Privacy policy

PRIVACY POLICY

Sankofa Collective

Last Updated: January 1, 2026

 

Introduction

Sankofa Collective operates this store and website, including all related information, content, features, tools, products, and services (the "Services"). We are a curated marketplace featuring Black-owned businesses that create clean beauty and self-care products specifically for melanated people. Every product we offer undergoes rigorous ingredient analysis to meet our clean beauty standards.

Sankofa Collective is powered by Shopify, which enables us to provide the Services to you. This Privacy Policy describes how we collect, use, and disclose your personal information when you visit, use, make a purchase, subscribe to The Sankofa Travel Kit, or otherwise communicate with us.

Please read this Privacy Policy carefully. By using and accessing any of the Services, you acknowledge that you have read this Privacy Policy and understand the collection, use, and disclosure of your information as described herein.

If there is a conflict between our Terms of Service and this Privacy Policy, this Privacy Policy controls with respect to the collection, processing, and disclosure of your personal information.

 

Personal Information We Collect or Process

When we use the term "personal information," we are referring to information that identifies or can reasonably be linked to you or another person. Personal information does not include information that is collected anonymously or that has been de-identified, so that it cannot identify or be reasonably linked to you.

We may collect or process the following categories of personal information, including inferences drawn from this personal information, depending on how you interact with the Services, where you live, and as permitted or required by applicable law:

Contact Details:

• Name, address, billing address, shipping address
• Phone number and email address

Financial Information:

• Credit card, debit card, and financial account numbers
• Payment card information
• Transaction details and payment confirmation
• Form of payment and other payment details

Account Information:

• Username, password, security questions
• Account preferences and settings
• Subscription status and billing information

Transaction Information:

• Items you view, add to cart, add to wishlist, or purchase
• Items you return, exchange, or cancel
• Past purchase history and transaction records
• The Sankofa Travel Kit subscription data (billing cycle, delivery preferences, cancellation history)

Communications with Us:

• Information you include in communications with us
• Customer support inquiries and correspondence
• Product reviews and feedback
• Return and exchange requests

Device Information:

• Information about your device, browser, or network connection
• IP address and other unique identifiers
• Operating system and browser type

Usage Information:

• How and when you interact with or navigate the Services
• Pages visited, links clicked, search queries
• Time spent on pages and browsing patterns

Product Preferences:

• Skin type, hair type, product preferences (if you provide this information)
• Product reviews and ratings
• Wishlist and saved items

 

Personal Information Sources

We may collect personal information from the following sources:

Directly from You:

• When you create an account
• When you make a purchase or subscribe to The Sankofa Travel Kit
• When you visit or use the Services
• When you communicate with us (customer service, reviews, feedback)
• When you provide information voluntarily (preferences, surveys)

Automatically Through the Services:

• From your device when you use our products or services or visit our websites
• Through the use of cookies and similar technologies
• Through analytics and tracking tools

From Our Service Providers:

• When we engage them to enable certain technology
• When they collect or process your personal information on our behalf (payment processors, shipping carriers, analytics providers)

From Our Partners or Other Third Parties:

• Social media platforms (if you choose to connect your account)
• Marketing partners
• Data analytics providers

From Vendor Partners:

• Product information, ingredient lists, and safety data sheets for curation purposes
• This information is used for our quality control and ingredient vetting process, not for individual customer tracking

 

How We Use Your Personal Information

Depending on how you interact with us or which of the Services you use, we may use personal information for the following purposes:

Provide, Tailor, and Improve the Services

We use your personal information to:

• Provide you with the Services, including performing our contract with you
• Process your payments and fulfill your orders
• Manage your account and subscription (including The Sankofa Travel Kit)
• Remember your preferences and items you are interested in
• Send notifications related to your account, orders, and subscriptions
• Process purchases, returns, exchanges, or other transactions
• Arrange for shipping from our centralized warehouse
• Facilitate returns and exchanges
• Enable you to post reviews
• Create a customized shopping experience for you, such as recommending products based on your purchase history
• Conduct quality inspections before shipping products to you
• Vet products against our clean beauty ingredient standards

Marketing and Advertising

We use your personal information for marketing and promotional purposes, such as:

• Send marketing, advertising, and promotional communications by email
• Show you online advertisements for products or services on the Services or other websites
• Recommend products based on items you previously purchased, added to your cart, or viewed
• Notify you about The Sankofa Travel Kit quarterly curation
• Share information about Black-owned brands we partner with

Security and Fraud Prevention

We use your personal information to:

• Authenticate your account credentials
• Provide a secure payment and shopping experience
• Detect, investigate, or take action regarding possible fraudulent, illegal, unsafe, or malicious activity
• Protect public safety and secure our Services

If you choose to use the Services and register an account, you are responsible for keeping your account credentials safe. We highly recommend that you do not share your username, password, or other access details with anyone else.

Communicating with You

We use your personal information to:

• Provide customer support
• Respond to your inquiries
• Provide effective services to you
• Maintain our business relationship with you
• Send transactional emails (order confirmations, shipping notifications, subscription billing reminders)

Legal Reasons

We use your personal information to:

• Comply with applicable law or respond to valid legal process
• Respond to requests from law enforcement or government agencies
• Investigate or participate in civil discovery, litigation, or other adversarial legal proceedings
• Enforce or investigate potential violations of our terms or policies

 

How We Disclose Personal Information

In certain circumstances, we may disclose your personal information to third parties for legitimate purposes subject to this Privacy Policy. Such circumstances may include:

With Service Providers:

• Shopify: Our e-commerce platform provider
• Payment processors: To process your payments securely
• Shipping carriers: UPS and FedEx for order fulfillment
• IT management and cloud storage providers
• Data analytics providers
• Customer support tools
• Email service providers

With Business and Marketing Partners:

• To provide marketing services and advertise to you
• We use Shopify to support personalized advertising with third-party services based on your online activity
• Our business and marketing partners will use your information in accordance with their own privacy notices

Depending on where you reside, you may have a right to direct us not to share information about you to show you targeted advertisements and marketing. You can exercise your rights to opt-out of those uses through the links provided in the "Your Rights and Choices" section below.

When You Direct or Consent:

• When you request us to share certain information with third parties
• When products are shipped to you
• Through your use of social media widgets or login integrations

With Affiliates:

• Within our corporate group (if applicable in the future)

In Connection with Business Transactions:

• In connection with a merger, acquisition, bankruptcy, or other business transaction
• To comply with legal obligations (including responding to subpoenas, search warrants, and similar requests)
• To enforce our terms of service or policies
• To protect or defend the Services, our rights, and the rights of our users or others

We Do NOT Sell Your Personal Information to third parties for their own marketing purposes.

 

Relationship with Shopify

The Services are hosted by Shopify, which collects and processes personal information about your access to and use of the Services in order to provide and improve the Services for you.

Information you submit to the Services will be transmitted to and shared with Shopify as well as third parties that may be located in countries other than where you reside, in order to provide and improve the Services for you.

In addition, to help protect, grow, and improve our business, we use certain Shopify enhanced features that incorporate data and information obtained from your interactions with our store, along with other merchants and with Shopify. To provide these enhanced features, Shopify may make use of personal information collected about your interactions with our store, along with other merchants, and with Shopify.

In these circumstances, Shopify is responsible for the processing of your personal information, including for responding to your requests to exercise your rights over use of your personal information for these purposes.

To learn more about how Shopify uses your personal information and any rights you may have:

• Visit the Shopify Consumer Privacy Policy
• Depending on where you live, you may exercise certain rights with respect to your personal information at the Shopify Privacy Portal

 

Cookies and Tracking Technologies

We use cookies and similar tracking technologies to collect information about your browsing behavior and provide a better user experience. Cookies are small data files stored on your device.

Types of Cookies We Use:

Essential Cookies:

• Required for basic website functionality
• Shopping cart, session management, security features
• Cannot be disabled

Performance Cookies:

• Help us understand how visitors use our website
• Analytics to improve user experience
• Can be disabled through browser settings

Functional Cookies:

• Remember your preferences and login status
• Provide personalized features like product recommendations
• Can be disabled, but may limit functionality

Advertising Cookies:

• Track your browsing activity across websites
• Show you targeted advertisements
• Can be opted out (see "Your Rights and Choices" section)

Managing Cookies:

• You can control cookies through your browser settings
• Disabling cookies may affect website functionality
• Some cookies are necessary for the Services to function

 

Third-Party Websites and Links

The Services may provide links to websites or other online platforms operated by third parties. If you follow links to sites not affiliated or controlled by us, you should review their privacy and security policies and other terms and conditions.

We do not guarantee and are not responsible for:

• Privacy or security of third-party sites
• Accuracy, completeness, or reliability of information on third-party sites
• How third parties use information you provide to them

Information you provide on public or semi-public venues, including information you share on third-party social networking platforms, may be viewable by other users of the Services and/or users of those third-party platforms without limitation as to its use by us or by a third party.

Our inclusion of such links does not imply any endorsement of the content on such platforms or of their owners or operators, except as disclosed on the Services.

 

Children's Data

The Services are not intended to be used by children, and we do not knowingly collect any personal information about children under the age of majority in your jurisdiction (typically 18 years old).

If you are the parent or guardian of a child who has provided us with their personal information, you may contact us using the contact details set out below to request that it be deleted.

As of the effective date of this Privacy Policy, we do not have actual knowledge that we "share" or "sell" (as those terms are defined in applicable law) personal information of individuals under 16 years of age.

 

Security and Retention of Your Information

Security Measures

We implement reasonable security measures to protect your personal information, including:

• Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption for data transmission
• Secure storage of payment information through PCI-compliant payment processors
• Access controls limiting employee access to personal information
• Regular security assessments and updates

Please be aware that no security measures are perfect or impenetrable, and we cannot guarantee "perfect security." In addition, any information you send to us may not be secure while in transit. We recommend that you do not use unsecure channels to communicate sensitive or confidential information to us.

Retention

How long we retain your personal information depends on different factors, such as:

• Whether we need the information to maintain your account
• Whether we need the information to provide you with Services
• Whether we need to comply with legal obligations
• Whether we need the information to resolve disputes or enforce contracts and policies

Typical Retention Periods:

• Account information: Retained while your account is active, plus 3 years after account closure
• Transaction data: Retained for 7 years for tax and legal compliance
• Marketing data: Retained until you unsubscribe or request deletion
• Subscription data: Retained while subscription is active, plus 3 years after cancellation
• Customer service records: Retained for 3 years

 

Your Rights and Choices

Depending on where you live, you may have some or all of the rights listed below in relation to your personal information. However, these rights are not absolute, may apply only in certain circumstances, and, in certain cases, we may decline your request as permitted by law.

Right to Access / Know

You may have a right to request access to personal information that we hold about you, including:

• Categories of personal information we collect
• Sources of personal information
• Purposes for collecting and using your information
• Categories of third parties with whom we share information

Right to Delete

You may have a right to request that we delete personal information we maintain about you, subject to certain exceptions (such as information we need to retain for legal compliance).

Right to Correct

You may have a right to request that we correct inaccurate personal information we maintain about you.

Right of Portability

You may have a right to receive a copy of the personal information we hold about you and to request that we transfer it to a third party, in certain circumstances and with certain exceptions.

Right to Opt Out of Sale or Sharing for Targeted Advertising

Depending on where you reside, you may have a right to opt out of the "sale" or "share" of your personal information or to opt out of the processing of your personal information for purposes considered to be "targeted advertising," as defined in applicable privacy laws.

To exercise this right: Visit our Privacy Preferences Center or contact us using the details below.

Global Privacy Control: If you visit our website with the Global Privacy Control opt-out preference signal enabled, depending on where you are, we will automatically treat this as a request to opt-out for the device and browser that you use to visit the website. If we are able to associate the device sending the signal to a Shopify account, we will apply the opt-out request to the account as well.

To learn more about Global Privacy Control, visit: https://globalprivacycontrol.org/

Other than the Global Privacy Control, we do not recognize other "Do Not Track" signals that may be sent from your web browser or device.

Managing Communication Preferences

We may send you promotional emails, and you may opt out of receiving these at any time by:

• Using the unsubscribe option displayed in our emails to you
• Updating your preferences in your account settings
• Contacting us directly

If you opt out, we may still send you non-promotional emails, such as those about your account, orders, The Sankofa Travel Kit subscription billing and shipping, or customer service matters.

How to Exercise Your Rights

You may exercise any of these rights by:

• Visiting the relevant sections on the Services where indicated
• Logging into your account and updating your preferences
• Contacting us using the contact details provided below

We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of these rights.

We may need to verify your identity before we can process your requests, as permitted or required under applicable law. In accordance with applicable laws, you may designate an authorized agent to make requests on your behalf to exercise your rights. Before accepting such a request from an agent, we will require that the agent provide proof you have authorized them to act on your behalf, and we may need you to verify your identity directly with us.

We will respond to your request in a timely manner as required under applicable law.

 

Complaints

If you have complaints about how we process your personal information, please contact us using the contact details provided below.

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

• Appeal our decision by contacting us using the contact details set out below
• Lodge your complaint with your local data protection authority

Relevant Data Protection Authorities:

• United States: Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
• European Union: Your local Data Protection Authority
• United Kingdom: Information Commissioner's Office (ICO)
• Canada: Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada

 

International Transfers

Please note that we may transfer, store, and process your personal information outside the country you live in, including to the United States where our servers and service providers are located.

If we transfer your personal information out of the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, we will rely on recognized transfer mechanisms like:

• The European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses
• Any equivalent contracts issued by the relevant competent authority of the UK, as relevant
• Unless the data transfer is to a country that has been determined to provide an adequate level of protection

 

Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time, including to reflect changes to our practices or for other operational, legal, or regulatory reasons.

When we update this Privacy Policy, we will:

• Post the revised Privacy Policy on this website
• Update the "Last Updated" date at the top of this policy
• Provide notice as required by applicable law (such as email notification for material changes)

We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically to stay informed about how we protect your information.

 

Contact

Should you have any questions about our privacy practices or this Privacy Policy, or if you would like to exercise any of the rights available to you, please contact us at:

Questions? Contact Us.

Response Time: We aim to respond to all privacy inquiries within 10 business days.

 

By using Sankofa Collective's Services, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy.