Effective as of January 1, 2023
PRIVACY POLICY
This Privacy Policy explains how we collect and use information about you when you use the Friendbuy website located at www.friendbuy.com (“Site”) and other Friendbuy services (“Services”).
In this Privacy Policy, “you” refers to any user of our Site or Services, including retailers, publishers, merchants and others who have an account with Friendbuy (“Merchants”) and customers and other end users of Merchants including individuals who are referred to the Merchant (collectively, “End Users”). Friendbuy’s Site is intended for use by our Merchants. Friendbuy’s Services include online tools (“widgets”) and other features for Merchants to facilitate and analyze their referral marketing programs. Online referral marketing allows an End User, to share information about products and services with friends. Below, we describe how we treat the information we receive from Merchants and the information we receive about End Users on behalf of Merchants.
INFORMATION WE COLLECT
Merchant Information
If you register to create a Friendbuy account, we will collect your email address, full name and any other information you voluntarily submit to us (“Merchant Information”). When you purchase our Services, Friendbuy utilizes a third party payment processor that collects your credit card information, mailing address and other billing information solely to process payments on Friendbuy’s behalf.
End User Information
If you use any Friendbuy widgets or other Friendbuy Services as an End User, we will collect: (i) your e-mail address, (ii) any other personal information you submit on a Friendbuy widget (such as your friend’s name and e-mail address), (iii) any information that we receive from social media platforms (e.g., Facebook, Twitter) when you choose to use them, and (v) any other information or content you post on, or using, our Services (collectively, “End User Information”).
We will also collect End User Information when Merchants provide it to us. The End User Information provided by Merchants can include, for example, your account information to allow Friendbuy to deliver payments or other incentives that Merchants offer to you.
Friendbuy does not currently respond to web browser “Do Not Track” signals in connection with our collection of End User Information or Automated Information (defined below).
Automated Information
This section applies to everyone who uses the Site or Services: Merchants, End Users and anyone else who navigates to the Site or our Services. When you visit the Site or use our Services (including using Friendbuy widgets on a Merchant website), we automatically collect certain information from your browser or device (“Automated Information”).
Like most other online businesses, we use cookies, pixels, web beacons, and other automated mechanisms to collect this information. Through these mechanisms we collect information such as your mobile device’s advertising identifier or other device identifiers, a cookie identifier, your computer’s IP address, information about your browser or device, and information about how you use our Site and the Services.
HOW WE USE AND SHARE YOUR INFORMATION
Merchant Information
We use and share Merchant Information for our lawful business purposes, including to provide and improve our Site and Services, to facilitate billing and payment, to authenticate a Merchant’s identity, to contact Merchants about their accounts and for internal reporting and planning. We also use and share this information to provide Merchants with useful advertising and offers. Merchants can opt out of receiving commercial emails from us by clicking on the opt-out link in the emails that are sent by Friendbuy. See below for more information on how we may share Merchant Information, and for information on how we handle Merchant Information from the European Economic Area and Switzerland.
End User Information
We use End User Information to operate the Services we provide to Merchants.
We share End User Information with the Merchant on whose website, applications, and systems the End User Information was entered or who otherwise facilitated the End User’s use of our Services, and not with other Merchants. Friendbuy does not share or sell End User Information to any other non-affiliated organizations for those third parties’ marketing purposes. If an End User provides any information to the Merchant either directly or by submitting the information through Friendbuy’s Services, the information will be subject to the Merchant’s privacy notice; Friendbuy has no control over what a Merchant does with such information. Merchants can use and share End User Information for Merchants’ own purposes, including to market to End Users. See below for more information on how we may share End User Information.
We may share data about End Users’ use of the Services with other non-affiliated third parties in a manner that does not identify any specific individual or device; for example, through reports with aggregated and de-identified information. These reports do not include personal information that can be used to individually identify or to contact an End User.
Automated Information
We use Automated Information from Merchants to provide and improve our Site and Services and, from time to time, to make Merchants aware of new products and offers from Friendbuy.
We use automated information from End Users to provide and improve our Services.
See below for more information on how we may share automated information from Merchants and End Users.
ADDITIONAL SHARING WITH THIRD PARTIES
In addition to the reasons we share Merchant Information, End User Information and Automated Information to operate our Site and Services as stated above, we will share your information in the following circumstances:
- We will share your information with your consent.
- We will share your information with affiliated companies, in the event that Friendbuy becomes affiliated with another company in the future.
- We will share your information if we believe it is reasonable to do so in order to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding illegal activities, suspected fraud, situations involving potential threats to the physical safety of any person, violations of our Terms of Service, or as otherwise required by law. For example, we can disclose your information in response to a subpoena or compulsory process; if requested by a law enforcement or regulatory agency; to prevent imminent harm or financial loss to Friendbuy or others; or to investigate or take action relating to illegal activities, suspected fraud, or other violations of laws or contracts. We also reserve the right to provide your information to a third party if we believe such disclosure may prevent harm or liability to us or others.
- We will transfer information about you as part of due diligence or an actual or potential sale or merger of our business, including in bankruptcy.
- We will share your information with any third party who is helping us provide the Site or Services (e.g., data hosting, email services, credit card and other payment processors).
We will share any information that does not identify a specific person or device, such as information that has been de-identified or aggregated, in our discretion.
DIGITAL ADVERTISING AND ANALYTICS
On our Site, we partner with ad networks and other ad serving providers (“Advertising Providers”) that serve ads on behalf of us and others on non-affiliated platforms. Some of those ads are personalized, meaning that they are intended to be relevant to you based on information Advertising Providers collect about your use of the Site and other websites or apps over time. This type of advertising is known as interest-based advertising.
You can visit www.aboutads.info to learn more about interest-based advertising and how to opt-out of this advertising on websites by companies participating in the Digital Advertising Alliance (“DAA”) self-regulatory program.
We also use third party analytics providers, such as Google Analytics, on our Site and Services. These analytics providers use automated means such as cookies (which are text files placed on your computer) to collect information across non-affiliated websites and online services over time that will be transmitted to and stored on their servers. Analytics providers use this information, for example, to evaluate your use of our Site and Services, to compile reports on website activity, and to provide us with other services. They also transfer information to third parties as permitted by their own privacy policies, such as if they are legally required to do so or where such third parties process information on their behalf. For more information about how Google collects and uses data, visit https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners/, and to opt out of Google Analytics, visit https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout/. You can refuse the use of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser but if you do so, you may not be able to use the full functionality of the Site and Services, and these third parties could still collect data by other means. By using the Site or Services, you consent to our analytics providers’ processing of your data as described above.
EUROPEAN, UNITED KINGDOM AND SWISS MERCHANT INFORMATION
As described in this Privacy Policy, we may obtain End User Information from, or on behalf of, Merchants who use our Services. In this respect, we act as a processor for those Merchants, which have their own privacy policies that describe how they use information. To the extent that Friendbuy is processing End User Information on behalf of a Merchant in our role as a processor, the End User must reach out to that Merchant directly to exercise any rights under local data protection laws.
Friendbuy is a data controller with regard to Merchant Information from the European Economic Area (EEA), United Kingdom (UK) or Switzerland. This section applies to our processing of such Merchant Information from the EEA, UK, and Switzerland.
Lawful Basis for Processing. Friendbuy processes Merchant Information with your consent (e.g., when you agree that Friendbuy may place cookies, or when Friendbuy processes Merchant Information submitted to the Site for specified purposes).
On other occasions, Friendbuy may process Merchant Information when it needs to do this to fulfil a contract (for example, for billing purposes) or where required to do this by law.
If necessary, Friendbuy may also process Merchant Information when it is in Friendbuy’s legitimate interests to do this (e.g., for customer service or fraud detection) and when these interests are not overridden by your data protection rights.
Transfers of Personal Information. Please be aware that the personal information we collect may be transferred to and maintained on servers or databases located outside your state, province, country, or other jurisdiction, including in the United States. Friendbuy enters into Standard Contractual Clauses for the transfer of personal information outside of the EEA, UK and Switzerland or we will otherwise transfer personal information subject to appropriate safeguards.
Your Rights. You have the following rights with respect to Merchant Information that we hold about you:
- To request access to your Merchant Information;
- To request that we rectify or erase your Merchant Information;
- To request that we restrict or block the processing of your Merchant Information;
- Under certain circumstances, to receive your Merchant Information that we store and transmit to another, including requesting that we provide your personal data directly to another, i.e., a right to data portability; and
- Where we previously obtained your consent, to withdraw consent to our processing of your Merchant Information.
To exercise these rights, see the “Contact Us” section below. Please be aware that Friendbuy may be unable to afford these rights to you under certain circumstances, such as if we are legally prevented from doing so.
Additionally, you have the right to lodge a complaint against us. To do so, contact the data protection supervisory authority in your country of residence.
STATE PRIVACY INFORMATION
As described in this Privacy Policy, we may obtain End User Information from, or on behalf of, Merchants who use our Services. In this respect, we act as a "service provider" or "processor" for those Merchants, which have their own privacy policies that describe how they use information. To the extent that Friendbuy is processing End User Information on behalf of a Merchant in our role as a service provider or a processor, the End User must reach out to that Merchant directly to exercise any of rights the End User may have under privacy laws in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Utah, and Virginia. Friendbuy is not currently subject to the California Privacy Rights Act (“CPRA”) in connection with personal information about Merchants and does not provide CPRA rights to Merchants.
POSTED CONTENT AND THIRD-PARTY LINKS
If any End User information is posted on a website or social media channel, such information can be read, collected and used by others. Please bear this in mind when posting personal information in publicly visible areas.
The Site and Services include links to third-party websites or apps including social media platforms. We do not control the privacy practices of those websites or apps, and they are not covered by this Privacy Policy. You should review the privacy notices of other websites or apps to learn about their data practices.
SECURITY
We ask that you take responsibility for protecting your password and safeguarding your account against unauthorized access. While we take steps to protect the personal information we collect or receive, we cannot guarantee its security because no method of transmission over the Internet or method of electronic storage is entirely secure.
UPDATING YOUR INFORMATION
Merchants can review or update Merchant Information by logging into your Friendbuy account and navigating to the Accounts menu or contacting us at support@friendbuy.com.
If you, as an End User, would like to review or update the End User Information that Friendbuy maintains about you, please contact the Merchant to which you submitted the information.
RETENTION OF YOUR INFORMATION
We keep Merchant Information as long as a Merchant has an account with us or as needed to provide the Services to the Merchant. We also retain and use Merchant Information after an account is closed if we believe it is necessary or beneficial for legal compliance or to resolve disputes, operate our business or enforce our agreements. We may retain End User Information and Automated Information according to our internal data retention policy, including after the associated Merchant account is closed. We will retain End User Information in accordance with our Merchant contracts and applicable laws, including state privacy laws.
CHANGES TO THIS POLICY
We may modify this Privacy Policy at any time. We will let you know of any changes by posting the revised policy on the Site and updating the effective date.
LOCATION OF YOUR INFORMATION
Your information may be transferred to and maintained on servers outside your country. We may process and store information in the United States and other countries, and your use of our Services constitutes your consent to and understanding of this transfer and processing.
CONTACT US
To contact Friendbuy about anything in our Privacy Policy, including any questions or suggestions, please send an email to legal@friendbuy.com.
