Privacy Policy.

This Privacy Policy explains how Cost of I Do (“we,” “us,” “our”), a publishing brand operated by Hazel McBride, collects, uses, and protects your personal information when you visit costofido.com or use any of our services. It applies to all visitors, subscribers, and customers, worldwide.

01Information We Collect

We collect personal information in three main ways: information you give us directly, information we collect automatically when you use the site, and information we receive from third parties (like payment processors).

Information You Provide Directly

• Name and email address — when you subscribe to our newsletter, request a free resource (like the 12 Questions PDF), or contact us
• Purchase information — when you buy a product, you provide your name, billing address, and email (payment card details are handled by our payment processor, not stored by us)
• Communications — the content of any messages you send us, including emails, contact form submissions, and replies to our newsletters
• Testimonials and feedback — any reviews, comments, or stories you choose to share with us

Information Collected Automatically

• Log data — IP address, browser type, device type, operating system, the pages you visit, the time and date of your visit, the referring page, and similar standard technical information
• Cookies and similar technologies — small data files stored on your device that help the site function and recognize returning visitors (see Section 7 for full details)
• Email engagement data — whether you opened our emails, which links you clicked, and similar engagement metrics collected by our email service

Information from Third Parties

• Payment information — our payment processor (Gumroad) provides us with confirmation that a payment was completed and the basic order details, but not your full payment card details
• Social media — if you interact with us on social platforms (YouTube, etc.), those platforms may share with us the information you’ve made publicly available there

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02How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect for specific, defined purposes — never for things you wouldn’t reasonably expect when signing up.

• To deliver what you requested — sending you the free PDF, your purchase, the welcome email sequence, or other content you opted into
• To process and fulfill purchases — managing transactions, sending receipts, providing customer support
• To communicate with you — responding to questions, sending newsletters (with your permission), notifying you of important updates to products you’ve purchased
• To improve our work — understanding what content resonates, which products are most helpful, and how to make the site better
• To comply with the law — meeting our legal obligations, responding to lawful requests from authorities, enforcing our Terms
• To protect against fraud and abuse — detecting and preventing fraudulent transactions, refund abuse, and security threats

We will never use your information to:

• Sell or rent your data to third parties
• Send you ads from other companies
• Profile you for purposes outside delivering our own content
• Train any artificial intelligence or machine-learning model

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03Legal Basis for Processing (GDPR)

If you are located in the European Economic Area (EEA), the United Kingdom, or Switzerland, we process your personal data based on one or more of the following legal grounds under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR):

• Consent — you have explicitly opted in to receive specific content, like our newsletter or free resources
• Contract — processing is necessary to deliver the products you’ve purchased or services you’ve requested
• Legal obligation — we are required by law to process the information (for example, tax records for purchases)
• Legitimate interest — for purposes like fraud prevention, security, and basic site analytics, where our interests do not override your rights

You can withdraw consent at any time, and doing so will not affect the lawfulness of processing that happened before withdrawal.

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04Who We Share Your Information With

We do not sell your personal information. We share it only with the third-party service providers we need to operate the business, and only to the extent necessary.

Each of these providers has its own privacy policy governing how it handles your data:

• Brevo: brevo.com/legal/privacypolicy
• Gumroad: gumroad.com/privacy
• Hostinger: hostinger.com/privacy-policy
• YouTube (Google): policies.google.com/privacy

We may also disclose your information when required by law, court order, or government request — or to protect our rights, your safety, or the safety of others.

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05Your Rights Under GDPR

If you are in the EEA, UK, or Switzerland, you have specific rights regarding your personal data:

• Right of access — you can request a copy of the information we hold about you
• Right to rectification — you can ask us to correct any inaccurate or incomplete information
• Right to erasure (“right to be forgotten”) — you can request that we delete your personal data, subject to legal limits
• Right to restrict processing — you can ask us to limit how we use your data in certain circumstances
• Right to data portability — you can request your data in a structured, commonly used format
• Right to object — you can object to certain types of processing, including direct marketing
• Right to withdraw consent — where processing is based on consent, you can withdraw it at any time
• Right to lodge a complaint — with your local data protection authority if you believe we’ve handled your data improperly

To exercise any of these rights, email us at hazel@costofido.com. We will respond within 30 days, as required by GDPR.

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06Your Rights Under CCPA (California Residents)

If you are a California resident, you have specific rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA):

• Right to know — what personal information we have collected about you, where it came from, why we collected it, and who we shared it with
• Right to delete — the personal information we have collected about you, subject to certain exceptions
• Right to correct — inaccurate personal information we hold
• Right to opt out of sale or sharing — though we don’t sell or share your data for cross-context behavioral advertising, this right is yours by law
• Right to non-discrimination — we will not treat you differently for exercising your privacy rights

To exercise any of these rights, email hazel@costofido.com. We will verify your identity (typically by confirming you can receive email at the address on file) and respond within 45 days.

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07Cookies & Tracking Technologies

Our site uses cookies and similar technologies to function properly and to understand how visitors use the site.

Types of cookies we use:

• Essential cookies — required for the site to function, including those that remember your preferences and keep forms working. These cannot be disabled.
• Analytics cookies — help us understand how visitors interact with the site (which pages are popular, how long people stay, etc.). The data is aggregated and not used to identify individuals.
• Functional cookies — remember your choices (like dismissing a banner) to improve your experience on return visits.

Third-party cookies from embedded services:

Some content embedded on our site — like YouTube videos or the Brevo opt-in form — may set their own cookies when you interact with them. These are governed by each service’s privacy policy.

Managing cookies:

You can control or delete cookies through your browser settings. Most browsers allow you to:

• Block all cookies
• Block third-party cookies
• Delete existing cookies
• Be notified before a cookie is set

Blocking essential cookies may prevent parts of the site from working correctly. Blocking other categories should not affect core functionality.

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08Data Retention

We keep your personal information only as long as needed for the purposes described in this policy, or as required by law.

• Newsletter subscribers — kept as long as you remain subscribed. Unsubscribing removes you from active marketing lists, though we retain unsubscribe records to honor your preference going forward.
• Customers — purchase records are retained for at least 7 years for tax and accounting purposes, as required by U.S. law. Customer email addresses may be retained longer for ongoing product access and customer support.
• Contact form / email correspondence — retained for as long as it’s relevant to the conversation, typically 2–3 years, then deleted unless there’s a specific reason to keep it longer.
• Log data — server logs are typically retained for 30–90 days, then deleted or aggregated.

You can request deletion of your data at any time (see Section 5 and Section 6 for your rights). Some information may need to be retained even after a deletion request, such as records required by tax law or for fraud prevention.

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09Data Security

We take reasonable measures to protect your personal information from unauthorized access, use, alteration, or disclosure.

• All data transmitted to and from costofido.com is encrypted using SSL/TLS
• Our third-party service providers (Brevo, Gumroad, Hostinger) maintain their own industry-standard security practices
• Access to customer data is limited to people who need it to operate the business
• Payment card information is handled exclusively by our payment processor and never stored on our servers

That said, no method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is 100% secure. If we ever experience a data breach that affects your personal information, we will notify you in accordance with applicable law.

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10International Data Transfers

Cost of I Do is operated from the United States. If you are accessing the site from outside the U.S. — including from the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or anywhere else — your data may be transferred to, stored in, and processed in the United States and other countries where our service providers operate.

By using the site, you understand and consent to this transfer. Where required, we rely on appropriate safeguards (such as Standard Contractual Clauses approved by the European Commission) to protect data transferred from the EEA, UK, or Switzerland.

If you have specific questions about international data transfers, email us at hazel@costofido.com.

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11Children’s Privacy

Cost of I Do is intended for adults. Our products and content address relationships, finances, and life decisions appropriate for adults.

We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under the age of 18. Under U.S. law (the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, COPPA), we do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 13.

If you are a parent or guardian and believe that a minor has provided us with personal information, please contact us immediately at hazel@costofido.com, and we will take steps to delete that information.

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12Email Communications & Unsubscribing

When you subscribe to our newsletter, sign up for a free resource, or make a purchase, we may send you emails related to your subscription, purchase, or other relevant updates.

Every marketing email we send includes an unsubscribe link at the bottom. Clicking it removes you from that list immediately and permanently.

You can unsubscribe from:

• All marketing emails — via the unsubscribe link in any email
• Specific lists or topics — if you’ve subscribed to multiple lists, you can manage your preferences via the link in any email

Even after unsubscribing, we may still send you transactional emails related to a purchase you’ve made (such as receipts, download links, or important product updates). These are not promotional and cannot be opted out of separately.

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13Third-Party Links

Our site may link to other websites or services that we don’t operate. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of those third parties. We encourage you to review their privacy policies before sharing any personal information with them.

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14Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, in applicable law, or in the services we use. When we make material changes:

• We will update the “Last updated” date at the top of this page
• For significant changes, we will notify subscribers by email
• Where required by law, we will request your explicit consent to the updated terms

Continued use of the site after the updated policy takes effect constitutes acceptance of the changes.

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15Contact Us About Privacy

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests about this Privacy Policy or about how your personal information is handled, please reach out:

Cost of I Do
Hazel McBride
Email: hazel@costofido.com
Website: costofido.com

A real human reads every privacy-related message. We typically respond within 1–3 business days, and for formal requests under GDPR or CCPA, we will respond within the legally required timeframe.