Happy Returns Privacy Statement

Effective date/Last updated: 30 October 2023

Our Merchant Terms and Conditions: https://happyreturns.com/merchant-terms

  1. Overview
  2. Our role as Data Controller
  3. Categories of Personal Information we collect
  4. Categories of Sources of Personal Information
  5. How is Personal Information used and legal basis for processing
  6. Do we disclose Personal Information and why?
  7. How long do we store your Personal Information?
  8. How we use Cookies and similar technologies
  9. Your data protection rights
    1. Your rights to access, correction, deletion and restriction to use or disclose your Personal Information
    2. Additional rights for the EU, EEA, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Switzerland residents
    3. How do you exercise your rights?
    4. Understanding your choices
  10. Data Transfers from the EU, EEA, Switzerland and UK
    1. Binding Corporate Rules and Standard Contractual Clauses
    2. EU-US Privacy Shield Framework
  11. How do we protect your Personal Information?
  12. Can children use our services?
  13. Definitions
  14. Contact information
  15. California notice at collection

1. Overview

Happy Returns handles product returns for items purchased from various merchants. We manage the return and exchange process, including initiating, accepting and processing items for return to merchants. Happy Returns offers our merchant customers return logistics software and a network of locations to enable shoppers to return and exchange items online, in-store, in-person or by post.

This Privacy Statement explains how and why Happy Returns collects, stores, uses and discloses Personal Information of existing and prospective merchants and shoppers when they visit our Sites, connect with us offline, or use our Services. Reading it will help you understand your privacy rights and choices. Certain capitalised terms that are not otherwise defined in the Privacy Statement are explained in Section 13 (“Definitions”).

If you are one of our existing or prospective merchant customers, this Privacy Statement applies to you. If you are a shopper who returns products or goods to a merchant, the terms of this Privacy Statement will apply to your use of our Services. Additionally, for shoppers, the merchant’s privacy policy will also apply to any information that Happy Returns collects from the merchant in order to accept and process your return. This Privacy Statement also applies to anyone who visits or uses our Sites or connects with us offline. This Privacy Statement may be supplemented with additional notices depending on our websites and Services concerned.

We revise this Privacy Statement from time to time to reflect changes to our business, Services or applicable laws. If the revised version requires notice in accordance with applicable law, we will provide you with 30 days’ prior notice by posting notice of the change on the "Privacy Policy" page of our website, otherwise the revised Privacy Statement will be effective as of the published effective date according to the last updated date, which appears at the beginning of this Privacy Statement.

2. Our role as Data Controller

Happy Returns is established in the United States of America. Our address is 28790 Chase Place, Valencia, California, 91355, U.S.A. Our contact email address is privacy@happyreturns.com. For the purposes of the General Data Protection Regulation and other applicable laws, we are the data controller for the Personal Information we Process in connection with our Services or prospective use of our Services. As the data controller, we are the entity that determines how and why your Personal Information is p (collected, used, stored, disclosed etc.).

Some of the third parties to whom Happy Returns might disclose your Personal Information are independent data controllers. Examples include merchants, authorities and acquirers. When your data is disclosed to independent data controllers, their data policies will apply. Happy Returns encourages you to read their privacy policies and know your privacy rights before interacting with them.

3. Categories of Personal Information we collect

Personal Information that we collect will be determined by your interaction with Happy Returns, our merchants, partners and other sources. Here are the categories of Personal Information that we may collect when you create a merchant account with us or use our Services (the specifically processed categories depend on the actual services you use or the type of interaction you request):

  • Identifiers, such as first and last name, address, phone number, email, IP address, Device Information, information collected from cookies or similar technologies, or information necessary to establish a merchant account.
  • Commercial information, such as product order and return/exchange information, purchase history, return tracking, shipping information or information about items returned by shoppers.
  • Internet or network activity, such as interactions with our Services and Sites, information about response time for web pages, download errors, date and time when you used the Services, statistics regarding how pages are loaded or viewed, the websites you visited before coming to the Sites, or other usage and browsing information collected through cookies.
  • Geolocation: We may collect your Geolocation information, with your consent. We may also collect other location information, such as your country based on the IP address.
  • Audio information, such as call recordings when you talk to customer service.
  • Professional information, such as business information, job title, contact emails or phone numbers.
  • Information you provide when you contact us, such as your responses to surveys, information you provide when you contact our customer support teams, recorded conversations with our customer service, chat conversations with us, email correspondence with us, or information about others if you choose to share it with us.
  • Inferred data, such as information we may infer about you based on your interactions with our Sites and Services and your transactions.
  • Sensitive personal information: precise Geolocation information, with your consent.
  • Information from your device, such as language settings, browser ID, cookie preferences, time zone, operating system, platform, screen resolution and similar information about your device settings, or data collected from cookies or other tracking technologies.

4. Categories of Sources of Personal Information

We may collect Personal Information from various sources, including:

  • You, including your interaction with us and use of our Service.
  • Merchants, ecommerce, logistics and order management platforms.
  • Shipping carriers.
  • Service providers, such as companies that help us manage risk and fraud, deliver Services to you, market our Services and generate marketing opportunities.
  • Our parent company and its affiliates and subsidiaries.
  • Happy Returns subsidiaries.
  • Data brokers.
  • Publicly available sources.

If you have a merchant account with Happy Returns, we may associate Personal Information from other sources with the account to improve your experience and for compliance, analytics and marketing purposes.

5. How is Personal Information used and legal basis for processing

In some countries, we may process your Personal Information only when we have a valid legal basis to do so. Depending on the circumstances, we may rely on the fact that processing is necessary to provide our Services or to comply with our contractual and legal obligations. We may also process your Personal Information where we pursue our or others’ legitimate interests, taking into consideration your interests, rights and expectations. In other cases, we may rely on your prior, explicit and voluntary consent.

Subject to the respectively applicable legal basis, we may collect and process your Personal Information for the following business and commercial purposes:

  1. To provide our Services and fulfil our contractual obligations, such as to:>
    • process and manage product returns;
    • communicate with you about your returns, your account, our website, our Services or Happy Returns;
    • set up and authenticate access to merchant accounts;
    • respond to your questions, comments and other requests;
    • compare information for accuracy and verification purposes; or
    • keep merchant accounts up to date.
  2. To comply with our obligations and to enforce the terms of our Sites and Services, including to comply with all applicable laws and regulations.
  3. To process your data for various legitimate interests, such as to:
    • manage our business needs and operate our Sites;
    • monitor, analyse, develop and improve our Services as well as our Sites’ performance and functionalities;
    • develop new products and features;
    • conduct customer and data analysis, research and for statistical purposes;
    • help ensure security and integrity and protect from fraud and misuse;
    • debug to identify and repair errors that impair existing intended functionality;
    • enforce our legal claims and legal defences;
    • aggregate or anonymise Personal Information to provide aggregated statistical data to third parties, including our business partners, about how, when and why customers visit our Sites and use our Services;
    • conduct business-to-business marketing;
    • when you select a Return Bar location for your product return, include a promotional voucher provided by the selected Return Bar partner in our communication to you about the return.
  4. To use cookies and similar technologies to provide a targeted display, feature, service or offer to you and/or to work with other third parties such as retailers or analytics companies to provide these personalised services. We will obtain your consent to use cookies and similar technologies as required by applicable law.
  5. To provide you with location-specific functionalities, such as pointing you to the return bars close to your location, if you elect to share your Geolocation in your browser. We do not use that Geolocation data for other purposes and do not disclose it to other parties for their own purposes.
  6. To respond to your requests, for example to contact you about a question you submitted to our customer service team.

6. Do we disclose Personal Information and why?

We do not sell Personal Information to third parties or share your Personal Information for cross-context behavioural advertising, including any sensitive Personal Information.

However, we may disclose your Personal Information to third parties to help us provide Services, protect our customers from risk and fraud, market our Services and comply with legal obligations.

We may disclose your Personal Information to:

  1. Our parent company and affiliates and subsidiaries, but only for purposes allowed by this Privacy Statement;
  2. Happy Returns subsidiaries, as necessary to provide our Services;
  3. Merchants, e-commerce, logistics and order management platforms, as necessary to provide our Services and process returns;
  4. Service providers or business partners that help us with providing our Services, processing returns, marketing, research, compliance, analytics, audits, corporate governance, communications and security;
  5. Third parties in an aggregate or anonymised/de-identified format that does not identify any specific person. For example, we might disclose aggregated statistical data about how, when and why customers visit our Sites and use our Services to our business partners to improve our Services and to develop our business relationships;
  6. Courts, governments, regulators and law enforcement when accompanied by a subpoena or other legal documentation that requires Happy Returns or members of our corporate family to respond;
  7. 8) Other third parties, for example we disclose Personal Information help provide our Services. Please be aware that these third parties’ privacy notice applies to the Personal Information that you share directly with them. For example, we use Google’s reCAPTCHA to prevent misuse of our Services and Google Maps to locate the closest return bar. Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Use apply to the Personal Information you share with them;
  8. Third parties, as a result of, or in connection with, a merger, purchase or sale of part or all of our business, consolidation, change in control, transfer of assets, bankruptcy, reorganisation, or liquidation;
  9. Third parties after receiving your consent; or
  10. Other third parties as necessary to:
    • Comply with applicable laws;
    • Investigate or enforce violations of our terms and conditions; or
    • To prevent physical harm or illegal activity.

7. How long do we store your Personal Information?

We retain Personal Information for as long as needed or permitted in context of the purpose for which it was collected and consistent with applicable law.

The criteria used to determine our retention period is as follows:

  • Personal Information used in product return transactions is stored for a period of 10 years or need to keep it longer, such as:
  • as necessary to comply with our legal obligations. Personal Information in relation to a legal obligation to which we are subject is retained consistent with the applicable law;
  • as required in connection with litigations, investigations, audit and compliance practices, or to protect against or defend legal claims.

8. How we use Cookies and similar technologies

We or our authorised service providers may use cookies and similar tracking technologies, to collect Personal Information. These help us provide our Services, manage your preferences, analyse engagement and usage, and enhance the security of our Sites and Services.

Some cookies can be temporary (“session cookies” such as those used for navigating your browser) and disappear once you close it. Others last longer (“persistent cookies”, such as when you ask a site to remember your login) and are saved to your computer until you delete them.

Our uses of cookies and similar technologies may fall into the following general categories:

Required or essential: We may use cookies, web beacons or other similar technologies that are necessary to the operation of our Sites, Services, applications and tools. This includes technologies that allow you access to our Sites, Services, applications and tools; that are required to identify irregular site behaviour, prevent fraudulent activity and improve security; or that allow you to make use of our Services;

Functionality and performance: We may use cookies, web beacons or other similar technologies that allow us to offer you enhanced functionality when accessing or using our Sites, Services, applications or tools. This may include identifying you when you sign in to our Sites or keeping track of your specified preferences, interests or past items viewed so that we may enhance the presentation of content on our Sites.

We may also use these technologies to assess the performance of our Sites, applications, Services and tools, including as part of our analytic practices to help us understand how our visitors use our Sites, determine if you have interacted with our messaging, determine whether you have viewed an item or link, or to improve our Sites’ content, applications, Services or tools.

Advertising and marketing: We may use cookies and web beacons to deliver content on our Sites that may be interesting to you based on your use of our Sites. This includes using technologies to understand the usefulness to you of the advertisements and content that have been delivered to you.

In some jurisdictions, you can use the cookie banner on our website to decline some cookies. If you want to disable cookies entirely, your browser or mobile device might have an option to do that. However, keep in mind that since some parts of our Sites and Services rely on cookies to work, those Services could become difficult or impossible to use.

Do Not Track (DNT) is an optional browser setting that allows you to express your preferences regarding tracking by advertisers and other third parties. At this time our Services are not designed to respond to DNT signals or similar mechanisms from browsers. To learn how to opt out of tracking technology, visit About Ads. For more information, including instructions on disabling cookies, please visit: http://www.allaboutcookies.org/

9. Your data protection rights

a) Your rights to access, correction, deletion and restriction to use or disclose your Personal Information

Under applicable data protection law, you have certain rights to how your Personal Information is collected, stored, used and disclosed.

We recognize the importance of your ability to control the use of your Personal Information and provide you with ways for you to exercise your rights to access (right to know), correction, deletion (erasure).

We will not discriminate or retaliate against you, deny you services, charge you different prices or provide you with a different level of service solely for exercising your privacy rights.

Your right to request a copy of the Personal Information. If you want to make a request to know about the data we’ve collected about you, contact us and request that we provide you with the data we’ve collected.

Your right to correct your Personal Information. Contact us and request that we correct specific information.

Your right to delete your Personal Information.Contact us and request that we delete specific information.

If you request that we delete your Personal Information, subject to applicable law, we will delete or anonymise/de-identify any Personal Information we have. We might still need to keep some Personal Information as explained in How long do we store your Personal Information section so we can:

  • Complete a transaction, provide Services you requested, or comply with our promises to you in other contract you have with us.
  • Detect and prevent malicious or illegal activity.
  • Protect your (or another person’s) legal rights, including the right to free speech.
  • Manage our internal business processes that are reasonably related to your expectations when using our Services.
  • Comply with laws and other legal or governmental processes.

We may also continue to store your Personal Information in an aggregated and anonymised/de-identified format that doesn’t identify you and can’t be attributed to you.

b) Additional rights for the EU, EEA, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Switzerland residents

Your right to portability. Where you have provided your Personal Information to us on the basis of your consent, you have the right to ask us for a copy of this data in a structured, machine-readable format and to ask us to send this data to another data controller.

Your right to object to processing. In situations where we are processing your Personal Information based on our legitimate interest, you can object that the interest is no longer legitimate. Happy Returns will stop processing that data unless we can demonstrate an overriding legitimate ground.

Your right to restrict processing. You have the right to ask us to stop any active processing of your Personal Information while we seek to verify Personal Information you claim is inaccurate, while we verify our legitimate interests, or while we cannot erase that Personal Information due to legal obligations.

Your right to object to direct marketing. If we use your Personal Information for direct marketing, you can always modify your permissions, object and opt out of future direct marketing messages using the unsubscribe link in electronic communications.

Your right to withdraw consent. Generally, if we use your Personal Information with your consent, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time without affecting the lawfulness of processing based on consent before its withdrawal. Withdrawing your consent will not affect the lawfulness of any processing we conducted prior to your withdrawal, nor will it affect processing of your Personal Information conducted in reliance on a lawful processing ground other than consent.

c) How do you exercise your rights?

To exercise any of these rights, you (or your authorised agent) can contact us by email at privacy@happyreturns.com. US residents can also make data subject requests via freephone number (877) 750-4888.

If you or an authorised agent submit a request, we’ll first need to verify who you are before we can respond to your request. We may ask you to provide us with information necessary to reasonably verify your identity before responding to your request. We will compare the information you submit against our internal business records to verify your identity. If we can’t verify your identity, we will not be able to fulfil your request. We reserve the right to deny your request for other reasons, such as if an exemption applies under applicable law (for example, where fulfilling your request would adversely affect other individuals, or where we have a conflicting legal obligation). If we deny your request in whole or in part, you may have the right to appeal the decision. In such circumstances, we will provide you with information regarding the appeals process.

In the event that you wish to make a complaint about how we process your Personal Information, please contact us at privacy@happyreturns.com, and we will do our best to resolve it. You can also choose to file a complaint with the relevant data protection authority as provided under the applicable law.

d) Understanding your choices

You can control how Personal Information is collected or disclosed, as well as how we communicate with you. Here are some of the ways you can customise your choices.

Choose how we collect Personal Information

You may choose to limit the Personal Information you provide when our Services request it. To help make choices that are right for you, it’s important to understand that Personal Information helps us provide a richer, more personalised experience for you. Also, some Personal Information is required for our Services to function at all. If you do choose not to provide us with your Personal Information or withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide you with our Services.

Choose how we communicate with you

Your choices about how we communicate with you differ depending on the purpose of the message and how it is delivered. Some messages are considered optional, and some are necessary for you to manage your accounts with us or for us to provide our Services. We use email, text messages, push notifications on your mobile device and even paper post depending on the situation and your preferences.

You can click the unsubscribe link in a marketing email, opt out of a text message by replying “STOP,” or turn off notifications on your device.

You won’t be able to opt out of messages that are considered necessary for us to provide our Services or for you to manage your account, such as receipts, updates and emails that alert you to changes in your account’s status that require your attention. You may be able to decide how we send those messages, such as by email, text message or a notification on your mobile device.

10. Data Transfers from the EU, EEA, Switzerland and UK

This section only applies if you are a resident of a member state of the EU, EEA, Switzerland and UK.

Happy Returns is located in the United States. If you are located outside of the United States, please be aware that information that you disclose and we collect will be Processed in the United States in order to provide our Services to you. The United States does not have an adequacy decision regarding data protection from the European Commission.

Binding Corporate Rules and Standard Contractual Clauses

We have taken specific steps, in accordance with the data protection laws of the EU, Switzerland, and UK to protect your Personal Information. Transfers may be based on contractual protections, such as the Standard Contractual Clauses.

EU-US Privacy Shield Framework

The EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework, UK Extension to the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework, and Swiss-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (each a “DPF”) were respectively developed by the U.S. Department of Commerce and the European Commission, UK Government, and Swiss Federal Administration to provide U.S. organizations with reliable mechanisms for personal data transfers to the United States from the European Union, United Kingdom, and Switzerland while ensuring data protection that is consistent with EU, UK, and Swiss law.

Happy Returns complies with the EU-U.S. DPF, the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. DPF, and the Swiss-U.S. DPF as set forth by the U.S. Department of Commerce. Happy Returns has certified to the Department of Commerce that it adheres to the EU-U.S. DPF Principles ( with regard to the processing of Personal Information received from the European Union in reliance on the EU-U.S. DPF, and from the United Kingdom (and Gibraltar) in reliance on the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. DPF. Happy Returns has certified to the U.S. Department of Commerce that it adheres to the Swiss-U.S. Data Privacy Framework Principles (Swiss-U.S. DPF Principles) with regard to the processing of Personal Information received from Switzerland in reliance on the Swiss-U.S. DPF. If there is any conflict between the terms in this Statement and the EU-U.S. DPF Principles, the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. DPF, and/or the Swiss-U.S. DPF Principles, the Principles shall govern. To learn more about the Data Privacy Framework (DPF) program, and to view our certification, please visit https://www.privacyshield.gov.

The US Federal Trade Commission has jurisdiction over Happy Returns’ compliance with the Privacy Shield. With regard to Personal Information that Happy Returns may transfer from the European Union to the United States, in some circumstances, you may invoke binding arbitration. Please visit https://www.privacyshield.gov/article?id=ANNEX-I-introduction for more information.

In compliance with the Privacy Shield Principles, Happy Returns commits to resolve complaints about our collection or use of your Personal Information. EU and Swiss individuals with inquiries or complaints regarding our Privacy Shield policy should first contact Happy Returns at privacy@happyreturns.com.

Happy Returns has further committed to refer unresolved Privacy Shield complaints to JAMS, an alternative dispute resolution provider located in the United States. If you do not receive timely acknowledgement of your complaint from us, or if we have not addressed your complaint to your satisfaction, please visit https://www.jamsadr.com/file-an-eu-us-privacy-shield-claim for more information or to file a complaint. The services of JAMS are provided at no cost to you.

If we transfer Personal Information received under the Privacy Shield to a third party, we may be liable if those parties process that data in a manner inconsistent with the Privacy Shield Principles. In addition, we may be required to disclose Personal Information in response to lawful requests by public authorities, including to meet national security or law enforcement requirements.

If you have questions or concerns regarding the use of your Personal Information, please contact us as set forth at the end of this Privacy Statement.

11. How do we protect your Personal Information?

We maintain technical, physical, and administrative security measures designed to provide reasonable protection for your Personal Information against loss, misuse, unauthorised access, disclosure and alteration.

The security measures include firewalls, data encryption, employing pseudonymisation and anonymisation techniques, and access controls. While we aim to protect our systems and services, we can’t guarantee that your information will not be accessed, viewed, disclosed, altered or destroyed as a result of a breach of any of our safeguards. You provide us with information and use our Services at your own risk. In addition, you’re responsible for keeping your information private.

If you no longer use our Services, we may keep your Personal Information and other information according to our data retention policy and as required by applicable law. If we do, we’ll continue to handle it as we describe in this Privacy Statement.

12. Can children use our services?

We do not knowingly collect Personal Information from people who are not allowed to use our Sites and Services, such as children under the age of 18. Contact us if you believe that we’ve mistakenly collected Personal Information from someone not allowed to use our Services. We’ll delete or anonymise it unless we’re legally required to keep it.

We do not Sell or Share for cross-context behavioural advertising and have no actual knowledge that we have Sold or Shared any Personal Information of anyone under 16 years of age.

13. Definitions

  • Device Information means data that can be automatically collected from any device used to access the Services. Such information may include, but is not limited to, your device type; your device’s network connections; your device’s name; your device IP address; information about your device’s web browser and internet connection you use to access the Services; Geolocation information; and information about apps downloaded to your device.
  • Geolocation information means information that identifies, with precise specificity, your location by using, for instance, longitude and latitude coordinates obtained through your GPS or your device settings.
  • Happy Returns, “we,” “us” and “our” means Happy Returns LLC.
  • Personal Information (which may be otherwise known as “personal data” or “personally identifiable information” or similar term in your jurisdiction) means information that can be associated with an identified or directly or indirectly identifiable natural person.
  • Processing means any method or way that we handle Personal Information or sets of Personal Information, whether by automated means, such as by collection, recording, categorisation, structuring, storage, adaptation or alteration, retrieval and consultation, use, disclosure by transmission, dissemination or otherwise making available, alignment or combination, restriction, erasure or destruction of Personal Information.
  • Sell under applicable law is defined as the disclosure of personal information to third parties in exchange for monetary or other valuable consideration.
  • Services means any Happy Returns products and services, including content, features, technologies or functions, and all related websites, applications and services offered to you by Happy Returns. Your use of the Services includes use of our Sites.
  • Sharing under California law is defined as disclosure of personal information to third parties for targeting of advertising to a consumer based on that consumer’s personal information obtained from the consumer’s activity across websites.
  • Sites means the websites, mobile apps, official social media platforms or other online properties through which Happy Returns offers the Services and which has posted or linked to this Privacy Statement.

14. Contact information

If you have questions, enquiries or complaints about this Privacy Statement or your Personal Information, contact us so we can help.

Happy Returns
Attn: Happy Returns Privacy
28790 Chase Place
Valencia, CA 91355
United States
privacy@happyreturns.com

California notice at collection

Under the laws of California and certain other US states (e.g., Virginia), we are required to provide you with the information about: (1) categories of personal information we collect; (2) the purpose for which we use the personal information we collect; and (3) the categories of third parties to which we disclose such personal information for a business purpose.

For information about each category, purpose of use, and the third parties to which we disclose information, please see the “Categories of Personal Information We Collect”, “How Is Personal Information Used and Legal Basis for Processing,” and “Do We Disclose Personal Information and Why” sections in this Privacy Statement. We do not Sell or Share your Personal Information, including any sensitive Personal Information. We also do not Sell or Share and have no actual knowledge that we have sold or shared any Personal Information of anyone under 16 years of age.