Privacy Policy

We take Your privacy very seriously. In adopting this Privacy Policy, We wish to balance Our legitimate business interests and Your reasonable expectation of privacy. This Privacy Policy outlines Our policies and procedures on how We collect, use, and disclose Your information when You use our Website, products or services and tells You about Your privacy rights and how the law protects You.

We use Your Personal Information to provide and improve our Website, products and services. By accessing and using our Website, products or services, You are providing Your express and voluntary consent to Us to process Your Personal Information, on the basis set out in this Privacy Policy. If You do not consent, You must immediately stop accessing or using our Website, products and services.

Definitions and Interpretation

The following terminology applies to this Privacy Policy, our Standard Terms and Conditions, our Terms of Use, and all Agreements. These terms shall have the same meaning regardless of whether the words appear in singular or plural.

Definitions

• Account means a unique Account created for You to access our Website or parts of our Website.
• Company (referred to as either “the Company”, “We”, “Us” or “Our”) refers to Open Minded Comics, a Division of Open Minded Studios (Pty) Ltd, South Africa.
• Cookies are small files that are placed on Your computer, mobile device, or any other Device by a website, containing the details of Your browsing history on that website among its many uses.
• Country refers to: South Africa.
• Customer (referred to as either “the Customer”, “the User”, “You” or “Your”) refers to a visitor or user of this Website, our products or services, or any of the content or services associated with this Website, our products or services.
• Device means any device that can access the Website such as a computer, a cell phone, or a digital tablet.
• Personal Information is understood in accordance with the definition provided in the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (“the Act”) and in accordance with the definition of Personal Data in Article 4(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation GDPR (EU) 2016/679.
• Products and Services refers to any products and services provided to any User by Open Minded Comics.
• Service Provider means any natural or legal person who processes the data on behalf of Open Minded Comics. It refers to third-party companies or individuals employed by Us to facilitate the Website, our products and services, to provide the Website and products on Our behalf, to perform services related to the Website and products or to assist Us in analysing how the Website is used.
• Usage Data refers to data collected automatically, either generated using the Website or from the website infrastructure itself (for example, the duration of a page visit).
• Website refers to “Open Minded Comics” or any part thereof, which is accessible from: openmindedcomics.com.

Types of Data We Collect

Personal Information

When You make use of our Website, products or services, We may ask You to provide Us with certain personally identifiable information that can be used to contact or identify You. Personally identifiable information may include, but is not limited to:

• Email Address
• First Name and Last Name
• Phone Number
• Address, City, Province, ZIP/Postal Code, Country
• Usage Data

If You submit Your Personal Information to Open Minded Comics, it is voluntary and not mandatory. However, if You refuse to supply any Personal Information, it may prevent You from accessing certain parts or features of our Website, or it may prevent Us from concluding or performing a contract with You or prevent Us from complying with one or more of its obligations in law.

There are no laws which require or authorise Us to collect Your Personal Information.

Usage Data

Usage Data is collected automatically when You use the Website.

Usage Data includes information such as the type of Device You use, the Device’s IP Address (Internet Protocol Address), operating system, Internet browser type, browser version, the pages of our Website that You visit, the time and date of Your visit, the time spent on those pages, unique device identifiers and other diagnostic data.

We may also collect information that Your browser sends whenever You visit our Website or when You access our Website by or through any Device.

Tracking Technologies and Cookies

We use Cookies and similar tracking technologies to track the activity on our Website and store certain information. Tracking technologies used are beacons, tags, and scripts to collect and track information and to improve and analyse our Website. The technologies We use include:

• Cookies or Browser Cookies. A Cookie is a small file placed on Your Device. You can instruct Your browser to refuse all Cookies or to indicate when a Cookie is being sent. However, if You do not accept Cookies, You may not be able to use some parts of our Website. Unless You have adjusted Your browser setting so that it will refuse Cookies, our Website may use Cookies.
• Web Beacons. Certain sections of our Website and Our emails may contain small electronic files known as web beacons (also referred to as clear gifs, pixel tags, and single-pixel gifs) that permit Us, for example, to count Users who have visited those pages or opened an email and for other related website statistics (for example, recording the popularity of a certain section and verifying system and server integrity).

Cookies can be “Persistent” or “Session” Cookies. Persistent Cookies remain on Your personal computer or mobile device when You go offline, while Session Cookies are deleted as soon as You close Your web browser.

We use both Session and Persistent Cookies for the purposes set out below:

• Necessary / Essential Cookies

Type: Session Cookies

Purpose: These Cookies are essential to provide You with products and services available through our Website and to enable You to use some of its features. They help to authenticate Users and prevent fraudulent use of User Accounts. Without these Cookies, We cannot provide the products and services that You have asked for, and We only use these Cookies to provide You with those products and services.

• Cookies Policy / Notice Acceptance Cookies

Type: Persistent Cookies

Purpose: These Cookies identify if Users have accepted the use of Cookies on our Website.

• Functionality Cookies

Type: Persistent Cookies

Purpose: These Cookies allow Us to remember choices You make when You use our Website, such as remembering Your login details or language preference. The purpose of these Cookies is to provide You with a more personal experience and to avoid having to re-enter Your preferences every time You use the Website.

For more information about the Cookies We use and Your choices regarding Cookies, please visit the Cookies section of our Privacy Policy.

How We Use Your Personal Information

Open Minded Comics may use Personal Information for the following purposes:

• To provide and maintain our Website, including monitoring the usage of our Website.
• To Manage Your Account: to manage Your registration as a User of our Website. The Personal Information You provide can give You access to different functionalities of the Website that are available to You as a Registered User.
• For the performance of a contract: the development, compliance and undertaking of the purchase contract for the products, items or services You have purchased, or of any other contract with Open Minded Comics.
• To contact You by email, telephone, SMS / WhatsApp, or other equivalent forms of electronic communication (such as a mobile application’s push notifications) regarding updates or informative communications related to the functionalities, products, or contracted services, including the security updates when necessary or reasonable for their implementation.
• To provide You with news, exclusive offers and general information about other goods, services, and events that We offer that are like those that You have already purchased or inquired about unless You have opted not to receive such information.
• To manage Your requests: To attend and manage Your requests to Open Minded Comics.
• For business transfers: We may use Your information to evaluate or conduct a merger, divestiture, restructuring, reorganisation, dissolution, or other sale or transfer of some or all of Our assets, whether as a going concern or as part of bankruptcy, liquidation, or similar proceeding in which Personal Information held by Us about our Customers is among the assets transferred.
• For other purposes: We may use Your information for other purposes such as data analysis, identifying usage trends, determining the effectiveness of Our promotional campaigns, and evaluating and improving our Website, products, services, marketing, and Your experience.

We may share Your Personal Information in the following situations:

• With Service Providers: We may share Your Personal Information with Service Providers to monitor and analyse the use of our Website, and to contact You.
• For business transfers: We may share or transfer Your Personal Information in connection with, or during negotiations of any merger, sale of Company assets, financing, or acquisition of all or a portion of Our business to another company.
• With Affiliates: We may share Your information with Our Affiliates, in which case we will require those Affiliates to honour this Privacy Policy. Affiliates include any subsidiaries, joint venture partners or other companies that We control or that are under common control with Us.
• With business partners / sub-contractors: We may share Your information with Our business partners or sub-contractors to offer You certain products, services, or promotions.
• With Other Users: When you share Personal Information or otherwise interact in public areas with other Users, such information may be viewed by all Users and may be publicly distributed outside.
• With Your consent: We may disclose Your Personal Information for any other purpose with Your consent.

Comments

When You leave a Comment on our Website, We collect Your IP Address, user agent, referrer, and site URL (along with any other details You provide such as Your name, username, email address, and the Comment itself) to help spam detection.

Media

If You upload images to our Website, You should avoid uploading images with the embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Location data can be downloaded and extracted from the images on the Website.

Contact Forms

If You contact Us using our Website Contact Form, We may ask You to provide Us with Personal Information such as Your first name, last name, and email address. The information We collect via the Contact Form is retained indefinitely so We can recognise and follow up on any queries.

We will only use Your Personal Information to contact You and for customer service purposes, it will not be used for marketing purposes without Your consent.

Cookies

If You leave a Comment on our Website, You may opt-in to save Your name, email address and website in Cookies. These are for Your convenience so that You do not have to fill in Your details again when You leave another Comment. These Cookies will be deleted after one year.

If You visit Our login page, We will set a temporary Cookie to determine if Your browser accepts Cookies. This Cookie contains no Personal Information and is deleted when You close Your browser.

We will also set up several Cookies when You log in, to save Your login information and Your screen display choices. Login Cookies are deleted after two days, and screen options Cookies are deleted after one year. If You select “Remember Me” You will remain logged in for two weeks. If You log out of Your Account, the login Cookies will be removed.

An additional Cookie will be saved in Your browser if You edit or publish an article. This Cookie includes no Personal Information and simply shows the post ID of the article You edited. It is removed after one day.

Analytics

We use Google Analytics to collect information and report site usage statistics without personally identifying individual visitors. The Usage Data We collect includes information such as the type of Device You use, the Device’s IP Address (Internet Protocol Address), operating system, Internet browser type, browser version, the pages of our Website that You visit, the time and date of Your visit, the time spent on those pages, unique device identifiers and other diagnostic data.

Google Analytics uses a set of Cookies including the ‘_ga’ Cookie, the main Cookie used by Google Analytics that enables our Website to distinguish one visitor from another. Each ‘_ga’ Cookie is unique to the specific property, so it cannot be used to track a given User or browser across unrelated websites. These Cookies will be deleted after two years.

You can opt out of having Your site activity available to Google Analytics by installing the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on. The add-on prevents the Google Analytics JavaScript (gtag.js, analytics.js) that is running on websites from sharing information with Google Analytics about visit activity.

Cache

We use caching to facilitate a faster response time and better User experience. Caching potentially stores a duplicate copy of every web page that is on display on our Website. All cache files are temporary and are never accessed by any third party, except as necessary to obtain technical support. Cache files expire after one week but may easily be purged by the Site Administrator before their natural expiration, if necessary.

Embedded Content from Other Websites

Some articles on our Website may include embedded content from other websites (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the same way as if You visited the other sites.

These websites may collect data about You, use Cookies, embed third-party tracking, and monitor Your interaction with the embedded content, including tracking Your interaction with the embedded content if You have an Account and are logged in to that website.

Whom We Share Your Data With

We do not sell, trade, or rent Your Personal Information to others. In some cases, We may share general combined demographic information with trusted Affiliates, for the reasons stated above. We also use third-party Service Providers to help Us operate Our business and the Website or to manage certain activities on Our behalf.

If You request a password reset, Your IP Address will be included in the reset email.

Payments

We accept payments through multiple Payment Gateways on our Website. When processing payments, some of Your Personal Information will be passed to PayPal or Yoco (depending on which option You choose), including information required to process or support the payment such as the purchase total and billing information.

Please see the PayPal Privacy Policy and the Yoco Privacy Policy for more details.

How Long Do We Keep Your Data

If You leave a Comment, We will retain the Comment and its metadata indefinitely. This is so We can recognise and approve any follow-up Comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.

If You register as a Customer on our Website, We also store the Personal Information You provide in Your User Profile indefinitely. All Customers can see, edit, or delete their Personal Information at any time (except You cannot change Your username). Website Administrators can also see and edit that information.

We will retain Your Personal Information only for as long as We need to for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy. We will retain and use Your Personal Information to the extent necessary to comply with Our legal obligations (for example, if We are required to retain Your information to comply with applicable laws), resolve disputes, and enforce Our legal Agreements and policies.

We will also retain Usage Data for internal analysis purposes. Usage Data is retained for shorter periods of time, except when this data is used to strengthen the security or to improve the functionality of our Website, or We are legally obligated to retain this data for longer time periods.

What Rights You Have Over Your Data

You have the right to delete or request that We assist in deleting the Personal Information that We have collected about You at any time.

Our Website may give You the ability to delete certain information about Yourself from within the Website.

You may update, amend, or delete Your information at any time by logging in to Your Account if You have one, and visiting the Account settings section that allows You to manage Your Personal Information. You may also contact Us to request access to, correct, or delete any Personal Information that You have provided to Us.

Please note, however, that We may need to retain certain information when We have a legal obligation or lawful basis to do so.

Where We Send Your Data

We use WooCommerce to manage and process purchases made through our Website. WooCommerce collects information about You during the Checkout process on our Website.

What We Collect and Store

When You visit our Website, We will track:

• Products and Services You have viewed: We will use this info to, for example, show You products and services You have recently viewed.
• Location, IP Address, and browser type: We will use this for purposes like estimating taxes and shipping costs.
• Shipping Address: We will ask You to enter this information so We can, for instance, estimate shipping costs before You place an Order, and send You the Order.

We also use Cookies to keep track of Cart contents while You are browsing our Website.

When You purchase from Us, We will ask You to provide information including Your name, billing address, shipping address, email address, phone number, credit card/payment details and optional Account information like username and password. We use this information to:

• Send You information about Your Account and Order
• Respond to Your requests, including refunds and complaints
• Process payments and prevent fraud
• Set up Your Account for our Website
• Comply with any legal obligations We have, such as calculating taxes
• Improve our product and service offerings
• Send You marketing messages if You choose to receive them

If You create an Account, We will also store Your Personal Information and use it to populate the Checkout for future Orders.

We will store Comments and Reviews if You choose to leave them.

Who On Our Team Has Access

Both Administrators and Managers in Our Team have access to the Personal Information You provide Us, including:

• Order information like what was purchased, when it was purchased and where it should be sent; and
• Customer information like Your name, email address, and billing and shipping information.

Our Team members have access to this information to help fulfil Orders, process refunds, and support You.

All Comments are checked through an automated spam detection service.

How We Protect Your Data

The security of Your Personal Information is especially important to Us. It is important to remember, however, that no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. While We strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect Your Personal Information, We cannot guarantee its absolute security.

Children’s Privacy

Our Website does not address anyone under the age of 13 (thirteen) years. We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from anyone under the age of thirteen. If You are a parent or guardian and You are aware that Your child has provided Us with Personal Information, please contact Us immediately. If We become aware that We have collected Personal Information from anyone under the age of thirteen without verification of parental consent, We will take steps to remove that information from Our servers.

Contact Information

If You have any questions about this Privacy Policy, You can contact Us:

• By Email; or
• By visiting our Website

Updates

We may update or amend this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify You of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page.

You are advised to review this Privacy Policy periodically for any changes. Changes to this Privacy Policy are effective when they are posted on this page.

This Privacy Policy was last updated on: Friday, 24 January 2025.