GDPR & Data Protection Compliance Policy

1. Purpose and Scope

This GDPR & Data Protection Compliance Policy describes how Plugsera Reviews ("the App," "we," or "our") is designed to support applicable privacy and data protection requirements, including Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (General Data Protection Regulation or GDPR), the UK GDPR, and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA/CPRA).

Plugsera Reviews is a Shopify application built for merchants to collect, moderate, manage, and display customer ratings, product reviews, and storefront social proof.

2. Roles Under Data Protection Legislation

In providing this service:

• The Merchant is the Data Controller: The Shopify merchant decides how and why customer review data is collected from storefront shoppers, how reviews are displayed, and which reviews are published or archived.
• Plugsera Reviews acts as a Data Processor: We process personal data strictly on behalf of and according to the instructions of the merchant, through authorized Shopify API interactions.

3. Categories of Personal Data Processed

In exact alignment with our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service, Plugsera Reviews processes only the personal data necessary for review functionality:

• Review Author Information: Author display name, initials, or general location submitted by customers when leaving feedback.
• Customer Review Content: Star ratings (1 to 5), review titles, detailed feedback, review submission timestamps, publication status, and merchant replies.
• Customer Email & Order Reference: Processed solely to verify genuine orders for the "Verified Buyer" badge and when sending merchant-configured review requests. Customer emails are private and are never shown on the storefront.
• Review Photos: Photos uploaded by customers with their reviews, stored directly in the merchant's Shopify Files storage and served via Shopify's Content Delivery Network (CDN).
• Merchant Store Information: Store domain, contact email, and shop ID to authorize the app and maintain configuration.
• Transient Session Cache: Short-lived Shopify App Bridge session tokens stored in the app's local SQLite session cache solely to authorize requests via token exchange.

4. Storage Architecture & Data Sovereignty

• Native Shopify Metaobjects: Customer review records, star ratings, review text, author names, and merchant replies reside directly in the merchant's own Shopify store in Shopify Metaobjects (type: plugsera_review).
• Zero External Customer Review Database: Plugsera Reviews does not maintain, replicate, or host an external customer review database.
• Shopify Files Storage: Customer review media is hosted directly in the merchant's Shopify Files and delivered over Shopify's CDN.

5. Purpose Limitation & No Sale of Data

Personal data processed by the App is used exclusively to facilitate customer reviews, moderation, verified purchaser badges, and post-purchase review requests. Customer personal data is never sold, leased, or used for unrelated advertising, behavioral profiling, or commercial exploitation.

6. Data Subject Rights & Fulfillment

Under the GDPR, UK GDPR, and CCPA, individuals have rights concerning their personal data, including the right to access, rectify, erase, restrict, and object to processing:

• Right to Access: Merchants can export all review records associated with a customer via the app's CSV export tool or directly through Shopify Admin.
• Right to Rectification: Merchants can edit, update, or correct review details directly in the moderation dashboard or via Shopify Metaobjects.
• Right to Erasure ("Right to be Forgotten"): Handled automatically when Shopify triggers a customers/redact webhook, or manually by the merchant deleting the review record in Shopify Admin.
• Filing Requests: Customers should contact the merchant directly as the Data Controller. Merchants needing assistance can contact our support desk at sahilidrisi17@gmail.com.

7. Mandatory Shopify Privacy Compliance Webhooks

Plugsera Reviews implements and strictly enforces Shopify's mandatory data protection webhooks with cryptographic HMAC-SHA256 signature verification:

• customers/data_request: Facilitates compilation and export of customer review history upon a merchant receiving an access request.
• customers/redact: Prompts the redaction and anonymization of the customer's personal details (author name and email references) from the corresponding review Metaobjects.
• shop/redact: Triggered 48 hours after app uninstallation. Permanently purges all cached merchant session tokens and store configuration from the app server.

8. Data Retention and Deletion Schedule

Data retention schedules are aligned with actual technical operations:

• Customer Reviews in Metaobjects: Maintained under the merchant's sole control in their native Shopify Metaobjects for as long as the merchant chooses to retain them. App uninstallation does not delete the merchant's Metaobjects.
• App Session Tokens: Cleared from the app's SQLite cache upon receiving the app/uninstalled webhook and permanently purged upon receiving the shop/redact webhook.
• Customer Records upon Redaction: Anonymized immediately upon receipt of a valid customers/redact webhook from Shopify.

9. International Data Transfers & Shopify Infrastructure

Plugsera Reviews operates within Shopify's global infrastructure ecosystem. Shopify Inc. maintains data transfer mechanisms (including Standard Contractual Clauses) where applicable for cross-border data transmission. We clearly distinguish between Plugsera Reviews' application processing and Shopify's underlying platform and infrastructure.

10. Security Safeguards

We employ reasonable technical and organizational safeguards appropriate to the risk level:

• All external and internal network communication is secured with HTTPS / TLS.
• App Bridge session tokens with short expiration periods are used for Shopify Admin authentication.
• All storefront App Proxy submissions and webhooks are validated with SHA-256 HMAC cryptographic signatures.
• Shopify Metaobjects inherit Shopify's enterprise infrastructure access protections.

11. Notice Regarding Physical Address Requirements

12. Contact & Data Protection Support

For inquiries regarding data protection, privacy compliance, or assistance with customer data requests, please contact:

Plugsera Reviews Data Protection Desk
Email: sahilidrisi17@gmail.com