Protect your business and build trust with customers by creating a privacy policy and setting your terms and conditions. Maintain compliance standards for common consumer protections such as California Consumers Privacy Act (CCPA), General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS).
A privacy policy is a statement or legal document on your site that discloses what kind of private information you gather from your site visitors as well as what you do with that information and how you keep it safe.
In many countries and states, a Privacy Policy is required. Please consult with a legal professional if you have further questions about Privacy Policy for your location.
Please seek a legal professional if you need a Privacy Policy drafted. There are also free Privacy Policy resources and generators available online which can serve as a safe starting point to providing and shaping your Swell store’s privacy policy.
A privacy policy page explains to users what information is being collected, what is being done with it, how you collect cookies, and more.
Follow these tips to write an effective privacy policy, but note that Swell cannot provide legal advice. Again, please consult with a legal professional if you have further questions.
- What information you collect: Clearly state information you are collecting from customers, including their name, email, address, etc.
- How you use their information: Inform the customer about how you use their information, whether it’s for marketing, only fulfilling orders, etc.
- Payment information: Explain how you don’t hold credit card numbers or similar data, but rather payment gateways process them safely at the time of purchase.
- Cookies: Do you collect cookies for marketing or other purposes? This is mandatory in certain countries and enforced by law, so it’s recommended to not only mention it in your policy but inform users through a notification on your store.
- Consent: Include a section that states customers agree to these policies if they use your website and purchase from you.
You can add your privacy policy to your Swell store from the dashboard under Settings > Checkout. From there, the section for your privacy policy is found under the Store policies section.
To add content to the Privacy policy page on your storefront, find your Privacy policy page under the Pages list on the right-hand side of the storefront editor, and select it to update the page contents. See this handy guide for more information about customizing content in the editor.
If you are using a Swell storefront theme like Origin, you also can feature your store’s privacy policy page directly on your storefront. By default, this page is listed on the footer secondary menu. In the editor, this can be changed by going to Design & global settings > Footer.
Terms & Conditions are also known as terms of use and terms of service. They are an agreement between the users and your website that clearly outlines the intention for store usage, the rights of users (in instances of, say, warranties), and the conduct expected of users who interact with your store website.
Please seek a legal professional if you need terms & conditions drafted for your store. Free terms & conditions generators online can provide a generic terms and conditions page.
Terms & conditions will protect both you and your business, clearly laying out simple rules for using your store. These are some suggested elements to include in your agreement:
- Copyright: What are your trademark and intellectual property? Can customers claim they are associated with your brand, use your logo, or other information? Clearly state what your company owns and what rights you have.
- Account termination: What situation would cause a customer to have their account terminated? Outline behavior that you wish to prevent occurring on your website.
- Warranties: Do you offer warranties for your products? Add a section that lays out what warranty rights you provide to your customers.
- Customer support: How can customers get help from your business? What hours are these services available, and how can they be reached? Provide your customer support information for issue resolution.
- Payment: Terms regarding payments that must be followed.
- Third-party apps: If you use third-party applications, explain how these operate, collect information, or might change the user experience for customers.
Adding terms of service to your Swell store
You can add your terms & conditions to your Swell store from the dashboard under Settings > Checkout. From there, the field for entering your terms & conditions is found under the Store policies section.
To add content to the terms and conditions page on your storefront, find your Terms & conditions page under the Pages list on the right-hand side of the storefront editor, and select it to update the page contents. See this handy guide for more information about customizing content in the editor.
If you are using a Swell storefront theme like Origin, you also can feature your store’s terms & conditions page directly on your storefront. By default, this page is listed on the footer secondary menu. In the editor, this can be changed by going to Design & global settings > Footer.
CCPA stands for the California Consumers Privacy Act, which provides California residents with the ability to control how businesses process their personal information. Please consult with a legal professional if you have further questions about CCPA and whether you should incorporate it in your store.
The CCPA applies to any business, including any for-profit entity, that collects consumer data, which does business in California, and satisfies at least one of the following thresholds:
- Has annual gross revenues over $25 million
- Possesses the personal information of 50,000 or more consumers, households, or devices
- Earns more than half of its annual revenue from selling personal information
Non-profits, smaller companies that don't meet the revenue thresholds, and/or those that don't get traffic in large amounts of personal information from California residents don't share a brand with an affiliate that the CCPA covers won't have to comply.
The following are only suggestions to take into consideration while becoming CCPA compliant.
- Have a CCPA compliant Privacy Policy. Read more about privacy policies →
- Add a “do not sell my personal information” link on your site
Please consult with a legal professional if you have further questions about your store’s CCPA compliance.
GDPR stands for General Data Protection Regulation. It is an EU law covering data protection and privacy for all citizens of the European Union. GDPR regulates how individuals and organizations may collect, use, and retain personal data.
- GDPR applies to your online store if you are an EU-based business, or if you have customers from the EU.
- GDPR may still apply to those located outside of the EU. Please consult with a legal professional if you have further questions about GDPR compliance.
It is up to each Swell store to individually pursue GDPR compliance. Below is a list of simple suggestions to become GDPR compliant—as Swell cannot provide any further legal advice.
Suggestions:
- Have a GDPR compliant Privacy Policy. Read more about privacy policies →
- Report any security breaches to your customers within 72 hours.
- Ask for consent on sign-up forms or marketing forms for agreement to receive emails.
Please consult with a legal professional if you have further questions about GDPR, who it affects, and how to make your shop GDPR compliant.
PCI stands for Payment Card Industry. The PCI DSS (Data Security Standard) is a set of requirements for all companies that accept, store, process, or transmit credit card information (regardless of size or number of transactions) to maintain a secure environment.
To learn more, visit the PCI Council's website.
Swell's payment processors are PCI Compliant. You can visit each payment processors' site to read more: