Privacy policy

On-Sale Dates is the trading name. The operator, based in the United Kingdom, is the data controller for everything this policy covers. The site has no accounts, profiles, reviews or comments. There are only two situations where you hand over personal data: signing up for email alerts, and sending an error report.

When you sign up for alerts we store your email address, the series or author you chose (or, for untracked books, the words you typed into the search box), the page the signup came from, the time of signup, the time the confirmation link was issued and the time you pressed it. Nothing is sent until you press that link. After that we keep one record per alert email sent: which change it reported and when it went.

An error report stores the page reported, what is wrong, an optional source link, an optional email address given only so we can reply, and the time. Each report is also forwarded to the operator's inbox by email. Reports are kept as part of the corrections record, and the email address on a report is removed on request.

Vercel serves the site. Its standard server logs record the IP address, browser type, pages requested and times. Vercel processes those logs, and they are kept for a short time.

Google Analytics 4 (measurement ID G-BP8GP7X4YV) counts visits. Per page view, Google receives the page address and title, referring site, approximate location from the IP address (country, region, city), device, browser, operating system, screen size, language, and time. Google Analytics does not store the IP address. For readers in the UK, EEA and Switzerland, analytics storage is denied under Google Consent Mode: no cookie, nothing stored, a cookieless ping with a fresh identifier each page load, so no cookie banner. For everyone else, Google Analytics sets two first-party cookies: _ga and _ga_ plus the property id. They hold a random visitor identifier so repeat visits from the same browser count as one visitor, and last up to two years. Google Signals and ads personalization are off, and data is not linked to any email address. Event data is kept by Google for two months. The script loads from googletagmanager.com.

To opt out, block googletagmanager.com with a content blocker, or use the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on. The site works without analytics.

The analytics cookies described in the Analytics section are the only cookies this site sets. Fonts are served from onsaledates.com. There are no ad servers, no social media widgets, and no tracking pixels in the site's emails.

The site keeps three things in your browser's localStorage: folded sections of a book page; whether you signed up for a hub's email alerts, so the form does not ask again; and the on-sale date and status a hub's answer showed you last visit, so the page can say whether it moved. None of this reaches the server or links to an email address. Clearing site data for onsaledates.com removes all of it.

Other sites can place our countdown card (an iframe) or our badge image on their own pages. Each load fetches from onsaledates.com, so Vercel's server logs record the visitor's IP address, browser type and time, and the address of the embedding page when the browser sends it. The card sets no cookie, stores nothing and loads no analytics. A site that embeds it should say so in its own privacy notice.

We use your data to send the alerts you asked for, to manage subscriptions and unsubscribes, to check and answer error reports, to keep the site running, and to count visits.

Consent covers the alert emails: you give it by pressing the confirmation link and withdraw it by unsubscribing. Legitimate interests cover server logs, for security and keeping the site running; analytics counts, to see which pages are read; and checking and answering error reports.

Four companies process data for us, all in the United States: Neon runs the database holding signups and error reports; Resend sends the confirmation, activation and alert emails and forwards each error report to the operator's inbox; Vercel hosts the site and keeps the server logs; Google runs the analytics. The operator handles data in the United Kingdom.

Google, Vercel, Neon and Resend each hold an EU-US Data Privacy Framework certification that includes the UK Extension. If that framework fails, each provider's data processing agreement falls back to the EU standard contractual clauses plus the UK addendum.

Unconfirmed signups are deleted after 30 days. Confirmed subscriptions are kept until you unsubscribe, then deleted at once. Error reports are kept as part of the corrections record, and the email address on a report is removed on request. Server logs are kept a short time. Analytics data is held by Google under the property's retention setting.

Under the UK GDPR, and the EU GDPR where it applies, you have the right to access your data, to have it corrected or deleted, to restrict or object to processing based on legitimate interests, to portability, and to withdraw consent at any time without affecting what was done before. Complaints go to the UK Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk, or, for readers in the EU, to your own national authority.

If you are in a US state with a privacy law, California among them, you have the right to know what is collected, and to ask for deletion and correction. The site sells no personal data and shares none for cross-context behavioral advertising, so there is nothing to opt out of, and exercising a right brings no different treatment.

To exercise any right, go through the error report page and say it is a data request. We reply within 30 days. You can stop alerts at any time with the unsubscribe link in any email.

The site is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal data from them. If you are a parent or guardian and believe we have, say so through the error report page and the data will be deleted.

As of the effective date there is no advertising on the site, no advertising cookie, and no affiliate link. Display advertising and affiliate links to book retailers are planned. Before either starts, this page will be updated with a new effective date, and a consent tool will arrive with the ads.

If this policy changes, the new version is posted here with a new effective date.

Questions about this policy, about personal data, or about a right go through the error report page. No email address is published on this site.