Privacy Policy - Book Padho

1. Who We Are

Book Padho (“we,” “us,” or “our”) is committed to protecting your privacy and ensuring the security of your personal information. Our website address is: https://bookpadho.com. We are an online bookstore dedicated to providing you with a wide selection of books and a positive online shopping experience in Pakistan.

2. Comments

If visitors leave comments on our website (e.g., on blog posts, book review sections, if enabled), we collect the data shown in the comments form. We also collect the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help with spam detection and maintain a safe and respectful commenting environment.

An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture (if associated with Gravatar) is visible to the public in the context of your comment.

3. Media

If you upload images to the website (e.g., profile pictures), you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website may be able to download and extract any location data from images you upload publicly.

4. Cookies

Our website uses cookies to enhance your browsing experience and provide essential functionalities. Cookies are small text files placed on your computer to collect standard internet log information and visitor behavior information.

We use cookies for the following purposes:

Essential Website Functionality: To enable core site functionality, such as maintaining your shopping cart and user session, and to ensure the website operates correctly.
Preferences: To remember your preferences, such as language or currency, for a more personalized experience.
Analytics: To understand how visitors use our website, which pages are popular, and how we can improve our site and services. We may use analytics services like Google Analytics, which also use cookies.
Comments: If you leave a comment on our site, you may opt-in to saving your name, email address, and website in cookies. This is for your convenience, so you do not have to re-enter these details when you leave another comment in the future. These comment cookies typically last for one year.
Login (Account Holders): If you visit our login page, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser. When you log in to your Book Padho account, we will set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies generally last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me,” your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.

Managing Cookies:

You have the right to control cookies. You can typically manage your cookie preferences through your web browser settings. You can choose to:

Accept all cookies
Reject all cookies
Be notified when a cookie is set
Delete existing cookies

Please note that blocking or deleting certain cookies may impact your experience on our website and may prevent some features from functioning correctly, such as maintaining your shopping cart or staying logged in.

For more information about managing cookies, please refer to your browser’s help documentation.

5. Embedded Content from Other Websites

Pages or posts on our website may include embedded content (e.g., videos from YouTube, images from other sites, social media feeds, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if you have visited those other websites directly.

These external websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content. This includes tracking your interaction if you have an account and are logged in to those external websites.

We are not responsible for the privacy practices of these external websites. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any third-party websites you visit.

6. Who We Share Your Data With

To provide you with our services and operate our online bookstore effectively, we may share your data with the following categories of third parties:

Payment Processors: We use secure payment processors (e.g., Jazzcash, Easypaisa) to process your payments. We do not directly store your full credit card details. Payment processors handle your payment information according to their own privacy policies.
Shipping and Delivery Partners: We share your delivery address and contact information with our shipping and logistics partners (e.g., TCS, Leopard]) to fulfill your orders and ensure delivery.
Analytics Providers: We may use analytics services (e.g., Google Analytics) to analyze website traffic and user behavior, which helps us improve our website and understand customer preferences.
Customer Support Providers: If we use third-party customer support software or services to manage customer inquiries, these providers may have access to your communication history with us.
Legal Compliance: We may disclose your information if required to do so by law, in response to a valid legal request, or to protect our rights, property, or safety, or the rights, property, or safety of others.

We do not sell your personal data to third parties for marketing purposes. We share data only with trusted partners who assist us in operating our business and providing you with services. We ensure that these partners are contractually obligated to protect your data and use it only for the purposes we specify.

If you request a password reset, your IP address will be included in the password reset email for security purposes.

7. How Long We Retain Your Data

We retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected, including:

Order Data: We retain order information (including customer details, order history, and transaction records) for as long as required for accounting, tax, legal compliance, and customer service purposes, typically for 1 year after your last order, as per Pakistani legal and accounting requirements.
Account Information: If you register for an account on our website, we retain the personal information you provide in your user profile for as long as your account is active. You can request to close your account at any time (see “What Rights You Have Over Your Data”).
Comments: If you leave comments, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognize and automatically approve any follow-up comments from you, rather than holding them in a moderation queue, and to maintain a record of discussions.
Marketing Communications Data: If you have subscribed to our marketing emails or newsletters, we retain your email address until you unsubscribe.

8. What Rights You Have Over Your Data

You have certain rights regarding your personal data under applicable data protection laws. These rights may include:

Access: You have the right to request access to the personal data we hold about you.
Rectification: You have the right to request that we correct any inaccurate or incomplete personal data we hold about you.
Erasure (Right to be Forgotten): You have the right to request that we erase your personal data, under certain conditions. Please note that we may need to retain certain data for legal or legitimate business purposes (e.g., order history for accounting).
Restriction of Processing: You have the right to request that we restrict the processing of your personal data, under certain conditions.
Data Portability: You have the right to request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format, including any data you have actively and knowingly provided to us.
Object to Processing: You have the right to object to the processing of your personal data, under certain conditions (e.g., for direct marketing purposes).
Withdraw Consent: If we rely on your consent to process your personal data, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at [email protected]. We will respond to your request in accordance with applicable data protection laws. We may need to verify your identity before fulfilling your request to protect your privacy and security.

9. Where Your Data Is Sent

Visitor comments (if enabled) may be checked through an automated spam detection service, which may be located outside of Pakistan.

For website analytics purposes, data may be transferred to and stored by services like Google Analytics, which may have servers located outside of Pakistan.

When you make payments, your payment information is processed by secure payment gateways, which may operate in various global locations.

By using our website and services, you consent to the transfer of your information to these third parties and their servers, which may be located outside of Pakistan. We take reasonable measures to ensure that these third-party service providers maintain appropriate data protection standards.

10. Data Security

We are committed to protecting the security of your personal data and maintaining your trust in Book Padho. We implement a comprehensive range of technical and organizational security measures designed to safeguard your information from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. These measures are regularly reviewed and updated to adapt to evolving security best practices and threats. Our security measures include, but are not limited to, the following:

Secure Socket Layer (SSL) Encryption: We utilize industry-standard Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption technology for all data transmitted between your browser and our website. This encryption protects sensitive information, such as your personal details and payment information, during transmission, making it extremely difficult for unauthorized parties to intercept or decipher. You can verify SSL encryption is active by looking for the padlock icon in your web browser’s address bar when you are on secure pages of our website (e.g., during account login, checkout).
Secure Server Infrastructure: Our website and data are hosted on secure servers maintained by reputable hosting providers with robust security protocols. These providers employ physical and logical security measures to protect the server infrastructure from unauthorized access and cyber threats.
Firewalls and Intrusion Detection Systems: We utilize firewalls and intrusion detection systems to monitor and control network traffic, preventing unauthorized access to our systems and alerting us to any suspicious activity.
Regular Security Audits and Vulnerability Scanning: We conduct regular security audits and vulnerability scanning of our website and systems to identify and address potential security weaknesses.
Access Controls and Authorization: Access to personal data is strictly limited to authorized personnel within Book Padho who require access to perform their job functions (e.g., customer support, order processing, technical administration). Access is controlled through secure login credentials and role-based permissions.
Data Encryption at Rest:Where appropriate and feasible, we employ encryption techniques to protect sensitive personal data even when it is stored “at rest” on our servers, providing an additional layer of security.
Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) Compliance (If Applicable): If we directly handle or store any payment card information (though we primarily use secure payment gateways), we strive to comply with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) to ensure the secure handling of payment card data. Our payment processing partners are PCI DSS compliant.
Employee Training and Awareness: We provide regular training to our employees on data privacy and security best practices to ensure that personal data is handled responsibly and securely within our organization.
Regular Software and Security Updates: We keep our website software, plugins, and security systems up-to-date with the latest security patches and updates to protect against known vulnerabilities.

While we implement these robust security measures and continuously strive to enhance our security posture, it is important to acknowledge that no method of transmission over the Internet or method of electronic storage is completely infallible. Therefore, while we are committed to protecting your personal data to the best of our ability, absolute security cannot be guaranteed. In the event of a data breach, we are committed to following all applicable legal requirements and taking responsible steps to mitigate any potential harm.

To further protect your privacy, we also encourage you to:

Use strong, unique passwords for your Book Padho account and any other online accounts.
Keep your login credentials confidential and do not share them with anyone.
Be cautious about phishing emails or suspicious links that may attempt to solicit your personal information.
Keep your devices and software secure by using up-to-date antivirus software and operating system updates.

By combining our comprehensive security measures with your own online safety practices, we can work together to create a safer online shopping environment at Book Padho.

11. Children’s Privacy

Our website is intended for a general audience and is not specifically directed to children under the age of [Specify Age, e.g., 16 or 18] in Pakistan. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children without parental consent. If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has provided us with personal data without your consent, please contact us at [email protected], and we will take steps to remove that information and terminate the child’s account if applicable.

12. Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or legal requirements. We will post any changes on this page and update the “Last Updated” date at the top of this policy. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically for any updates. Significant changes will be communicated more directly (e.g., via website banner or email to registered users, depending on the nature of the changes).

13. Contact Us

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us at:

[email protected]

Last Updated: February, 2025 (Date of creation/last significant revision)