Privacy Policy

Last updated: May 28, 2026

At the Sacred Monastery of St. John of the Ladder, we operate the website https://monasteryorthodoxincense.com. We are committed to protecting your privacy and handling your personal data in a transparent, secure, and respectful manner. This Privacy Policy outlines what information we collect, how we use it, and your rights under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

1. Who We Are

Our website address is: https://monasteryorthodoxincense.com.
Our physical monastic community is located in Boeotia (Viotia), Greece. For any privacy-related inquiries, you can contact us via our website’s Contact Page.

2. What Personal Data We Collect and Why We Collect It

As an e-commerce store, we collect necessary personal information to process your orders and communicate with you. This data includes:

  • Order Information: When you make a purchase, we collect your name, billing address, shipping address, email address, and phone number. This data is used to process your transactions, ship your items, and send you order updates.
  • Account Information: If you register an account, we store your username and password securely, along with the shipping and billing details you save for future checkouts.
  • Technical Data: When you visit our website, we automatically collect your IP address, browser type, and device information. This helps us ensure website security, prevent fraud, and keep our shop functioning properly.

3. Cookies

We use cookies to ensure our online store runs smoothly. These include:

  • WooCommerce Cookies: We use temporary cookies to keep track of items you add to your shopping cart and to remember when you are in the process of checking out. No personal data is stored in these cookies.
  • Functional Cookies: We use a functional cookie to remember if you have dismissed our top announcement banner. This cookie stores no personal information and simply ensures that you are not repeatedly shown the same notice as you browse our site.
  • Account Cookies: If you visit our login page, we set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This is discarded when you close your browser. When you log in, we set up cookies to save your login info and screen preferences. Login cookies last for two days, and screen choices last for a year. If you select “Remember Me”, your login persists for two weeks.

4. Who We Share Your Data With

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal data with third parties. We only share your information with trusted service providers necessary to run our store operations:

  • Payment Gateway (PayPal): All store payments are processed securely through PayPal. Whether you choose to check out using a standard PayPal account, a credit/debit card, Venmo, Apple Pay, or Google Pay, your financial data is transmitted directly and securely to PayPal’s servers. We do not store, process, or see your credit card or payment credentials on our website’s servers. You can view PayPal’s Privacy Policy here.
  • Email Services (Brevo): We use Brevo to deliver all transactional store emails (such as order confirmations and password resets). Your email address, name, and order details are securely processed through Brevo strictly for the purpose of sending these automated notifications. You can view Brevo’s Privacy Policy here.
  • Shipping Services: We share your name, shipping address, and phone number with our postal carriers (such as the Hellenic Post) to deliver your orders from Greece.

5. How Long We Retain Your Data

For users that register on our website, we store the personal information they provide in their user profile indefinitely. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.

For tax, accounting, and legal purposes, order data (such as records of purchases, billing details, and shipping addresses) will be retained for the minimum period required by Greek tax law.

6. What Rights You Have Over Your Data

Under the GDPR, if you have an account on this site or have placed an order with us, you have the right to request an exported file of the personal data we hold about you. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold. This does not include any data we are legally obligated to retain for administrative, tax, accounting, or security purposes.

7. Security of Your Data

We utilize secure SSL encryption across our entire website to ensure that all data transmitted between your browser and our servers is fully encrypted. While we implement standard industry security measures, please remember that no method of transmission over the Internet is 100% secure.