Amazon Payments Privacy Notice

Last updated November 8, 2012.

We know that you care how information about you is used and shared, and we appreciate your trust that we will do so carefully and sensibly. This Privacy Notice describes the privacy practices of Amazon Payments, Inc. and applies to your use of the products and services provided by us (collectively, the "Services"). By using our Services, you accept the practices described in this Privacy Notice.

What Personal Information Does Amazon Payments Gather?

The information we learn from you helps us provide, personalize, and continually improve the Services. Here are the types of information we gather:

Information You Give Us: We receive and store any information you enter on our website, provide using the Services, or give us in any other way. Click here to see examples of what we collect. You can choose not to provide certain information, but then you might not be able to use the Services. We use the information that you provide for such purposes as opening your account, processing your transactions, responding to your requests, and communicating with you.
Automatic Information: We receive and store certain types of information whenever you interact with us. For example, like many websites, we use "cookies," and we obtain certain types of information when your Web browser accesses our Services. Click here to see examples of the information we receive. When you interact with a third-party site that uses one of our Services, such as Checkout by Amazon, our servers automatically record information that your browser sends. Click here to see examples of the information your browser may send.
Mobile: When you download or use apps we create or are created by our affiliates, we may receive information about your location and your mobile device, including a unique identifier for your device. We may use this information to provide you with location-based services, such as advertising, search results, and other personalized content. Most mobile devices allow you to turn off location services. For more information about how to do this, click here.
Our Communications with Users: Among other things, we communicate with users on a regular basis via e-mail, and we communicate by phone to resolve user complaints or investigate suspicious transactions. We also use your e-mail address to send you notice of payments that you send or receive through our Services, to send information about important changes to our Services, and to send notices and other disclosures required by law. You agree to receive such communications electronically. We may send you promotional messages about new services, offers or opportunities that may interest you. If you do not want to receive promotional messages or other mail from us, please adjust "your communication preferences" under Your Account on Amazon.com. However, we reserve the right to send you notices for customer service reasons, including notices about your account or transactions using our Services. Also, to help us make e-mails more useful and interesting, we may receive a confirmation when you open or receive e-mail from us. We also compare our customer list to lists received from other companies, in an effort to avoid sending unnecessary messages to our customers.
Information from Other Sources: We might receive information about you from other sources and add it to our account information. Click here to see examples of the information we receive.

What About Cookies?

Cookies are alphanumeric identifiers that we transfer to your computer's hard drive through your Web browser to enable our systems to recognize your browser so we can recognize you as an Amazon Payments user if you return to our site using the same computer and browser.
The "Help" portion of the toolbar on most browsers will tell you how to prevent your browser from accepting new cookies, how to have the browser notify you when you receive a new cookie, or how to disable cookies altogether. Additionally, you can disable or delete similar data used by browser add-ons, such as Flash cookies, by changing the add-on's settings or visiting the website of its manufacturer. However, you then may lose the ability to utilize some of our service features, and we recommend that you leave cookies turned on.

Does Amazon Payments Share the Information It Receives?

Information about our users is an important part of our business, and we are not in the business of selling it to others. We share customer information only as described below and with the family of companies owned and controlled by Amazon.com, Inc.

Disclosure to Other Users: Depending on which payment service you use, you may need to disclose your e-mail address to other users so they can send payments to you. When you send payments, your name, and/or e-mail address may be disclosed to the intended recipient. Once a transaction is complete, this information will be displayed in the transaction list of the user receiving payment.
Purchases: We do not disclose your financial information (such as credit card information) to any seller or other recipient of payments you make without your prior consent. When you make a purchase, we may make certain other personal information about you available to the recipient to complete the transaction (such as name, e-mail and shipping address), in the event of a dispute regarding the transaction, or as part of a fraud investigation. The use of information that we provide to a recipient will be governed by the agreements or policies of that recipient.
Third-party Service Providers: We employ financial institutions, other companies and individuals to perform functions on our behalf and transactions that you request or authorize. Examples include sending postal mail and e-mail, analyzing data, providing marketing assistance, processing payment transactions, verifying identity, fraud screening and providing customer service. They have access to personal information needed to perform their functions, but may not use it for other purposes.
Promotional Offers: Sometimes we send offers to selected groups customers on behalf of other businesses. When we do this, we do not give that business your name and address. If you do not want to receive such offers, please adjust your customer communication preferences under Your Account on the Amazon.com.
Business Transfers: As we continue to develop our business, we might sell or buy businesses, subsidiaries, or business units. In such transactions, user (or other customer) information generally is one of the transferred business assets but remains subject to the promises made in any pre-existing privacy notice (unless, of course, you consent otherwise). Also, in the event that Amazon Payments or substantially all of its assets are acquired, user information will of course be one of the transferred assets.
Protection of Amazon Payments and Others: We release account and other personal information when we believe release is appropriate to comply with the law; enforce or apply our User Agreement and other agreements or policies; or protect the rights, property, or safety of our business, our users, or others. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organizations for fraud protection and credit risk reduction as well as sharing information with our attorneys, auditors and other representatives. However, this does not include selling, renting, sharing, or otherwise disclosing personally identifiable information from customers for commercial purposes in violation of the commitments set forth in this Privacy Notice.
With Your Consent: Other than as set out above, you will receive notice when information about you might go to third parties, and you will have an opportunity to choose not to share the information.

How Secure Is Information About Me?

We work to protect the security of personal information you provide to our websites during transmission by using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) software, which encrypts information you input. We restrict access to your personally identifiable information to employees who need to know that information in order to provide products or services to you. We maintain physical, electronic and procedural safeguards to guard your nonpublic personal information.
It is important for you to take steps to protect against unauthorized access to your account. You should keep confidential your password, security questions, and any other credentials used to access your account (your "Credentials"). The security of your Amazon Payments Account relies on your protection of your Credentials. DO NOT SHARE YOUR CREDENTIALS. If you do share your Credentials with a third party for any reason, the third party may have access to your account and your personal information, and you may be responsible for actions taken using your Credentials. If you believe someone else has obtained access to your Credentials, please change them immediately by logging in to your account and changing your Profile settings, and also contact us right away.

What About Third-party Advertisers and Links to Other Websites?

Our site may include third-party advertising and links to other websites. We do not provide any personally identifiable user information to these advertisers or third-party websites. These third-party websites and advertisers, or Internet advertising companies working on their behalf, sometimes use technology to send (or "serve") the advertisements that appear on our website directly to your browser. They automatically receive your IP address when this happens. They may also use cookies, JavaScript, web beacons (also known as action tags or single-pixel gifs), and other technologies to measure the effectiveness of their ads and to personalize advertising content. We do not have access to or control over cookies or other features that they may use, and the information practices of these advertisers and third-party websites are not covered by this Privacy Notice. Please contact them directly for more information about their privacy practices. In addition, the Network Advertising Initiative (www.networkadvertising.org) offers useful information about Internet advertising companies (also called "ad networks" or "network advertisers"), including information about how to opt-out of their information collection.

Our websites may display targeted advertising based on personal information about users. Although we do not provide any personal information to advertisers, advertisers (including ad-serving companies) may assume that users who interact with or click on a targeted advertisement meet the targeting criteria used to display the ad (for example, users in the northwestern United States who like classical music).

Which Information Can I Access?

Amazon Payments gives you access to information about your account and your interactions with us for the limited purpose of viewing and, in certain cases, updating that information. Information about you may be accessed by logging into your Amazon Payments Account and viewing the "My Account" tab. Click here to see some examples, the list of which will change as our Services evolve.

What Choices Do I Have?

As discussed above, you can always choose not to provide information, even though it might be needed to take advantage of certain services.
You can add or update certain information on pages such as those listed in the "Which Information Can I Access?" section above. When you update information, we usually keep a copy of the prior version for our records.
If you do not want to receive e-mail or other mail or messages from us, please adjust your communication preferences in Your Account on Amazon.com. You may not opt-out of receiving customer service messages related to your account or transactions or other legal notices from us.
The Help portion of the toolbar on most browsers will tell you how to prevent your browser from accepting new cookies, how to have the browser notify you when you receive a new cookie, or how to disable cookies altogether. Additionally, you can disable or delete similar data used by browser add-ons, such as Flash cookies, by changing the add-on's settings or visiting the website of its manufacturer. However, you then may lose the ability to utilize some of our service features, and we recommend that you leave cookies turned on.

Are Children Allowed to Use Amazon Payments?

Our Services are not intended for use by children. Only persons 18 and older are permitted to establish accounts. If you are under 18, you may use our Services only with the involvement of a parent or guardian.

User Agreement, Notices and Revisions

If you choose to visit our websites or use our Services, your visit and any dispute over privacy is subject to this Privacy Notice and the applicable end user agreement, including limitations on damages and application of the law of the state of Washington. If you have any concern about privacy at Amazon Payments, please contact us with a thorough description, and we will try to resolve it.

Our business changes constantly, and our Privacy Notice will change also. We may e-mail you with periodic reminders of our notices and conditions. You should check our site frequently to see recent changes. Unless stated otherwise, our current Privacy Notice applies to all information that we have about you and your account. We stand behind the promises we make, however, and will never materially change our policies and practices to make them less protective of user information collected in the past without the consent of affected users.

Examples of Information Collected

Information You Give Us

You provide most such information when you open an account, use the Services, or communicate with customer service. For example, to open an Amazon Payments Account, you must provide your name, address, and an e-mail address. To make certain payments through us, you must provide credit card or bank account information. We also may ask you to choose security questions to answer before we process transactions, issue you a new password or provide you with customer service. When you use our Services to send money to someone else or request money from someone else, we may ask you to provide information related to each transaction, including the amount of the transaction, the type of transaction (purchase of goods, purchase of services, or simple money transfer) and the e-mail address of the third party. We also collect information that may be necessary for us to verify your identity and comply with the U.S.A. Patriot Act and Bank Secrecy Act. Such information may include name, address, date of birth, social security number, and/or driver's license number. We may ask you to send us additional information (such as a credit card statement and/or a recent utility bill or other information linking you to an address in your account). We also may ask you to answer additional questions online to help verify your identity. We may also require additional information if you send or receive certain high-value transactions or high aggregate payment volumes through our Services. We may sometimes offer optional questionnaires and surveys to our users to collect information for analytical purposes, such as demographic information. If we collect personally identifiable information from our users in these questionnaires and surveys, the users will be given notice of how the information will be used prior to their participation in the survey or questionnaire.

Automatic Information

Examples of the information we collect and analyze include the Internet protocol (IP) address used to connect your computer to the Internet; login; e-mail address; password; computer and connection information such as browser type and version, operating system, and platform; transaction history, which we sometimes aggregate with similar information from other users or website visitors; the full Uniform Resource Locator (URL) click-stream to, through, and from our website, including date and time; cookie number; and the phone number you used to call our toll free number. We may also use browser data such as cookies, Flash cookies (also known as Flash Local Shared Objects), or similar data on certain parts of our website for fraud prevention and other purposes. During some visits we may use software tools such as JavaScript to measure and collect session information, including page response times, download errors, length of visits to certain pages, page interaction information (such as scrolling, clicks, and mouse-overs), and methods used to browse away from the page. When you visit a third-party website that uses one of our Services, your browser may send information such as your page request, URL, IP address, browser type, browser language, the date and time of your request, and your cookie information.

Mobile

Most mobile devices provide users with the ability to disable location services. Most likely, these controls are located in the device's settings menu. For information about specific devices, click here. If you have questions about how to disable your device's location services, we recommend you contact your mobile service carrier or your device manufacturer.

Information from Other Sources

We might receive information about you from other sources and add it to our account information. For example, in order to protect against potential fraud, we may verify with third party services the information you provide. During the verification process we receive personally identifiable information about you from such services. For example, if you register a credit card or debit card with us, we will use card authorization and fraud screening services to verify that your card information and address matches the information that you supplied to us, and that the card has not been reported as lost or stolen. In addition, we, at our sole discretion and subject to applicable law, reserve the right periodically to retrieve and review a credit report or other credit history information from credit bureaus for any account.

Information You Can Access

Examples of information you can access easily at our site include up-to-date information regarding recent transactions; personally identifiable information (including name, e-mail, password, communications preferences); payment settings (including credit card information and bank account information); e-mail notification settings; and your Profile.