Sown (the “Site” or “we”) is committed to providing quality services to you and this policy outlines our ongoing obligations to you in respect of how we manage your Personal Information. We are committed to recognising and valuing your rights regarding your privacy and personal information. This Privacy Policy describes how we collect, use, and disclose your Personal Information when you visit or make a purchase from the Site.

We have adopted the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) contained in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (the Privacy Act). The APPs govern the way in which we collect, use, disclose, store, secure and dispose of your Personal Information.

A copy of the Australian Privacy Principles may be obtained from the website of The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at www.aoic.gov.au  

What is Personal Information and why do we collect it?

When you visit the Site, we collect certain information about your device, your interaction with the Site, and information necessary to process your purchases. We may also collect additional information if you contact us for customer support. In this Privacy Policy, we refer to any information about an identifiable individual (including the information below) as “Personal Information”.  Personal Information is information or an opinion that identifies an individual. Examples of Personal Information we collect include: names, addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers.

This Personal Information is obtained in many ways including by email, correspondence, by telephone, via our website sown.au from your website, from social media, from other publicly available sources, from cookies and from third parties. We don’t guarantee website links or policy of authorised third parties.

We collect your Personal Information for the primary purpose of providing our services to you, providing information to our clients and marketing. We may also use your Personal Information for secondary purposes closely related to the primary purpose, in circumstances where you would reasonably expect such use or disclosure. You may unsubscribe from our mailing/marketing lists at any time by contacting us in writing.

When we collect Personal Information we will, where appropriate and where possible, explain to you why we are collecting the information and how we plan to use it.

See the list below for more information about what Personal Information we collect and why.

Device information

• Purpose of collection: to load the Site accurately for you, and to perform analytics on Site usage to optimise our Site.

• Source of collection: Collected automatically when you access our Site using cookies, log files, web beacons, tags, or pixels.

• Disclosure for a business purpose: shared with our processor Shopify.

• Personal Information collected: version of web browser, IP address, time zone, cookie information, what sites or products you view, search terms, and how you interact with the Site.

Order information

• Purpose of collection: to provide products or services to you to fulfil our contract, to process your payment information, arrange for shipping, and provide you with invoices and/or order confirmations, communicate with you, screen our orders for potential risk or fraud, and when in line with the preferences you have shared with us, provide you with information or advertising relating to our products or services.

• Source of collection: collected from you.

• Disclosure for a business purpose: shared with our processor Shopify.

• Personal Information collected: name, billing address, shipping address, payment information (including credit card numbers), email address, and phone number.

Customer support information

• Purpose of collection: to provide customer support. 

• Source of collection: collected from you. 

• Disclosure for a business purpose: shared with our processor Shopify. 

• Personal Information collected: name, email address, phone number, payment information (including credit card numbers), bill address, shipping address, purchase history. 

Sensitive Information

Sensitive information is defined in the Privacy Act to include information or opinion about such things as an individual's racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, membership of a political association, religious or philosophical beliefs, membership of a trade union or other professional body, criminal record or health information.

Sensitive information will be used by us only:

• For the primary purpose for which it was obtained

• For a secondary purpose that is directly related to the primary purpose

• With your consent; or where required or authorised by law.

Minors

The Site is not intended for individuals under the age of 18. We do not intentionally collect Personal Information from children. If you are the parent or guardian and believe your child has provided us with Personal Information, please contact us at the address above to request deletion. 

Sharing Personal Information

We share your Personal Information with service providers to help us provide our services and fulfill our contracts with you, as described above. For example:

• We use Shopify to power our online store. You can read more about how Shopify uses your Personal Information here: https://www.shopify.com/legal/privacy.

• We may share your Personal Information to comply with applicable laws and regulations, to respond to a subpoena, search warrant or other lawful request for information we receive, or to otherwise protect our rights.

• We may share marketing insights and purchase history with our wholesalers to improve product and marketing techniques. 

Third Parties

Where reasonable and practicable to do so, we will collect your Personal Information only from you. However, in some circumstances we may be provided with information by third parties. In such a case we will take reasonable steps to ensure that you are made aware of the information provided to us by the third party.

Behavioural Advertising

As described above, we use your Personal Information to provide you with targeted advertisements or marketing communications we believe may be of interest to you. For example:

• We use Google Analytics to help us understand how our customers use the Site. You can read more about how Google uses your Personal Information here: https://www.google.com/intl/en/policies/privacy/. You can also opt-out of Google Analytics here: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout

• We share information about your use of the Site, your purchases, and your interaction with our ads on other websites with our advertising partners. We collect and share some of this information directly with our advertising partners, and in some cases through the use of cookies or other similar technologies (which you may consent to, depending on your location).

• We use Shopify Audiences to help us show ads on other websites with our advertising partners to buyers who made purchases with other Shopify merchants and who may also be interested in what we have to offer. We also share information about your use of the Site, your purchases, and the email address associated with your purchases with Shopify Audiences, through which other Shopify merchants may make offers you may be interested in.

For more information about how targeted advertising works, you can visit the Network Advertising Initiative’s (“NAI”) educational page at https://www.networkadvertising.org/understanding-online-advertising/how-does-it-work.

You can opt out of targeted advertising by:

• FACEBOOK -https://www.facebook.com/settings/?tab=ads

• GOOGLE -https://www.google.com/settings/ads/anonymous

• BING -https://advertise.bingads.microsoft.com/en-us/resources/policies/personalized-ads]

Additionally, you can opt out of some of these services by visiting the Digital Advertising Alliance’s opt-out portal at: https://optout.aboutads.info/.

Disclosure of Personal Information

Your Personal Information may be disclosed in a number of circumstances including the following:

• Third parties where you consent to the use or disclosure; and

• Where required or authorised by law.

Using Personal Information

We use your personal Information to provide our services to you, which includes: offering products for sale, processing payments, shipping and fulfilment of your order, and keeping you up to date on new products, services, and offers.

Retention

When you place an order through the Site, we will retain your Personal Information for our records unless and until you ask us to erase this information. For more information on your right of erasure, please see the ‘Your rights’ section below.

Security of Personal Information

Your Personal Information is stored in a manner that reasonably protects it from misuse and loss and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.

When your Personal Information is no longer needed for the purpose for which it was obtained, we will take reasonable steps to destroy or permanently de-identify your Personal Information. However, most of the Personal Information is or will be stored in client files which will be kept by us for a minimum of 7 years.

Automatic decision-making

We DO NOT engage in fully automated decision-making that has a legal or otherwise significant effect using customer data.

Our processor Shopify uses limited automated decision-making to prevent fraud that does not have a legal or otherwise significant effect on you.

Services that include elements of automated decision-making include:

• Temporary blacklist of IP addresses associated with repeated failed transactions. This blacklist persists for a small number of hours.

• Temporary blacklist of credit cards associated with blacklisted IP addresses. This blacklist persists for a small number of days.

Selling Personal Information

• We will not sell, distribute, rent, licence, disclose, share or pass your personal information onto any third parties, other than those who are contracted to us to keep the information confidential whether subject to a statute or a scheme which imposes similar restrictions to the Australian Privacy Principles contained in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), as amended, regarding the handling of personal information.

• Should a third party approach us with a demand to access your personal information, we will take reasonable steps to redirect the third party to request the information directly from you, wherever it is lawful and reasonable for us to do so.

• If we are compelled to disclose your personal information, to a third party we will take reasonable steps to notify you of this in advance, wherever it is lawful and reasonable for us to do so.

Cookies

• A cookie is a small amount of information that’s downloaded to your computer or device when you visit our Site. We use a number of different cookies, including functional, performance, advertising, and social media or content cookies. Cookies make your browsing experience better by allowing the website to remember your actions and preferences (such as login and region selection). This means you don’t have to re-enter this information each time you return to the site or browse from one page to another. Cookies also provide information on how people use the website, for instance whether it’s their first time visiting or if they are a frequent visitor.

• We use the following cookies to optimise your experience on our Site and to provide our services.

Cookies Necessary for the Functioning of the Store

Name	Function	Duration
_ab	Used in connection with access to admin.	2y
_secure_session_id	Used in connection with navigation through a storefront.	24h
_shopify_country	Used in connection with checkout.	session
_shopify_m	Used for managing customer privacy settings.	1y
_shopify_tm	Used for managing customer privacy settings.	30min
_shopify_tw	Used for managing customer privacy settings.	2w
_storefront_u	Used to facilitate updating customer account information.	1min
_tracking_consent	Tracking preferences.	1y
c	Used in connection with checkout.	1y
cart	Used in connection with shopping cart.	2w
cart_currency	Used in connection with shopping cart.	2w
cart_sig	Used in connection with checkout.	2w
cart_ts	Used in connection with checkout.	2w
cart_ver	Used in connection with shopping cart.	2w
checkout	Used in connection with checkout.	4w
checkout_token	Used in connection with checkout.	1y
dynamic_checkout_shown_on_cart	Used in connection with checkout.	30min
hide_shopify_pay_for_checkout	Used in connection with checkout.	session
keep_alive	Used in connection with buyer localization.	2w
master_device_id	Used in connection with merchant login.	2y
previous_step	Used in connection with checkout.	1y
remember_me	Used in connection with checkout.	1y
secure_customer_sig	Used in connection with customer login.	20y
shopify_pay	Used in connection with checkout.	1y
shopify_pay_redirect	Used in connection with checkout.	30 minutes, 3w or 1y depending on value
storefront_digest	Used in connection with customer login.	2y
tracked_start_checkout	Used in connection with checkout.	1y
checkout_one_experiment	Used in connection with checkout.	session

 

Reporting and Analytics

Name	Function	Duration
_landing_page	Track landing pages.	2w
_orig_referrer	Track landing pages.	2w
_s	Shopify analytics.	30min
_shopify_d	Shopify analytics.	session
_shopify_s	Shopify analytics.	30min
_shopify_sa_p	Shopify analytics relating to marketing & referrals.	30min
_shopify_sa_t	Shopify analytics relating to marketing & referrals.	30min
_shopify_y	Shopify analytics.	1y
_y	Shopify analytics.	1y
_shopify_evids	Shopify analytics.	session
_shopify_ga	Shopify and Google Analytics.	session

 

• The length of time that a cookie remains on your computer or mobile device depends on whether it is a “persistent” or “session” cookie. Session cookies last until you stop browsing and persistent cookies last until they expire or are deleted. Most of the cookies we use are persistent and will expire between 30 minutes and two years from the date they are downloaded to your device.

• You can control and manage cookies in various ways. Please keep in mind that removing or blocking cookies can negatively impact your user experience and parts of our website may no longer be fully accessible.

• Most browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can choose whether or not to accept cookies through your browser controls, often found in your browser’s “Tools” or “Preferences” menu. For more information on how to modify your browser settings or how to block, manage or filter cookies can be found in your browser’s help file or through such sites as: allaboutcookies.org 

• Additionally, please note that blocking cookies may not completely prevent how we share information with third parties such as our advertising partners. To exercise your rights or opt-out of certain uses of your information by these parties, please follow the instructions in the “Behavioural Advertising” section above.

Do Not Track

• Please note that because there is no consistent industry understanding of how to respond to “Do Not Track” signals, we do not alter our data collection and usage practices when we detect such a signal from your browser.

Access to your Personal Information

You may access the Personal Information we hold about you and to update and/or correct it, subject to certain exceptions. If you wish to access your Personal Information, please contact us in writing.

Sown will not charge any fee for your access request, but may charge an administrative fee for providing a copy of your Personal Information.

In order to protect your Personal Information we may require identification from you before releasing the requested information.

Maintaining the Quality of your Personal Information

It is an important to us that your Personal Information is up to date. We  will  take reasonable steps to make sure that your Personal Information is accurate, complete and up-to-date. If you find that the information we have is not up to date or is inaccurate, please advise us as soon as practicable so we can update our records and ensure we can continue to provide quality services to you.

Policy Updates

This Policy may change from time to time and is available on our website. We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time in order to reflect, for example, changes to our practices or for other operational, legal, or regulatory reasons.

Privacy Policy Complaints and Enquiries

As noted above, if you would like to make a complaint or if you have an enquiry, please contact us by e-mail or by mail using the details provided under “Contact” below.

Contact

After reviewing this policy, if you have additional questions, want more information about our privacy practices, or would like to make a complaint, please contact us below: