Privacy Policy
Last updated: 29 July 2026
Applies to: judemichael.me and the design plans sold through it
This page explains what personal information I collect when you visit this site, send an inquiry, or subscribe to a plan, what I do with it, who else handles it, and what you can ask me to do about it. It is written in plain language on purpose. If anything here is unclear, ask me directly at privacy@judemichael.me and I will explain it.
1. Who is responsible for your data
This site is operated by Jude Michael Panotes.
Jude Panotes sells design as a product: fixed-scope plans on monthly, bi-annual, or annual billing cycles. For the information described on this page, I am the data controller, which means I decide what gets collected and why. Where a third party such as Paddle makes its own decisions about your data, that company is a separate controller in its own right and its own privacy policy applies alongside this one. Section 5 covers where that split happens.
Plans are delivered remotely to customers in several countries. This policy is written to meet UK and EU GDPR standards for everyone, including visitors outside those regions.
2. What I collect
Information you give me
Inquiry details. Name, email address, business name, phone number if you provide one, and whatever you write in the message field when you use the contact form or email me.
Onboarding details. Once you subscribe to a plan, an onboarding form collects the inputs needed to deliver it: business information, target audience, brand references, and similar product inputs specific to the plan you chose.
Product content. Copy, photos, logos, brand files, and any other material you send for use in your plan.
Subscription and billing records. Which plan you're on, billing cycle, order history, and payment status. Full card numbers are never included; see section 5.
Correspondence. Emails, messages, and support requests relating to your plan.
Information collected automatically
Usage data. Pages viewed, time on page, referring site, approximate location at city level, device type, browser, and operating system.
Server logs. IP address, request time, and requested URL, recorded by the web host for security and troubleshooting.
Download activity. If your plan includes a digital download, the download itself is logged for abuse prevention. Covered in section 6.
Cookies and similar technologies. Covered in section 8.
What I do not collect
I do not ask for special category data such as health, biometric, political, or religious information, and there is no reason a design plan needs it. I do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 16. I do not buy contact lists or scrape contact details to add people to my email list.
3. Why I use it, and the legal basis for each purpose
Reply to an inquiry and recommend a plan
What it uses: Inquiry details, correspondence
Legal basis: Steps taken at your request before you subscribe
Onboard you and deliver your plan's product
What it uses: Onboarding details, product content, correspondence
Legal basis: Performance of a contract (your subscription terms)
Bill your subscription on its chosen cycle
What it uses: Name, email, plan, billing cycle, order history
Legal basis: Performance of a contract
Deliver a purchased digital download
What it uses: Order reference, download log
Legal basis: Performance of a contract
Keep tax and accounting records
What it uses: Order and payment records
Legal basis: Legal obligation
Send account and billing emails about your subscription
What it uses: Name, email, plan status
Legal basis: Performance of a contract
Send marketing emails and newsletters
What it uses: Name, email, engagement records
Legal basis: Your consent, withdrawable at any time
Understand how the site is used and improve it
What it uses: Usage data, cookies
Legal basis: Consent where a cookie banner applies; otherwise legitimate interest in running a functioning website
Protect the site against abuse, spam, and fraud
What it uses: Server logs, IP address, form submissions
Legal basis: Legitimate interest in site security
Feature your results as a customer example
What it uses: Product outcomes, business name, visuals
Legal basis: Your consent
Where the basis is legitimate interest, I have weighed my interest against your privacy and use the least intrusive option available. You can object to any of it using the process in section 12.
4. Automated decisions and profiling
I do not make automated decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects about you. Paddle's fraud screening scores individual transactions (see section 5), email tools score engagement to decide send frequency, and analytics groups visitors into segments. None of that decides whether you can subscribe, what you pay, or what plan you're offered without a person involved.
5. Payments and the merchant of record
This is the part people ask about most, so it is worth being specific: Paddle.com Market Limited ("Paddle") is my payment provider and merchant of record for every purchase on this site. Plans are billed on a recurring monthly, bi-annual, or annual cycle depending on what you choose at checkout, and Paddle handles that billing end to end.
Card details never reach me
I do not see, store, or process your full card number, CVC, or bank credentials. Checkout is hosted by Paddle, and card data goes directly from your browser to Paddle's PCI DSS certified systems. What comes back to my records is limited to the outcome: the plan, the amount, the currency, the billing cycle, the date, the last four digits, and whether the charge succeeded or failed.
What "merchant of record" means for your data
Your purchase contract is with Paddle, which resells my plans to you and is the seller on your receipt and invoice. This has real consequences for how your data is handled:
Paddle acts as an independent controller of the data you enter at checkout: billing name, billing address, email, tax or VAT identifiers, and IP address. I do not direct how Paddle uses that data, and Paddle's own privacy policy at paddle.com/legal/privacy governs it.
Paddle handles sales tax, VAT, and GST as the seller of record, which is why checkout asks for a billing country and may ask for a tax number. Those identifiers are collected for tax compliance, not by me for marketing.
Paddle manages the subscription itself. The recurring charge on your chosen cycle, renewal reminders, failed-payment retries, plan upgrades or downgrades, and cancellations are all handled through Paddle's customer portal, linked from your receipt email.
Paddle runs its own fraud screening, which may score a transaction using device and behavioural signals and decline it. If a payment is declined for a fraud reason, that decision sits with Paddle, not with me. Tell me and I will help you route it to Paddle's support.
What I receive back is the order record: your name, email, the plan purchased, the billing cycle, the amount, the date, the country, and the last four digits of the payment method. I use that to activate and support your plan and keep my own accounting records.
Refunds, billing disputes, and subscription cancellations are handled under Paddle's terms alongside my own refund policy stated at checkout.
Chargebacks
If a chargeback or dispute is raised, I may need to share evidence of the order and the product delivered with Paddle and the card network. That can include your name, correspondence, and delivery records. The basis is my legitimate interest in defending a disputed payment and, where applicable, a legal obligation to respond to the network's process.
6. Digital products: downloads and templates
Some plans include a downloadable product: a template, brand asset, or other digital file supplied as part of your plan. This section covers what that involves beyond the checkout data in section 5.
Delivery
Once Paddle confirms your payment, your download link is emailed to you and, where a plan includes ongoing access to a resource library or template set, made available in your account area for as long as your subscription stays active. Account access is scoped to that purpose only, can be reset any time from your account settings, and is removed if your subscription lapses or is cancelled.
Download activity
Download links are logged (product, timestamp, IP address, and download count) to prevent link sharing and abuse, and to help support diagnose a failed download. This log is not used to build a marketing profile.
The 14-day digital content withdrawal right
UK and EU consumer law normally gives you 14 days to cancel an online purchase for a refund, but that right does not apply to digital content once you've started downloading or accessing it and have expressly agreed to that in advance. Checkout asks you to confirm this before your download unlocks; without that confirmation, delivery waits until the 14 days pass. Outside that specific waiver, refunds for digital products follow my published refund policy together with Paddle's own dispute process (see section 5).
7. Tools that process data on my behalf
Running a productized design practice means using third-party software. Each of the companies below processes some of your data on my instructions, under a data processing agreement, and is contractually barred from using it for its own purposes. This list is kept current; if you are reading it and something looks out of date, tell me.
Provider: Paddle — merchant of record and billing
What it is used for: Checkout, recurring subscription billing, tax handling, fraud prevention, payment processing, and receipts.
Data involved: Billing name, email, billing address, tax identifiers, IP address, order and subscription records.
Where processed: United Kingdom, with global processing infrastructure.
Provider: HubSpot — CRM and marketing
What it is used for: Managing contact and customer records, tracking inquiries and subscription stages, managing communications, and sending automated onboarding and marketing emails.
Data involved: Name, email, phone number, plan, subscription status, inquiry details, message history, and email engagement data.
Where processed: United States and other locations depending on HubSpot's infrastructure and services used.
Provider: Notion — internal workspace and operations
What it is used for: Managing projects, customer information, service documentation, internal notes, and business operations.
Data involved: Customer and project information, notes, correspondence, service details, and operational records.
Where processed: United States and other locations depending on Notion's infrastructure.
Provider: Proton Services — email, storage, and communications
What it is used for: Business email, file storage, document exchange, and business communications.
Data involved: Email correspondence, contact information, product files, shared documents, and account information.
Where processed: Switzerland, European Union, and other locations depending on the Proton service and infrastructure.
Provider: Google Workspace — alternative email and storage provider
What it is used for: Business email, Drive storage, document sharing, file delivery, and business communications where Google Workspace is used instead of Proton.
Data involved: Email correspondence, contact information, product files, shared documents, and account information.
Where processed: Global, depending on Google's infrastructure and account configuration.
Provider: Web hosting providers — website and service hosting
What it is used for: Hosting websites, WordPress installations, databases, and related web services.
Data involved: Server logs, IP addresses, website content, form submissions, account data, and database contents.
Where processed: Varies by hosting provider, service, and selected data centre.
Provider: Google Analytics and Search Console — analytics and search performance
What it is used for: Understanding website traffic, user behaviour, search performance, and technical search visibility.
Data involved: Usage data, cookie identifiers, device and browser information, IP-related data, and search performance data.
Where processed: Global, including the United States and European Union.
Hosting note: Multiple hosting providers or hosting environments may be used depending on the requirements of each website, service, project, or deployment. The specific hosting provider and processing location may therefore vary between services.
Delivery collaborators
Some plans are fulfilled with the help of specialist designers. They receive only the material needed for their part of your order, are bound by confidentiality terms, and are not permitted to reuse your material or contact you directly.
When I am the processor rather than the controller
If your plan includes deploying a purchased template or design product on your own website, personal data belonging to your customers may pass through it, for example through contact forms or analytics on your site. For that data you are the controller and I act as your processor. I use it only to support the plan you subscribed to, I do not use it for my own purposes, and I return or delete it when your subscription ends. If you need a signed data processing agreement covering that relationship, ask and I will provide one.
8. Cookies and analytics
Cookies are small files stored by your browser. This site uses three kinds:
Necessary cookies that keep the site working, hold your cookie preference, and protect forms against spam. These are set without consent because the site cannot function without them.
Analytics cookies that count visits and show which pages get read. IP addresses are truncated before storage where the tool supports it.
Marketing cookies, where used, that measure whether an ad or campaign led to a subscription.
Visitors in the UK, EU, and other regions requiring prior consent are shown a banner before any analytics or marketing cookie is set, and nothing beyond the necessary category loads until a choice is made. You can change your choice at any time through the cookie settings link in the site footer, or clear cookies in your browser settings. Declining non-essential cookies does not restrict any part of the site.
Browser Do Not Track signals are not standardised and are not honoured individually. Global Privacy Control signals are treated as a valid opt-out of sale or sharing where the law requires it.
9. Email
Account and billing email
If you have an open inquiry or an active subscription, I will email you about it: onboarding, product delivery, and anything Paddle doesn't already cover on its receipts and renewal notices. These are part of running your plan and cannot be unsubscribed from while the plan is active, though you can ask to move a conversation to another channel.
Marketing email
Marketing and newsletter emails go only to people who opted in, or to existing customers about plans similar to what they already subscribed to, where local law allows it. Every marketing email has a working unsubscribe link, and unsubscribing takes effect immediately and permanently. There is no penalty for unsubscribing and it does not affect an active subscription.
Email tracking
Marketing emails include a tracking pixel and tagged links that record whether the message was opened and which links were clicked. That information is stored against your contact record in the CRM and used to decide how often to email and what to send. If you would rather not be tracked, block remote images in your email client, or tell me and I will flag your record to exclude tracking. Account and billing emails are not used to build an engagement profile.
Email security
I will never ask you for a password, a full card number, or banking credentials over email. Billing communication and payment links come from Paddle. If you receive a message that appears to come from me asking for any of that, do not respond to it and contact me at a number or address you already have on file.
10. How long data is kept
Record: Inquiries that never convert to a subscription
Retention period: 24 months from last contact, then deleted.
Record: Active subscriber account and order records
Retention period: Duration of the subscription plus 6 years, to cover tax and dispute limitation periods.
Record: Billing and tax records
Retention period: The period required by tax law in the Philippines, typically 6 to 7 years.
Record: Cancelled subscriber records
Retention period: 24 months after cancellation, then deleted or anonymised unless a legal retention reason applies.
Record: Product files delivered as part of a plan
Retention period: 24 months after delivery as a working archive, then deleted unless you ask me to hold them longer.
Record: Download logs
Retention period: 12 months, then deleted.
Record: Marketing email subscribers
Retention period: Until you unsubscribe, plus a suppression record kept indefinitely so you are not re-added.
Record: Website analytics
Retention period: 14 months.
Record: Server logs
Retention period: Per the host's rolling retention, typically 30 to 90 days.
When a period ends, records are deleted or anonymised. A minimal suppression entry, meaning a hashed email with no other detail, is kept after an unsubscribe or deletion request so the same address is not added back to a list later.
11. International transfers
Several of the providers in section 7 are based in the United States, so your data may be transferred outside the UK and the European Economic Area. Where that happens, the transfer relies on one of the following safeguards: the EU-US Data Privacy Framework and its UK extension where the provider is certified, Standard Contractual Clauses approved by the European Commission together with the UK International Data Transfer Addendum, or your explicit consent where no other basis applies. You can ask me which mechanism covers a specific provider and I will tell you.
12. Your rights
If you are in the UK or EU
You have the right to:
Access a copy of the personal data I hold about you.
Correct anything inaccurate or incomplete.
Delete your data, where I have no overriding legal reason to keep it such as a tax record.
Restrict how I use it while a dispute or accuracy question is resolved.
Object to processing based on legitimate interest, and to direct marketing at any time with no exceptions.
Port your data to another provider in a structured, machine-readable format.
Withdraw consent at any time where consent is the basis, without affecting anything done before you withdrew it.
If you are in California
You have the right to know what is collected and why, to request deletion, to correct inaccurate information, to opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information, to limit the use of sensitive personal information, and not to be discriminated against for exercising any of these. I do not sell your personal information, and I do not share it for cross-context behavioural advertising. An authorised agent may submit a request on your behalf with proof of authorisation.
Other regions
Similar rights exist under laws in Canada, Australia, Brazil, and elsewhere. Rather than sorting requests by geography, I apply the process below to everyone.
How to make a request
Email privacy@judemichael.me with what you want done. I will confirm receipt, may ask a question to verify you are who you say you are, and will respond within 30 days. Complex requests may take longer, and I will tell you before that happens rather than after. There is no charge unless a request is repetitive or excessive, in which case I will tell you the cost before doing the work.
If you are not satisfied
Come back to me first, because most issues are a misunderstanding I can fix quickly. If that does not resolve it, you can complain to your data protection authority. In the UK that is the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk. In the EU it is the supervisory authority in the country where you live or work.
13. Security
Reasonable technical and organisational measures protect your data, including HTTPS across the site, encryption in transit and at rest with the providers listed above, multi-factor authentication on business accounts, access limited to the people who need it for a specific task, and credentials stored in access-controlled storage rather than in email or chat. No system is completely secure, and I will not claim otherwise. If a breach occurs that is likely to affect your rights, I will notify the relevant regulator within 72 hours where required and tell you directly what happened, what was affected, and what to do about it.
14. Children
This site and these plans are for businesses and adults. I do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 16. If you believe a child has provided information here, email me and I will delete it.
15. Links to other sites
This site links to portfolio pieces, customer sites, and third-party tools including Paddle's checkout. Once you follow a link, the destination's privacy policy applies and this one does not. I have no control over how those sites handle your data.
16. Changes to this policy
This policy is updated when the tools, services, or applicable law change. The date at the top always shows the current version. For a change that materially affects how your data is used, I will contact active subscribers and email subscribers directly rather than relying on you noticing an updated date. Past versions are available on request.
17. Contact
Privacy questions, rights requests, and anything else about this page:
Jude Michael Panotes
Privacy: privacy@judemichael.me
General: hey@judemichael.me
Contact form: Click here