How we look after your information

Who we are

It's Michelle's Life is a registered business name of Balance Eleven Pty Ltd (ABN 75 683 468 037), a small Australian business operated from Western Australia, offering downloadable nutrition guides, recipes, and an online membership community at itsmichelleslife.com.au. When this policy says “we”, “us”, or “It's Michelle's Life”, that is who we mean.

We respect your privacy and are committed to protecting your personal information. We adhere at all times to the Australian Privacy Principles set out in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). This policy sets out how we collect, use, store, and share your personal information, and what rights you have over it. It forms part of our Terms & Conditions. If you have any questions after reading it, email us at hello@itsmichelleslife.com.au.

What we collect

We only collect the information we genuinely need to run the site and provide what you have asked for.

When you create an account

• Your name
• Your email address
• A password, which is stored as a one-way hash. We never see or store the plain text, and we cannot recover it for you if you forget it.

When you make a purchase

• Billing and payment details, entered directly into Stripe's hosted checkout. Your full card number never touches our servers.
• The product you bought, the amount, the currency, and the date of the order.
• A Stripe customer ID, so we can link your It's Michelle's Life account to your payment history.

When you join the membership

• Your subscription status (active, past due, or cancelled)
• The end date of your current billing period
• A Stripe subscription ID, so we can show you the right content and manage renewals

When you join the newsletter or waitlist

• Your email address
• The form or page you signed up through, so we can send you relevant content

Automatically, when you use the site

• A session cookie that keeps you logged in for up to 30 days
• Standard server logs from our hosting provider (IP address, browser type, pages visited), used for security and debugging only
• Analytics and advertising identifiers collected through cookies and pixel tags when you visit our pages, including Google Analytics client IDs and Meta (Facebook) Pixel event IDs. These help us understand how the site is used and to serve relevant ads on this and other websites you visit. See the Cookies and pixels section below for details and how to opt out.

How we collect your information

We collect information directly from you when you fill in a form on the site, such as registration, checkout, the contact form, or the newsletter waitlist. We also receive limited information from Stripe when you complete a purchase, such as confirmation that the payment succeeded and a customer ID we can use to identify your account on future transactions.

How we use your information

• To provide what you bought - delivering the guides, recipes, or membership access you paid for.
• To manage your account - letting you log in, view your purchase history, and update your details.
• To process payments and handle refunds - via Stripe.
• To send transactional emails - order confirmations, password resets, membership renewal notices.
• To send newsletters - only if you opted in. Every email includes an unsubscribe link.
• To keep the site secure - detecting and preventing fraudulent logins or checkout attempts.
• To comply with Australian law - keeping records we are required to keep, such as sales records for tax purposes.

We do not sell your personal information. We do not share it with advertisers or data brokers. Full stop.

Who we share it with

To run the site, we rely on a small number of trusted third-party services. Each one only receives the minimum information it needs to do its job, and each one has its own privacy policy you can read.

Each of the providers above only receives the minimum information it needs to do its job. We do not and will not sell your personal information or any customer information. Your personal data is only disclosed to third-party suppliers where it is required by law, to deliver goods or services you have purchased, for payment processing, for analytics or advertising as described above, or to protect our copyright, trademarks, and other legal rights. Where we share your personal data with a service provider, we only do so where that party has agreed to comply with privacy standards consistent with this policy and applicable law. Our contracts with third parties prohibit them from using your personal data for any purpose other than the purpose for which it was shared.

Overseas disclosure

Because the providers above are based overseas (primarily in the United States), by using the site you consent to your personal information being transferred to and stored in those countries. We take reasonable steps to ensure each provider handles your information in a way consistent with the Australian Privacy Principles, but please be aware that overseas providers may be subject to different privacy laws than those in Australia.

When we disclose your information

We may from time to time need to disclose certain information, which may include your personal data, to comply with a legal requirement - such as a law, regulation, court order, subpoena, or warrant - in the course of a legal proceeding, or in response to a law enforcement agency request. We may also disclose your personal data to protect the rights, property, or safety of It's Michelle's Life, our customers, or third parties.

If there is a change of control in our business (whether by merger, sale, transfer of assets, or otherwise), customer information, which may include your personal data, could be transferred to a purchaser under a confidentiality agreement. We would only disclose your personal data in good faith and where required by any of the circumstances described above.

How long we keep it

• Account information: for as long as you have an active account. If you ask us to delete your account, we will remove what we can (see the retention caveats below).
• Order records: we are required by Australian tax law to keep records of sales for at least 5 years, so these are retained even if you close your account.
• Newsletter subscriptions: until you unsubscribe (managed through Kit, via the link at the bottom of every email).
• Server logs: typically rolled off within 30 days by our hosting provider.

If you would like your account and associated data deleted, email hello@itsmichelleslife.com.au and we will remove everything we can, noting the legal retention requirements above.

How we keep it safe

• Passwords are hashed using an industry-standard one-way algorithm. We cannot read them, even if we wanted to.
• Full payment details never touch our servers - they are entered directly into Stripe's hosted checkout.
• Our database is encrypted at rest.
• The entire site is served over HTTPS, which encrypts everything travelling between your device and our servers.
• Login attempts are rate-limited to help prevent brute-force attacks on your account.

No online system can be made one hundred percent secure, but we follow current best practice and we take this seriously.

In the event there is a breach of our security and your personal data is compromised, we will promptly notify you in compliance with the applicable law, including the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme under the Australian Privacy Act 1988.

Cookies and pixels

A cookie is a small file placed in your web browser that collects information about your web browsing behaviour. A pixel is a tiny piece of code that similarly records actions you take on our site. Together, these technologies let us tailor the site to your needs and understand how it is used.

Our website uses the following categories of cookies and pixels:

• Essential (session) cookie - a cookie called payload-token that keeps you logged in for up to 30 days after you sign in. It is set only after you log in and is used only to identify your session. You cannot disable this cookie and still use the members' area.
• Analytics cookies (Google Analytics) - these help us understand how visitors use the site, which pages are most read, and where visitors drop off. The data is aggregated and cannot be used to personally identify you.
• Advertising and pixel cookies (Meta Pixel, Google Ads) - these are used to serve relevant ads to website visitors through third-party services such as Google Ads and Meta (Facebook) Adverts. These ads may appear on this website or on other websites you visit.

Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can choose to reject cookies by changing your browser settings. Doing so may prevent you from taking full advantage of our website. You can also opt out of Google's advertising personalisation at adssettings.google.com and out of Meta's advertising preferences in your Facebook or Instagram account settings.

Your rights

Under the Australian Privacy Act 1988, you have the right to:

• Access the personal information we hold about you
• Correct any information that is inaccurate or out of date
• Request deletion of your information, subject to the legal retention requirements above
• Complain if you believe we have mishandled your information

To exercise any of these rights, email us at hello@itsmichelleslife.com.au. We will respond within 30 days.

Links to other websites

This website may contain links to other websites. These links are meant for your convenience only. Links to third-party websites do not constitute sponsorship, endorsement, or approval of those websites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of any other website. We encourage you to read the privacy policy of every website you visit that collects personally identifiable information. This privacy policy applies solely to information collected by this website.

Children

Our services are not directed to persons under 18 and we do not knowingly collect personal data from anyone under 18. If we become aware that a child under 18 has provided us with personal data, we will delete that information as quickly as possible. If you are the parent or guardian of a child and believe they have provided us with personal data without your consent, please contact us.

Complaints

If you think we have breached your privacy, please tell us first. Genuinely - we would rather hear about it and fix it than have you feel ignored. Email hello@itsmichelleslife.com.au with “Privacy complaint” in the subject line. We will acknowledge your complaint within 7 days and aim to respond in full within 30 days.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you can escalate your complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at oaic.gov.au.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. If we make a significant change, we will let you know through the site or by email. The “last updated” date at the top of this page will always reflect the most recent version.