Privacy Policy & cookies

Hi! This is our Privacy Policy and, if you landed here, it means that you want to learn how we process your personal data at Etnia and how we protect your privacy. We will not let you down!

What are the legal grounds for the use of your information?

We require your information because of the contractual agreements between you and Etnia (for example, in the case of your purchase of a product or your right to return it), and this applies to the following cases:

  • Ordering & pre-ordering
  • Delivery
  • Returns
  • Payments and invoicing
  • Exchange of products
  • Communicating with you
  • Screening orders for potential risk or fraud
  • Creation of your account

In operating our store, we need to capture some information about your device, such as your IP address and information related to your visit when you browse our store. For example, this might include a time-stamp, the last page or product you visited, the indication that you logged in. 

This is because we want to provide our customers the most optimal and personalized service possible.

We do that in order to:

  • Remember who you are after you log in so that you do not need to authenticate at each click.
  • Monitor if our website is running with the high performance we want to provide.
  • Let you browse between products without having to start back from the home page at each click.
  • Remember if you put something in your shopping cart before you decide to checkout.
  • Control that your data is processed securely.

We call the information mentioned above “essential information” and we collect it through the use of cookies. Cookies are small text files that most websites use. A website places cookies in the web browser and then reads the information collected through the cookies every time the user performs an action. We use cookies. Without enabling this mechanism and this kind of cookies (first-party cookies), we could not provide you with the smooth experience that you expect while you are navigating.

Next to this, we can use your information in the case of "legitimate interest". We of course keep your privacy in mind at all times. This applies to:

  • Reviews & customer satisfaction research
  • Contact with our customer service
  • Visiting the Etnia website
  • Your Etnia Account
  • Newsletter & email
  • Personalized advice
  • Promotions
  • Social media 
  • Use of some features of our website like the Wishlist and suggested products.

We could have a legal obligation to use your information. When we suspect fraud, for example. And sometimes you’ve provided us permission to use your information. This is the case when you subscribe to the newsletter. We keep track of this appropriately.

Other information you expressly provide

If you buy something from our store, we will need more specific information about you. To fully process your order and ship the merchandise you selected, we need your personal data such as your first and last name, your email address, and your shipping and billing address. We also use your contact and order information to send you communication-related to the processing of your order. We will ask you to provide this information on our “checkout page” before letting you finalize your purchase with the payment.

Accounts

You can sign up for an account if you would like. If you decide to place your order as a guest, an account will be created automatically so you can set up a password later and access it to review your orders, print a copy of your invoice, submit a return request. You can ask us to delete it at any time, by sending us an email at contact@etnia.shop. 

Partial Purchases

If you have started to buy one of our products, but have not completed the purchase, you may have provided partial information, such as your email. In that case, we might send you an email to remind you about your interest. If you are not comfortable receiving further emails of this kind, you can opt out. Your privacy means a lot to us and we will stop sending you these communications right away.

Reviews

If you have completed a purchase, we will send you an email to ask you to review the product you bought. We want to be sure that whether you love your purchase or have a complaint, you can share your opinion with us and other customers.

Personalization

We also use some specific information related to your visit, such as the timestamp of your visit, the page or the product you viewed, where you are coming from (if you came to our store because you clicked on an advertisement or you just opened our direct link). This is very similar to the “essential information,” but we use it to provide you with a personalized experience. The information on your visit provides us with insights into your interests and allows us to send you relevant communications. We capture this information through cookies, called a "beacon," that we allow you to block.

Cookies

  • Etnia uses data collected by cookies and JavaScript libraries to improve your shopping experience when you visit etnia.shop
  • Cookies allow, for example, that you do not have to enter or download the same information every time you return to our site. In addition, cookies help us understand how you use our sites and how to make them better and more customer-friendly. It has to be said: we also use them for marketing purposes.
  • In addition, we use JavaScript. This allows us to do things, sometimes in combination with cookies and (web) beacons, like remembering your shopping cart, or showing you previously viewed products.

Accept cookies

If you want to use our websites with all their features, you will have to accept our cookies. 

Your cookie settings

We make sure we handle the information we collect from you with care. You can, at all times, change this configuration using the banner situated at the bottom of the page and select or opt-out the following options.

  • Functional: Enables enhanced functionality, such as videos and live chat. If you do not allow these, then some or all of these functions may not work properly.
  • Analytics: Provide statistical information on site usage, e.g., web analytics so we can improve this website over time.
  • Targeting; Advertising: Used to create profiles or personalize content to enhance your shopping experience.
  • Essential: Essential for the site and any requested services to work, but do not perform any additional or secondary function. This option cannot be opted out as it is necessary for the proper functioning of the website.

Who has access to your information?

  • We only pass on your information to other parties when this is necessary for providing you, our services. These parties are as follows: delivery partners, vendors, payment partners, IT and web service providers, customer service agents, and parties who collect our reviews.
  • Parties such as data management platforms, media, and advertising agencies, and research firms, come into play when we would like to give you personalized advice or provide you with targeted ads. Based on your interest in specific products for example. We are obliged to share customer information with government authorities in the case of suspicious situations.
  • The parties who receive access to your information through us, are only allowed to use it to offer you a service on behalf of Etnia. An exception is when they are responsible for acquiring and protecting your information themselves. Some cookie developers have access to the information which cookies collect on our website. You will read more about this in our cookie statement and in the privacy policies of these parties. We never sell your information to third parties.

Where do we store your information and how do we process it?

We use an external provider to run our store, BigCommerce. BigCommerce is based in the US and is a participant in the EU-US Privacy Shield Framework and committed to providing best-in-class service and data protection. You can check its participation in the Privacy Shield here on the official site of The International Trade Administration (ITA), U.S. Department of Commerce. Because of this, your information may be transferred outside of Europe.

Through BigCommerce, we also use other, highly specialized external providers to provide the most competitive services. For example:

  • Payment: Our store is PCI-DSS compliant (a very strict industry standard with requirements for the security of credit card information), but we want to use accredited companies to process your credit card information. These companies are Mollie, Stripe, and PayPal.
  • Shipping: We integrate with some shipping companies to fulfill your orders. We use Postmen platform and we partner with UPS and Bpost for shipping purposes.

Partnering with highly specialized external companies allows us to focus on what we do best: selling amazing handmade products.

How can you control your personal data?

If you are one of our customers who are in the EU, and we are specifically selling our products to the Member State where you are located, you have specific rights that we are honored to enforce without undue delay: Access, Correct, Erasure, Port, Object. If you cannot exercise your choice on your account page or if you do not have an account with us, please reach out to us, at the contact details at the bottom of this page. We will be more than happy to help.

How long do we keep your data?

  • We don’t save and use your information for longer than necessary We delete all the data we have of you afterwards. Or we use your anonymous information because we need specific data for internal analyses and reports. Such as on the value of your order.
  • We keep your data for as long as you have an account with us. We also keep some data for security investigation. Most importantly, we have specific obligations for fraud detection and tax reasons. Therefore, we might need to retain certain data even if you ask to delete it. The following scenarios are some examples: 
  • We delete inactive customer accounts after 7 years. We only use your anonymous information for internal reporting after this period.
  • The Belgian tax authority requires us to save our administrative paperwork with your invoicing, payment, and order details for 7 years. We only use anonymous information for internal reporting after this period. You’ll also need to save the invoices of your purchases, for when your warranty expires for example.
  • If you have your product exchanged by Etnia, we will save your request and contact details for 7 years. We only use your anonymous information for internal reporting after this period.
  • If you’ve subscribed to the newsletter and you’ve given permission for receiving personalized messages, then we save this permission for 5 years. We also save the retraction of your permission in case you decide you don’t want to receive the newsletter or personalized messages any longer.
  • We store information we need to prevent fraud for a longer period. 
  • If you signed up for our newsletter or have given permission to receive personalized messages, we store that information for 5 years. If you decide you no longer want to receive the newsletter or personalized messages anymore, we have to store the retraction of your request as well.
  • We don’t save the emails you receive from us for longer than 60 days. You don’t have to worry about receiving the same email from us regularly. We only use your anonymous information for internal reporting after this period.

What are your rights?

You can access and edit or delete your details in your Etnia account. If you want to delete your account, you can let us know by mail or email and we will delete it immediately. In this way, you can object to the usage of your information. 

Easily unsubscribe from the newsletter through the link at the bottom of the newsletter itself. If you’d rather not have any cookies at all, you can arrange this yourself as well. Our cookie statement tells you how to do this.

To make sure it’s really you when receiving a request, we could ask for additional information to establish your identity. We also do this when we receive unclear requests.

Any update?

We may update this privacy policy from time to time to reflect, for example, changes to our practices or for other operational, legal, or regulatory reasons.

If we update our Privacy Policy to reflect a change or improvement of our services or a new legal obligation, we will publish the new version on our website etnia.shop

Who can you reach out to for privacy matters?

For more information about our privacy practices, if you have questions, or if you would like to make a complaint, please contact us by e-mail at contact@etnia.shop