Last updated: 12 October 2026
This statement explains what personal information Star Empire Comics collects when you use starempirecomics.com, why we collect it, who we share it with and what your rights are. We're a small Irish business and we only collect what we need to run the shop.
1. Who we are
Star Empire Comics Limited (company number 789837, registered in Ireland) is the data controller for your information.
We haven't appointed a Data Protection Officer because we're not required to. If you have any question about your data, email us and Gavan will deal with it personally.
2. What we collect
When you buy from us
- Your name, billing and delivery address, email address and phone number
- What you ordered, what you paid and how it was delivered
- Payment details are entered directly with our payment providers. We never see or store your full card number.
When you create an account
- Your login details and saved addresses
- Your order history, pull list and preorders, wishlist, and any series you follow so we can add new issues for you
- Your membership or subscription, if you have one
- Your Empire Credits balance and history, and your birthday (day and month only) if you choose to add it for a birthday bonus
When you ask to hear from us
- Your email address (and name, if you give it) for our newsletter, back-in-stock alerts or creator updates
- Whether you opened our emails or clicked a link, so we can tell what's useful
When you contact us or send us something
- Messages you send through our contact form or by email
- Comic submissions: your name, contact details, portfolio links and the work you send us
- "We'll hunt it down" requests: your name, email address, the comic you're looking for and any details you add
- Creator profiles: if you're one of our creators and choose to have a public profile, the details and photo you approve for it
- Review copy requests: your name, outlet, email and (for print copies) postal address
When you leave items in your basket
- If you're signed in, or once you type your email address at checkout, we save what's in your basket so you can pick up where you left off
- We only email you a reminder about it if you've signed up to our newsletter or ticked "Email me a reminder" at checkout. We send one reminder at most, and every reminder has a link to stop them
When you browse the site
- Your IP address, browser and device type, the pages you visit and how you got here
- Some of this is collected with cookies. Non-essential cookies are only set if you agree to them in our cookie banner. See our Cookie Policy.
3. Why we use it, and our legal basis
- To take, deliver and support your orders, preorders and memberships: needed to carry out our contract with you.
- To run your account, pull list, wishlist and series follows: needed to provide the service you signed up for.
- To send our newsletter and other marketing emails: your consent. You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in every email.
- To tailor the newsletter to what you like (only if you have subscribed): we use what you buy, reserve on your Pull List or follow to put you in interest groups in MailerLite, such as DC, Marvel, manga or back issues, so the emails we send you are relevant. This is in our legitimate interest in sending you emails you'll want. You can object at any time by emailing us, and it stops when you unsubscribe.
- To send service emails you asked for (back-in-stock alerts, new issues of a series you follow, creator updates): your consent, which you can withdraw at any time.
- To send a basket reminder: your consent (newsletter sign-up or the checkbox at checkout), which you can withdraw at any time.
- To answer messages, look for comics you've asked us to find, review submissions and send review copies: our legitimate interest in running the shop and our publishing work, or taking steps you've asked for.
- To keep the site secure, stop fraud and spam, and understand how the site is used: our legitimate interest. Analytics cookies are only used with your consent.
- To keep accounts and records for Revenue and company law: legal obligation.
We don't make automated decisions about you that have legal or similar effects.
4. Who we share it with
We never sell your personal information. We only share it with companies that help us run the shop, and only what they need:
- Payments: Stripe (cards, Apple Pay and Revolut Pay) and PayPal. They process your payment and carry out fraud checks.
- Delivery: An Post, who get your name and delivery address.
- Running the website: our web host, Cloudflare (security and speed), Optimole (image delivery), Automattic/Jetpack (site statistics and security), Wordfence (security) and Akismet (spam filtering).
- Email: MailerLite (newsletter) and Elementor Site Mailer (order and account emails).
- Analytics: Google Analytics, only if you accept analytics cookies.
- Accounts: Xero, our accounting software, which receives order and invoice details.
- Embedded content: if a page shows a YouTube video or an Instagram or TikTok post, that service may collect data when you view it, depending on your cookie choices.
- Social media: Meta (Instagram), Bluesky, TikTok and Google (YouTube) receive the posts we publish to our own accounts through our scheduling tool (see section 9).
- Authorities: Revenue, the Gardaí or a court, but only where the law requires it.
If you choose to sign in with Google, Google tells us your name and email address.
5. Data stored outside the EU
Some of these providers (for example Google, Stripe, PayPal, Cloudflare and MailerLite) may process data outside the European Economic Area, including in the US. When they do, the transfer is protected by an EU adequacy decision (such as the EU–US Data Privacy Framework) or by the EU's Standard Contractual Clauses.
6. How long we keep it
- Orders, invoices and payment records: 6 years after the end of the tax year, as Irish tax law requires.
- Your account: until you ask us to close it. Order records are kept for the 6 years above.
- Newsletter and alerts: until you unsubscribe.
- Messages and "We'll hunt it down" requests: up to 2 years after we last hear from you, unless they relate to an order.
- Saved baskets: deleted automatically after 30 days.
- Comic submissions we don't take forward: up to 2 years, so we can look back at your pitch if you send us something new. Ask us and we'll delete it sooner.
- Website logs and security data: usually no more than 12 months.
7. Your rights
Under the GDPR you have the right to:
- get a copy of the personal data we hold about you
- have it corrected if it's wrong
- have it deleted, unless we have to keep it (for example tax records)
- restrict or object to how we use it, including objecting to direct marketing at any time
- get it in a format you can take to another business
- withdraw your consent at any time, where we rely on consent
Email contact@starempirecomics.com to use any of these rights. We'll reply within one month. It's free, but we may ask you to confirm who you are.
If you're unhappy with how we've handled your data, you can complain to the Data Protection Commission at dataprotection.ie. We'd appreciate the chance to sort it out first.
8. Keeping your data safe
The whole site runs over an encrypted (HTTPS) connection. It's protected by a firewall and malware scanning, kept up to date, and backed up securely. Only Star Empire Comics has access to customer data. Please use a strong password for your account and don't share it.
We plan and publish posts to our own Instagram, Bluesky, TikTok and YouTube accounts using a scheduling tool built into this website. Only Star Empire Comics uses it, and only for our own accounts. Customers and visitors never sign in to it.
What it uses
- When we connect one of our accounts, the network gives the tool an access token and basic details of that account, such as its name, username and ID. For Bluesky we use an app password made just for this tool, not our login password.
- It sends the images, videos and captions we choose to that account at the time we set, and keeps a record of each post: when it went out, whether it worked, and a link to it.
- Where a network allows it, it may read basic information about our own posts, such as whether a post was published and how many likes or views it has.
The tool doesn't collect, store or use personal information about anyone else on those networks, such as our followers, people who comment, or people who view our posts. It never posts to anyone else's account and never sends messages.
Where it's kept and who it's shared with
Access tokens and post records are stored on our own web server, can only be seen by Star Empire Comics, and are never sold. They're only ever sent to the network a post is for, and each network handles our posts under its own privacy policy: Meta (Instagram), Bluesky, TikTok and Google.
YouTube
Our tool uses YouTube API Services to upload videos to our own YouTube channel. Google's handling of that data is covered by the Google Privacy Policy, and access can be removed at any time from the Google security settings page.
Disconnecting and deleting data
We can disconnect any account from the tool at any time, which deletes its stored access details. Access can also be removed from each network's own settings (for example Instagram › Settings › Apps and websites, TikTok › Settings › Security › Manage app permissions, or Google Account › Third-party connections). If you think we hold any information about you through our social media, email contact@starempirecomics.com and we'll delete it within 30 days.
10. Children
Our shop isn't aimed at children. If you're under 16, please ask a parent or guardian to place the order or sign up for you.
11. Changes to this statement
We'll update this page if anything changes and update the date at the top. If it's a big change, we'll let account holders know by email.
