When running a creative business, it’s important to respect my buyers’ privacy rights and follow data protection laws. As a business owner, I receive certain personal information about my customers when they place an order or contact me about a potential order, such as name, postal address, email address, and phone number. The European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and other local data protection laws guard how this kind of personal information is collected and used, and protect the privacy rights of online shoppers. Under these laws, buyers are entitled to certain information, including when, why, how, by whom, and for what purpose personal information is collected, used, and shared.

As I am a seller based in the European Union (Hungary), the GDPR applies to me, which means I’m required to have a privacy policy for my Etsy shop. This can be read in our Shop Policies section, but I also wanted to write a blog post to explain in detail and share with my followers on Instagram and my blog readers.

Under the laws of many countries, including those in Europe, you often need prior “express consent” from buyers to send them marketing or promotional messages. Express consent means that you can only send marketing messages to a buyer if they have indicated their consent for you to do so through a clear affirmative action, such as a buyer agreeing in an Etsy Convo or email to receive marketing messages from you. Even if I get a buyer’s email address through Etsy to help fulfill the transaction, I’m required to get the buyer’s express consent before sending them marketing messages. Sending unsolicited advertising or promotions through Etsy Convos is not allowed under Etsy’s policies. It is also a criminal offense in some countries.  Please note that we are not sending any type of marketing material via Etsy convos or our private emails.

This Privacy Policy describes how and when I collect, use, and share information when you purchase an item from me, contact me, or otherwise use my services through Etsy.com or its related sites and services. This Privacy Policy does not apply to the practices of third parties that I do not own or control, including Etsy or any third party services you access through Etsy.

Information I Collect

To fulfil your order, you must provide me with certain information (which you authorized Etsy to provide to me), such as your name, email address, postal address, payment information, and the details of the product that you’re ordering. You may also choose to provide me with additional personal information (for a custom order for example), if you contact me directly.

Why I Need Your Information and How I Use It

I rely on a number of legal bases to collect, use, and share your information, including:

• as needed to provide my services, such as when I use your information to fulfil your order, to settle disputes, or to provide customer support;
• when you have provided your affirmative consent, which you may revoke at any time;
• if necessary to comply with a legal obligation or court order or in connection with a legal claim, such as retaining information about your purchases if required by tax law; and
• as necessary for the purpose of my legitimate interests, if those legitimate interests are not overridden by your rights or interests, such as 1) providing and improving my services. I use your information to provide the services you requested and in my legitimate interest to improve my services; and 2) Compliance with the Etsy Seller Policy and Terms of Use. I use your information as necessary to comply with my obligations under the Etsy Seller Policy and Terms of Use.

Information Sharing and Disclosure

Information about my customers is important to my business. I share your personal information for very limited reasons and in limited circumstances, as follows:

• Etsy. I share information with Etsy as necessary to provide you my services and comply with my obligations under both the Etsy Seller Policy and Etsy Terms of Use.
• Service providers. I engage certain trusted third parties to perform functions and provide services to my shop, such as the Hungarian National Post (Magyar Posta) and delivery companies, only if requested by customer. We only ship via the Hungarian National Post exclusively.  I will share your personal information with these third parties, but only to the extent necessary to perform these services.
• Business transfers. If I sell or merge my business, I may disclose your information as part of that transaction, only to the extent permitted by law.
• Compliance with laws. I may collect, use, retain, and share your information if I have a good faith belief that it is reasonably necessary to: (a) respond to legal process or to government requests; (b) enforce my agreements, terms and policies; (c) prevent, investigate, and address fraud and other illegal activity, security, or technical issues; or (d) protect the rights, property, and safety of my customers, or others.

Data Retention

I retain your personal information only for as long as necessary to provide you with my services and as described in my Privacy Policy. However, I may also be required to retain this information to comply with my legal and regulatory obligations, to resolve disputes, and to enforce my agreements. Your data is kept for as long as Etsy holds it as required by law, we cannot change how its system works and stores customer info. We keep the registered shipping confirmation issued by the Magyar Posta upon mailing your order for 2 years.

Transfers of Personal Information Outside the EU

I may store and process your information through third-party hosting services in the US and other jurisdictions. As a result, I may transfer your personal information to a jurisdiction with different data protection and government surveillance laws than your jurisdiction. If I am deemed to transfer information about you outside of the EU, I rely on Etsy as the legal basis for the transfer as I only sell through Etsy.com exclusively.

Your Rights

If you reside in certain territories, including the EU, you have a number of rights in relation to your personal information. While some of these rights apply generally, certain rights apply only in certain limited cases. I describe these rights below:

• Access. You may have the right to access and receive a copy of the personal information I hold about you by contacting me using the contact information below.
• Change, restrict, delete. You may also have rights to change, restrict my use of, or delete your personal information. Absent exceptional circumstances (like where I am required to store data for legal reasons) I will generally delete your personal information upon request.
• Object. You can object to (i) my processing of some of your information based on my legitimate interests and (ii) receiving marketing messages from me after providing your express consent to receive them. In such cases, I will delete your personal information unless I have compelling and legitimate grounds to continue using that information or if it is needed for legal reasons.
• Complain. If you reside in the EU and wish to raise a concern about my use of your information (and without prejudice to any other rights you may have), you have the right to do so with your local data protection authority.

How to Contact Me

For purposes of EU data protection law, I, Inez Ligeti, am the data controller of your personal information. If you have any questions or concerns, you may contact me via Etsy convos. Alternately, you may mail me at: bohobabyheavenshop@gmail.com

Inez Ligeti, Szitás utca 1., 4033 Debrecen, Hungary

If you want to access, correct or delete personal information held by Etsy, you may contact Etsy at Etsy.com/help for assistance directly.