PRIVACY POLICY
At Etsy, we care deeply about privacy. We believe in transparency, and we’re committed to being upfront about our privacy practices, including how we treat your personal information. We know you care about your privacy too, so we provide settings that allow you to control how certain information is used by Etsy. This policy explains our privacy practices for Etsy.com (the “Site”), Etsy’s mobile applications (the “Apps”) and services provided by Etsy, Inc. or Etsy Ireland (collectively, “Etsy”). If you are located in Europe, Etsy Ireland will be the data controller and will be solely responsible for data collection and processing.
This policy is a part of our Terms of Use. By visiting the Site or using the Apps, you consent to our use of your personal information in the ways set out in this policy and in our Terms of Use. This policy only applies to Etsy’s Site, Apps and services. We are not responsible for the content or the privacy policies of any third-party websites or apps.
Etsy’s Terms of Use require all account owners to be at least 18 years of age (or have the permission and supervision of a responsible parent or legal guardian), therefore, this policy does not discuss use of our Site, our Apps, or services by minors.
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HIGHLIGHTS
You can read Etsy’s full Privacy Policy below.
INFORMATION COLLECTED OR RECEIVED
To use our platform, you will need to provide us with a valid email address and you may be able to choose a username. Depending on the services you choose, we may collect additional information, for example: billing or payment information, a telephone number, and a physical address.
Your username is publicly displayed and connected to your Etsy activity. Other people may see the date you joined; ratings, reviews and related photos for items you purchased or sold; your profile information; items you listed for sale; your shop pages and policies; your favourites, followers and those you follow; sold item listings and the number of items sold; and comments you post in our community spaces. You may optionally choose to provide and publicly display your full name and other personal information (such as birthday, gender, and location).
You may connect to Etsy with an external application, in which case Etsy may receive information from that other service, as explained below.
We use technologies such as cookies, clear gifs, log files, and flash cookies for several purposes, including to help understand how you interact with our site and services, in order to provide a better experience. For more information about cookies, see our Cookies & Tracking Technologies page.
USES AND SHARING
We use the information that we gather from you users in a number of ways. For example, if you purchase an item, we’ll share your shipping information with the seller; we could use your forum suggestions to improve our services; we use data analytics for targeted online and offline marketing; and of course, we use your email address to communicate with you. We also partner with service providers and other third parties that collect, use, and analyse information about Etsy members and visitors.
Etsy will not sell or disclose your personal information to third parties without your consent, except as specified in our Privacy Policy.
CHOICES
You may review and change your information in your account settings, and you may remove certain optional pieces of information.
You may control the receipt of certain types of communications from Etsy in your account settings. And although Etsy does not currently respond to “do not track” browser headers, you may opt out of online behavioural ads through this link: http://www.aboutads.info/choices/. You also may limit certain tracking by disabling cookies in your web browser. For more information about managing cookies, see our Cookies & Tracking Technologies page.
INFORMATION
Etsy has been awarded TRUSTe's Privacy Seal. If you have questions or concerns regarding our Privacy Policy or practices, please contact us at legal@etsy.com. If you are not satisfied with our response, you can contact TRUSTe.
We’ll communicate when we make changes to our Privacy Policy as described below.
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VERIFIED BEST PRACTICES
Etsy follows industry best practices and has been awarded TRUSTe's Privacy Seal. This signifies that our Privacy Policy and practices have been reviewed for compliance with TRUSTe's programme requirements, including transparency, accountability and choice regarding the collection and use of your personal information.
Etsy complies with the US - EU Safe Harbor framework and the US - Swiss Safe Harbor framework as set forth by the US Department of Commerce regarding the collection, use and retention of personal data from European Union member countries and Switzerland. Etsy has certified that it adheres to the Safe Harbor Privacy Principles of notice, choice, onward transfer, security, data integrity, access and enforcement. To learn more about the Safe Harbor programme and to view Etsy’s certification, please visit http://www.export.gov/safeharbor/.
INFORMATION COLLECTED OR RECEIVED
As an Etsy member you are required to provide a valid email address at registration and you may be able to choose a username or alias that represents your identity on Etsy.
Depending on which services you choose to use, Etsy may require additional information to provide the service, such as a shop name, billing and payment information (including billing address, telephone number, credit card information), a telephone number, and/or a physical postal address. As an Etsy seller, if you choose to use our direct checkout payment service ("Direct Checkout"), Etsy may require information such as your social security number, identification ID or tax ID, date of birth, bank account information, credit card information and/or other proof of identification in order to verify your identity and provide this service to you and to comply with applicable law. We may store credit card information and use it for both billing and payment purposes. Etsy may contact individual shop owners to confidentially request more information about their shops or items listed on the Site, or to ensure compliance with our rules and applicable law. Certain products or services on Etsy may require you to complete an application; information you submit through the application processes will not be displayed publicly and will only be used internally by Etsy, unless otherwise specified.
You may optionally choose to provide and publicly display your full name and other personal information (such as birthday, gender, location) in connection with your account and activity. If you do not want this additional information displayed publicly, you can remove it through your Etsy Public Profile page.
Your username, Etsy ID or alias is publicly displayed and connected to your Etsy activity. Other people may see the date you joined, reviews, ratings, profile information, items listed for sale, shop pages, sold item listings, and comments in community spaces.
Etsy automatically receives and records information from your browser or your mobile device when you visit the Site or use the Apps, such as your IP address or unique device identifier, cookies and data about which pages you visit on the Site or on the Apps. This information helps us to prevent fraud and keep the Site and Apps secure, analyse and understand how the Site and the Apps work for members and visitors, and provide a more personalised experience for members and visitors. For more information about online tracking tools (including flash cookies) and how we use them, see our Cookies & Tracking Technologies page or “Information Sharing & Disclosure” section below.
When you use the Apps, you may choose to share your geo-location details with Etsy in order to use our location-based services. If you have provided your location details but would no longer like to share that information, you may opt out of those services through the settings on the Apps or on your mobile device. You may also enable the Apps to access your mobile device’s camera to upload photographs to Etsy.
Some members or visitors may connect to Etsy or register an Etsy account using an external third-party application, such as Facebook, or an app developed using the Etsy application programming interface (API). Etsy may receive data from those connected third-party applications. Connecting your Etsy account to third-party applications or services is optional, and when you connect your account to an external app, you will be granting Etsy permission to receive information from the third-party applications. You can also choose to share some of your activity on Etsy on certain social media networks which are connected to your Etsy account. You can modify your settings and revoke your permission under your Etsy account settings.
Etsy may receive or obtain information (for example: an email address) about a person who is not yet a registered Etsy member (a “non-member”) in connection with certain Etsy features, such as when a non-member subscribes to an Etsy newsletter, a member invites a non-member to visit the Site, a member uploads non-member information using the contact uploader feature, a non-member engages in a transaction, or a member sends a gift card code to a non-member. Non-member information is used only for the purposes disclosed when it was submitted to Etsy. A non-member can contact Etsy Support if they do not want Etsy to retain their information.
CHOICE & CONTROL
We know that members of our community value having control over their own information, and therefore Etsy gives you the choice of providing, editing or removing certain information, as well as choice over how we contact you.
You may change or correct your Etsy account information (except your username) on the Site. You may also remove certain optional information on the Site that you no longer wish to be publicly visible on the Site, such as your full name.
For various reasons, Etsy may send you messages about our services or your activity. Some of these messages are required, service-related messages for members (such as transactional messages or legal notices). Other messages are not required, (such as newsletters), and you can control which optional messages you choose to receive by changing your settings in your account. Learn more in the “Messages from Etsy” section of this policy.
If you have chosen to connect your account to an external, third-party application, such as Facebook, or an app developed using the Etsy API, you can change your settings and remove permission for the app by changing your account settings.
If you no longer wish to use Etsy’s services or receive service-related messages, then you may close your account. Click here to learn how to close your account.
FINDABILITY
You may connect directly with your email service provider, your mobile device’s address book, or a social network account to import your contacts to Etsy. We do not retain the login information for your email service, mobile device, or social network site. You may be able to search for people you know by email address or phone number on the Site or by connecting to your mobile device’s contact list through the Apps. Finding your friends on Etsy helps you connect with them on our platform. For example, you can follow another member’s public activity, such as public Favourites or Treasury lists. When you begin following another member’s activity, they will receive an email notification (unless a member has opted-out of receiving this type of email).
If you do not want your contacts to be able to find you on Etsy through your email address, phone number, or social networking connections, then you may opt out through your account settings on the Site. If you do not wish to be located on Etsy via your full name, you may remove your name from your public account information on the Site. It is not possible to opt out of being found via your username.
MESSAGES FROM ETSY
On occasion, Etsy will contact you. Primarily, these messages are delivered by email or by push notifications, and every account is required to keep a valid email address on file to receive messages. Etsy may contact you by telephone to provide member support or for transaction related purposes if you give us permission to call you. Additionally, Etsy may send you an SMS message or physical mail in order to provide you with customer support or to provide you with information about products and features you may find of interest. You may update your contact preferences in your account settings.
Some messages from Etsy are service-related and required for members. Examples of service-related messages include an email address confirmation/welcome email when you register your account, notification of an order, and correspondence with Etsy’s support team. You may not opt out of receiving service-related messages from Etsy, unless you close your account.
Etsy may also send you messages related to certain features or your activity on the Site or Apps. Etsy may send you news or updates about changes to our Site, Apps, or services. From time to time, we may develop new types of messages and share them with you to inform you about our services. Primarily, members will receive these messages via email or push notifications through the Apps, but you may choose to opt out of receiving different types of messages through the settings on your Etsy account or mobile device.
Etsy offers optional email newsletters. When you register for an account, or choose to subscribe to a newsletter, you will receive newsletters from us. Newsletters are available to both members and non-members. Members may subscribe or unsubscribe from optional newsletters under account settings or by following the instructions contained in the newsletter emails. Non-members may subscribe by providing an email address, which will only be used by Etsy for these newsletters. Non-members may unsubscribe from newsletters by following the instructions contained in the newsletter emails.
A contact-importer feature is available to help you locate and connect with your friends and contacts who may be members of Etsy (see Findability). If someone in your contact list is not already a member, you may invite them to join Etsy and an email will be sent to them on your behalf. Recipients of email invitations may opt out of receiving future invitations by following instructions in the email invitation message. You may only send an invitation to someone who have given you consent to receive one.
COMMUNITY
Etsy is both a marketplace and a community. We offer several features that allow members to connect and communicate in public or semi-public spaces, such as Forums and Teams. Please use common sense and good judgement when posting in these community spaces or sharing your personal information with others on Etsy. Be aware that any personal information you submit there can be read, collected, or used by others, or could be used to send you unsolicited messages. Etsy generally does not remove content from community spaces, and your posts may remain public after your account is closed. You are responsible for the personal information you choose to post in community spaces on Etsy.
Another Etsy member may follow your public activity on Etsy to receive updates, such as when you create a public Treasury list or add an item to your public Favourites. You may choose to make certain activities private through your account settings on the Site. After a member has begun following your activity, you have the option to block that member through the Site if you do not wish to share your updates with that specific person.
INFORMATION USES, SHARING & DISCLOSURE
We respect your privacy. Etsy will not disclose your name, email address or other personal information to third parties without your consent, except as specified in this policy. We generally use the information to provide and improve our services and products, for billing and payments, for identification and authentication, for targeted online and offline marketing, to contact members or interested parties, and for general research and aggregate reporting.
Etsy limits access to your personal information by Etsy personnel to those whom we believe reasonably need that information to provide products or services to you or in order to do their jobs.
If you reside outside of North America or South America, your information is controlled by Etsy Ireland. Etsy Ireland may share some of the data it gathers with Etsy, Inc. (its U.S. parent company) or other Etsy affiliates for purposes described in this Privacy Policy, including for ID verification, transaction reviews and payment processing. Regardless of what country you reside in or supply information from, you authorise Etsy to use your information in the United States, Ireland and any other country where Etsy operates. Please be aware that the privacy laws and standards in certain jurisdictions may differ from those applying in the country in which you reside.
As part of the buying and selling process, Etsy will facilitate the sharing of information between the two members involved in the transaction, such as the other Etsy member's email address, shipping address, and payment information. By making a purchase on Etsy you are directing us to share your information in this way. We expect you to respect the privacy of the member whose information you received. As described in Etsy's Terms of Use, you have a limited license to use that information only for Etsy-related communications or for Etsy-facilitated transactions. Etsy has not granted you a license to use the information for unsolicited commercial messages or unauthorised transactions. Without express consent from that person, you must not add any Etsy member to your email or physical mailing list or misuse any member’s personal information. Remember that you need to comply with all relevant legal rules when you use Etsy. This includes applicable data protection and privacy laws which govern the ways in which you can use another Etsy member’s information.
Etsy may release your personal information to a third party in limited circumstances. We may release information to protect, establish, or exercise our legal rights or defend against legal claims. We may disclose information pursuant to a subpoena, court order, legal process, or other legal requirement. We may also release information when we believe, in good faith, that such disclosure is necessary to comply with the law, prevent imminent physical harm or financial loss, or relates to illegal activities, suspected fraud, threats to our property, or violations of Etsy's Terms of Use.
Please review our Requests for Information Policy to learn more about how Etsy responds to requests for records or information about members of Etsy’s community. We also may disclose personally identifiable information to parties in connection with an investigation of fraud, intellectual property infringement, piracy, or other unlawful activity in accordance with our Intellectual Property Policy. In such events, Etsy may disclose a name, address, country, phone number, email address and company name.
Etsy is affiliated with a variety of businesses and works closely with them. These businesses may offer promotions (including email promotions) or sell items or services to you through Etsy’s services. Etsy may also provide services or sell products jointly with affiliated businesses. When an affiliated business is associated with your transaction, we may share information related to the transaction to facilitate the transaction.
Etsy may share demographic information with business partners, but it will always be aggregated and anonymised, so personally-identifiable information is not revealed.
Etsy may engage third party companies and individuals (such as payment processors, research companies, analytics and security providers) to help provide our services. These third parties have limited access to your information only to perform these tasks on our behalf and are obligated to Etsy not to disclose or use your information for other purposes.
In some cases, Etsy may choose to buy or sell assets. In these types of transactions (such as a sale, merger, liquidation, receivership or transfer of all or substantially all of Etsy’s assets), member information is typically one of the business assets that is transferred. If Etsy intends to transfer information about you, Etsy will notify you by email or by putting a prominent notice on the Site and the App, and you will be afforded an opportunity to opt out before information about you becomes subject to a different privacy policy.
Third-party plug-ins also may collect information about your use of the Site. For example, when you a load a page on Etsy that has a social plug-in from a third-party site or service, such as a “Like” or “Send” button, you are also loading content from that third-party site. That site may request cookies directly from your browser. These interactions are subject to the privacy policy of the third-party site. In addition, certain cookies and other tracking mechanisms on our site are used by third parties for targeted online marketing and other purposes. These technologies allow a partner to recognise your computer or mobile device each time you visit Etsy, but do not allow access to personally identifiable information from Etsy. Etsy does not have access or control over these third-party technologies, and they are not covered by our Privacy Policy. For more information, see our Cookies & Tracking Technologies page. If you prefer to prevent third parties from setting and accessing cookies on your computer, you may set your browser to block cookies. You may also opt out of the use of cookies by Google Analytics here. Additionally, you may remove yourself from the interest-based advertising of companies participating in the Digital Advertising Alliance program by opting out here (or if located in the European Union click here). Although our website currently does not respond to “do not track” browser headers, you can limit tracking by taking these steps.
We can only speak for ourselves; this policy does not apply to the practices of third parties that Etsy does not own or control, or individuals that Etsy does not employ or manage. If you provide your information to others, different practices may apply to the use or disclosure of the information you provide to them. Etsy does not control the privacy policies of third parties, including other Etsy members. Etsy is not responsible for the privacy or security practices of Etsy members or other websites on the Internet, even those linked to or from the Etsy Site or Apps. We encourage you to ask questions before you disclose your personal information to others.
SECURITY
The security of your personal information is important to us. Your Etsy account information is protected by a password. It is important that you protect against unauthorised access to your account and information by choosing your password carefully, and keeping your password and computer secure, such as by signing out after using our services.
Etsy encrypts sensitive information (such as credit card numbers) using secure socket layer technology (SSL). Etsy follows generally accepted industry standards to protect the personal information submitted to us, both during transmission and once Etsy receives it. Unfortunately, no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is 100% secure. Therefore, while we strive to protect your personal information, we can't guarantee its absolute security. Etsy offers optional advanced security settings for members, such as two-factor authentication for signing in, full-site SSL, and login history; you can enable these options under your account settings.
DATA RETENTION
Etsy will retain your information only for as long as is necessary for the purposes set out in this policy, for as long as your account is active, or as needed to provide you services. If you no longer want Etsy to use your information to provide you services, you may close your account. Etsy will retain and use your information to the extent necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements.
You may inform us of any changes or requests regarding your personal data, and in accordance with our obligations under applicable data protection law, we may update or delete your personal data accordingly.
PRIVACY POLICY CHANGES
We may update this policy from time to time. If we believe that the changes are material, we’ll definitely let you know by doing one (or more) of the following: (1) posting the changes on the Site and Apps, (2) sending you an email or message about the changes, or (3) posting an update in the version notes on the Apps’ platform. That way you can decide whether you want to continue using the Site or Apps. Changes will be effective upon the posting of the changes. You are responsible for reviewing and becoming familiar with any changes. Your use of the Site or App following the changes constitutes your acceptance of the updated policy.
CONTACT ETSY
If you have questions or suggestions about personal information you can contact Etsy’s Support team via our Help Centre, by sending an email to legal@etsy.com, or by writing to us at one of the following addresses:
In North or South America:
Etsy Support Team – Privacy Policy
55 Washington Street, Suite 512
Brooklyn, NY 11201, USA,
Outside of North or South America:
Etsy Support Team – Privacy Policy
66/67 Great Strand Street
Dublin 1 Ireland
Our telephone: +1 (718) 855-7955.
If you are not satisfied with our response you can contact TRUSTe.
Last updated on 29 Jul, 2015
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