Legal

Privacy Policy

Last updated: October 2, 2026

Who we are

The Reality Manual ("we," "us," "our") sells a single physical product, The Reality Manual, Hardcover Deluxe First Edition, directly through this website, realitymanual.com. This policy explains what information we collect when you visit or buy from this site, and how it's used.

Information we collect

When you place an order, we collect the information needed to take payment and ship your book:

• Full name, email address, and phone number
• Shipping address (street, city, state/region, postal code, country)
• Order details, including quantity, price, and order status

We never see or store your full card number, CVC, or other raw payment details. Checkout is handled entirely by Stripe, our payment processor, using Stripe Elements. Your card details go directly from your browser to Stripe, not through our servers. We only receive a payment confirmation and a reference ID from Stripe.

We also run lightweight, first-party analytics on this site (see "Analytics" below) to understand which pages visitors reach and where they came from.

How we use your information

• To process your payment and confirm your order
• To submit your order, including your name, address, and phone number, to BookVault, our print and fulfillment partner, so your book can be printed and shipped to you
• To email or otherwise contact you about your order if needed (for example, a fulfillment issue or refund)
• To understand overall site traffic and improve the buying experience

We use browsing and purchase-event data to measure advertising and build audiences such as people who visited the site but did not buy. We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information.

Who we share information with

We share the minimum information necessary with service providers that help us operate the store:

• Stripe, which processes your payment. Stripe's own privacy policy governs how it handles your payment details.
• BookVault, our print-on-demand fulfillment partner, based in the United Kingdom. We share your name, shipping address, and phone number so they can print and ship your book directly to you.
• Meta, and Google if its advertising tag is configured. Their tags receive page and purchase-event information so we can measure advertising and create or exclude retargeting audiences. We do not send them your checkout form details, name, email address, postal address, phone number, or card information.

Meta and Google process advertising-event data under their own privacy terms and controls.

Analytics & cookies

This site uses a first-party statistical system that we built and host ourselves. It records anonymous page-view and checkout-funnel events (which pages were viewed, whether checkout was started, whether an order completed), along with a randomly generated, anonymous browser identifier, the page that referred you, and any UTM campaign parameters present in the URL (for example, if you arrived from a specific ad or social post).

To keep automated crawlers and technical checks out of the audience totals, analytics events are sent only after the page receives a real browser interaction or remains visibly open for a short period. We report an anonymous browser as a visitor; the same person using a different device or browser may therefore appear as another visitor.

This identifier is stored in your browser's local storage, not as a tracking cookie. It is never linked to your name, email, customer record, or order reference, and is not shared with or sold to any third party. Individual event rows are reduced to anonymous daily totals after each UTC day and then deleted. We use those totals only to understand and improve how the shop works.

The site loads the Meta Pixel and may load a Google advertising tag if one is configured. These technologies can store or read identifiers in your browser, record the pages and checkout steps you reach, and record a purchase with its value, currency, quantity, and anonymous order reference. This lets us measure campaigns and show ads to prior visitors while excluding people who have already purchased.

The site does not display a cookie or advertising-consent popup. You can use browser privacy controls, tracking protection, or content blocking to restrict advertising technologies.

Data retention

We retain order records (including the shipping and contact details above) for as long as reasonably necessary for accounting, fulfillment, warranty, and legal purposes. Individual first-party analytics events are deleted after daily aggregation; anonymous daily totals are retained for historical reporting. Meta and Google retain advertising-event data according to their own policies and the audience-retention settings in our advertising accounts.

Your rights

You can ask us what personal information we hold about you, ask us to correct it, or ask us to delete it (subject to what we're legally required to retain, for example, tax/accounting records). Contact us using the details below to make a request.

International transfers

Depending on where you're located, processing your order may involve your information being transferred to and processed in other countries by our service providers (Stripe and BookVault), each of whom maintains their own safeguards for cross-border data transfer.

Children's privacy

This site is not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 16.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time as the site or our service providers change. The "Last updated" date at the top of this page will reflect the most recent revision.

Contact us

Questions about this policy, or a request regarding your information? Email us at support@realitymanual.com.