Privacy Policy

We're a small shop in Sturgeon Falls, owned and run by Pete & Kim Blinson. We'd rather tell you plainly how we handle your information than bury it in legal language. This policy covers our website, www.thechalkshop.ca, and the messages you send us about orders.

1. Who we are

The Chalk Shop is owned by Pete & Kim Blinson, 179 Salter St., Sturgeon Falls, ON P2B 3C7. We're responsible for the personal information we collect, and Pete and Kim are the people to talk to about anything in this policy. You'll find all the ways to reach us at the bottom of this page.

2. What we collect, and why

When you're just browsing

You can look at every page on this site without telling us who you are. We don't ask you to sign up or log in. See section 4 for the basic, anonymous website statistics we look at.

When you contact us

When you message us on Facebook Messenger, email us, call us or stop by, we get whatever you choose to share with us. For an order, that usually means:

• your name and how to reach you (your Messenger profile, email address or phone number);
• the details of the piece you'd like: the design, size, colours and the wording that goes on it, such as a family name, a camp or lake name, an established year or a civic address;
• any photos, sketches or ideas you send us for a custom piece;
• whatever we need to get your order to you, which we'll sort out with you when you order.

We use this to answer your questions, design and make your order, confirm the price and timing with you, and keep a record of what we made. We won't use it for anything unrelated without asking you first, and we won't add you to a mailing list without your permission.

When you're ordering a gift

A lot of our signs are gifts, so you may send us someone else's name, family name or address. Please share only what's needed for the sign. We use it only to make that piece.

3. Facebook Messenger, Payhip and Etsy

Our “Message us” buttons open Facebook Messenger, which is run by Meta. Messages you send there are handled by Meta under Meta's Privacy Policy, as well as by us as described on this page. The same goes for our Facebook page. If you'd rather not use Messenger, you're welcome to call or email us instead.

Our digital cut files are sold through Payhip and our Etsy shop (TheChalkShopStore). When you buy there, that platform handles your account, payment and download under its own privacy policy and terms. We may see the order details those platforms share with sellers, and we use them only to help with your purchase.

4. Website statistics and hosting (Google Analytics and Cloudflare)

Our website is hosted on Cloudflare, and we use Cloudflare Web Analytics to see how the site is doing. It's a privacy-first tool: it doesn't use cookies, doesn't follow you from site to site, and only shows us totals, like how many visits a page got, which pages are popular and roughly what kinds of devices and browsers people use. We can't use it to tell who you are.

As our host, Cloudflare also handles technical information, such as your IP address, so it can deliver our pages to you and protect the site from attacks. You can read Cloudflare's Privacy Policy for details.

We also use Google Analytics, a service from Google, to understand how people find and use our site, such as how many visitors we get, which pages they look at, and what brought them here. Google Analytics uses cookies and collects information like your approximate location, device, browser and the pages you visit. Google processes this information under Google's Privacy Policy, and you can read how Google uses information from sites that use its services. We use it only to see totals and trends, not to identify you, and we don't use it for advertising. If you'd rather not be counted, you can block cookies in your browser or install the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on.

5. Amazon links

Some of our guide pages link to products on Amazon.ca that go nicely with our signs. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. That means if you click one of those links and buy something, we may earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you.

When you click an Amazon link, Amazon may use cookies to recognize that you came from our site so the purchase can be credited. That information is collected by Amazon, not by us, and Amazon doesn't send us your name or account details. Amazon's handling of it is covered by the Amazon.ca Privacy Notice.

6. Who we share your information with

We don't sell, rent or trade your personal information. We share it only when we need to in order to fill your order (for example, with a delivery service if your order is being sent to you), when the law requires it, or when you've told us it's okay.

7. How long we keep it, and how we protect it

We keep order information only as long as we need it to make your order, help with any questions about it afterward, and keep normal business records such as tax and bookkeeping records. We take reasonable care to keep it safe and limit it to the people who need it to look after your order. Keep in mind that messages sent through Messenger are also stored by Meta.

8. Your rights under Canadian privacy law (PIPEDA)

In Canada, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) sets the ground rules for how businesses handle personal information. In plain words, it means:

• we ask only for what we need, and use it for the reason we collected it;
• you can ask to see the personal information we have about you;
• you can ask us to fix it if it's wrong;
• you can withdraw your consent, for example by asking us to delete your messages and details once your order is done, except for records the law requires us to keep;
• you can raise a concern with us at any time.

To do any of these, just contact us using the details below. We'll get back to you as soon as we can, and within 30 days. If you're not happy with our answer, you can contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.

9. Changes to this policy

If we change how we handle information, we'll update this page and the effective date at the top.

10. Contact us

See also our Terms of Use & Ordering.

Locally made · Meaningfully yours.