Privacy policy

Last updated: October 19, 2026

The short version

  • We collect only what we need to send your order, answer your messages and, if you ask for them, send you our emails.
  • We do not sell or share your personal information. We don't use advertising pixels or advertising cookies.
  • You can ask us to see, correct or delete your information at any time. Write to help@firstfrosthome.com.

Who we are

This policy covers our shop, First Frost Home (firstfrosthome.com; winterreadyhouse.com leads to the same shop), the website oldwayspress.com, where our guides are sold, our emails, and our replies on Facebook and Messenger.

All of these are run by one person: Miguel Nunes da Costa, a sole trader based in Portugal. First Frost Home and Old Ways Press, which publishes our guides, are run by the same person.

  • Postal address: Rua João Barata 1, 7320-102 Castelo de Vide, Portugal
  • Email: help@firstfrosthome.com

We are the "controller" of your personal information. That's the legal word for the business that decides how it is used.

Because we are based in Portugal, in the European Union, the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) applies to everything we do, wherever you live. If you live in the United States, your state's privacy law may give you rights too. We honor the same requests for everyone.

What we collect, and why

When you place an order

  • Your name, shipping and billing address, email, your phone number if you give one, what you bought and what you paid.
  • Your card details go straight to the payment company. We never see or keep your full card number. We only see things like the card type, the last 4 digits and whether the payment went through.
  • Your IP address and browser details, which Shopify uses to check orders for fraud.
  • Why: to take your payment, send your order and your download, email you about your order, handle refunds, and keep the records the law requires.

When you write to us

  • Your name, your email and what you tell us, including any photo you send (for example, of an item that arrived damaged).
  • Why: to answer you and fix the problem.

When you comment or message us on Facebook or Messenger

  • If you comment a word like GAP on one of our videos, or message the Page, our auto-reply answers you in Messenger. It's a bot, run by ManyChat. It receives your public Facebook name and profile picture, a Messenger ID number, the messages you send, the buttons you tap, and your email if you choose to give it.
  • Comments on Facebook are public. You can delete them on Facebook at any time.
  • Why: to send you what you asked for, and to answer you.

When you join our email list

  • Your email, your first name if you give it, which list you joined (for example, a product you want to hear about), and the date and proof of your sign-up.
  • Why: to send you the emails you asked for. We only send what the sign-up form promised.

When you buy or download a guide on oldwayspress.com

  • Payhip handles it, and we receive your email address and what you bought.
  • Why: to deliver your files and answer your questions.

When you visit our shop or website

  • The pages you look at, the page or video that sent you to us, your device and browser type, and your approximate location (city or state, worked out from your IP address).
  • Why: to keep the shop working and to count visits, so we know which videos bring people here.

We don't collect sensitive personal information as U.S. state laws define it. We don't make decisions about you by computer alone. Shopify checks every order for fraud automatically; if an order is flagged, the owner looks at it before anything happens.

You don't have to give us your information. But without your name, address and email, we can't take or send your order, or answer you.

Our legal reasons (for the GDPR)

  • To carry out our contract with you (GDPR Article 6(1)(b)): taking payment, sending your order and download, emails about your order, refunds and customer help. This also covers the steps you ask for before you buy, like the details you request in Messenger.
  • Because the law requires it (Article 6(1)(c)): invoices and accounting records under Portuguese tax law.
  • Our legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f)): preventing fraud, keeping the shop secure, handling payment disputes, answering messages that aren't about an order, and counting visits in a simple way. We weigh these against your rights, and you can object at any time.
  • Your consent (Article 6(1)(a)): our email list, and cookies that aren't strictly needed where the law asks for consent. You can take back your consent at any time. That doesn't affect what happened before.

Who we share it with

We share your information only with the companies and people listed below, and only what each one needs. The companies that work for us may use it only to do that work for us. A few, like Meta, the payment services, the delivery companies and the tax authority, also follow their own rules and privacy policies.

  • Shopify runs our shop, checkout and order emails, and delivers your downloads. Shopify processes data in Canada, the U.S., Ireland and other countries.
  • Shopify Payments, which works with Stripe, processes card payments. If you pay with Shop Pay, Apple Pay or Google Pay, those services also handle your payment under their own privacy policies.
  • PayPal processes your payment if you choose PayPal.
  • Our fulfillment partners pack and ship our stove fan, mostly from China, together with the order-management apps we use to send them your order. They receive your name, shipping address, your phone number if you gave one, and what's in your order.
  • Delivery companies (such as USPS, UPS or FedEx) bring the box to your door. They receive your name and address, and sometimes your phone number.
  • CWILL Order Tracking (formerly ParcelPanel), a company based in the U.S., shows where your box is on our Track your order page. It receives your order details, including your name, email, shipping address and tracking number.
  • MailerLite, a company based in the EU, sends our email letters, only if you joined our list. If you tick the box at checkout to hear from us, that choice is saved in Shopify.
  • ManyChat, a company based in the U.S., runs our automatic replies in Messenger.
  • Google (Gmail) hosts our help@firstfrosthome.com mailbox, where your emails and photos are kept.
  • Meta runs Facebook, Messenger and Instagram, and decides for itself how it uses what happens there. Meta's own privacy policy covers that. For the visit numbers Meta shows us about our Facebook Page ("Page Insights"), Meta and we share responsibility, and Meta takes the main part under its Page Insights Controller Addendum.
  • Payhip, a company based in the UK, sells and delivers our PDF guides on oldwayspress.com, with payments by Stripe or PayPal.
  • Google: Google Analytics counts visits on oldwayspress.com, and Google Fonts serves the lettering on those pages. On the shop, we use Shopify's built-in visit reports.
  • A certified Portuguese invoicing program makes the invoice the law requires for each order.
  • Our accountant and the Portuguese Tax Authority. Portuguese law requires an invoice for every order, and invoice details are reported to the tax authority.
  • Banks and card companies, if there is a payment dispute.
  • Authorities, courts or lawyers, only when the law requires it, or to protect our rights in a dispute.

We do not sell or share your personal information

We do not sell your personal information. We do not share it for "cross-context behavioral advertising," which is the legal term in California for ads that follow you across other websites. We have not done either in the past 12 months.

There are no advertising pixels on our shop. Because we don't sell or share, there is nothing you need to opt out of. If your browser sends a Global Privacy Control or Do Not Track signal, nothing changes, because we don't track you across other websites.

Sending information outside Europe

Some of the companies above work outside the European Economic Area, for example in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and China. When your information goes to one of them, we rely on one of these:

  • a European Commission "adequacy decision," which covers Canada, the United Kingdom, and U.S. companies certified under the EU–U.S. Data Privacy Framework;
  • the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses, where the company offers them; or
  • for the details needed to deliver your order, the fact that the transfer is necessary to carry out our contract with you (GDPR Article 49(1)(b)).

Write to us if you'd like more detail or a copy of these safeguards.

How long we keep it

  • Orders and invoices: as long as Portuguese tax law requires, currently 10 years.
  • Emails with us: up to 3 years after our last message, unless they are part of an order record we must keep longer.
  • Photos you send: kept with your emails, for up to 3 years, in case there's a question about that order later.
  • Email list: until you unsubscribe. After that, we keep only your email address on a "do not email" list, so we never write to you by mistake.
  • Messenger contacts: we delete them in ManyChat no later than 12 months after your last message.
  • Visit statistics: no longer than 14 months in Google Analytics. Shopify keeps its own shop reports under Shopify's privacy policy.

Your rights

Wherever you live, you can ask us to:

  • tell you what information we have about you, and give you a copy;
  • correct it;
  • delete it (we'll keep only what the law makes us keep, such as invoices);
  • send it to you, or to another company, in a common file format;
  • stop or limit using it, or object to how we use it;
  • stop sending you emails. The "unsubscribe" link in every email also works, with one click.

If we use your information because you agreed, you can take back your consent at any time.

How to ask: email help@firstfrosthome.com from the address you used with us, and tell us what you'd like. If you write from another address, we may ask a question or two to make sure it's really you. Someone else can ask for you if you give them written permission; we'll still need to confirm it's you.

We reply within a few days and finish your request within one month at the latest. If the law allows us more time for a complicated request, we'll tell you why. There's no charge. We will never treat you differently, charge you more, or refuse you service because you used your rights.

If you're not happy with our answer:

  • Reply with the word "Appeal," and we'll look at it again and answer within 45 days.
  • If you live in the U.S., you can also contact your state's attorney general.
  • Anyone can complain to Portugal's data protection authority, the Comissão Nacional de Proteção de Dados (CNPD), at www.cnpd.pt, or to the data protection authority where you live or work.

Cookies

Cookies are small files a website saves in your browser.

  • Needed cookies: Shopify uses them to keep your cart, run checkout and keep the shop secure. The shop can't work without them.
  • Visit counting: Shopify (on the shop) and Google Analytics (on oldwayspress.com) use cookies to tell new visits from repeat ones. For visitors in Europe, Google Analytics runs without cookies. Where the law asks for it, a banner asks your permission first.
  • No advertising cookies.

You can delete or block cookies in your browser settings. If you block the needed ones, the cart won't work.

Emails and messages from us

  • Order emails (confirmation, shipping and refunds) are part of your order. You get them even if you're not on our list.
  • Letters and waitlist emails only if you said yes. Every one has our postal address and a one-click unsubscribe link.
  • We don't send text messages (SMS).

Our automatic replies

When you message us on Facebook, the first answer comes from our auto-reply, which is a bot. The owner, a real person, reads the messages that need a human.

Children

Our shop and our emails are for adults. They are not meant for anyone under 16, and we don't knowingly collect information from anyone under 16. If you think a child has sent us information, write to us and we'll delete it.

How we protect your information

Payments go through Shopify's checkout, which is built to card-industry security standards (PCI DSS). Our accounts use strong passwords and two-step sign-in. Only the owner can reach your information, apart from the companies listed above, each for its own part of the work. No system is perfect. If something ever goes wrong in a way that affects you, we'll tell you, as the law requires.

Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, we'll update the date at the top. If the change is important, we'll put a note on the shop, and we'll email you if you're a customer or on our list.

Contact

First Frost Home · Miguel Nunes da Costa · Rua João Barata 1, 7320-102 Castelo de Vide, Portugal
Email: help@firstfrosthome.com. We reply within 6 hours, Monday to Friday, 9 am–5 pm Eastern.