Privacy Policy

Ethical Blooms ("we," "our," or "us") operates the website ethicalblooms.com ("the Site"). This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and protect your information when you visit the Site.

1. Information We Collect

Information You Provide

We collect information that you voluntarily provide, including:

• Business registration: Business name, address, city, state, zip code, phone number, email address, website URL, and descriptions of eco-friendly practices and certifications
• Community reports: Email address and message content when you submit a report about a listing (e.g., suggesting a business, reporting an inaccuracy, or reporting a closure)
• Contact inquiries: Any information you include when you email us directly

Information Collected Automatically

When you visit the Site, we may automatically collect certain information, including:

• Browser type and version, operating system, and device type
• Pages visited, time spent on pages, and referring URLs
• IP address (which may indicate your general geographic area)
• Search queries entered on the Site

We use this information to understand how visitors use the Site, to improve our service, and to monitor for security issues. We do not use this information to personally identify individual visitors.

2. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect to:

• Display business listings in our directory
• Process and review business registration applications
• Respond to community reports about listings
• Improve and maintain the Site
• Respond to your inquiries and provide support
• Protect against fraud and abuse
• Communicate with listed businesses about their listing, directory features, and promotional opportunities
• Comply with legal obligations

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information to third parties for marketing purposes.

3. Public Information

Business listings on the Site are publicly visible by design. If you register a business, the information you provide (business name, address, city, state, phone, email, website, eco-friendly practices, and certifications) will be displayed publicly on the Site. Personal contact information for community reports (your email address) is not displayed publicly and is only accessible to site administrators.

4. Data from Third-Party Sources

Our directory includes business information imported from publicly available certification directories such as USDA Organic, Certified American Grown, ASCFG, Local Harvest, and BloomCheck. This information was publicly available prior to its inclusion on our Site. If you are a business owner and wish to update or remove your listing, please contact us at contact@ethicalblooms.com.

5. Cookies and Tracking

The Site may use essential cookies that are necessary for the Site to function properly. We may also use analytics tools (such as privacy- friendly analytics) to understand how visitors use the Site. We do not use cookies for advertising or cross-site tracking.

6. Data Security

We implement reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect your information against unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. However, no method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

7. Data Retention

We retain business listing information for as long as the listing is active on the Site. Community report data is retained for as long as necessary to resolve the report and for our legitimate record- keeping purposes. You may request deletion of your data at any time by contacting us.

8. Your Rights

Depending on your location, you may have the right to:

• Access the personal information we hold about you
• Request correction of inaccurate information
• Request deletion of your information
• Object to or restrict processing of your information
• Request a copy of your data in a portable format

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at contact@ethicalblooms.com. We will respond to your request within 30 days.

9. Children's Privacy

The Site is not directed at children under the age of 13 and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe we have inadvertently collected information from a child under 13, please contact us and we will promptly delete it.

10. Third-Party Links

The Site contains links to third-party websites, including websites of listed businesses and certification organizations. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of these third-party websites. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any website you visit.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any material changes by updating the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. Your continued use of the Site after any changes constitutes your acceptance of the updated policy.

12. Contact Us

If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us at contact@ethicalblooms.com.