Privacy Policy for TCGplayer, Inc.
This policy was in effect from 2014 until February 3, 2023. Please see the current policy.
Updated: October 21, 2022
Our Privacy Policy as It Applies to Minors
Why Does TCGplayer Use Cookies and Similar Technologies?
What Information Do We Collect?
How Do We Use The Information We Collect?
Privacy Policy as It Applies to Sellers
Who Do We Share Your Information with?
How Do We Keep Your Personal Information Secure?
What are Your Choices with Respect to Your Personal Information?
What Do We Do with Your Personal Information When You Terminate Your Relationship with Us?
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
Notice to California Residents
California Residents’ Privacy Rights
Introduction
The purpose of this Privacy Policy is to inform you about the privacy practices of TCGplayer, Inc. and our subsidiaries and affiliates (“TCGplayer,” “we,” “us” or “our”), including the types of information we might collect about you, why we collect such information, how we may use that information, whether we disclose that information to anyone and the rights and choices that may be available to you with respect to that information.
TCGplayer is an online shopping experience for collectibles. We provide a one-stop marketplace for comparing prices, purchasing, and selling your favorite collectible gaming products. Our websites, apps, and related services are directed toward both buyers and sellers of collectibles. When buyers purchase products through our marketplace, it is with the understanding that we will share the buyer’s contact and shipping information with the seller to complete the transaction. This is because enabling the purchase of collectible gaming products from both companies and individual sellers is a core part of our business.
At TCGplayer, we value and respect our users and understand your concerns about privacy and security. We do our best to provide you with a convenient and safe online experience.
This Privacy Policy applies to any TCGplayer-related websites and apps which we own or control and which post or link to this Privacy Policy (collectively, the “Sites”), as well as any other communications and services that are owned or operated by TCGplayer (together with the Websites, the “Services”), but excluding services that state that they are offered under a different privacy policy or by a third party.
Changes to This Policy
TCGplayer may update this Privacy Policy from time to time in order to reflect, for example, changes to our privacy practices or for other operational, legal or regulatory reasons. If we make material changes to this Privacy Policy, we will give you notice of such changes by posting the revised policy on our Sites and where appropriate by other means.
You acknowledge that your continued use of our Sites and Services after we publish or send a notice about our changes to this Privacy Policy means that the collection, use and sharing of your personal data is subject to the updated Privacy Policy.
Our Privacy Policy as It Applies to Minors
Our Sites are not directed at children under the age of 13. We do not collect or maintain personal information, via our Sites or otherwise through the Services, from those we actually know are children under 13 years of age. If we learn that we have collected personal information from children under the age of 13, we will delete that information as soon as reasonably practicable. We encourage parents with concerns to contact us.
Why Does TCGplayer Use Cookies and Similar Technologies?
A cookie is a small amount of data that may include a unique identifier. Cookies are sent to your browser from a website and stored on your device. We assign a different cookie to each device that accesses our Sites. We, our service providers and third-party advertising partners, use cookies, beacons, pixel tags, SDKs, and other tracking technologies to collect and store information about you, your computer or mobile device, and your activity over time on our Sites and other online services, including:
- Device data, such as information about the device you are using to visit our Sites and interact with our Services, including your device operating system type and version number, manufacturer and model, and device identifier (such as the Google Advertising ID or Apple ID for Advertising), browser type, screen resolution, Internet protocol (IP) addresses, and Internet service provider (ISP).
- Online activity data, such as browsing history, search history, referring/exit pages, the files viewed on our Sites (e.g., HTML pages, graphics, etc.), date/time stamp, clickstream data, and other information about your interactions with our Services, social media pages, and our email communications.
We use cookies and similar technologies for a variety of purposes, including but not limited to:
- Recognizing your device and providing you with a personalized experience on our Sites
- Analyzing trends and compiling statistics about the use of the Services
- Tracking users’ movements around the Sites and helping you navigate between pages efficient
- Operating shopping cart functions on TCGplayer.com and associated TCGplayer Pro websites
- Measuring the success of our marketing campaigns (including whether recipients of our emails open or click links within them)
- Gathering demographic information about our user base as a whole
- Serving targeted ads from Google, Facebook, YouTube, and other third-party vendors
- Tracking your visits to our websites and elsewhere on the internet in order to serve you targeted ads
Information that we collect using cookies or similar technologies may be combined with other information that we maintain about you.
You can access our Cookies and Similiar Technologies Policy here.
What Information Do We Collect?
We collect the following information in connection with the Services, from buyers and sellers, as well as third parties such as social media platforms:
- Contact Data, such as name, phone number, email address, and mailing address
- Profile Data, such as the username and password that you may set to establish an account with us and your store name. If you choose to login into the Sites via a third-party platform or social media network, such as Facebook we may collect information from that platform or network
- Purchase Information, such as details about products purchased, and billing and shipping address
- Payment Details, such as the first and last four digits of the credit card number and expiration date for buyers and sellers who use our trade-in application, and the last four digits of the bank account number for sellers who receive payments through the Services
- Buyer Transaction Data, such as information about orders buyers initiate, along with overall buying behavior (what buyers search, which items they add to cart, etc.)
- Seller Transaction Data, such as information about sales made through the Sites, visitors to your virtual storefronts, inventory and pricing history, and complaints and escalations
- Seller Store Data, such as store size, revenue, business ID, and tax information
- Messaging, such as the content of messages you send and receive through the Services
- Feedback, such as information you provide when you contact us with questions or feedback or otherwise correspond with us
- Usage Data, such as user engagement information for all of our Sites
- Content that you upload to the Sites, including information and photos that you publish to your storefronts, on social media (including our social media page), blogs, or other forums, such as tweets, comments, photographs, or video or audio content
- Reviews, including feedback that you leave for a particular seller or product detail page
How Do We Use the Information We Collect?
We use the information we collect for the following purposes:
Operations, such as:
- Completing your transactions and providing the services you request
- Providing services to our sellers (protected under the TCGplayer Safeguard), including but not limited to supporting and processing orders, risk and fraud screening, authentication, and payments
- Communicating with you by email, postal mail, telephone, text message, or other means
Research and Development, such as:
- Improving our Websites, features, and services
- Developing new products and services
- Conducting automated decision-making when necessary. (Example: We track IP addresses or payment information to automatically block potentially fraudulent transactions.)
- Improving merchandise selections, customer service, and the overall shopping experience
- Measuring the advertising effectiveness of our online and other advertisements and events
Marketing: Identifying your preferences so we can notify you of TCGplayer-related information or products, services, and promotions that might be of interest to you
Advertising: Working with third-party advertising partners who use cookies and similar technologies to deliver targeted advertising that is displayed on unaffiliated websites, to measure the effectiveness of advertising on behalf of our advertising partners, and to identify the audience most likely to respond to an advertisement. These advertisements are delivered by our advertising partners and may be targeted based on your use of the Sites or your activity elsewhere online.
Compliance, Fraud Prevention, and Safety: We may use your personal information as we believe necessary or appropriate to comply with applicable laws, lawful requests, and legal processes, such as to respond to subpoenas or requests from government authorities and as we believe necessary or appropriate to: (a) protect our, your or others’ rights, privacy, safety or property (including by making and defending legal claims); (b) enforce the terms and conditions that govern the Site; and (c) protect, investigate and deter against fraudulent, harmful, unauthorized, unethical or illegal activity.
We may also create anonymous, aggregated, or de-identified data from your personal information and other individuals whose personal information we collect by removing the information that makes the data personally identifiable to you. We may use and share such anonymous, aggregated, or de-identified data for our legitimate business purposes.
Privacy Policy as It Applies to Sellers
Privacy is important! As a seller, you are required to treat personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy. In addition, if you’re a seller in our TCGplayer Pro program, our Privacy Policy is stated on your TCGplayer Pro website.
Who Do We Share Your Information with?
TCGplayer Personnel: We pass along information about your shopping cart choices, purchases, and preferences to our marketing, customer service, or other departments, as appropriate. They use this information to offer products and services to you consistent with the purposes identified in this Privacy Policy.
Service Providers: We may share your personal information with third-party companies and individuals that provides services on our behalf or help us operate our Sites and Services (such as payment, customer support, hosting, analytics, email delivery, marketing, shipping and fulfillment, database management, and research services). These third-party service providers are given the information that they need to perform their designated functions and may only use your information as directed or authorized by us and in a manner consistent with this Privacy Policy, and we do not authorize them to use or disclose your personal information for their own or any others’ marketing purposes.
Sellers (at your direction). Our business is, in part, to facilitate the purchase of collectibles from individual and company sellers through our marketplace. When a buyer purchases a product through our Sites, the buyer is directing us to share the buyer’s contact and shipping information with the relevant seller to enable the seller to complete the transaction that the buyer has requested.
Advertising Partners: We may enable advertising partners to automatically collect information directly from our Site for targeted marketing purposes.
Third-Party Platforms and Social Media Networks: If you have enabled features or functionality that connect the Services to a third-party platform or social media network, we may disclose the personal information that you authorized us to share. We do not control the third party’s use of your personal information.
Compliance, Fraud Prevention, and Safety: On rare occasions, we may also be required to disclose your information as is required by law pursuant to lawful requests, such as subpoenas, court or agency orders, or as we may reasonably determine to be necessary to protect our rights or the rights of others, to avert harm to persons or property, to enforce this Privacy Policy or the terms governing our Services, and to protect investigate and deter against fraudulent, harmful, unauthorized, unethical or illegal activity.
Business Transfers: Your information may also be transferred as an asset in connection with a merger or sale (including any transfer made as part of insolvency or bankruptcy proceedings) involving all or part of TCGplayer’s business or as part of a corporate reorganization, stock sale or other change in corporate control.
Other Sites and Services
Our Sites may contain links to other sites that are not owned or operated by TCGplayer. These include links to sites hosted by our service providers or partners where, for example, they provide security services or administer promotional programs. Also, links to our Sites may be featured on other websites on which we advertise. These links are not intended to be referrals or endorsements of the linked or host sites, and TCGplayer does not assume any responsibility or liability for the privacy practices of any linked site (or any site contained in a linked site) or any host site. We advise you to familiarize yourself, therefore, with the specific legal, privacy, and security information contained in any such linked or host sites.
User Generated Content
Our Sites may contain comment sections and embedded social media content available to our customers. Please remember that any information that is disclosed in these areas becomes public information, and do not disclose your personal information in such areas. TCGplayer assumes no liability or responsibility in connection with any customer participation in any public areas of the Services. In addition, TCGplayer allows select developers to access through APIs certain user-generated content, such as product information and prices associated with those products, through APIs in order to power their app functionality and/or services.
How Do We Keep Your Personal Information Secure?
We will never disclose, share, rent or sell personal information to other companies for the marketing of their own products and services. We do not permit sellers to market to buyers unless the seller has received prior, opt-in consent for marketing directly from the buyer.
We employ various security measures designed to help protect the personal information that we collect from you online. For example, we use Secure Sockets Layer (“SSL”) encryption technology to protect the security of your credit card and personal information as it is transmitted to us. We have instituted firewalls to help protect our servers and network. Unfortunately, no collection or transmission of information over the internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure, and therefore, we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any such information.
What are Your Choices with Respect to Your Personal Information?
Marketing Communications: You can opt-out of receiving promotional emails from us by indicating that preference when you register with us, by following the “unsubscribe” instructions at the bottom of any emails we may send you, or by contacting customer service.
Push Notifications and Device Permissions: You may revoke any permissions you previously granted to us, such as permission to access your camera or camera roll, through the settings on your mobile device. You may opt-out of push notifications by changing the settings on your mobile device.
Cookies & Browser Web Storage: Most browsers let you remove or reject cookies. To do this, follow the instructions in your browser settings. To prevent the use of Google Analytics relating to your use of our Sites, you can download and install the browser plug-in. Many browsers accept cookies by default until you change your settings. Please note that if you set your browser to disable cookies, the Website may not work properly. Similarly, your browser settings may allow you to clear your browser web storage.
Targeted Online Advertising: Some of our advertising partners that collect information about users’ activities on or through the Website may be members of organizations or programs that provide choices to individuals regarding the use of their browsing behavior for purposes of targeted advertising. Users may opt-out of receiving targeted advertising on websites through members of the Network Advertising Initiative or the Digital Advertising Alliance. Please note that we also may work with companies that offer their own opt-out mechanisms and may not participate in the opt-out mechanisms that we linked above. In addition, your mobile device settings may provide the functionality to limit our, or our advertising partners, ability to engage in ad tracking or targeted advertising using the Google Advertising ID or Apple ID for Advertising associated with your mobile device. If you choose to opt-out of targeted advertisements, you will still see advertisements online, but they may not be relevant to you. Even if you do choose to opt-out, not all companies that serve online behavioral advertising are included in this list, so you may still receive some cookies and tailored advertisements from companies that are not listed.
Do Not Track: Some Internet browsers may be configured to send “Do Not Track” signals to the online services that you visit. We currently do not respond to “Do Not Track” or similar signals. To find out more about “Do Not Track,” please visit http://www.allaboutdnt.com.
Third-Party Platforms or Social Media Networks: If you choose to connect to the Site via a third-party platform or social media network, you may have the ability to limit the information that we may obtain from the third-party at the time you log in to the Site using the third-party’s authentication service or otherwise connect your account. Subsequently, you may be able to control your settings through the third-party’s platform or service. If you withdraw our ability to access certain information from a third-party platform or social media network, that choice will not apply to information that we have already received from that third-party.
What Do We Do with Your Personal Information When You Terminate Your Relationship with Us?
In general, we will continue to store archived copies of your personal information for legitimate business purposes and to comply with the law, except when we receive a valid erasure request or, if you are a seller, you terminate your account and your information is purged pursuant to our standard process.
TCGplayer will honor the rights of all data subjects regarding their personal data, including the right to be forgotten (see GDPR section below), when the data is no longer needed for its original purpose or the user withdraws their consent, as applicable.
We will delete backup copies of that personal data from our archives as soon as is practically possible to the extent allowed by our other data retention obligations (e.g. to protect other data stored in the same backup archives or meet other regulatory or legal requirements). As soon as those obligations have been fulfilled, we will permanently delete those archives as quickly as possible.
TCGplayer will also retain audit logs showing the history of all operations on the customer’s personal data for the period required by legal obligations. Certain items the user might consider personal data may remain (e.g. customer feedback may be retained according to the Terms of Service that the user agreed to when they posted). TCGplayer will always take reasonable steps to secure personal data in our possession, custody, or control.
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
Residents in the EU have the “right to be forgotten,” and we will make every attempt to comply with rules under GDPR Article 17, Paragraph 2. If you wish to initiate, we will remove personal data associated with your TCGplayer account. We will complete data deletion within 30 days for those in the European Union (EU) and within 90 days for non-European users barring any pending transactions, customer service, or fraud-related activity. Keep in mind that this will delete all data from all associated user accounts.
If you are located in the European Union (EU), you have certain rights under European law with respect to your personal data, including the right to request access to, correct, amend, delete or limit the use of your personal data. If you are a buyer, seller, partner, or visitor of TCGplayer’s websites or a user of TCGplayer’s services and wish to exercise these rights, please reach out to us using one of the following forms:
Data Request Authorization and Consent Form
Data Deletion Authorization and Consent Form
Hotjar Integration
We use Hotjar in order to better understand our users’ needs and to optimize our service and experience. Hotjar is a technology service that helps us better understand our users' experience (e.g. how much time they spend on which pages, which links they choose to click, what users do and don’t like, etc.), and this enables us to build and maintain our service with user feedback. Hotjar uses cookies and other technologies to collect data on our users’ behavior and their devices (in particular, device's IP address (captured and stored only in anonymized form), device screen size, device type (unique device identifiers), browser information, geographic location (country only), and preferred language used to display our Sites). For further details, please see Hotjar’s privacy policy.
You can opt-out to the creation of a user profile, Hotjar’s storing of data about your usage of our Sites, and Hotjar’s use of tracking cookies on other websites by following this opt-out link.
Contact Us
Our customer service team would be happy to answer any questions you have about this Privacy Policy. You can contact them here.
NOTICE TO CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS
We are required by the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“CCPA”) to provide to California residents an explanation of how we collect, use, and share their personal information, and of the rights and choices, we offer California residents regarding our handling of the personal information. This notice does not apply to information related to our business contacts or representatives of businesses that sell on our Sites or use our Services to operate their storefronts (including via Pro by TCGplayer).
We do not sell personal information. As we explain in this Privacy Policy, we use cookies and other tracking technologies to analyze website traffic and facilitate advertising. If you would like to opt-out of our (and our third-party advertising partners’) use of cookies and other tracking technologies, please review the instructions provided in the Online Tracking Opt-out Guide. In addition, through our Sites, buyers direct us to share their information with a seller when they make a purchase from that seller.
In addition to the information in our Privacy Policy, the following chart further describes our privacy practices with respect to individuals whose information is governed by the CCPA.
Personal Information we collect | CCPA-defined categories | Sources of personal information | Purposes for which we may collect and use the personal information | Data sharing |
Contact Data |
Identifiers Online Identifiers |
You |
Operations Research and Development Marketing Advertising Compliance, Fraud Prevention, and Safety |
Sellers, at buyers’ direction |
Profile Data |
Identifiers Online Identifiers |
You Third-Party Platforms or Social Media Networks |
Operations Research and Development Marketing Compliance, Fraud Prevention, and Safety |
None |
Payment Details |
Identifiers Financial Information |
You |
Operations Compliance, Fraud Prevention, and Safety |
None |
Purchase Information Seller Store Data |
Identifiers Online Identifiers Commercial Information |
You |
Operations Research and Development Compliance, Fraud Prevention, and Safety |
None |
Buyer Transaction Data Seller Transaction Data |
Identifiers Online Identifiers Commercial Information Internet or Network Information |
You Automatic Collection |
Operations Research and Development Marketing Advertising |
Collected directly by advertising partners |
Messaging Feedback Content Reviews |
Identifiers Online Identifiers Commercial Information Sensory Information |
You |
Operations Research and Development Marketing Compliance, Fraud Prevention, and Safety |
None |
Device Data Online Activity Data Usage Data |
Identifiers Online Identifiers Inferences Internet or other network activity information |
You Automatic Collection |
Operations Research and Development Marketing Advertising Compliance, Fraud Prevention, and Safety |
Collected directly by advertising partners |
Please note that we may also disclose all personal information to TCGplayer personnel and service providers, and as required for our compliance fraud prevention and safety purposes, or in connection with a business transfer. For additional information, visit the “Who Do We Share Your Information With?” section of our Privacy Policy. |
California Residents’ Privacy Rights
Except as excluded from the scope of this notice above, the CCPA grants California residents the following rights.
- Information. You can request information about how we have collected, used, and shared and used your personal information during the past 12 months. We have made this information available to California residents without having to request it by including it in this notice in the above chart.
- Access. You can request a copy of the personal information that we maintain about you.
- Deletion. You can ask us to delete the personal information that we collected about you.
Please note that the CCPA limits these rights by, for example, prohibiting us from providing certain sensitive information in response to an access request and limiting the circumstances in which we must comply with a deletion request. If we deny your request, we will communicate our decision to you.
You are entitled to exercise the rights described above free from discrimination.
How to Submit a Request
To request access to or deletion of personal information:
- Call: (315) 501-0478
- Email: sales@tcgplayer.com
Identity verification. The CCPA requires us to verify the identity of the individual submitting a request to access or delete personal information before providing a substantive response to the request. We may attempt to verify your identity by asking you to confirm information that we have on file about you or your interactions with us. Where we ask for additional personal information to verify your identity, we will only use it to verify your identity or your authority to make the request on behalf of another consumer.
Authorized agents. California residents can empower an “authorized agent” to submit requests on their behalf. We will require the authorized agent to have written authorization confirming such authority.
Glossary | |
Statutory Category | Data Elements within the Category |
Commercial Information | Records of personal property, products or services purchased, obtained, or considered, or other purchasing or consuming histories or tendencies. |
Financial Information | Bank account numbers, debit or credit card numbers, insurance policy numbers, and other financial information. |
Identifiers | Real name, alias, postal address, unique personal identifier, customer number, email address, account name, social security number, driver’s license number, passport number, or other similar identifiers. |
Inferences | The derivation of information, data, assumptions, or conclusions from any other category of Personal Information to create a profile about a person reflecting the person's preferences, characteristics, psychological trends, predispositions, behavior, attitudes, intelligence, abilities, and aptitudes. |
Internet or Network Information | Browsing history, search history, and information regarding a person’s interaction with an Internet website, application, or advertisement. |
Online Identifiers | An online identifier or other persistent identifier that can be used to recognize a person, family, or device, over time and across different services, including but not limited to a device identifier; an Internet Protocol address; cookies, beacons, pixel tags, mobile ad identifiers, or similar technology; customer number, unique pseudonym, or user alias; telephone numbers, or other forms of persistent or probabilistic identifiers (i.e., the identification of a person or a device to a degree of certainty of more probable than not) that can be used to identify a particular person or device. |
Sensory Information | Audio, electronic, visual, thermal, olfactory, or similar information. |
Online Tracking Opt-Out Guide
Like many companies online, we may use services provided by Google, Facebook, and other companies that use tracking technology. These services rely on tracking technologies – such as cookies and web beacons – to collect directly from your device information about your browsing activities, your interactions with websites, and the device you are using to connect to the Internet. There are a number of ways to opt-out of having your online activity and device data collected through these services, which we have summarized below:
- Blocking cookies in your browser. Most browsers let you remove or reject cookies, including cookies used for interest-based advertising. To do this, follow the instructions in your browser settings. Many browsers accept cookies by default until you change your settings. For more information about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set on your device and how to manage and delete them, visit www.allaboutcookies.org.
- Blocking advertising ID use in your mobile settings. Your mobile device settings may provide the functionality to limit the use of the advertising ID associated with your mobile device for interest-based advertising purposes.
- Using privacy plug-ins or browsers. You can block our websites from setting cookies used for interest-based ads by using a browser with privacy features, like Brave, or installing browser plugins like Privacy Badger, Ghostery, or uBlock Origin and configuring them to block third-party cookies/trackers.
- Platform opt-outs. The following advertising partners offer opt-out features that let you opt-out of the use of your information for interest-based advertising:
- Google: https://adssettings.google.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/about/ads
- Hotjar: https://www.hotjar.com/legal/compliance/opt-out
- Advertising industry opt-out tools. You can also use these opt-out options to limit the use of your information for interest-based advertising by participating companies:
- Digital advertising Alliance: http://optout.aboutads.info
Change Log
- 10/21/22 - Added link to Cookies and Similar Technologies policy.