Privacy Policy

Pottery Max Beining Controller (verantwortliche Stelle under Art. 4 No. 7 GDPR): Max Beining, see full contact details in our Imprint: [link]

Email: hi@maxbeining.com

Last updated: 29.08.2026

1. Overview

This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, and protect your personal data when you visit www.maxbeining.com or place an order with us, in accordance with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and German data protection law (BDSG). "Personal data" means any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person.

2. Hosting (Squarespace)

This website is hosted by Squarespace, Inc. Squarespace processes certain personal data on our behalf as a processor, including:

Information about your browser, network, and device

Pages visited prior to arriving at this website

Your IP address

‍This data is necessary for Squarespace to securely operate and deliver the website to you. Squarespace analyses this data in de-personalised/aggregated form.

‍More information: Squarespace Privacy Policy

3. Website Analytics (Squarespace Analytics)

We use Squarespace's built-in analytics feature to understand how visitors use our website (e.g., pages visited, clicks, scrolling, time on page, referring pages, approximate location derived from IP address). Legal basis: This processing is based on your consent (Art. 6 (1)(a) GDPR), given via our cookie consent banner. You can choose to accept all cookies, manage individual cookie categories, or decline all non-essential cookies. Analytics cookies are only set if you accept them. We do not use Google Analytics or any third-party analytics/advertising tools (e.g., Meta Pixel) on this website.

4. Placing an Order

When you place an order, we collect the following data to fulfil your order and comply with legal obligations (e.g., tax record-keeping):

Name

Billing and shipping address

Email address

Phone number (if provided)

Order details (products purchased, price, order date)

Legal basis: Performance of a contract with you (Art. 6 (1)(b) GDPR) and compliance with legal obligations, e.g., retention of invoices under German tax law (Art. 6 (1)(c) GDPR).

Recipients: This data is shared with Squarespace (as our order/hosting processor) and with the payment provider you select at checkout (see Section 5) to the extent necessary to process your payment and fulfil your order (e.g., your name and shipping address may also be shared with the shipping carrier).

Retention: Order and invoice data is retained for the statutory retention period under German commercial and tax law (currently up to 10 years for accounting records).

5. Payment Processing

At checkout, you may choose from the following payment methods: Squarespace Payments (credit/debit card, e.g., Visa, Mastercard), Apple Pay, and PayPal.

When you select a payment method, the data necessary to process your payment (e.g., name, billing address, payment details) is transmitted directly to the relevant payment provider. Each provider processes this data as an independent controller, under their own privacy policy:

PayPal (PayPal (Europe) S.à r.l. et Cie, S.C.A.): PayPal Privacy Policy

Squarespace Payments (credit/debit card): processes payments on our behalf; card payments are technically processed via Stripe, Inc., Squarespace's payment infrastructure partner. Squarespace Payments Privacy Notice / Stripe Privacy Policy

Apple Pay (Apple Inc.): used as a payment method within Squarespace Payments; Apple does not share your card details with us.

Legal basis: Performance of a contract (Art. 6 (1)(b) GDPR).

We recommend reviewing each provider's privacy policy, as data may be transferred outside the EU/EEA (e.g., to the United States), based on the respective provider's own safeguards (e.g., Standard Contractual Clauses).

6. Checkout Address Autocomplete (Google Places API)

To help you complete your shipping and billing address more quickly at checkout, this website may use the Google Places API. As you type your address, the text you enter is sent to Google to return address suggestions.

Recipient: Google Ireland Limited / Google LLC. Legal basis: Your consent (Art. 6 (1)(a) GDPR), given via our cookie consent banner.

More information: Google Privacy Policy

7. Newsletter

If you subscribe to our newsletter, we collect your email address (and, if provided, your name) to send you marketing communications about our products, promotions, and shop updates.

We use Squarespace Email Campaigns to manage and send our newsletter. Upon subscribing, you are added to our mailing list without a separate confirmation email (single opt-in).

Legal basis: Your consent (Art. 6 (1)(a) GDPR).

Recipient: Squarespace, Inc., who sends the emails on our behalf as our processor.

Withdrawal of consent: You can unsubscribe at any time via the link in any newsletter email or by contacting us at [email]. This does not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before your withdrawal.

Retention: We retain your email address for as long as you remain subscribed to our newsletter. If you unsubscribe, we delete your data without undue delay, except that we may retain a minimal record (e.g., your email address on a suppression list) to ensure we do not contact you again in error.

8. Contact Form

If you use our contact form, we collect the information you submit (e.g., name, email address, message content) solely to respond to your inquiry.

Legal basis: Either performance of pre-contractual measures (Art. 6 (1)(b) GDPR), if your inquiry relates to a potential order, or our legitimate interest in responding to inquiries (Art. 6 (1)(f) GDPR).

Retention: Contact form data is deleted once your inquiry has been fully resolved, unless a longer retention period is required (e.g., ongoing order-related correspondence, which falls under Section 4).

9. Cookies

Cookies are small text files stored on your device when you visit our website.

Strictly necessary cookies are used to operate the website securely (e.g., session management, shopping basket functionality) and do not require your consent.

Analytics and functional cookies (see Sections 3 and 6) are only set with your consent. When you first visit our website, you will see a cookie banner offering three options: accept all cookies, manage cookies (to select individual categories), or decline all non-essential cookies. You can change your preference at any time via [link to cookie settings, if available on your Squarespace site].

You can also control cookies through your browser settings; note that blocking cookies may affect the functionality of this website.

More information on cookies used by our hosting provider: Squarespace Cookie Policy

10. Your Rights

Under the GDPR, you have the right to:

Access the personal data we hold about you (Art. 15)

Rectify inaccurate data (Art. 16)

Erase your data ("right to be forgotten"), where applicable (Art. 17)

Restrict processing under certain conditions (Art. 18)

Data portability, i.e., receive your data in a structured, machine-readable format (Art. 20)

Object to processing based on legitimate interest or for direct marketing purposes at any time (Art. 21)

Withdraw consent at any time, without affecting the lawfulness of processing before withdrawal (Art. 7 (3))

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at hi@maxbeining.com.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority. The competent authority for is:

Unabhängiges Datenschutzzentrum Saarland (UDZ) Fritz-Dobisch-Straße 12, 66111 Saarbrücken, Germany www.datenschutz.saarland.de

11. Data Security

We use commercially reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data. However, no method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

12. Children's Privacy

Our services are not directed at individuals under the age of 16. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children. If we become aware that a child has provided us with personal data without parental consent, we will delete it. If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has provided us with personal data, please contact us.

13. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time, for example to reflect changes in our services or legal requirements. The version published on this page at the relevant time applies. We encourage you to review this page periodically.

14. Contact

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your personal data, please contact us at hi@maxbeining.com.