Snowbird Power Systems is a business in Kelowna, British Columbia. This policy explains what personal information the site collects, why, who handles it, how long it is kept, and what you can ask us to do with it. It is written under the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and British Columbia's Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA).
The short version: we collect what an order, a mailing-list subscription or a safety report needs, and nothing else. There are no advertising trackers, no cookie banner, and no accounts.
What we collect and why
| When | What | Why |
|---|---|---|
| You place an order | Name, shipping address, email, the items ordered, amounts paid, shipping option, tracking number | To fulfil and ship the order, to answer questions about it, and to keep the records the law requires |
| You pay | Nothing on this site. Card details go directly to Stripe on Stripe's hosted checkout page | Stripe processes the payment and tells us only that it succeeded, the last four digits of the card, and the amounts |
| You look up an order | Order number and the email on the order | To show you that order and nothing else |
| You join the mailing list | Email address, the time you signed up, the time you confirmed, and the IP address of each | To send the build log, and to keep proof of your consent as Canada's anti-spam legislation requires |
| You report a safety incident | What happened, which board, serial number if known, your contact details | To investigate, to meet our duty to report incidents to Health Canada, and to follow up with you |
| You contact support | Your email and what you write | To answer you |
| You visit any page | Server logs: IP address, page requested, time, browser type | To run the site and detect abuse |
We do not collect date of birth, government identifiers, or anything beyond the list above. We never ask for card numbers by email or on a form of our own.
Cookies and analytics
The site sets two cookies, both strictly necessary: a session cookie that holds your cart, and a CSRF token that protects forms from forgery. Neither identifies you across sites or is read by anyone else.
Analytics are cookie-free. We count page views from aggregated server-side data that cannot be tied back to a person. Because no cookie is used for tracking, the site does not show a cookie banner.
Who processes your information
We use a small number of service providers. Each handles only what its job needs, under its own contract and privacy terms.
| Processor | What it handles | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Stripe | Payment, fraud screening, tax calculation, the customer record for an order | Stripe's infrastructure; Stripe is the payment processor and data controller for card data |
| Canada Post | Name and address on the shipping label, the customs declaration on US parcels | Canada |
| Postmark | Transactional email: order confirmations, tracking, list confirmations | Postmark's infrastructure |
| This site | The mailing list itself, order records, incident reports | Hosted in Canada |
We do not sell, rent or share personal information with anyone else. We disclose it only when the law requires it, for example to Health Canada under the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act, or to a court.
How long we keep it
| Record | Kept for | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Orders, shipments, returns | Six years, in Canada | The Canada Consumer Product Safety Act requires a seller to keep supplier and customer records for six years at a Canadian place of business. Orders are closed, never deleted, during that period |
| Mailing-list subscription and consent record | Until you unsubscribe, then the consent record is kept for three years as proof of consent | Canada's anti-spam legislation |
| Safety incident reports | Six years | Consumer product safety records |
| Server logs | 30 days | Operating the site |
| Support email | Two years | Answering follow-ups |
Database backups are stored in Canada and follow the same schedule.
Your rights
Under PIPEDA and PIPA you can:
- Ask what personal information we hold about you and get a copy.
- Ask us to correct anything that is wrong.
- Withdraw consent to the mailing list at any time. Every message has an unsubscribe link, and unsubscribing takes effect at once.
- Ask us to delete information we are not required to keep. Order records within the six-year retention period cannot be deleted, but we will tell you exactly what is held.
- Complain to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada or the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia if you are not satisfied with our answer.
To exercise any of these, email [email protected]. We answer within 30 days. We may ask you to confirm your identity, usually by replying from the email address on the order or subscription.
Children
The store sells lithium charging hardware and is for adults. We do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 18.
Security
Card data never touches this site. The site is served over HTTPS only, the database is backed up nightly to Canadian storage, and access to order records is limited to the people who pack and ship them. If you find a security problem in the site or in the firmware, see the disclosure policy on the support page.
Changes
When this policy changes, the date at the top changes and the mailing list is told in the next build-log message. Material changes are posted on the site for 30 days before they take effect.
Contact
Snowbird Power Systems, Kelowna, BC, Canada. Privacy questions: [email protected]. Everything else: [email protected].
Related: Terms of sale, Shipping and returns, Support.