Privacy Policy

Effective Date: September 3, 2026
Last Updated: September 3, 2026
Website: https://themerchantmanual.com ("The Merchant Manual", "we", "us", or "our")
Contact: support@themerchantmanual.com

At The Merchant Manual, we respect your privacy and are committed to protecting any personal information you share with us. This Privacy Policy outlines what information we collect, how we use it, and your rights regarding your data.

1. Information We Collect

A. Information You Voluntarily Provide

Email Subscriptions: When you subscribe to our newsletter or create a reader account, we collect your email address.
Direct Communications: If you contact us via email, we collect your email address and any information you provide in your message (such as questions about merchant statements).

B. Automatically Collected Information (Analytics)

When you browse our website, we use privacy-focused analytics tools (including self-hosted Tinybird infrastructure) to collect non-personally identifiable technical information, including:

Browser type and operating system
Referring website or search engine
Pages viewed, time spent on pages, and navigation paths
General geographic location (country or state level, not precise GPS)
Anonymized IP addresses (we do not track or store raw, identifiable IP addresses)

C. Cookies

Ghost uses minimal, essential cookies required for session authentication (e.g., keeping you logged in if you are a registered member). We do not use intrusive third-party cross-site advertising tracking cookies.

2. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect strictly to:

Deliver educational guides, updates, and newsletters you have subscribed to.
Monitor site traffic and improve the quality and performance of our content.
Respond to your inquiries, feedback, or support questions.
Protect against spam, unauthorized access, or security threats.

We will never sell, rent, or trade your personal email address or data to third-party data brokers or marketing agencies.

3. Affiliate Links & Third-Party Disclosure

The Merchant Manual participates in various affiliate and referral programs. Some links on our website are affiliate links. If you click on an affiliate link and sign up for a service (such as a payment processor, virtual terminal, or hardware provider), we may earn a referral commission at no additional cost to you.

We only recommend services and hardware that we believe provide genuine value and transparency to business owners. Third-party websites you visit via our links have their own independent privacy policies.

4. Third-Party Service Providers

We may share limited data with trusted third-party service providers that help us operate our publication:

Hosting & Infrastructure: Cloud compute and server infrastructure (Oracle Cloud).
Email Delivery: Transactional and newsletter email delivery services (such as Mailgun or Apple iCloud Mail) to deliver subscription emails.
Analytics: Privacy-first event streaming infrastructure (Tinybird).

5. Your Data Rights & Unsubscribing

Opt-Out / Unsubscribe: You can unsubscribe from our email newsletter at any time by clicking the "Unsubscribe" link at the bottom of any email we send you.
Data Deletion: If you would like your reader account or email permanently deleted from our records, email us at admin@themerchantmanual.com and we will delete it promptly.

6. Updates to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, legal requirements, or site features. Any updates will be posted on this page with an updated "Last Updated" date.

7. Contact Us

If you have any questions or concerns regarding this Privacy Policy, please contact us at:
Email: support@themerchantmanual.com