Privacy Policy for Plugsera Reviews

1. Overview & Purpose

Plugsera Reviews ("the App," "we," or "our") is a Shopify application designed to enable Shopify merchants to collect, moderate, manage, and display verified customer ratings, product reviews, and storefront social proof directly on their online stores.

This Privacy Policy explains what personal data is processed, why it is collected, where it is stored, how data retention and deletion are managed, and how privacy rights are protected. Plugsera Reviews is designed to support applicable privacy and data protection requirements, including the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA/CPRA).

2. What Personal Data Is Collected and Processed

Plugsera Reviews processes only the personal data strictly required to deliver ratings and reviews functionality and related Shopify workflows:

• Shopify Merchant & Store Data: Store domain name (e.g. store.myshopify.com), primary store contact email, and Shopify shop ID, collected upon app installation to authorize the App and maintain administrative configuration.
• Customer Review Content: Star ratings (1 to 5), review titles, detailed written feedback, submission timestamps, publication status (published or hidden), and store owner/merchant replies.
• Review Author Information: Author display name, initials, or general location voluntarily provided by customers when submitting reviews through the storefront widget or review request forms.
• Customer Email & Order Reference: Customer email addresses and associated Shopify order identifiers, processed strictly when verifying authentic purchases for the "Verified Buyer" trust badge and when delivering merchant-configured post-purchase review requests. Customer email addresses are private and are never published on the public storefront.
• Customer Review Photos/Media: Photo files uploaded by customers to accompany their product reviews. Customer review photos are staged and stored in the merchant's Shopify Files storage and served via Shopify's Content Delivery Network (CDN).
• Authentication & Session Data: Temporary Shopify App Bridge session tokens and session records stored in the app's local SQLite session cache solely to authenticate requests between Shopify Admin and the Shopify Admin API via token exchange.
• Plan & Billing Information: Information regarding the merchant's active subscription tier (Free, Early Bird Pro, or Standard Pro). All recurring charges are processed exclusively through the official Shopify Billing API. Plugsera Reviews never collects, handles, or stores merchant credit card numbers, bank details, or payment credentials.

3. Why Personal Data Is Collected

Personal data is processed solely to provide, operate, and maintain the App's core functionality:

• To render product review widgets, star rating badges, and review lists on storefront product pages.
• To provide merchants with a moderation, reply, and management dashboard inside Shopify Admin.
• To verify authentic customer purchases and display genuine "Verified Buyer" trust badges.
• To facilitate merchant-configured post-purchase review request notification emails.
• To manage merchant subscription tiers via the Shopify Billing API.
• To comply with mandatory platform obligations and enforce terms of service.

No Unrelated Use or Sale of Data: Customer personal data is never used for unrelated advertising, marketing, behavioral profiling, data brokerage, or selling personal information.

4. Where Data Is Stored (Shopify Native Architecture)

Plugsera Reviews is built around Shopify's native data architecture:

• Shopify Metaobjects: Customer review records, ratings, author names, review text, and moderation states reside directly in the merchant's own Shopify store via Shopify Metaobjects (type: plugsera_review).
• Shopify Files & CDN: Customer-uploaded review images are hosted on Shopify's native Content Delivery Network under the merchant's Shopify account.
• No External Customer Review Database: Plugsera Reviews does not operate, replicate, or maintain a separate external customer review database.
• Transient Session Cache: The app server retains only transient session records required for Shopify App Bridge token exchange to authorize API communication with Shopify.

5. Distinction from Shopify's Platform & Infrastructure

Plugsera Reviews operates as an application layer integrated with Shopify. We clearly distinguish between Plugsera Reviews' application processing and Shopify's underlying platform, hosting servers, and billing infrastructure. Shopify Inc. serves as the cloud platform, data host, and payment processor for the merchant's store. We do not own, operate, or claim direct control over Shopify's physical infrastructure.

6. Security and Reasonable Safeguards

We employ reasonable technical and organizational safeguards appropriate to the nature of the data processed:

• All data transmitted between web browsers, the app server, and Shopify APIs is encrypted in transit using industry-standard Transport Layer Security (TLS/HTTPS).
• Authentication inside Shopify Admin uses short-lived Shopify App Bridge session tokens validated via token exchange.
• Storefront App Proxy submissions and mandatory Shopify webhooks are cryptographically verified using HMAC-SHA256 signatures with the app secret.
• Data stored in Shopify Metaobjects inherits Shopify's platform access controls and infrastructure protections.

While we implement diligent security practices, no method of transmission over the Internet or method of electronic storage can guarantee absolute, 100% security.

7. Data Retention and Deletion

Data retention practices reflect the actual technical operation of the application:

• Merchant Sovereignty: Because customer reviews reside directly in Shopify Metaobjects on the merchant's store, they remain under the merchant's ownership and control for as long as the merchant maintains them, or until deleted by the merchant. Uninstalling the app does not automatically delete the merchant's native Shopify Metaobjects, preserving merchant data sovereignty.
• App Uninstallation & Shop Redaction: When an app uninstallation event occurs (app/uninstalled) or when Shopify issues a shop/redact webhook (48 hours post-uninstall), the merchant's session tokens and store cache are permanently erased from the app server.
• Customer Redaction: When a customer submits a valid data erasure request, Shopify sends an automated customers/redact webhook to the app. The app redacts and anonymizes the customer's author details and email references from the corresponding review records.
• Merchant Review Deletion: Merchants can delete individual customer reviews at any time directly through the app moderation dashboard or natively via Shopify Admin under Settings > Custom Data > Metaobjects.

8. Shopify Mandatory Privacy Webhooks

Plugsera Reviews fully implements and responds to Shopify's mandatory data protection webhooks:

• Customer Data Request (customers/data_request): Fulfills customer data access requests. Review records associated with the customer's email can be retrieved directly from the store's Shopify Metaobjects or exported using the app's CSV export feature.
• Customer Data Erasure (customers/redact): Triggers anonymization and redaction of the customer's personal details from the review records stored in Shopify Metaobjects.
• Shop Data Erasure (shop/redact): Cleanses all residual session records and cached configurations associated with the store from the app server within 48 hours of uninstallation.

9. Merchant Responsibilities

Merchants utilizing Plugsera Reviews are responsible for:

• Maintaining a comprehensive privacy notice on their storefront informing shoppers how their reviews, ratings, names, and photos are collected, processed, and displayed.
• Complying with consumer protection and truth-in-advertising laws (such as U.S. FTC guidelines and European Consumer Rights directives), including prohibitions against posting fake reviews, deceptive moderation, or uncredited incentives.
• Honoring customer privacy rights and processing customer data access or erasure requests.

10. Customer Rights

Depending on their jurisdiction (such as under the GDPR or CCPA), customers have the right to access, rectify, delete, or restrict the processing of their personal data. Customers should typically direct requests to the merchant (who acts as the Data Controller). Merchants can fulfill these requests directly using the app or through Shopify's privacy request workflows.

11. Cookies, Local Storage & Tracking

Plugsera Reviews and its storefront review widgets do not set advertising cookies, behavioral tracking cookies, or cross-site tracking scripts. Standard browser session storage or local storage may be used solely for essential functional needs (such as remembering active administrative tabs in Shopify Admin or managing App Bridge session tokens).

12. Children's Privacy

Plugsera Reviews is intended exclusively for commercial use by Shopify merchants. We do not knowingly collect personal information from individuals under the age of 16.

13. Notice Regarding Physical Address Requirements

14. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy periodically to reflect enhancements in our application or updates to Shopify platform standards. Any revisions will be published on this page with an updated "Last Updated" date.

15. Contact & Privacy Support

For privacy questions, data protection inquiries, or assistance with data requests, please contact our support desk:

Plugsera Reviews Support
Email: sahilidrisi17@gmail.com