, you can set your browser to notify you when a cookie is set. This way, you can decide for each individual cookie whether to allow it or not.
MailChimp is an active participant in the EU-US Privacy Shield, which regulates the correct and secure transmission of personal data. More information can be found at https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt0000000TO6hAAG. We hope that we have provided you with the most important information about the use and processing of data by Facebook tools. If you would like to learn more about how Facebook uses your data, we recommend reading the data policy at https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/update."