Privacy policy

Woolgatherings

Last updated: October 17, 2026

Thank you for shopping with Woolgatherings. We are a small fiber business in Duvall, Washington, and we take care with the information you share with us. This policy explains what we collect, why we collect it, who helps us handle it, and the choices you have.

In this policy, "Woolgatherings," "we," "us," and "our" mean the Woolgatherings shop, which ships from Duvall, Washington, USA. "Site" means woolgatherings.com. This policy covers our Site and also information we receive when you buy from us on Etsy or through Facebook and Instagram Shop.

1. Information we collect

Information you give us

Order information: your name, billing and shipping address, email address, phone number (if you provide it), and the items you order.
Payment information: you pay through Shopify Payments or PayPal. Your card or PayPal details are handled by those companies. We never see or store your full card number. We receive limited details such as the card type, the last four digits, and whether the payment succeeded.
Fiber club and subscription information: if you join one of our fiber clubs, we collect your name, contact details, shipping address, plan, and billing schedule. Subscriptions are managed with PayWhirl.
Account information: if you create a customer account, we collect your name, email, password, order history, and saved addresses.
Messages and questions: anything you send us by email, by the chat or message box on our Site, through Etsy, or through social media, plus our replies.
Reviews and wishlists: reviews you submit (we use Judge.me) and items you save to a wishlist (we use Wishlist Plus).
Wholesale inquiries: business name, contact details, and any tax-exemption or resale information you send us.

Information collected automatically

When you visit the Site, we and our service providers automatically collect device and usage information, such as your IP address, approximate location, browser and device type, operating system, the pages and products you view, the links you click, the website or ad that referred you, and the date and time of your visit.

Information from other sources

Etsy: if you buy from our Etsy shop, Etsy gives us your name, shipping address, order details, and messages so that we can fill your order and reply to you.
Facebook and Instagram: we sell through Facebook and Instagram Shop, which sends shoppers to our website to check out. Checkout and payment happen on woolgatherings.com, not on Meta.
Service providers: payment, fraud-screening, and shipping providers may give us information such as payment status, delivery status, or address corrections.

We do not buy marketing lists, and we do not knowingly collect sensitive information such as health data, government ID numbers, or precise location.

2. How we use your information

We use your information to:

Process and ship your orders, handle returns and refunds, and send order and shipping updates.
Run fiber club subscriptions, including recurring billing and delivery.
Answer your questions and provide customer service. Questions sent through our message box or chat are answered by real people, not by automated or AI replies. Please expect a reply within a day or two rather than instantly.
Detect and prevent fraud and keep our Site and shop secure.
Keep our books, pay taxes, and meet legal requirements.
Understand how the Site is used and improve our products, website, and service.
Measure and run our advertising, including showing our products to people who may like them on Google, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.
Send you emails you asked for or that relate to your order, and, if we start a marketing email program, send marketing email to people who have agreed where the law requires it (see Section 6).

3. Who we share information with

We do not sell or rent your personal information. We never sell, rent, or share your email address, or any list of customer email addresses, with any other party, except the service providers we need to operate the shop and fill your orders (such as payment, shipping, and subscription providers, listed below). Each receives only what it needs to do its job. We share other information with the companies that help us run the shop, and only as needed for the services they provide to us:

Shopify hosts our Site, processes orders, and provides checkout, customer accounts, and chat. (shopify.com/legal/privacy)
Payment providers: Shopify Payments and PayPal process your payment and screen for fraud. Shopify also uses its own fraud-prevention and analytics tools across its network of stores to help detect fraud and abuse.
PayWhirl manages fiber club subscriptions and recurring billing.
Shipping providers: Shippo, Pirate Ship, UPS, and USPS, along with our own shipping software, receive your name, address, and sometimes phone and email so they can create labels, deliver your package, and send tracking updates.
Etsy (for orders placed on Etsy), and Meta (for Facebook and Instagram Shop, which sends shoppers to our website to check out), under their own privacy policies.
Google (Google Analytics, Google Merchant Center, Google Ads, and the Google & YouTube sales channel) helps us understand Site use, list our products in Google search and Shopping, and measure ads.
Meta (Meta pixel and the Facebook & Instagram sales channel) helps us measure and run ads and list our products on Facebook and Instagram Shop.
Pinterest (our Pinterest sales channel and tag) lets us list products on Pinterest and may measure visits and purchases from Pinterest.
Shop (Shop Pay and the Shop app, run by Shopify) may process your information if you choose to check out with Shop Pay or find our products in the Shop app, under Shopify's privacy policy.
Judge.me collects and displays product reviews. Wishlist Plus runs wishlists. Shop for Good is a donation app that lets customers give to causes; it processes donation and order details.
Bookkeeping and accounting services: QuickBooks Online and Dext receive order and sales records so we can keep our books and file taxes.
Faire: we have a Faire account and app for wholesale purchasing, and may exchange order information with Faire if you order through them. Faire handles that information under its own privacy policy.
Professional advisers, such as accountants and lawyers, when needed.

We may also share information when the law requires it, to respond to a lawful request such as a subpoena, to protect our rights, customers, or Site, or in connection with a sale or transfer of the business. If that happens, we would require the new owner to honor this policy.

4. Cookies and tracking technologies

We and our partners use cookies (small files placed on your device), pixels, tags, log files, and similar technologies. We use them to:

Make the Site work: remember your cart, keep you signed in, and complete checkout securely.
Understand use: Google Analytics tells us which pages and products people visit and how visitors find us.
Advertise and measure ads: Google Ads, Pinterest, and the Meta pixel may record visits and purchases so we can measure ads and show relevant ads to people who have visited our Site.
Prevent fraud and keep the Site secure.

Your choices: You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings, although parts of the Site, such as the cart and checkout, may not work without some cookies. You can also opt out of Google Analytics at tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout, and use the advertising opt-out links in Section 5. We also honor opt-out requests sent to kate@woolgatherings.com. To learn more about cookies, visit allaboutcookies.org.

Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control: Browsers offer a "Do Not Track" signal, but there is no common standard for it, so we do not change how the Site works when we see it. We will honor opt-out preference signals, such as Global Privacy Control, only where our tools support them. If you prefer, you can send your opt-out request to kate@woolgatherings.com and we will honor it.

5. Advertising and your opt-out choices

We use advertising services to show our products to people who may be interested. You can opt out of or limit interest-based ads here:

Google: adssettings.google.com
Meta (Facebook and Instagram): facebook.com/adpreferences (and the Ad preferences section of your Instagram settings)
Pinterest: the Privacy and data section of your Pinterest settings (help.pinterest.com, search "personalization")
Industry opt-out tools: optout.aboutads.info (Digital Advertising Alliance, US), youradchoices.ca (Canada), and youronlinechoices.com (Europe)
Your device: many phones and browsers let you limit ad tracking or reset your advertising ID.

Opting out does not stop ads altogether; it means the ads you see will be less tailored to you.

6. Email and other messages

We send the emails you need to receive: order confirmations, shipping and tracking updates, subscription and billing notices, and replies to your questions. We do not send promotional email today, but we may in the future, such as news, new fiber releases, and offers. If we do:

We will collect your consent where the law requires it (for example, with a signup box or an unchecked checkbox at checkout) and will only send marketing email to people who have agreed or whom the law allows us to contact.
Every marketing email will include an easy unsubscribe link, and we will honor unsubscribes promptly. You can also ask us to stop by emailing kate@woolgatherings.com. Unsubscribing from marketing will not stop order, shipping, and account emails.
We will never sell, rent, or share your email address or our email list with any other party. We may use an email service provider to send our messages for us, only under our instructions, and only to send our own emails. Service providers that help fill your orders (payments, shipping, and subscriptions) receive your email address only to do that work.

This promise is about email addresses as a list. Our advertising and analytics tools (see Sections 4 and 5) may still collect browsing and device information through cookies and pixels when you visit our Site, as described in those sections. We do not upload our customer email lists to advertising platforms.

We do not send text messages (SMS) of any kind.

7. Chat and customer messages

If you use the message or chat feature on our Site, we receive what you write along with your name and email address if you give them. Shopify provides this feature. Our chat does not use artificial intelligence to reply to you, and we do not use your messages to train AI. Messages are read and answered by us, not instantly, and we may keep them to help with your order and future questions.

8. How long we keep information

We keep information only as long as we need it for the reasons above:

Order, payment, and tax records: generally up to seven years, to meet tax and accounting requirements.
Customer service messages: generally up to three years.
Account and subscription information: while your account or subscription is active, and for a reasonable time afterward.
Website analytics and advertising data: according to the retention settings of Google and Meta, which are typically a few months to a few years.

After that, we delete or anonymize it. We may keep some information longer if the law requires it or to resolve a dispute.

9. Your rights and choices

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to:

Know and access the personal information we hold about you.
Correct information that is wrong.
Delete your information, with some exceptions (for example, records we must keep for tax purposes).
Receive a copy of your information in a portable format.
Opt out of the sale or sharing of your information for targeted advertising (we do not sell it, but you may opt out of advertising cookies and pixels), and unsubscribe from any marketing email at any time.
Object to or limit certain uses, and withdraw consent you gave earlier.
Not be treated unfairly for using these rights. We will not charge you more or refuse service because you used them.

How to make a request: email kate@woolgatherings.com with "Privacy request" in the subject line, or write to us at the mailing address in Section 14. We may need to confirm it is really you, usually by matching details to your order. We aim to respond within 45 days. You may have an authorized agent make a request for you, and we may ask for proof of that permission. If we deny a request, you can ask us to explain, and you may appeal by replying to us.

California residents (CCPA/CPRA): In the past 12 months we have collected the categories of information described in Section 1 (identifiers like name and email, commercial information like your orders, internet activity, general location, and your messages), for the purposes in Section 2, and shared it with the types of companies in Section 3. We do not sell or rent personal information, and we never sell, rent, or share customer email addresses with anyone other than service providers who help us fill orders. Advertising and analytics tools such as Google, Pinterest and Meta pixels collect browsing data and may count as "sharing" for cross-context behavioral advertising under California law; that is browsing and device data collected as described in Section 4, not our email list. You can opt out as described in Sections 4 and 5 or by emailing us. We do not knowingly sell or share the personal information of anyone under 16. We do not use or disclose sensitive personal information except to provide the goods and services you ask for. California residents may also ask which businesses we disclosed personal information to for their direct marketing; we do not share it for third-party direct marketing.

Washington residents: We do not collect consumer health data as defined by Washington's My Health My Data Act. You may still use the rights above by contacting us.

Customers in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland: We process your information because (a) it is needed to carry out a contract with you, such as filling your order; (b) we have a legitimate interest in running, securing, and improving our business and advertising; (c) we must meet legal obligations such as tax rules; or (d) you gave consent, which you can withdraw at any time. You have the rights described above, as well as the right to restrict processing, and to complain to your local data protection authority. We are located in the United States, so your information will be transferred to and stored in the United States and other countries where our service providers operate. Where required, these transfers rely on safeguards such as standard contractual clauses or the providers' data transfer frameworks.

10. Children

Our Site and products are for adults and are not directed at children under 13 (or under 16 where local law sets that age). We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has given us information, please email kate@woolgatherings.com and we will delete it.

11. Security

We use reasonable measures to protect your information, including secure, encrypted checkout through Shopify and trusted payment processors, and limiting access to people and services that need it. No website or system is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security. If a data breach affects you, we will notify you as the law requires.

12. Links to other sites

Our Site may link to other websites, including Etsy, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube. We do not control these sites and are not responsible for their privacy practices. Please read their policies.

13. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time, for example when we add a new service or the law changes. We will post the new version here and change the "Last updated" date above. If we make a significant change, we will make a reasonable effort to let you know, such as with a notice on our Site.

14. Contact us

Questions, complaints, or privacy requests? Please reach out: