Our House Rules

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Our House Rules

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This is the English language text of our Privacy Policy. For other languages/regions please select from the list below:

For users located in the United States, you may be entitled to additional rights or disclosures, please see the United States Regional Privacy Policy for information about your privacy rights under certain US state laws, which is incorporated into this policy.

  1. What Information We Collect and Receive
  2. How We Use Your Information and Our Legal Basis
  3. How We Share Your Information
  4. How We Transfer Your Information
  5. How We Protect Your Information
  6. How Long We Store Your Information
  7. Your Rights & Choices
  8. Your Responsibilities
  9. Privacy Policy Changes
  10. Additional Disclosures for United States Residents
  11. Our Relationship With You
  12. Contact Us

At Etsy, we care deeply about privacy. We strive to be transparent about what information we collect, and how we use, share and retain it.

This Privacy Policy explains our privacy practices for Etsy.com (which we’ll refer to as the "Site"), Etsy’s mobile applications, including the Etsy App and the Etsy Seller App (together, the "Apps"), Etsy Payments, Pattern by Etsy, Etsy’s public Application Programming Interface (the “API”), and other services provided by the Etsy companies set out at Section 11 (which we’ll refer to as "Etsy," or as "we," "us," and "our"). We’ll use the term “Services” to refer collectively to the Site, the Apps, Etsy Payments, Pattern by Etsy, and the API.

This policy applies to our registered buyers (“Buyers”) and sellers (“Sellers”) (together, our “Members”), those who purchase items on Etsy without an account (“Guests”) and anyone else who visits our Sites or uses our Services (together with our Members and Guests, “you” and “your”). If you are not a registered Member or a Guest, please see our Non-Member Privacy Policy for further information about how we may collect and use your information, available here.

This policy does not apply to the practices of third parties that you may choose to share information with when you use the Services. Please note that the collection and use of your information by these third parties is subject to their own privacy policies and terms. You should understand the privacy and security practices of any third party before you share information with them.

It is important for you to understand how we use your information. You should read this policy in full, but some key points to help you navigate the policy are:

  • Our mission at Etsy is to keep human connection at the heart of commerce. We connect Buyers with Sellers that have made, designed, handpicked, or sourced the items in their shop. By accepting our Terms of Use and this Privacy Policy, or by using any of our Services, you confirm that you have read and understand this policy, including how and why we use your information.
  • We collect and use your information to provide and improve our Services, to protect the security and integrity of our Services and to comply with our legal obligations. To learn more about the information we collect and how we use it, see Section 1 and Section 2 below.
  • We share your information with other Etsy group companies, trusted partners and service providers to provide our Services, for security purposes, to understand how you use and interact with our Services and to meet our legal obligations. To learn more, see Section 3.
  • Depending on your location, different Etsy entities may provide different parts of the Services to you. For more information on your relevant service provider(s) and data controller(s), along with details of how to contact them, see Section 12.
  • Other policies that are referenced below, such as the Terms of Use and Cookies & Similar Technologies Policy, are available from Our House Rules page, located here.
  • If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, or wish to exercise your rights, see Section 12 for further information about how to contact us. You can learn more about Etsy’s policies by visiting our House Rules and Help Center.

1. What Information We Collect and Receive

In the course of providing our Services, we collect and receive information that directly or indirectly relates to you in different ways and from different sources, which we have set out below. The capitalized terms in this Section 1 are definitions that we use throughout this Policy, so please refer back to this table as necessary.

2. How We Use Your Information and Our Legal Basis

When you access or use the Services or interact with our Sites and/or Apps, we collect, use, share, and otherwise process your information for the purposes described in this policy. To the extent required by applicable law, we rely on a number of legal bases to use your information in these ways. If you reside outside the European Economic Area (“EEA”), Switzerland or the United Kingdom (“UK”) (together referred to as the “European Region”), the legal bases on which we rely may differ from those listed below.

3. How We Share Your Information

We share your data with third parties where necessary to provide the Services, comply with our legal obligations, or for purposes set out in this Privacy Policy, including:

Publicly Displayed Information: By using the Services, certain information about you will be publicly displayed on the Site and Apps, such as Buyer Public Profile Information and Seller Public Profile Information (as defined in Section 2). Buyers and Sellers can choose to make certain information and activities private through their account or Public Profile settings. We will also display other information connected with your use of the Services, including the date you joined, information relating to items you review, photos or videos of items you purchased, your Favorites and Collections, followers, those you follow, comments you post in our community spaces, and information you decide to share via social networks. Your reviews of shops or items you’ve purchased may also be shared on other platforms and indexed by search engines, including Google.

For certain Sellers, some additional information will be publicly displayed. For example, your business name, shop location, or business registration number associated with your account (which you may modify and update in your account settings) is publicly displayed.

Etsy Group Companies: We may share some of the information that we collect, such as Buyer Account Information, Seller Account Information, Seller Verification Information, Service Usage Information, Device and Browser Information, and Cookie Information, with our corporate affiliates, which include Etsy, Inc., Etsy Ireland UC, Etsy Payments Ireland Limited, Etsy UK, Ltd., other Etsy entities, and Etsy owned affiliates (including Depop Ltd. and Reverb.com, LLC), that help us conduct business around the world (together, the “Etsy Group Companies”). The information shared among the Etsy Group Companies may be used for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy and generally to operate our business, including for ID verification purposes, transaction monitoring, fraud prevention, payment processing, customer support, business development, user account administration and IT, technical, and engineering support.

Sellers: We may share aggregated information about your use of the Services to Sellers, for example, if you are a frequent purchaser or a new Buyer, so they can provide you with better service and so we can improve our Site and Apps.

Linked Third-Party Websites or Services: Some Members may choose to connect to Etsy or register an Etsy account using an external third-party application, such as Facebook or Google. Connecting your Etsy account to third-party applications or services is optional. If you choose to connect your account to a third-party application, the providers of those services or products may receive information about you that Etsy, you, or others share with them. Please be aware that when you use third-party sites or services, their own terms and privacy policies will govern your use of those sites or services.

You may also link your bank account or payment method to pay for purchases (or receive payment, in the case of Sellers in select markets) through a third-party service available through the Site or Etsy App. When you register with these third-party partners, we will tell you what information is collected and what information the third party will share with Etsy.

Business Partners: Etsy works closely with a number of business partners, such as our shipping and payment partners, that assist us with providing the Services in accordance with our Terms of Use. When one of these companies assists us in facilitating your transaction we or they may need to share information related to the transaction in order to complete your order or to monitor activity on the Sites and Apps, such as transaction activity. Etsy also offers services or products from affiliated businesses, such as services that assist our Sellers with accounting or other small business management services. These affiliated businesses may sell items or services to you through the Services or offer promotions (including email promotions). In each case, these partners will process your information in accordance with their own privacy policies. We encourage you to read the privacy policies and ask questions of third parties before you disclose your information to them.

Professional Advisors, Industry Partners, Authorities, Regulators, and other Entities: We share your information described in Section 3 with our advisors, consultants, regulators and tax authorities, law enforcement, government agencies, civil litigants, and industry partners (for example, trade groups), and other entities as reasonably necessary to:

  • comply with applicable law or regulations, court orders, subpoenas, legal process, or government requests;
  • detect, investigate, prevent, or address actual or suspected fraud, violations of Etsy’s Terms of Use, and other illegal activity or security and technical issues; and/or
  • protect the rights, property and safety of our Members, Etsy and the Etsy Group Companies, or others, including to prevent death or imminent bodily harm.

Business Reorganization: In some cases, Etsy may choose to reorganize its business. 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 notice on the Site and the Apps.

Community Services: We engage third parties to assist in providing Community Services, which includes the Etsy Forums and Teams, and need to share certain information about you for these purposes. This may include, for example, Buyer Public Profile Information and Seller Public Profile Information, the date that you registered on Etsy, as well as your language and regional settings on the Site. For more information, see our Community Policy.

Service Providers: Etsy also engages third-party companies and individuals (such as research companies, analytics services, and security providers) to help us operate, provide, and advertise the Services. These third parties have limited access to your information, may use your information only to perform these tasks on our behalf, and are prohibited from disclosing or using your information for other purposes. The types of third-party service providers that we work with include:

In addition to the above, where necessary for the purpose of our legitimate interest, we may share certain categories of Seller information with our payment processors. We do this because it is in our legitimate interests, and those of our Members, to share information with payment processors to monitor transaction activity to help detect, prevent and address fraud and other illegal activities, comply with their legal obligations, and protect our community. The data we share in this context is Seller Account Information and Transaction Information.

4. How We Transfer Your Information

Etsy operates a global e-commerce platform. By using the Services, you acknowledge that Etsy will use your information in the United States, Ireland, and any other country where the Etsy Group Companies operate. Please be aware that the privacy laws and standards in certain countries, including the rights of authorities to access your information, may differ from those that apply in the country in which you reside. To the extent that Etsy is deemed to transfer information outside of the EEA, we rely separately, alternatively, and independently on the following legal bases to transfer your information:

Adequacy Decisions Where available, we rely on decisions of the European Commission, known as “adequacy decisions,” recognizing that certain countries offer a level of protection of data that is essentially equivalent to the EEA. A list of adequacy decisions is available here via the European Commission website.

Standard Contractual Clauses Otherwise, we rely on the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses for the international and onward transfer of your data outside of the EEA to third countries, including, for example, to the United States and India. This includes transfers from Etsy Ireland UC to Etsy, Inc. and other Etsy Group Companies. You can request a copy of our Standard Contractual Clauses by emailing dpo@etsy.com.

Necessary for the Performance of the Contract Between Etsy and Its Users You can choose whether or not to use the Etsy Services. As we operate in countries worldwide and use technical infrastructure in the US to deliver the Services to you, in accordance with the contract between us (including our Terms of Use), we transfer your information to the US and to other jurisdictions as necessary to provide the Services. Simply put, we can’t provide you with the Services and perform our contract with you without moving your information outside of your home country, including the UK or EEA

5. How We Protect Your Information

The security of your information is important to us. We protect your information through technical and administrative measures designed to mitigate the risk of unlawful or unauthorized access, destruction, loss, alteration, disclosure, or use of your data. To protect your account, we encourage you to choose your password carefully and enable two factor authentication (2FA) for signing in. You can learn more about enhancing your account security in your account settings.

We use Google reCAPTCHA Enterprise in connection with our Services to help prevent spam, fraud, and abuse. reCAPTCHA Enterprise collects hardware and software information, such as device and application data, and sends it to Google for purposes of providing, maintaining, and improving reCAPTCHA Enterprise and for general security purposes. Your use of reCAPTCHA Enterprise is subject to Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

6. How Long We Store Your Information

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 comply with our legal obligations under applicable law. We decide how long we need information on a case-by-case basis and depending on the retention laws applicable.

The following factors typically affect the retention period:

Necessity to provide our Services We keep your information as long as necessary to provide the Services to you. This includes things like maintaining and improving the performance of our Sites and Apps, keeping our Services secure, and maintaining appropriate business and financial records. Most of our retention periods are determined on the basis of this general rule.

Consent-based processing of data If we process your data on the basis of consent (including consent to the extended storage), we store the data for as long as necessary to process it according to your consent or until you withdraw your consent.

Statutory, contractual, or other similar obligations Etsy will retain and use your information to the extent necessary to comply with our legal obligations, for example, if we are required to retain your information to comply with applicable tax/revenue laws, Know Your Customer (“KYC”), and similar obligations.

Here's what we consider when deciding how long to keep your information:

7. Your Rights and Choices

Certain privacy laws around the world, including the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), provide users with rights and choices related to their information. Consistent with those laws, Etsy gives you the choice of accessing, editing, or removing certain information, as well as choices about how we contact you. In addition, subject to applicable law, you may have certain rights with respect to your information, such as the following:

  • Right to Access: You can access certain information associated with your account by visiting your account privacy settings. You can request a copy of your information in an easily accessible format, as well as an explanation of how that information is used. See this Help Center article for more information.
  • Right to Portability: You have the right to receive certain of your information which you provided in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and to transmit such information to another controller.
  • Right to Correction: You have the right to request that we rectify any inaccurate information about you. You can correct and change certain information through your account settings.
  • Right to Restrict Processing: In certain cases, you may also have the right to restrict or limit the ways in which we use your information.
  • Right to Deletion: In certain circumstances, you have the right to request the deletion of your information, except information we are required to retain by law, regulation, or to protect the safety, security, rights, and integrity of Etsy. Please note that closing your account may not free up your email address, username, or shop name (if any) for reuse on a new account. See this Help Center article for more information.
  • Right to Object: If we process your information based on our legitimate interests as explained above, or in the public interest, you can object to this processing in certain circumstances. In such cases, we will stop processing your information unless we have compelling legitimate grounds to continue processing or where it is needed for legal reasons.
  • Right to Withdraw Consent: Where we rely on consent, you can choose to withdraw your consent to our processing of your information using, for example, an email unsubscribe link or your account privacy preferences. If you have consented to share your precise device location details with us, you can revoke that consent through the settings on your mobile device. This is without prejudice to your general right to permanently close your account and delete your information. Please be aware that withdrawing consent will not affect the lawfulness of processing that happened before you withdraw your consent.
  • Right to File a Complaint: If you are a resident in the EEA, Switzerland or the UK, you have the right to lodge a complaint about our data protection practices with the supervisory authority of your country or state.
  • Right to File a Complaint: If you are a resident in the EEA, Switzerland or the UK, you have the right to lodge a complaint about our practices with respect to your personal information with the supervisory authority of your country or state.
    • In the UK, the relevant data protection authority is the Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF, +44 (0303) 123 1113, casework@ico.org.uk.
    • In Ireland, the relevant data protection authority is the Data Protection Commission, 21 Fitzwilliam Square South, Dublin 2, D02 RD28, +353 017650100 / + 353 1800437737, email: info@dataprotection.ie or by using this online form.

Please see the United States Regional Privacy Policy for information about your privacy rights under certain US state laws.

How to Exercise Your Rights and Choices. If you would like to manage, change, limit, correct, or delete your information, you can do so via your Etsy account settings. Alternatively, you can exercise any of the rights above, subject to applicable law, through the contact options set out in Section 11. Once you contact us to exercise any of your rights, we will confirm receipt of your request. Limiting use of, or deleting, your information may impact features and services that rely on that information. Communication Choices. You can opt out of receiving marketing emails by using the unsubscribe link in our marketing emails or through your account settings. Certain communications from Etsy are service-related or legally required and you will continue to receive them even if you opt out of marketing emails.

8. Your Responsibilities

If you are a Seller on our Services or if you use Etsy’s API, you may receive certain information and will have legal obligations with respect to certain information. Your privacy responsibilities, including when you act as an independent data controller (someone who decides what data to collect and the purpose you use the data for) are laid out in the Etsy Seller Policy and the Etsy API Terms of Use.

9. Privacy Policy Changes

We may amend or update this policy from time to time. If we believe that the changes are material, we’ll let you know by posting the changes through the Services and sending you an email or message about the changes. We encourage you to check back regularly and review any updates.

10. Additional Disclosures for United States Residents

In certain US states, you may be entitled to additional rights or disclosures. Please see our United States Regional Privacy Policy, where you can learn more about how we use your information and any additional privacy rights you may have.

11. Our Relationship With You

Depending on where you live and what Services you use, different Etsy companies are responsible for your information. Details of the relevant Etsy company providing the Services are as follows:

  • For the Services, including the Etsy Site and Apps (except Payments):
    • North or South America - Etsy, Inc.
    • Outside of North and South America (including the EEA and UK) - Etsy Ireland UC
  • For Payments Services, depending on where you reside:
    • North or South America - Etsy, Inc.
    • Outside of North and South America (including the EEA and UK):
    • Etsy Payments Ireland Limited - For disbursements to EEA Sellers
    • Etsy Ireland UC - For disbursements to Sellers outside of North and South America and the EEA.

12. Contact Us

If you have any questions:

  • Contact Etsy’s Support team via our Help Center
  • Chat Support (available on our Site)
  • Send an email to Etsy's Data Protection Officer at dpo@etsy.com
  • Write to us at one of the following addresses:

In North America or South America: Etsy Support Team – Privacy Policy 117 Adams Street Brooklyn, NY 11201, USA

Outside of North America and South America: Etsy Support Team – Privacy Policy One Le Pole Square, Ship Street Great, Dublin 8, Ireland.

Last updated on Nov 11, 2024