At Studs, we h(ear) you when you say that your privacy matters. And we believe that you have a right to know what information we collect from you and how we use that information. For those reasons, we’ve created this privacy policy (“Privacy Policy”) to let you know what to expect when you interact with Studs, which does business as Studs, Inc. (collectively with its authorized business partners, affiliates, subsidiaries or agents, “Studs”, “we”, or “us”). We have created this Privacy Policy in order to set out how we collect, use, and disclose personal information through our website located at WWW.STUDS.COM (the “Site”). This Privacy Policy applies to all of the products, services (including piercing services) and the Site offered by Studs through the Site and in our STUDS STUDIOS (collectively the “Services”). The privacy of our customers is important to us. By visiting our Site and/or using the Services in any manner, you acknowledge that you accept the practices and policies outlined in this Privacy Policy and you hereby consent to the collection, use, retention, and disclosure of your Personal Information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

**If you are a California resident, you may have different or additional rights. Please see the Studs Privacy Notice for California Residents HERE.**

THE SCOPE OF THIS PRIVACY POLICY  

• “Personal Information,” as used in this Privacy Policy, is information that directly identifies an individual, such as a person’s name, or information that reasonably allows an individual to be identified indirectly, such as email or home address or a person’s mobile phone number. Personal Information also includes information that is directly combined with such identifying information. This Privacy Policy covers our collection, use, retention, and disclosure of Personal Information.
• Personal Information does not include “aggregate” information which we de-identify and combine with other information you provide to us. Personal Information may be collected about our customers, prospective customers, visitors to the Site, users who purchase jewelry or other products on our Site and in our Studs Studios, users who book appointments on our Site and/or who have appointments in our Studs Studios, and users who post reviews or ratings.
• You can choose not to provide us with certain information, but by doing so, you may not be able to use some of the Services. For residents of California, please see additional information on our privacy practices under state-specific privacy laws HERE.

• We have pages on social media sites like Instagram, Facebook, Linkedin, and TikTok (any such sites, “Social Media Pages”). When you interact with our Social Media Pages, we will collect Personal Information that you elect to provide to us, such as your contact details or username. In addition, the companies that host our Social Media Pages may provide us with aggregate information and analytics regarding the use of our Social Media Pages.
• Please understand that, except as specifically described below, this Privacy Policy does not apply to information collected by third parties, such as other companies, or third-party websites or mobile applications, even if any are linked to or accessible through the Services. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such third parties. If you have any questions about how these third parties use information from or about you, you should contact them directly. We encourage you to read their privacy policies before providing any information to them. The Services are intended for use by customers wishing to learn about our ear piercing and related services, earrings, and related products. You are responsible for ensuring that you have obtained the necessary authorizations and consents for any Personal Information or other information or materials that you make available to us for use in accordance with this Privacy Policy. If you have questions or concerns about our information practices, please contact us at PRIVACY@STUDS.COM.

THE INFORMATION WE COLLECT

Studs collects Personal Information in the following general ways:

• Passive Data Collection. This refers to data automatically collected from customers when they use our Services. When you access or use the Services, Studs may automatically receive and record information on our server logs from your browser, including your IP address, cookies, site activity, and the pages you request. IP addresses are automatically reported by your browser each time you view a web page. Your IP address is stored by Studs when you register with Studs.
• User-Submitted Information. Studs collects Personal Information you knowingly choose to submit to us through the Site or when you consent to receive Services, such as your name and email address. Studs also collects Personal Information you knowingly choose to submit to us, such as through surveys, questionnaires, or quizzes.

Generally, Studs uses Account Information (including Personal Information) in the ways described in the “How We Use Your Information” section, below.

PASSIVE DATA COLLECTION

When you visit, use and interact with the Site, or complete a Studs Piercing Waiver (the “Piercing Waiver”), we may receive certain information about your visit to or interactions with the Site. For example, we may monitor the number of people that visit our Site, peak hours of visits, which page(s) are visited on our Site, the domains our visitors come from (e.g., google.com, yahoo.com, etc.), which browsers people use to access and visit our Site (e.g., Firefox, Microsoft Internet Explorer, etc.), broad geographical information, and Site-navigation pattern.

In particular, the following information is created and automatically logged in our systems:

• Log data. Information that your browser automatically sends whenever you visit the Site (“Log Data”). Log Data includes your Internet Protocol (“IP”) address (so we understand which country you are connecting from when you visit the Site), browser type and settings, the date and time of your request, and how you interacted with the Site.
• Cookies. A “cookie” is a piece of information sent to your browser by a website you visit. Cookies can be stored on your computer for different periods of time. Some cookies expire after a certain amount of time, or upon logging out (session cookies), others survive after your browser is closed until a defined expiration date set in the cookie (as determined by the third party placing it), and help recognize your computer when you open your browser and browse the Internet again (persistent cookies).
• Device information. This may include the name of the device, operating system, and browser you are using. Information collected may depend on the type of device you use and its settings.
• Usage Information. We collect information about how you use our Site, such as the types of content that you view or engage with, the features you use, the actions you take, and the time, frequency and duration of your activities. We may use third-party tracking services that use log files, cookies, and possibly other techniques to track information about visitors to the Site in the aggregate. These services capture usage and volume statistics as well as geographical location data to compile usage reports and maps for optimization and troubleshooting purposes. In particular, we use Google Analytics and other similar software applications to help collect and analyze certain information for the purposes discussed in this Privacy Policy. You can learn more about Google’s practices by visiting https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners/.
  
  

USER-SUBMITTED INFORMATION

User-submitted information includes information submitted electronically, via phone, and in person at our studios, and includes information received through the Piercing Waiver. User-submitted information may be used to provide you with customized and personalized services.

• Registration. In order to use some features of our Services, including booking an appointment, you must first create a Studs account (an “Account”) with us and agree to the Terms of Service. When you create an Account, Studs may collect various types of Personal Information including your name, email address, phone number, and birth date, and may collect other information upon checkout (“Account Information”). When you create an Account on the Site or at a Studs Studio, Studs will also have access to information about your use of the Site and our Services, including what piercing or other services you have purchased, jewelry or other product purchases you have made, geolocation data, images of your GOVERNMENT-ISSUED PHOTO ID shared with Studs, your emergency contact’s name phone number and email address, and other information available that is combined with your Account Information. We use the email address you provide to contact you about the products and Services, and to begin to create a personalized experience for you. 

• Orders. If you order a product from us, we request certain Personal Information from you, whether you access the Services, the Site, or otherwise. You must provide contact information (including name, shipping address, telephone number, and email address) and a payment method. We use this information for billing purposes, to fill your orders and to communicate with you about your orders. If we have trouble processing an order, we will use this information to contact you. We record what you order and associate it with your account profile. We may ask you about your experience, including with surveys (as described further below). When you return an item, we may ask you for information about your experience, such as the reason for the return. We record that information to better personalize our Services for you and to improve our Services for others.

• The Piercing Waiver. Completing the Piercing Waiver is required in order to receive ear piercing services at Studs. The Piercing Waiver requires you to provide certain Personal Information, which typically includes contact information (such as name and email address) and your birthday, as well as emergency contact information. If you are the adult completing the form for a minor aged 13-17 years old, in addition to the above, the Piercing Waiver will require the minor’s name and birthday, as well as a copy of the parent or guardian’s GOVERNMENT-ISSUED PHOTOGRAPH IDENTIFICATION and the minor’s photo identification. 

• Surveys, contests, sweepstakes, and/or promotions. We may provide you the opportunity to participate in surveys, contests, sweepstakes, and/or promotions on our Site or in connection with our Services. If you participate, we will request certain Personal Information. The requested information typically includes contact information (such as name,email address, mobile number, social handle, and/or zip code) and demographic information. We may use this information to notify contest winners and to award prizes, to monitor traffic to our Services, to improve the Services, and to send participants an email newsletter, and in addition, in each survey, contest, sweepstakes, and/or promotion, we may provide an opportunity for you to opt into our marketing communications. Additional information practices (and terms and conditions) may apply to any survey, contests, sweepstakes, and/or promotions, which will be made available with that survey, contest, sweepstakes, or promotion. Please carefully review any additional information provided.

• Public feedback (reviews). If you choose to submit a review on the Site about the Services or any products that you have purchased, that information, including any photos you upload, may become available to anyone. We are not responsible for the use by others of the information you publicly disclose. Additionally, we may, but are not obligated to, collect the information you post in reviews to resolve disputes, provide customer support and troubleshoot problems as permitted by law. Please be careful and consider whether you are disclosing any Personal Information in a review on our Site.

HOW WE USE YOUR INFORMATION

Specifically, Studs uses Personal Information to:

• Provide our Services to you. We use your Personal Information to provide our Services to you, including: 
• To create the Account and provide access to the Services (as described above);
• To present you with products, information and content through the Services, including personalization of the Services;
• To process transactions related to your use of the Services, and send you related information, including confirmations and receipts;
• To respond to your questions or requests;
• To link or combine with other information we receive from third parties such as our Social Media Pages, to help understand your needs and provide you with a better experience; and
• To otherwise provide, operate, maintain and improve the Services;

• Communicate with and market to you. Communicate with you about other matters such as features, surveys, newsletters, offers, promotions, contests, sweepstakes and events, and provide other news or information about us and our select partners;
• Develop and improve our Services.  Monitor and analyze trends, usage, and activities in connection with the Services and for marketing or advertising purposes;
• Prevent fraud and for safety reasons. We may use your Personal Information and disclose it to law enforcement, government authorities, and private parties as we believe necessary or appropriate to investigate and prevent fraudulent transactions, unauthorized access to the Services, and other illegal activities;
• Comply with Law.  We may use your Personal Information as we believe necessary or appropriate to comply with applicable laws, lawful requests, and legal process.
• Fulfill other purposes or with your consent.  We may use your Personal Information for any other purposes that we describe at the time we collect your Personal Information, or otherwise with your consent.
  
  

OUR COMMUNICATIONS WITH YOU

In particular, we use your contact information to communicate with you about Studs and our marketing partners in the following ways:

• To provide newsletters or marketing emails with special promotional offers, updates and other relevant marketing content;
• To provide announcements about the Services; 
• To communicate with you about the Services and your account, including updates about the status of your orders; and
• To provide information about your Studs appointment, including appointment confirmations and updates, directions, and aftercare information; 
• To send technical notices, updates, security alerts and support and administrative messages;
• To verify your identity and address for your orders.

We may communicate with you about the above via phone, email, postal mail, and text messages. Standard call, message and data rates charged by your mobile carrier may apply to text messages or other communications received on your mobile device, which may be sent using an automatic telephone dialing system. These messages may include operational messages about your use of the Services as well as marketing messages.

We will reasonably seek your consent where required for marketing communications. If you elect to provide your email or telephone number, we may use that information to send you offers, coupons, and information about new products available in our Studs Studios or on our Site.

Prior to sending you marketing text messages, we will reasonably seek your additional consent in the form of a text message requesting that you expressly consent to receiving marketing text messages.

For information about how to opt out of any of the communications described above, please see the section below titled “Your Privacy Choices.”

HOW WE DISCLOSE YOUR INFORMATION

Your consent 

By providing Personal Information to us, you fully understand and consent to the transfer of such Personal Information to and the collection and processing of such Personal Information by our partners and affiliates, credit card processing vendors, or other third parties as described in the Terms of Service. We may share all the categories of Personal Information described earlier in this Privacy Policy with the third parties described below.

We may disclose your Personal Information to conduct our business, improve the delivery of our Services, to develop analytics, and to enable us and our partners to improve and promote our products and services, including with third party marketing partners for commercial purposes.

The purposes and ways that we may disclose Personal Information about you are described below in more detail.

• Service providers and business partners. We may from time to time employ third parties and/or third party software solutions to perform tasks on our behalf (such as sending you notifications and/or offers) and we may need to disclose Account Information and other Personal Information with them to provide certain services. The third parties we currently engage include third party companies and individuals employed by us to facilitate our services, including marketing companies. ​​These service providers agree to use your Personal Information only in accordance with our instructions, and for no other purpose than to provide the contracted-for services.
  
• Advertising partners. We work with third-party advertising partners to show you ads that we think may interest you. Some of our advertising partners are members of the Network Advertising Initiative (https://optout.networkadvertising.org) or the Digital Advertising Alliance (https://optout.aboutads.info). If you do not wish to receive personalized ads, please visit their opt-out pages to learn about how you may opt out of receiving web-based personalized ads from member companies. You can access any settings offered by your mobile operating system to limit ad tracking, or you can install the AppChoices mobile app to learn more about how you may opt out of personalized ads in mobile apps.
• Business transfers. If our business (or substantially all of our assets) are acquired by a third party, or if we go out of business, enter bankruptcy, or go through some other change of control, Personal Information may be made available or otherwise transferred to the new controlling entity, where permitted under applicable law. In such an event, we reserve the right to transfer all of your Personal Information, including email addresses and other information about you collected by us (in accordance with this policy), to that entity.
• With your consent. If we need to disclose any Personal Information in a way not identified in this Privacy Policy, we will notify you and/or obtain consent as required under applicable privacy laws.
• As Required by law. We may disclose Personal Information if we have a good-faith belief that doing so is required under applicable law, for example if we receive a subpoena or other judicial or administrative order or otherwise required by law. This may include responding to legal requests from jurisdictions outside of the United States, where we have a good faith belief that the response is required by law in that jurisdiction.
• To protect rights. Additionally, we may disclose Personal Information where we, in good faith, deem it appropriate or necessary to prevent violation of the Terms of Service or our other agreements; take precautions against liability, protect the rights, property, or safety of Studs, any individual, or the general public, maintain and protect the security and integrity of our Services or infrastructure, protect ourselves and our Services from fraudulent, abusive, or unlawful uses, investigate and defend ourselves against third-party claims or allegations, or assist government enforcement agencies.

RETENTION

We will keep your Personal Information for as long as it remains necessary for the identified purpose or as required by law, which may extend beyond the termination of our relationship with you. We may retain certain data as necessary to prevent fraud or future abuse, or for legitimate business purposes, such as analysis of aggregated, non-personally-identifiable data, Account recovery, or if required by law. Unless otherwise set forth in the applicable Terms of Service or a separate agreement with you governing the applicable Services, if you cease using such Service, we may retain or destroy, at our discretion, all Personal Information and non-personally identifiable information we collect through your use of such Service. All retained Personal Information will remain subject to the terms of this Privacy Policy.

CHILDREN'S PRIVACY

Studs and the Services are not intended for or directed toward individuals under 13 years of age, and individuals under 13 should not use the Services for any purpose unless they have the consent of, and are under the supervision of, a parent or guardian. We ask that individuals under 13 do not provide Personal Information through our Services, and if we learn that we have collected or received Personal Information from an individual under 13 years of age, we will delete that information. 

If you believe that we may have inadvertently collected any Personal Information about a child aged under 13 years, please contact us at PRIVACY@STUDS.COM or as provided in the “Contact Us” section below.

YOUR PRIVACY CHOICES

• Accessing and Requesting Changes to Your Personal Information. Through your Account settings, you can access, view, and edit any of the following personal information:
• mailing address
• billing address
• phone number
• transactional history including appointment history (access and view only)

The information you can view and edit may change as our Services change. To edit your name, password, and/or email address, please email the Studs team at heystud@studs.com.

Please also understand that we may not be obligated or able to alter or delete your Personal Information and may retain information to provide you with the Services or fulfill our legal obligations, for security reasons, if we are required under applicable law or regulations, for internal business use or for other valid reasons. We are also not obligated to comply with requests that are unreasonably burdensome or expensive, or with requests that would interfere with the rights of another individual.  In some circumstances, we may charge a reasonable fee to fulfill your request.

• Accessing Personal Information collected, disclosed, shared, or sold, or requesting deletion or correction of Personal Information

 You can also make a request through the methods listed below:  

• Call us at +1-877-321-3035
• Submit an online request using this webform.  

After completing your request, we will contact you within 45 days to ask that you verify your email address. For deletion requests, once your personal information is deleted, you will no longer be able to access your Account. We and third parties with whom we’ve shared your Personal Information may retain certain of your Personal Information, like order and appointment history in our systems for certain legal, security, and business records.

• Opt-Out Options.
• Emails.  
• If you decide you don’t want to receive marketing emails from us, you can click the “Unsubscribe” link in our emails or follow the instructions contained in each email we send you. 
• Opting out or unsubscribing will not prevent you from receiving emails about orders or other transactions you make through Studs’ Services or emails in response to a specific request from you, such as password recovery.
• Text messages.
• You may opt out of marketing text messages by replying “STOP” to such communications, or by emailing heystud@studs.com. 
• You may opt out of appointment-related text messages by replying “STOP” to such communications. 
• If you unsubscribe from our marketing lists, we may continue to contact you with administrative messages regarding our Site and Services and to respond to your requests. 
• You may continue to receive text messages for a short period while we process your request, including a message confirming the receipt of your opt-out request. Your agreement to receive marketing texts is not a condition of any purchase on or use of the Services.
• Tracking. 
• As described above, we and our third party service providers, including Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok may use cookies, web beacons, pixels, session replay or other tracking technologies to collect information about your browsing activities over time and across different websites following your use of the Site and use that information to provide measurement services and target ads.
• You can opt-out of being tracked by these third parties by broadcasting an Opt-Out Preference Signal, such as the Global Privacy Control (GPC) (on the browsers and/or browser extensions that support such a signal) which has been enabled prior to accessing our Site. If you do not have an Account or if you are not logged into your Account, your request to opt-out of sale/sharing will be linked to your browser identifier only and not linked to any Account information because the connection between your browser and the Account is not known to us. If you would like us to make the connection between your browser and your Account when you send the opt out of sale/sharing of your personal information request or GPC signal, and you have not yet opted out of sale or sharing your personal information, we recommend you submitting the opt-out form that is available at THIS LINK. 
• In addition, on most web browsers, you will find a “help” section on the toolbar. Please refer to this section for information on how to receive a notification when you are receiving a new cookie and how to turn cookies off.
• Please note that if you limit the ability of websites to set cookies, you may be unable to access certain parts of the Site and you may not be able to benefit from the full functionality of the Site. Most advertising networks offer you a way to opt out of targeted advertising. If you would like to find out more information, please visit the Network Advertising Initiative’s online resources at HTTP://WWW.NETWORKADVERTISING.ORG and follow the opt-out instructions there. You may also opt out of receiving interest-based ads from Amazon, Facebook, Google, and TikTok by adjusting your preference on those sites. You will continue to see ads on each platform, but they will not be personalized as a result of your actions on our website. 
• Please note that if you access the Site on your mobile device, you may not be able to control tracking technologies through the settings.
• Selling or sharing. Studs does not sell your Personal Information in exchange for money.  However, we use services that help deliver interest-based ads to you and may transfer Personal Information to business partners for their use, which may be considered “selling” or “sharing” under certain laws.
• Please complete the opt-out form that is available at this link to opt out of Studs selling or sharing your Personal Information.

YOUR PRIVACY RIGHTS

Some states provide consumers certain rights regarding their Personal Information. Depending on where you live and subject to certain exceptions, you may exercise the following rights:

• The right to know what Personal Information we have collected about you, including the categories of Personal Information, the categories of sources from which the Personal Information is collected, the business or commercial purpose for collecting, selling, or sharing Personal Information, and the categories of third parties to whom we disclose Personal Information.
• The right to access the specific pieces of Personal Information we have collected about you in a portable and, to the extent technically feasible, readily usable format.
• The right to correct inaccurate Personal Information that we maintain about you.
• The right to request deletion of the Personal Information that we have collected about you.
• The right to opt out of the processing of your Personal Information for targeted advertising, the sale of Personal Information, or the sharing of Personal Information for cross-context behavioral advertising.
• The right to limit our use or disclosure of your sensitive Personal Information, where permitted by law.
• The right to be free from discriminatory treatment for the exercise of your privacy rights.  
• The right to appeal any decision with regard to your privacy request.
• The right to opt-out of profiling in furtherance of producing legal or significant decisions concerning a consumer. We do not engage in such profiling.

The exact scope of these rights may vary by state. You can submit a request to exercise rights applicable to you to opt out of personal data processing for the purposes listed above by submitting a request HERE, and the rights to confirmation of processing, access, deletion, correction, and portability by submitting a request HERE. To appeal a decision regarding a consumer rights request, use the details provided in the “Contact Us” section below to send us an email with the details of your appeal.

California Residents. Please visit our Privacy Notice for California Residents HERE for supplemental information and disclosures regarding rights of California residents.

Please note that there are exceptions and limitations to each of the rights listed above. Also, while any changes to your Personal Information in our active user databases will be reflected within a reasonable period of time, we may retain certain information for backups, archiving, prevention of fraud and abuse, analytics, legal and compliance obligations, or as otherwise permitted under applicable law.

INTERNATIONAL VISITORS

Our Services are hosted in the United States and intended for visitors located within the United States. If you choose to use the Services from the European Union or other regions of the world with laws governing data collection and use that may differ from U.S. law, then please note that you are transferring your Personal Information outside of those regions to the United States for storage and processing. Also, we may transfer your data from the U.S. to other countries or regions in connection with storage and processing of data, fulfilling your requests, and operating the Services. By providing any information, including Personal Information, on or to the Services, you consent to such transfer, storage, and processing.

SECURITY

We make reasonable efforts to protect your information by using physical and electronic safeguards designed to improve the security of the information we maintain. However, as no electronic transmission or storage of information can be entirely secure, we can make no guarantees as to the security or privacy of your information.

TERMS OF SERVICE

Please also visit our applicable TERMS OF SERVICE, which establish the use, disclaimers, and limitations of liability governing the use of our Services.

CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

We may amend this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we decide to change our Privacy Policy, we will post those changes on this page and update the Privacy Policy modification date at the top of this page. Use of Personal Information we collect is subject to the Privacy Policy in effect at the time such information is collected, used or disclosed. If we make material changes or changes in the way we use Personal Information, we will notify you by posting an announcement on our Site or by sending you an email prior to the change becoming effective. You are bound by any changes to the Privacy Policy when you use the Site or Services after such changes have been first posted.

CONTACT US

If you have questions regarding our Privacy Policy, its implementation, failure to adhere to this Privacy Policy and/or our general practices, please contact us: PRIVACY@STUDS.COM.

Please VISIT THIS LINK to see the Studs Privacy Policy, effective through March 10, 2024.