Privacy Policy - Girlfriend Collective

Privacy Policy

Effective Date: June 6, 2022

This Privacy Policy is provided to inform you of our policies and procedures regarding the information we collect, how we use it, and the choices available to you.  This Privacy Policy applies to the information we collect about you in the course of our business, including Girlfriend Collective websites, services, marketing activities, any other online or offline offerings operated by or on behalf on Girlfriend Collective, and any other services where this Privacy Policy is shown (collectively, the “Services”).  When we use the terms “Girlfriend Collective,” “we,” “our,” or “us” we’re referring to Girlfriend Collective LLC.  

If you reside in the European Economic Area (“EEA”) or United Kingdom, Girlfriend Collective LLC is the “data controller” of your personal information collected through the Services.

1. Information We May Collect

The information we collect about you depends on the Services you use, how you use them, and the information you provide to us.  We collect information in three main ways: (1) information you choose to provide to us; (2) information we collect automatically through technology when you use the Services; and (3) information we collect from other sources.  

Information You Choose to Provide to Us 

When you use the Services, you may choose to provide certain information to us.  For example, we collect information directly from you when you place an order and purchase from us, create or use a Girlfriend Collective account, post a review or submit a question, contact us with a question or comment, participate in the “Refer a Friend” program, or sign up to receive marketing emails from us. Some of the most common categories of information we collect directly from you include: 

  • Contact and account information, such as name, address, telephone number, email address, and login credentials, including your Girlfriend Collective account information.
  • Financial and transactional information, such as billing and payment information (which is processed by our payment processor), and purchase and transaction history.  
  • Customer service interaction information, such as messages submitted to us through online forms or email, and phone call interactions with our customer service personnel.
  • User Generated Content, such as reviews, ratings, questions, photos, or other content, that, depending on where you post them on our Services, may be publicly viewable.
  • Information you provide in connection with surveys and sweepstakes, such as your interests, preferences, demographic data (e.g., gender), photos and videos, and information needed for you to participate and for us to fulfill your prize or participation incentives (if any).

Information We Collect Automatically through Technology When You Use the Services

In addition, as is true of most websites or apps, we may also automatically collect certain information about your computer or devices (including mobile devices) you use to access our Services.  For example, we may collect and store information such as your IP address, browser type, referring/exit pages, operating system, terms used in searches on the Services, and general location information (e.g., city/state from IP).  

We and our vendors may use “cookie” technology and other online tools, such as web beacons and web pixels, to automatically collect this information.  “Cookies” are small text files that are downloaded to your computer or mobile device when you visit a website or app and store information about your usage of such services. The information collected from cookies allows us to provide better customer service to you and to improve features of our Services in a variety of ways, including by determining whether you have visited the Services in the past and which parts of our Services you have visited. Cookies (or other mechanisms) may also track cart activity to determine when a cart has been abandoned and used to send cart reminder messages via SMS.

When you use the Services, we or third parties operating analytics or advertisement technologies may also use the information that is collected through cookies and similar technologies to perform analytics concerning your use of the Services (and other websites, apps and services tracked by these third parties) and/or to help deliver Girlfriend Collective and third party ads to you through the Services and on third-party websites, apps, and services. These ad technologies also may help control the number of times you see a given ad, deliver ads that relate to your interests, and measure the effectiveness of ad campaigns.

Some of the technology described above is used by us or our partners to correlate information collected about you over time across two or more websites or online services. In addition, we may also combine the information collected by us with information from third parties that may be identifiable to you. We may use this correlated and/or combined information to enhance or market the Services or for other purposes described in this Privacy Policy. 

Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you may be able to block certain cookies by using the  privacy settings and options offered by web browsers, such as disabling cookies. Please note that if you decide to block all cookies, this may interfere with your ability to perform certain transactions, use certain functionality, and access certain content on the Services.  

Please review the “Your Controls and Choices” section below for additional information about how you can manage the automatic collection of information and use of these technologies.

Information We Collect from Other Sources 

We may receive information about you from other sources, such as business partners, marketers, researchers, data analytics partners, social network services, and other parties to help us supplement our records.

If you access our Services through a third-party website, application, or social media platform (such Instagram or Facebook), we may receive information about you from that third-party service, depending on the third-party’s data practices and your settings (for example, your name, email address, and comments or content you post). We are not responsible for their content or practices and we urge you to read their privacy and security policies.

Third Party Pixels and Cookies

When you visit our website, log in, register or open an email, cookies, ad beacons, and similar technologies may be used by our online data partners or vendors to associate these activities with information they or others have about you, including your email address. We (or service providers on our behalf) may then send communications and marketing to these email addresses. You may opt out of receiving this advertising by visiting https://app.retention.com/optout.

2. How We Use Your Information

We may use the information we collect in the following ways: 

  • To provide the Services you have requested, such as completing a purchase or responding to customer service requests;
  • To communicate with you, including updating you on purchases, shipments, and changes to our terms, conditions, and policies;
  • For marketing and advertising purposes, including providing you with latest shopping announcements, promotions, and information about upcoming events from Girlfriend Collective and other companies whose products or services we think you might enjoy; 
  • To personalize your experience and customize the Services, such as delivering relevant content and recommendations through our Services.
  • To improve our Services, including for bug detection and error reporting, to understand how users interact with our Services and advertisements, and to conduct research and analysis to help develop better products; 
  • To protect the rights of the Services and others by using information that we, in good faith, believe is necessary or appropriate to secure, protect, enforce, or defend the legal rights, privacy, safety, or property of the Services, its employees or agents, or other users, and to comply with applicable law and legal process; and
  • Other purposes for which we seek your consent. 

Combined Information 

For the purposes discussed in this Privacy Policy, we may combine the information that we collect through the Services with information we receive from other sources, both online and offline, and use such combined information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

Aggregate and/or De-identified Information 

We may aggregate and/or de-identify any information collected through the Services so that such information can no longer be linked to you or your device (“Aggregate/De-Identified Information”). We may use Aggregate/De-Identified Information for any purpose, including without limitation for research and marketing purposes, and may also share such data with any third parties, including advertisers, promotional partners, and sponsors, in our discretion. 

The laws in some jurisdictions require companies to tell you about the legal grounds they rely on to process your information.  Our legal bases for processing your information as described in this Privacy Policy are as follows:

  • Where use of your information is necessary to perform our obligations under a contract or commitment to you. For example, to provide the services you’ve requested from us—like fulfilling your purchase or to comply with our terms of use.
  • Where use of your information furthers our legitimate interests or the legitimate interests of others. For example, to provide security for our Services, operate our business and our Services, make and receive payments, defend our legal rights, and prevent fraud.
  • Where we use your information to comply with applicable legal obligations. For example, keeping track of purchases for tax and auditing purposes.
  • Where you have consented to our processing of your information for a particular purpose.

4. How We May Share Your Information

We may share your information in the following ways: 

Affiliated Entities: We may share information with our subsidiaries and affiliates for various purposes, including providing you with the products and services, operating our business, and enhancing your customer experience. 

Service Providers: We may share information with third-party vendors who have been retained to perform business functions on our behalf or to provide services to us. These services may include:

  • Payment processing, order fulfillment and delivery
  • Customer service and support
  • Email service delivery
  • Advertising, marketing, surveys, and promotions, 
  • Information technology and office services, such as website development and hosting
  • Payment processing services, fraud protection, and credit risk reduction
  • Legal, accounting, audit and other professional services

Marketing Partners: We may use and share the information that you provide us, or that we collect about you, including your contact and billing/shipping information, and information about your engagement with our Services and third-party promotions on the Services, so that we and other brands may contact you about products and services you might enjoy. 

Protection of Girlfriend Collective and Others: We reserve the right to disclose your personal information as required by law such as to comply with a subpoena or similar legal process or when we believe in good faith that disclosure is necessary to protect our rights, protect your safety or the safety of others, investigate fraud, or respond to a government request. 

Business Transfers: As we continue to develop our business, we may become involved in a merger, acquisition, or sale of all or a portion of our assets.  In such transactions, including in contemplation of such transactions, your information may be among the transferred assets. If a portion or all of our assets are sold or transferred to a third party, we may share or transfer your information as part of the transaction.

5. Your Controls and Choices

Email Marketing 

If you do not wish to receive marketing information from us, you may follow the unsubscribe instructions included in the emails you receive or contact hello@girlfriend.com. Girlfriend Collective will continue to send you non-promotional, service emails in regard to your account, such as for order issues, billing and payment information, and other emails relating to your account, orders and/or your use of the Services.

Requests regarding your personal information 

We provide you with the ability to exercise certain controls and choices regarding our collection, use, and sharing of your personal information.  Your legal rights to exercise such controls and choices vary based on the laws of your jurisdiction.  For example, you may have the right to: 

  • obtain access, or a copy of, your information, and in some cases, receive it in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format, or have it be transmitted to a third party in such form;
  • update, correct or delete the information;
  • object to the use, sale, or disclosure of the information;
  • withdraw consent previously provided for the handling of the information (without affecting the lawfulness of prior use and disclosure of the information); and
  • obtain a restriction on the use of the information.

If you would like to exercise your rights under applicable law, you can submit your request here or email us at hello@girlfriend.com with your name and a description of your request.  Where permissible by law, we may verify your identity. Please allow us a reasonable time to respond to your inquiries and requests.

Note that if you have registered for an account with us, you can also update contact information, like your address, on your account page accessible upon login.  

Controls Related to Cookies and Other Automated Data Collection

You can manage your cookie preferences by using the Cookies Settings (or Do Not Sell My Personal Information) link in our website footer.  This will launch a tool where you can adjust your preferences about how certain cookies and similar technologies are used in our participating websites.  You will need to repeat this process with each browser and device where you would like your preferences to apply. 

You can change the settings on your mobile device to manage how your device collects and shares your mobile advertising identifier for advertising and analytics purposes, including our use of it for those purposes.

  • On iOS mobile devices, depending on your version of iOS, you may be able to select “Limit Ad Tracking” within “Advertising or make choices for all or certain apps within “Tracking”. 
  • On Android mobile devices, you may be able to “Opt Out of Interest-Based Ads” box.

In addition, you can also review and use the privacy options from these vendors:  

  • Google allows you to install a Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on for each web browser you use to limit their browser-based activities. 
  • You can learn more about how Adobe may handle information collected through our use of its services, and your options for controlling this activity, by visiting Adobe’s website

If you are interested in more information about tailored ads and your choices to prevent certain third parties from delivering tailored ads, you may visit the following third party websites: the Network Advertising Initiative Consumer Opt-Out Page or the Digital Advertising Alliance’s Consumer Opt-Out Page.

We are committed to providing you with meaningful choices about the information collected on our website for third party purposes, and that is why we provide the variety of opt-out mechanisms listed above. Because of the changing state of technology and indecision within the industry regarding the meaning of Do-Not-Track signals, we currently do not make any guarantee that we will honor DNT signals.

Data Retention and Account Closure

We retain information for different periods of time depending on the purposes for which we collect and use it, as described in this Privacy Policy. We will delete or de-identify information when it is no longer needed to fulfill these purposes, unless a longer retention period is required to comply with applicable laws.  

If you have created an account on the Services and wish to close it, you may do so by emailing hello@girlfriend.com.  We may retain records of your information for a period of time after you close your account.  This is to allow us to follow-up on a request pertaining to your order history, resolve disputes, maintain security, prevent fraud and abuse, enforce our Terms of Use, fulfill your request to “unsubscribe” from further messages from us, meet regulatory requirements, or comply with applicable federal, state, or local law (including law enforcement requests). 

6. How We Protect Your Personal Information

The security of your information is important to us and we are committed to handling your information carefully.  We implement a variety of security safeguards designed to protect your information.  No method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is 100% secure, however.  Therefore, while we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security. 

Please note that when you register for an account, you will be prompted to select a personal password.  To maximize the level of protection, you should choose a strong password.  You are solely responsible for maintaining the secrecy of your password and any account information. 

7. Additional Information for Specific Jurisdictions

CCPA Notice for California Residents 

The California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“CCPA”) provides certain rights to residents of California. This section of the Privacy Policy applies if you are a natural person who is a resident of California (“California Consumer”) and uses our Services.  This notice supplements information provided throughout this Privacy Policy. Certain terms used below have the meanings given to them in the CCPA.

Throughout our Privacy Policy, we discuss in detail the specific pieces of personal information we collect from and about our users.  During the 12 months leading up to the effective date of this Privacy Policy, we may have collected all of the types of personal information described in the “Collection of Your Information” section of this Privacy Policy.  Under the CCPA, we are also required to provide you with the “categories” of personal information we collect as defined by California law.  Depending upon the types of services you use, the categories we collect are: identifiers (such as name, postal address, phone number, email address, IP address, and password); demographic information (such as age or gender); commercial information (such as records of your transactions with us); financial data (such as credit or debit card information); internet or other network or device activity (such as browsing history or a record of our online Services usage); general location information; user-generated content; inference data; and other information that identifies or can be reasonably associated with you.  

We use the above categories of information that we collect from you and other parties in order to provide and manage the Services you request; to communicate with you; to analyze the use of our Services; to personalize your experience and customize the Services; to market our Services to you and share information about third-party services you may be interested in; for bug detection and error reporting; to audit consumer interactions on the Services; to protect the rights of the Services; for legal compliance; and with your consent.  For more detail regarding the purposes for which we use information, please see How We Use Information for more information.

Depending on the circumstances, we may share any of the above categories of information we collect with: business partners and other brands to provide you with services that you request and information about services and offers that we think you may be interested; service providers; other parties, including government entities, when required by law or to protect our users and services; social media services pursuant to that service and your settings; and with your consent or in connection with a corporate transaction.  In addition, we may share commercial information and financial data, including your payment information, with payment processors, and we share device information and identifiers and internet or other network or device activity with entities that provide content, advertising, and other functionality.  See the How We Use Your Information and How We Share Your Information for more information.

The CCPA sets forth certain obligations for businesses that “sell” personal information to third parties.  The CCPA defines “sale” broadly potentially to include allowing third parties to receive certain information such as cookies, IP address and/or browsing behavior in order to enable us to market our Services to you on other websites or apps.  Depending on what Services you use, we may share (and over the past 12 months, may have shared) the following categories of information for such advertising: device information and identifiers, such as IP address, and unique advertising identifiers and cookies; and connection and usage information, such as browsing history or app usage. We also may share identifiers like your name, address, and email address, and internet or other network or device activity to third party marketing partners to market products and services to you that you may be interested in.  These practices continue today.  Please note that we do not knowingly “sell” the personal information of minors under 16 years of age without legally-required affirmative authorization.

If you or your authorized agent would like to opt out of our sharing of your information for such purposes (to the extent this is considered a sale), you may do using the Do Not Sell My Personal Information link in our website footer.

If you turn on the Global Privacy Control (GPC) in participating browser systems to opt out of the sale of your personal information in your browser and we receive that signal from the GPC, we will honor your setting for that browser. You will need to turn this on for each browser you use. To learn more about the GPC, visit the Global Privacy Control website.  

To exercise any rights you may have with respect to your personal information under the CCPA, please see the “Your Controls and Choices” section above.  Please note that you may designate an agent to make requests to exercise your rights under CCPA.  We will take steps both to verify the identity of the person seeking to exercise their rights as listed above, and to verify that your agent has been authorized to make a request on your behalf through providing us with a signed written authorization or a copy of a power of attorney. 

We will not discriminate against you in a manner prohibited by the CCPA because of you exercising your CCPA rights. We may offer you opportunities to receive certain services or benefits from time to time, such as sales, discounts, or exclusive purchasing opportunities, which may require the provision of personal information.  Such opportunities, including our customer rewards program, could be considered a “financial incentive” under the CCPA (each, an “Incentive Program”). The material aspects of any Incentive Program will be explained and described in its terms, FAQs, or other informational materials, and you may revoke your participation depending on the Incentive Program (e.g., terminating your account or opting out of marketing emails). To the extent we can determine the value of your information, which may vary, we consider the value of providing you with a more personalized experience as well as the expenses we incur in providing Incentive Programs that are reasonably related to the costs associated with offering the Incentives.

California “Shine the Light” Law 

The California “Shine the Light” law gives residents of California the right under certain circumstances to request information from us regarding the manner in which we share certain categories of Personal Information (as defined in the Shine the Light law) with third parties for their direct marketing purposes. If you are a California resident and would like to make such a request, contact us as provided in the “Support and Contact” section below. 

Notice for Nevada Residents 

Under Nevada law, certain Nevada consumers may opt out of the “sale” of “personally identifiable information” for monetary consideration (as such terms are defined under Nevada law). You may submit a request to opt out of any potential future “sales” under Nevada law by sending a request to hello@girlfriend.com. Please note we may take reasonable steps to verify your identity and the authenticity of the request 

Information for International Users 

We operate globally and may transfer, store, and/or process your information to or with other entities in locations around the world (including the United States) for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy.  By providing us with your information, you acknowledge any such transfer, storage, or processing.

If you have any concerns or complaints about our data processing activities, we urge you to first try to resolve such issues directly with us.  However, if applicable, you may make a complaint to the data protection supervisory authority in the country where you are based, or seek a remedy through local courts if you believe your rights have been breached.

8. Children's Information

Our site and services are intended for general audiences and are not directed at children.  If we learn that we have collected data without legally valid parental consent from children under an age where such consent is required,, we will take reasonable measures to delete such information from its databases and to not use such information (except where necessary to protect the safety of the child or other as required or allowed by law).  If you become aware of any such information, please contact us at hello@girlfriend.com.

9. Updating this Privacy Policy

We reserve the right to change, modify, add, or remove portions of this Privacy Policy at any time. You should review this page periodically for changes since the last time you reviewed it by checking the “Effective Date” at the beginning of the document.  Your continued use of the Services following the posting of changes to this Privacy Policy will be considered a confirmation that you have read and understood the latest version of this Privacy.  If we make material changes to the Policy, we will provide notice through our Services, or by other means, to provide you the opportunity to review the changes before they become effective, in accordance with applicable legal requirements.

10. Support and Contact

If you have questions regarding this Privacy Policy, please contact us at hello@girlfriend.com.