eCommerceFuel Privacy Notice

Last Updated: May 1, 2024

We at eCommerceFuel believe that you should know what kind of data we collect from you, how we use it, and how you can have control over your data. We work to be transparent in our data collection efforts and to provide you with the information that you need to make decisions about our collection of data from you. The capitalized terms below are more fully defined in eCommerceFuel’s terms of use agreement.

When you use the eCommerceFuel Forum, even if you are just browsing, we may collect some basic data from you such as the type of device that you are using, your geographical location, and your IP address. We also use your interactions with the eCommerceFuel Forum to show you more relevant content.

If you have any questions about our Privacy Notice, how we collect data from you, how we use your data, or how you can control your privacy settings, you can contact us at any time at support@ecommercefuel.com.

Data You Share with Us

We may collect data from you when you voluntarily share it with us. This may include the following data:

• Account Data. If you choose to apply for and create an account, you must provide us with some personal data so that we can provide you with the services that you have requested. This may include your username, password, email address, phone number. This also includes data stored in persistent cookies when you login to the Forum and analytics data that is collected when you use the Forum. We collect and process this data to operate the Forum, to authenticate you as a user of the Forum, to ensure that timely and relevant content is provided to you, to secure the Forum, to ensure that the Forum operates in a fast and efficient manner, and to maintain backups of the Forum. Our lawful ground for processing this data is our legitimate business interests in administering and offering the Forum.
• Public Communications Data. Some of the activity on the Forum is public, including any communications that you may post to on the Forum. We may use this public communications data to communicate with you, to provide you with customer support, to record logs of our communication, to provide you with the services requested, to provide you with more relevant content, to tailor content to your preferences, to keep records of communications between us and you, and to defend against legal claims. We may also collect and process this data for the purposes of training Discourse AI, which uses large language models to aid in searching for and identifying content on our Forum. Our lawful ground for collecting and processing this data is to respond to communicate with you, to provide you with customer support, to operate the Forum, to record logs of our communication, and to pursue or defend against legal claims.
• Private Communication Data. We may use your contact data, such as any data that you voluntarily provide to us like your phone number, address, and email address, to authenticate your account, to communicate with you, to respond to communications sent to you by us, to keep records of our communication, to fulfill your orders, or to pursue or defend against legal claims. We may store and process your private communications with us and data related to them to scan for malicious content, to review content for violations of our terms of use agreement, or to respond to legal process or law enforcement inquiries. Our lawful ground for collecting and processing this data is to respond to communicate with you, to provide you with customer support, to operate the Forum, to record logs of our communication, and to pursue or defend against legal claims.

Additional Data We Receive From You

We may also collect data from you automatically when you use the Forum. This may include the following data:

• Location Data. We may collect data about your location by collecting and processing your IP address and device settings. We may use this data to tailor our offerings to your geographic location, respond to law enforcement requests, or to provide you with content that is relevant to your geographic location. Our lawful ground for collecting and processing this location data is our legitimate interests in administering and offering the Forum and to grow our business and marketing strategy.
• Technical Data. We may collect technical data about your use of the Forum, such as your IP address, your device IDs, your phone number, pages visited, referring web page, your mobile phone model, mobile carrierharrier, search terms, cookie data, your operating system, your geolocation, and your time zone. We may use this data to analyze your use of the Forum, to administer and secure our services, to determine how we should allocate resources to our Forum, and to understand the technical load on our servers. Our lawful ground for collecting and processing this location data is our legitimate interests in administering and offering the Forum and to grow our business and marketing strategy.
• Marketing Data. We may collect your IP address, your device IDs, your geographical location, your phone numbers, pages visited, referring web page, mobile phone model, search terms, cookie data, Google Advertising IDs, and Apple Advertising IDs to provide advertisements to you through third-party ad networks. We may use your data to provide advertisements to you, to provide remarketing advertisements to you after you previously visited the Website, to determine the relevance of advertisements, to measure the effectiveness of advertisements, and to help make those advertisements more relevant to your preferences. Our lawful ground for collecting and processing this location data is our legitimate interests in administering and offering the Forum and to grow our business and marketing strategy.
• Personally Sensitive Data. Personally sensitive data includes data about your race or ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs, sex life, sexual orientation, political opinions, union membership, or information about your health. We do not collect personally sensitive data. However, California law states that geolocation information may be considered sensitive personal information. We may collect your geolocation via your IP address, as otherwise specified in this Privacy Notice.

Use of Cookies

We may also collect data from you through the use of cookies and other technologies. This helps us understand how you use the Forum and to understand any patterns that may be associated with your use of our services. This aids us in developing or improving our services in response to your needs or wants.

We may use session or persistent cookies. Session cookies are only stored on your computer or mobile device during your use of the Forum and are automatically deleted when you close your web browser. Persistent cookies are stored as a file on your computer or mobile device that remain on your computer or mobile device even after you close your web browser. Persistent cookies can be read by the website that created the cookie when you revisit it again. We may use persistent cookies when we utilize Google Analytics or other analytics providers, which are intended to track the origin and behavior of traffic to the Website. We may also, from time to time, receive data from third parties including analytics providers or advertising networks such as Google, Facebook, or Apple.

Marketing Communications

We may send you marketing communications if you have asked us for information concerning our services or if you have agreed to, and have not opted out from, receiving marketing communications from us. You may ask us to stop sending you marketing messages at any time by logging into your account to adjust your marketing preferences or by following the opt-out link in any marketing message sent to you.

Disclosure of Personal Data

We only share your personal data in limited circumstances.

We may share or disclose your personal data with your consent or at your direction.

We may also share your data with certain third parties to aid us in operating the Website. For example, we may share your personal data with third parties, such as analytics providers, to utilize their software tools and measure the effectiveness of our Website or advertisements. We may also share personal data, such as device IDs, with third party advertisers to help them determine whether they should serve an ad to you. The data that we share with these third parties does not include your email address, name, phone number, or username, but it may include your geographical location.

We may also share your personal data with our accountants, auditors, insurers, or attorneys where doing so is necessary to protect the interests of eCommerceFuel or to comply with any law or regulation.

We may also share your personal data with government or law enforcement agencies when we are required to report our data processing activities, upon receipt of an exigent circumstances request, upon receipt of a duly authorized subpoena or court order, or where doing so is necessary to protect our users, our employees, our contractors, third parties, or property.

Finally, we may share your personal data to a third party if we sell, transfer, or merge any part of our business or assets. In the event that we share your personal data in the sale, transfer, or merger of any part of our business or assets, this Privacy Notice will continue to apply to your personal data when transferred to the new entity.

eCommerceFuel requires all third parties that receive a transfer of personal data from eCommerceFuel to maintain the same level of respect for the protection of personal data as eCommerceFuel and eCommerceFuel only allows third parties to process your personal data for the specific purposes listed in this Privacy Notice.

Data Retention

We will only retain your personal data for so long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it is collected under this Privacy Notice or for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements. With respect to location data, information and contact data, technical data, usage and interaction data, and marketing data, we may retain this data for so long as it is relevant to the uses disclosed in this Privacy Notice. We may retain account data, public data, and communications data for so long as you maintain a user account with eCommerceFuel, and we may retain this data for longer periods where there is a need to retain this data to comply with eCommerceFuel’s legal obligations, such as the preservation of electronic evidence or compliance with a preservation order.

Third-Party Links

Our services may include links to third-party websites and applications. By clicking on third party links, you may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. We do not control these third-party links and you are advised their respective privacy policies. This includes links provided by other Users on the Forum; eCommerceFuel is not liable for data obtained if Users utilize the third-party links.

User Submitted Content

eCommerceFuel may use content that you submit to the eCommerceFuel Forum as part of a large language model data set to power user-assistive technologies such as AI-powered chatbots and to aid you in searching Forum content. eCommerceFuel will not incorporate usernames or profiles into any large language model data set.

Right of Access, Rectification, Correction Erasure, Transfer, and Withdrawal

Under the law, you may have a right to request access to your personal data for rectification, correction, erasure, transfer, or restriction, or to object to its processing or withdraw your consent. If you wish to exercise any of these rights, please contact eCommerceFuel’s Data Protection Officer as disclosed in this Privacy Notice.

You do not need to pay a fee to access your personal data or to exercise your rights. However, eCommerceFuel may charge a reasonable fee if your request is unreasonable or excessive.

To confirm your request, eCommerceFuel may need to request specific information from you as a security measure to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to an unauthorized third party. eCommerceFuel will attempt to respond to all legitimate requests within thirty (30) days.

Rights of European Citizens

eCommerceFuel adheres to the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (“DPF”) Principles, including the DPF’s Supplemental Principles, and complies with the Principles in handling all data from EU-citizens. eCommerceFuel is subject to the enforcement powers of the United States Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) in relation to its handling of user data. eCommerceFuel is not yet certified under the DPF by the FTC or any other regulatory body, but we adhere to the Principles in handling all data from EU-citizens to the best of our abilities.

If you are a European citizen, you are entitled to certain rights regarding the protection of your Personally Identifiable Information and Personal Data, which are subject to limitations set forth in the EU GDPR and its applicable case law. These rights are:

• The right to access and correct the information that eCommerceFuel processes about you;
• The right to transfer all or a part of the information collected about you to another data controller, where it is technically feasible;
• The right to the erasure of data concerning you, subject to eCommerceFuel’s rights of retention under the law;
• The right to object to the processing of Personally Identifiable Information and Personal Data where you dispute the accuracy of the data, the processing is not lawful, eCommerceFuel no longer needs the information for the purposes of processing, or you have raised an objection for personal reasons;
• The right to revoke your consent to data processing;
• The right to object to the processing of your Personally Identifiable Information and Personal Data for marketing purposes;
• The right to object to the processing of Personally Identifiable Information and Personal Data for direct marketing or for personal reasons that arise from your particular situation; and
• The right to file a complaint with a data protection authority.

To exercise these rights, you may either opt out of receiving communications from eCommerceFuel by unsubscribing to its e-mails or by contacting us at support@ecommercefuel.com. You do not need to pay a fee to exercise these rights, however, eCommerceFuel reserves the right to charge a reasonable fee if your request is unreasonable or excessive. To confirm your request, we may need to request specific information from you as a security measure to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to an unauthorized third party. We will attempt to respond to all legitimate requests within thirty (30) days.

For further information regarding your privacy rights as a citizen of the EU, please visit the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Services at https://www.commerce.gov/ and the DPF overview webpage at https://www.dataprivacyframework.gov/s/program-overview.

You can find a list of DPF certified organizations here: https://www.dataprivacyframework.gov/s/

Beyond filing a complaint directly with eCommerceFuel using the mechanisms described above, you may also file a complaint with a third-party, neutral arbitrator who will provide appropriate recourse free of charge. If you are looking for an alternative dispute settlement provider, please visit https://www.jamsadr.com/eu-us-data-privacy-framework. JAMS is a US-based arbitration service provider. You are not required to use JAMS to arbitrate a dispute with eCommerceFuel.

As a citizen of the EU you may, under certain conditions, invoke binding arbitration against eCommerceFuel, and eCommerceFuel may be held liable in cases of onward data transfers to third parties as described more fully in DPF overview page linked above. eCommerceFuel may be required to disclose personal information in response to lawful requests by public authorities, including to meet national security or law enforcement requirements.

California Privacy Rights

The following rules apply solely to visitors, users, and others who are residents of the State of California. California residents have the right to be notified which categories of personal data are being collected and the purposes for which the personal data is being used. In particular, we collected the following categories of personal data (A, B, D, E, and F) as defined in the California Consumer Privacy Act within the last twelve months. Our uses of this personal data are detailed above in this Privacy Notice:

We obtain these categories of personal data directly from California residents when they complete forms through our Website, email us, or provide it to us as a part of a transaction or inquiry concerning our products. We also obtain these categories of personal data indirectly from California residents while observing their actions on our Website and from third parties or service providers that they have authorized to receive and share personal data.

California residents have a right to request that we disclose what personal data we collect from you and whether, and how, we disclose or sell that personal data. California residents may also request that we delete any personal information collected or maintained by us from you.

California residents may also have the right to opt out of the sale of their personal information by contacting us or, where available, by clicking a link or icon associated with an advertisement. Specifically, this link or icon may state “Do Not Sell My Personal Information” or “Do Not Sell My Info.” By selecting this link or icon, you “Opt Out,” which means that you have opted out of the sale of your personal information as set forth in the California Consumer Privacy Act. However, even though you may have opted out, you may still see interest-based advertisements. To learn more about interest-based advertising across websites and additional opt-out choices, You can visit http://optout.aboutads.info. If you opt-out of the sale of your personal information but do not opt out of interest-based advertising more generally, You may still receive ads tailored to your interests based on personal data that was not sold by us, personal information that was sold to downstream participants at least 90 days before you opted out, or personal information that was sold by other sources from which you have not opted out.

To submit a request for a list of the categories of personal information collected from you or to request that eCommerceFuel delete your personal information, please email us at support@ecommercefuel.com or send a letter to us at the following address:

Privacy Officer

eCommerceFuel
c/o Revision Legal, PLLC
444 Cass St., Suite D
Traverse City, MI 49684
United States of America

To verify your request, we may request certain information from you to confirm that you are a eCommerceFuel user, such as your phone number, username, email address, city, state, or geographic location. You may also designate an authorized agent to make a request to eCommerceFuel to disclose or delete your personal information. To do so, you must provide eCommerceFuel with proof that the individual or business has been appointed as your agent, such by providing a signed power of attorney form, and provide accurate responses to any information requested by eCommerceFuel that may be necessary to confirm that you are a eCommerceFuel user, such as your phone number, username, email address, city, state, or geographic location. California residents have a right not to receive discriminatory treatment by eCommerceFuel for their exercise of these rights conferred under California law.

Colorado Residents

eCommerceFuel does not conduct business in Colorado, control or process the personal data of 100,000 or more consumers during a calendar year, or derive revenue or receive a discount on the price of goods or services from the sale of personal data.

Connecticut Residents

During the preceding calendar year, eCommerceFuel did not control or process the personal data of at least 100,000 consumers or derive more than 25% of our gross revenue from the sale of personal data.

Montana Residents

eCommerceFuel does not control or process the personal data of 50,000 or more Montana residents during a calendar year or derive over 25% of its revenues from the sale of personal data and control or processing of personal data of 25,000 or more Montana residents. Therefore, the Montana Consumer Data Privacy Act does not apply to eCommerceFuel’s collection or use of personal data.

Nevada Residents

If you are a resident of Nevada, you may provide notice to us to limit the sale of your personal data to third parties for resale or licensing purposes. However, we do not sell your personal data for such use. To notify us that you wish to limit the sale of your personal data to third parties for resale or licensing purposes, you may contact us at support@ecommercefuel.com. In your submission please include the statement “Nevada Do Not Sell Request,” along with your name, address, and user account information.

Tennessee Residents

eCommerceFuel does not exceed $25 million in annual revenue, control or process the personal information of 175,000 or more Tennessee consumers, or control or process the data of 25,000 consumers while deriving more than 50% of its gross revenue from the sale of personal information.

Texas Residents

eCommerceFuel is considered a small business as defined by the Small Business Administration and, therefore, is exempt from the Texas Data Privacy and Security Act. However, eCommerceFuel generally collects and processes personal data only to the extent that it is adequate, relevant, and reasonably necessary for the purposes disclosed in this Privacy Notice. The categories of personal data collected by eCommerceFuel are disclosed within this Privacy Notice, and Texas residents may request, free of charge, information on the personal data collected from them twice annually.

Utah Residents

eCommerceFuel does not have annual revenues of $25,000,000 or more and control or process the personal data of 100,000 or more consumers. Therefore, the Utah Consumer Privacy Act does not apply to eCommerceFuel’s collection and use of personal data.

Virginia Residents

eCommerceFuel does not control or process the personal data of at least 100,000 Virginia residents or control or process the personal data of at least 25,000 Virginia residents and derive more than 50% of its gross revenue from the sale of personal data. For these reasons, the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act (VCDPA) does not apply to eCommerceFuel’s collection and use of personal data

Global Privacy Control

eCommerceFuel does not yet recognize Global Privacy Control signals, but it strives to comply with any requests to opt out from the collection and use of personal data. Should you wish to opt out from the collection and use of your personal data, please contact our Data Protection Officer through the contact information provided in this Privacy Notice.

Responding to Do Not Track Signals

You can generally opt-out of receiving personalized ads from third-party advertisers and ad networks, such as Google and Facebook, who are members of the Network Advertising Initiative (NAI) or who follow the Digital Advertising Alliance’s Self-Regulatory Principles for Online Behavioral Advertising by visiting the opt-out pages on the NAI website and DAA website. The Forum is not currently set up to respond to browser do-not-track signals, but you can configure your browser settings to reject all cookies or prompt you before a cookie is set.

Notification of Changes

Whenever we change our Privacy Notice, we will post those changes to this Privacy Notice and other places that we deem appropriate. Your use of the Forum following these changes indicates your consent to the practices described in the revised Privacy Policy.

Contact Information

If you have any questions or suggestions regarding our Privacy Notice, or if your personal information is not accurate or complete, please contact our Data Protection Officer at:

eCommerceFuel, support@ecommercefuel.com