Privacy Policy
This policy explains what German LifeBox collects when you use this website, why, and what you can do about it. It is written to be read, not skimmed past.
This page describes how German LifeBox actually operates. It is not legal advice, and it has not been reviewed by a lawyer.
1. Who we are
German LifeBox is operated by Bibin Johnson ("German LifeBox", "we", "us"), based at Auf der Schanz 47, 85049 Ingolstadt, Germany. For anything in this policy you can reach us at box.germanlife@gmail.com.
German LifeBox helps students in India prepare to study, train and live in Germany. We publish free guides and checklists, and we sell a small number of paid services described in our Terms & Conditions.
2. What we collect
We do not run user accounts, and you can read every free guide on this site without giving us anything. We collect personal information in only three situations:
- When you contact us or register interest. Our forms are hosted by Tally. Depending on the form, they ask for your name, email address, and the details of your question or your situation — for example your target intake, current German level, or the service you have paid for.
- When you book a call. Scheduling runs through Calendly or Google Calendar appointment scheduling, which collect your name, email address and chosen slot.
We may also receive limited technical information — such as IP address, browser type and pages requested — through our hosting provider and the third-party services listed below. This is ordinary web-server activity and is not used to build a profile of you.
3. Why we use it
- To answer your question or deliver the service you paid for.
- To schedule and follow up on anything you ask us to arrange.
- To send you the files, links or joining details attached to a purchase.
- To keep records of transactions as required for accounting and tax.
We do not sell your personal information. We do not run advertising on this site, and we do not share your details with advertisers. We never send marketing emails: if you have not bought something or asked us a question, you will not hear from us.
The legal basis for each purpose
Under Article 6(1) GDPR we must tell you which legal basis applies to each thing we do with your information.
| What we do | Legal basis |
|---|---|
| Answer an enquiry from someone who has not bought anything | Article 6(1)(f) — our legitimate interest in replying to people who write to us |
| Keep records of payments | Article 6(1)(c) — a legal obligation under German tax and commercial law |
Giving us your details is never a statutory requirement. It is simply necessary to buy something or to get an answer — without them we cannot deliver or reply.
4. Third-party services
This site relies on the following providers. Each has its own privacy policy, and your data is handled under their terms once it reaches them.
| Service | Used for | What it may receive |
|---|---|---|
| Tally | Contact and registration forms | Whatever you type into the form |
| Calendly / Google Calendar | Booking calls | Name, email, chosen time |
| YouTube (Google) | Embedded videos and thumbnails | IP address, device and viewing data |
| Google Fonts | Typefaces | IP address |
| ExchangeRate-API | Showing prices in euros | IP address |
| WhatsApp / Discord (Meta, Discord Inc.) | Community groups you choose to join | Your profile on that platform |
| GitHub | Website hosting | IP address, request logs |
Some of the links on our Essentials page are affiliate or referral links. If you click one and sign up, that company may pay German LifeBox a commission, and it will know you arrived from us. This never changes what you pay, and it does not give us access to your account with them. The Essentials page states this on the page itself.
5. Cookies and browser storage
German LifeBox does not set advertising or tracking cookies of its own. We do use your browser's local storage to remember a few preferences on your device. This data never leaves your browser and is not visible to us:
glb-theme— whether you chose light or dark mode.glb-eur-rate— a cached currency rate, so we don't refetch it on every page.glb-*-checklist,glb-timeline-planner— which items you have ticked on our interactive checklists and planner.glb-done-*— a note that you already completed a post-payment form, so the page doesn't offer it to you twice on the same device.
You can clear all of this at any time through your browser settings. Nothing on the site breaks if you do; you will simply see default settings and an empty checklist. Third-party embeds (notably YouTube and the payment and form providers) may set their own cookies under their own policies.
6. How long we keep it
Enquiries and form responses are kept for as long as needed to deal with them and for a reasonable period afterwards, currently 12 months. Records connected to a payment are kept for ten years, which is the retention period German tax and commercial law requires (§ 147 AO, § 257 HGB) — we cannot delete those earlier even if you ask. The same applies to your consent to immediate delivery, which is part of the contract record.
Everything else you can ask us to delete sooner — see below.
7. Your rights
German LifeBox is operated from Germany, so the GDPR applies to everything we do with your information — wherever in the world you live. You have all of the following rights, and they are the same whether you are in Chennai, Cologne or anywhere else.
- Access — ask what we hold about you (Article 15)
- Rectification — have anything wrong corrected (Article 16)
- Erasure — ask us to delete it (Article 17)
- Restriction — ask us to stop using it while something is disputed (Article 18)
- Portability — get a copy in a portable format (Article 20)
- Objection — object to processing based on our legitimate interest (Article 21)
- Withdraw consent — at any time, without giving a reason, where we relied on your consent. Withdrawing does not undo anything done before you withdrew (Article 7(3))
- Complain to a supervisory authority (Article 77)
The authority responsible for us is the Bayerisches Landesamt für Datenschutzaufsicht (BayLDA), Promenade 27, 91522 Ansbach, Germany. You may also complain to the authority where you live.
If you are in India, the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 gives you broadly similar rights. Where the two overlap, we apply whichever is better for you.
We do not make any automated decisions about you and we do not profile you.
Write to box.germanlife@gmail.com and we will respond within 3 working days. We may need to confirm your identity before acting on a request.
8. Children
This site is intended for people aged 18 and over. We do not knowingly collect information from children. If you believe a child has sent us personal information, contact us and we will delete it.
9. Changes to this policy
If we change how we handle your information, we will update this page and the date at the top. Material changes will be noted on the page itself.
10. Contact
Questions about this policy, or about your data: box.germanlife@gmail.com. Our full contact details are on the Contact page.