Our Privacy Policy
Thank you for supporting our fair trade nonprofit. Since 1949, SERRV International ("SERRV", "we", "us") has been committed to protecting your security and privacy online and offline. See our Privacy Policy below, and contact our Customer Care team with questions or for more information.
532 Baltimore Blvd Ste 409
Westminster, MD 21157
Customer Care Tel: 800.422.5915
Customer Orders Tel: 888.294.9660
Fax: 888.294.6376
orders@serrv.org
Information We Collect
Information you provide to us:
When you use our services:
When you make a purchase, create an account, join our Gift Registry or Wish List, participate in a sweepstakes or contest or any other promotion, post a product review, engage with us on our various social media platforms, invest with us, participate in one of our surveys, send us any feedback, questions, comments, suggestions, ideas, or interact with us in any way, you provide us with personal information, such as: your name, email address, mailing address, zip code, phone number and credit card numbers. This allows us to provide you with our services, to process your transactions more efficiently and, ultimately, to give you a higher caliber of customer service. If you choose not to provide the requested information we may not be able to provide you with the services, or certain features of those services may not be functional.
When you apply for a job:
Our Site includes a Work with Us feature that allows you to submit an online job application. When you submit an online application, you will be required to provide personal information, including but not limited to your name, contact information, job interests, educational and job history, and references. This information will be used by us to assess and process your application.
We won't make the information available to any staff outside our recruitment team, including hiring managers, in a way that can identify you.
If we decide to interview you, we may print your application and use it during the interview process. If you are hired, your application becomes part of your employee file. If you are not immediately hired, your printed application is kept for a year and then typically will be destroyed. We may ask you to provide additional information during the interview or hiring process. We may also use the information you provide to contact you about your application; for example, to ask you to agree to a background check or to send you an offer letter.
We do not share the information you provide in the online application to anyone outside of SERRV, except as we believe is required by law.
Information about you we receive from third parties:
Other companies we do business with may forward to us additional personal information (such as, for example, names, mailing addresses and email addresses, as well as demographic and other usage information), when we have news or product offerings that may be of interest to those individuals.
Usage and Website Activity Information:
When you visit our websites, we or our third party service providers collect information about your use of the website: Your Internet service provider's address, your location as determined by your Internet Protocol (IP) address the name of the Website or advertisement directing you, your user agent, as well as your clicks and activity on our Websites. We use this information to understand how to make our Websites more available and user-friendly to our customers as well as to provide you with advertising that may be of interest to you. To learn how you can opt out of such advertising contact us.
Google and Adobe Analytics:
We use a tool called "Google Analytics" to collect some information we listed above about your use of the services. We use the information we get from Google Analytics to improve the services. In order to collect this information, Google Analytics may set cookies on your browser or mobile device, or read cookies that are already there. Google Analytics may also receive information about you from apps you have downloaded, that partner with Google, respectively. We do not combine the information collected through the use of Google Analytics with personally identifiable information.
Google's ability to use and share information collected by Google Analytics about your visits to the services to another application which partners with Google, is restricted by the Google Analytics Terms of Use and the Google Privacy Policy. Please review those and see http://www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners/ for information about how Google uses the information provided to Google Analytics and how you can control the information provided to Google. To prevent your data from being used by Google Analytics, you can download the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on for Google Analytics which can be found here.
Mobile Terms of Service
The SERRV International mobile message service (the "Service") is operated by SERRV International ("SERRV", "we", "us"). Your use of the Service constitutes your agreement to these terms and conditions ("Mobile Terms"). We may modify or cancel the Service or any of its features without notice. To the extent permitted by applicable law, we may also modify these Mobile Terms at any time and your continued use of the Service following the effective date of any such changes shall constitute your acceptance of such changes.
By consenting to SERRV's SMS/text messaging service, you agree to receive recurring SMS/text messages from and on behalf of SERRV International through your wireless provider to the mobile number you provided, even if your mobile number is registered on any state or federal Do Not Call list. Text messages may be sent using an automatic telephone dialing system or other technology. Service-related messages may include updates, alerts, and information (e.g., order updates, account alerts, etc.). Promotional messages may include promotions, specials, and other marketing offers (e.g., cart reminders).
You understand that you do not have to sign up for this program in order to make any purchases, and your consent is not a condition of any purchase with SERRV. Your participation in this program is completely voluntary.
We do not charge for the Service, but you are responsible for all charges and fees associated with text messaging imposed by your wireless provider. Message frequency varies. Message and data rates may apply. Check your mobile plan and contact your wireless provider for details. You are solely responsible for all charges related to SMS/text messages, including charges from your wireless provider.
You may opt-out of the Service at any time. Text the single keyword command STOP to +18556424884 or click the unsubscribe link (where available) in any text message to cancel. You'll receive a one-time opt-out confirmation text message. No further messages will be sent to your mobile device, unless initiated by you. If you have subscribed to other SERRV International mobile message programs and wish to cancel, except where applicable law requires otherwise, you will need to opt out separately from those programs by following the instructions provided in their respective mobile terms.
For Service support or assistance, text HELP to 1-855-642-4884 or email orders@serrv.org.
We may change any short code or telephone number we use to operate the Service at any time and will notify you of these changes. You acknowledge that any messages, including any STOP or HELP requests, you send to a short code or telephone number we have changed may not be received and we will not be responsible for honoring requests made in such messages.
The wireless carriers supported by the Service are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages. You agree to provide us with a valid mobile number. If you get a new mobile number, you will need to sign up for the program with your new number.
To the extent permitted by applicable law, you agree that we will not be liable for failed, delayed, or misdirected delivery of any information sent through the Service, any errors in such information, and/or any action you may or may not take in reliance on the information or Service.
We respect your right to privacy. To see how we collect and use your personal information, please see below.
Social Media
We engage with customers on various social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram. If you contact us on one of these platforms for customer service or otherwise, we may contact you via direct message. Those communications are governed by this policy as well as the policy of the relevant social media platform.
Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies
"Cookies" are small amounts of data that are stored on your computer. They find their way to your browser via a Web server. Cookies flag information about your activity on our Website. This information helps us improve our Website and make it friendlier and easier to use and allows us to market to you more effectively. We never use cookies to save passwords, credit card numbers or other highly confidential information. However, we use them and other tracking technologies to provide enhanced online marketing based on your interests and preferences.
Web cookies are used in some email messages, on our social media platforms, and on our Websites to help us measure the effectiveness of those emails and for other analytical purposes. To learn how to opt out of our cookies used for these purposes contact us.
The website uses cookies to help keep track of items you put into your shopping cart including when you have abandoned your cart and this information is used to determine when to send cart reminder messages via SMS.
How We Use Your Information
We use the information we collect about you to facilitate your purchases, to communicate with you, to offer better customer service, and to improve our services and customer relations.
To facilitate your purchases: This includes processing your order and payment, shipping the order, providing you with technical support and assistance, and communicating with you about the purchase by email. For example, we will contact you by phone, postal mail or email to update you of the arrival of the package, to address any issues with the order or to answer any questions you may have about your order. The legal basis for this processing of your information is the performance of our contract with you.
To send you promotional communications: If you sign up, we will contact you by email, SMS, or send you our catalogs to inform you about products, services, and promotions that we think will be of interest to you. You can opt out of email communications at any time by clicking the "unsubscribe" link at the bottom of each email. You can unsubscribe from SMS messages at any time by replying STOP or clicking the unsubscribe link (where available).You can opt out of receiving our catalogs by contacting us.
To improve our services and customer relations: We use your information for analytics and measurement to understand how our services are used in order to make improvements to our Website or user interface through understanding how you interact with them, including how you interact with advertising. We use information you provide to us through your purchases, feedback, surveys, and suggestions to enable us to provide you with a more personalized shopping experience and also to improve our services and customer relations.
How we share your information
Marketing: We share your customer information with other select companies whose products and services you may find useful. This information includes your name, postal address and email address, as well as a record of any transactions you conduct on our Website or offline. These companies may contact you in order to provide you with information about their products and services. To learn how to opt out of this sharing of your information please contact us.
Online Advertising: We contract with Service Providers to place our banner advertising on other websites. These Service Providers collect information from us about your visits to our Websites and stores, and your interaction with our products and services. They also use this information to tailor banner advertisements for goods and services when you visit certain websites. We may track this information across the different devices you use to access the Websites. Our Service Providers are required to keep this data anonymous and not to share any personal information with any other third parties, except as required to provide this service.
Sharing among our entities: Sharing with service providers: In order to serve you better, we may, at times, contract with other companies ("Service Providers") to help us process information and to provide us with other services. Their assistance can help us fulfill customer orders, manage, store and enhance customer data, send marketing, run promotions, and provide other services. The legal basis for this sharing of your information is our legitimate interest in providing our services efficiently.
In connection with a business reorganization: We would share your information if we are involved in a merger, acquisition, consolidation, change of control or sale of all or a portion of our assets or if we undergo bankruptcy or liquidation. The legal basis for this sharing is our legitimate interest in carrying out our business operations.
In order to comply with our legal obligations, protect our rights and those of others: We share your information in order to prevent fraud or abuse to our services, to protect your rights, to comply with our legal obligations and to protect our rights. The legal basis for this sharing is compliance with the law and our legitimate interest in the prevention of fraud, compliance with legal obligation and the protection of the rights of others.
The above excludes text messaging originator opt-in data and consent; this information will not be shared with any third parties.
- Prevent fraud and abuse of the services: We review transactions internally on a regular basis to identify potential concerns, and we partner with select outside companies to further enhance our ability to ensure that fraudulent orders and/or potentially damaging worms, viruses and other types of malware do not interfere with our ability to provide the best possible products, value and services to you and to our other valued customers.
- Protect your rights: We will share information in an emergency or to protect the safety of any person and if we believe it is necessary in order to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding illegal activities, fraud, or situations involving potential threats to the rights, property, or personal safety of any person.
- Protect our rights and comply with our legal obligations: We cooperate with government and law-enforcement officials and private parties to enforce and comply with the law. We may disclose personal information and any other information about you to government or law-enforcement officials or private parties if, in our discretion, we believe it is necessary or appropriate in order to respond to legal requests (including court orders and subpoenas); to protect our safety, property or rights or those of any third party; to prevent or stop any illegal, unethical or legally actionable activity; or to comply with the law.
Browser Do Not Track
The services do not support Do Not Track at this time. Do Not Track (DNT) is a privacy preference you can set in your web browser to indicate that you do not want certain information about your webpage visits collected across websites when you have not interacted with that service on the page. For all the details, including how to turn on Do Not Track, please contact us.
Your Information Sharing Choices
Marketing: If you do not want us to share your personal information for marketing purposes, please contact us and we will remove your name from lists we share with other companies. When contacting us, please clearly state your request, including your name, mailing address, email address and phone number. After we process your request, your personal information will no longer be shared for marketing purposes. Opting out of sharing your information for marketing purposes will not prevent your relevant information from being provided to our Service Providers such as shippers when you order products for delivery or from other sharing for non-marketing purposes. Similarly, this will not prevent us from sharing information as and to the extent it is combined or aggregated (in a non-personally identified manner) or otherwise analyzed by us or our Service Providers.
Online advertising: To opt out of interest based advertising or to learn more about the use of this information by our Service Providers you can visit the Network Advertising Initiative or the Digital Advertising Alliance. If you choose to opt out, we will place an "opt-out cookie" on your computer. The "opt-out cookie" is browser specific and device specific and only lasts until cookies are cleared from your browser or device. The opt-out cookie will not work for some cookies that are important to how our websites and mobile apps work ("essential cookies"). If the cookie is removed or deleted, if you upgrade your browser or if you visit us from a different computer, you will need to return to the links above to re-select your preferences.
Email promotional communications: To delete your name from our email contact lists, please unsubscribe at the bottom of your email.
Catalog: To request to have your name removed from the catalog mailing list, submit this form, and we'll remove you from the list. We appreciate your patience while we process your request. When you make subsequent purchases at SERRV, you may provide contact information for customer service only, and request that your name not be forwarded to either mailing list. If you have already opted out, you do not need to opt out again; your information will not be used for purposes other than the customer service you have requested, unless you affirmatively ask to opt in again, in which case you will be opted in and will receive emails from us until you again request to be opted out again.
Email tracking: To opt out of our use of cookies to track your interaction with our email communications, you can click the "unsubscribe" link found in each email you receive.
SMS Tracking: To opt out of our use of cookies to track your interaction with our SMS and MMS communications, you can click the "unsubscribe" link found in each text you receive or by replying "STOP" to any SMS or MMS message from SERRV.
Cookies generally: If you would like to opt out of accepting cookies altogether, you can generally set your browser to not accept cookies or to notify you when you are sent a cookie, giving you the chance to decide whether or not to accept it. However, certain features of our Websites or other services may not work if you delete or disable cookies.
How long do we keep your information?
You can delete your account or request that we delete your account by contacting us. If you choose to delete your account, we will begin the process of deleting your account from our systems.
We retain your information after you request such deletion for longer periods for specific purposes to the extent that we are obliged to do so in accordance with applicable laws and regulations and/or as necessary to protect our legal rights or for certain business requirements. For example, when we process your payments, we will retain this data for longer periods of time as required for tax or accounting purposes. See below for specific reasons we would retain some data for longer periods of time:
- Security, fraud & abuse prevention—i.e. to protect you, other people, and us from fraud, abuse, and unauthorized access.
- Financial record-keeping—when you make a payment to us we are often required to retain this information for long period of time for purposes of accounting, dispute resolution and compliance with tax, anti-money laundering, and other financial regulations.
- Complying with legal or regulatory requirements— to meet any applicable law, regulation, legal process or enforceable governmental request, as required to enforce our terms of service, including investigation of potential violations.
- Direct communications with us—if you have directly communicated with us, through a customer support channel, feedback form, or a bug report, we may retain reasonable records of those communications.
Even if you delete your account, keep in mind that the deletion by our third party providers may not be immediate and that the deleted information may persist in backup copies for a reasonable period of time.
Be Careful When You Share Information with Others
Please be aware that whenever you share information on a publicly available area of our Websites, such as in a product review, that information may be accessed by others. In addition, please remember that when you share information in any other communications with third parties, that information may be passed along or made public by others. This means that anyone with access to such information can potentially use it for any purpose, including sending unsolicited communications.
Links to Sites and services
At times, we provide links our customers may be interested in, including links to social media sites such as, for example, Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest. We are not responsible for these websites, which have their own privacy policies and privacy practices to which you may be subject. When visiting our presence on social media or other tools, you will be subject to those websites' privacy policies. If you visit our Websites through a link from another website, you may be subject to that website's privacy policy as well. If you choose to explore these websites and services, we suggest that you carefully review their individual privacy policies.
Information Security
We take our customers' personal information seriously and take steps to protect our customers' personal information against loss, misuse, alteration and unauthorized access. We use encryption technology whenever receiving and transferring your payment information on our Websites.
Your Responsibilities
You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account and password and for restricting access to your computer. You are responsible for all activities that occur under your account or password. As a result, it is important for you to protect against unauthorized access to your password and to your computer. Be sure to sign off when finished using a computer that others may have access to.
A Privacy Promise
We support and adhere to the guidelines and practices adopted by the Direct Marketing Association's Privacy Promise and the Digital Advertising Alliance Self-Regulatory Principles for Online Behavioral Advertising. In doing so, we agree to comply with a customer's requests to not share their information with other companies or to contact them for marketing purposes by postal mail, telephone, email or through online behavioral advertising.
If at any time, as a customer, you believe we are not committed to its Privacy Policy, please contact us. You also may contact the DMA's Committee on Ethical Business Practices at mgoldberger@the-dma.org.
Processing in the United States
We process and store information on servers or databases, and use third party providers that process information in the United States. Therefore, your information will be transferred to those locations. The laws in the United States may not be as protective of your privacy as those in your location. For example, United States law does not provide you with the right to access, modify and delete personal information in all cases. Further, government entities in the United States may have certain rights to access your personal information. When transferring personal information to and processing personal information in the United States we will implement appropriate safeguards and process the personal information in accordance with the terms of this Privacy Policy. By using our Websites or our services, you agree to the transfer and processing of your personal information to the United States.
Dispute resolution, Arbitration Agreement & Waiver of Certain Rights
We are committed to resolve complaints about your privacy and our collection or use of your personal information.
You and we agree that we will resolve any disputes between us through binding and final arbitration instead of through court proceedings. You and we hereby waive any right to a jury trial of any Claim. All controversies, claims, counterclaims, or other disputes arising between you and us relating to this Privacy Policy or the Websites (each a "Claim") shall be submitted for binding arbitration in accordance with the Rules of the American Arbitration Association ("AAA Rules"). The arbitration will be heard and determined by a single arbitrator. The arbitrator's decision in any such arbitration will be final and binding upon the parties and may be enforced in any court of competent jurisdiction. The parties agree that the arbitration will be kept confidential and that the existence of the proceeding and any element of it (including, without limitation, any pleadings, briefs or other documents submitted or exchanged and any testimony or other oral submissions and awards) will not be disclosed beyond the arbitration proceedings, except as may lawfully be required in judicial proceedings relating to the arbitration or by applicable disclosure rules and regulations of securities regulatory authorities or other governmental agencies.
If you demonstrate that the costs of arbitration will be prohibitive as compared to the costs of litigation, we will pay as much of the administrative costs and arbitrator's fees required for the arbitration as the arbitrator deems necessary to prevent the cost of the arbitration from being prohibitive. In the final award, the arbitrator may apportion the costs of arbitration and the compensation of the arbitrator among the parties in such amounts as the arbitrator deems appropriate.
This arbitration agreement does not preclude you or us from seeking action by federal, state, or local government agencies. You and we also have the right to bring qualifying claims in small claims court. In addition, you and we retain the right to apply to any court of competent jurisdiction for provisional relief, including pre-arbitral attachments or preliminary injunctions, and any such request shall not be deemed incompatible with this Privacy Policy, nor a waiver of the right to have disputes submitted to arbitration as provided in this Privacy Policy.
Neither you nor we may act as a class representative or private attorney general, nor participate as a member of a class of claimants, with respect to any Claim. Claims may not be arbitrated on a class or representative basis. The arbitrator can decide only your and/or our individual Claims. The arbitrator may not consolidate or join the claims of other persons or parties who may be similarly situated.
If any provision of this Section is found to be invalid or unenforceable, then that specific provision shall be of no force and effect and shall be severed, but the remainder of this Section shall continue in full force and effect. No waiver of any provision of this Section of the Privacy Policy will be effective or enforceable unless recorded in a writing signed by the party waiving such a right or requirement. Such a waiver shall not waive or affect any other portion of this Privacy Policy. This Section of the Privacy Policy will survive the termination of your relationship with us.
THIS SECTION LIMITS CERTAIN RIGHTS, INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO MAINTAIN A COURT ACTION, THE RIGHT TO A JURY TRIAL, THE RIGHT TO PARTICIPATE IN ANY FORM OF CLASS OR REPRESENTATIVE CLAIM, THE RIGHT TO ENGAGE IN DISCOVERY EXCEPT AS PROVIDED IN AAA RULES, AND THE RIGHT TO CERTAIN REMEDIES AND FORMS OF RELIEF. OTHER RIGHTS THAT YOU OR WE WOULD HAVE IN COURT ALSO MAY NOT BE AVAILABLE IN ARBITRATION.
Privacy Policy Updates
Efforts to bring new services, ideas and partners to benefit our customers may make it necessary to amend our Privacy Policy. We will notify you of such changes, by posting a notification on our Website or by other means, and will give you an opportunity to review the changes before they go into effect.
Questions?
If you have any questions regarding our Privacy Policy, please contact our Customer Care department:
Customer Care
532 Baltimore Blvd Ste 409
Westminster, MD 21157
Customer Care Tel: 800.422.5915
Customer Orders Tel: 888.294.9660
Fax: 888.294.6376
orders@serrv.org
Last Updated August 1, 2024