PRIVACY Policy

1. Introduction and Scope

Woof World, LLC (“Woof World,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) operates woofworld.com, my.woofworld.com, contest.woofworld.com, rescues.woofworld.com, marketplace.woofworld.com and related sites, applications, features, contests, memberships, marketplaces, and services (collectively, the “Site”). This Privacy Policy explains what personal information we collect, how we use and share it, and the choices and rights available to you.

This Policy is incorporated into our Terms of Service. Capitalized terms not defined here have the meanings given in the Terms of Service. This Policy does not apply to the practices of third parties we do not control, including Sellers, service providers listed on the Site, rescue organizations, sponsors, and any site you reach through a link.

2. Information We Collect

2.1 Information You Provide

• Account information: name, username, email address, password, date of birth, and, where you choose to provide it, profile photo, biographical details, and information about your dog.
• Guardian information: where a registrant is between 13 and 17, the name and email address of a parent or legal guardian, and the record of consent given.
• Contest entry information: entry content, dog name and details, ownership representations, and, where applicable, the identity of an owning rescue organization.
• Transaction information: for purchases made directly from Woof World, including contest entry fees, memberships, and items we sell and fulfill ourselves, we receive billing name and address, shipping address, order history, and the last four digits and type of payment card. For purchases from a Seller, payment is processed by our payment processor on the Seller’s account, and we receive order and fulfillment details but not your payment card information. Full payment card numbers are never collected or stored by us.
• Prize information: for prize recipients, taxpayer identification information, affidavits, releases, and payment details necessary to issue a prize and meet tax reporting obligations.
• Seller information: business name, contact details, and listing content. Where a Seller is onboarded through our payment processor, the Seller provides tax identification and bank account information directly to that processor. We do not collect or store Seller bank account details or full tax identification numbers.
• Community content: posts, comments, reactions, group membership, direct messages, and other content you submit.
• Communications: messages you send to support, survey responses, and information you provide in connection with a report or dispute.
• Marketing preferences: email subscription status and, if you enroll, mobile number and SMS consent records.

2.2 Information Collected Automatically

When you use the Site, we and our service providers collect:

• Device and connection data: IP address, browser type, operating system, device identifiers, and language settings.
• Usage data: pages viewed, links clicked, referring and exit pages, search terms, votes cast, entries viewed, session timing, and interaction with emails we send.
• Cookies and similar technologies: as described in Section 4 and in our Cookie Policy.
• Approximate location derived from IP address. We do not collect precise geolocation from your device unless you affirmatively enable it.

2.3 Contest Entry Content and Associated Data

Contest entries are audiovisual recordings and may contain personal information beyond what you enter in a form, including images and voices of identifiable people, visible locations, and audio captured incidentally at the time of recording.

Where we investigate the authenticity of an entry under our contest rules, we may request the original unedited recording and its embedded file or device metadata. That metadata can include capture date and time, device make and model, camera settings, editing history, and, where the recording device stored it, geolocation coordinates. We use this information solely to assess entry authenticity and contest integrity, retain it separately from your general account record, and do not use it for marketing or advertising purposes.

2.4 Information from Third Parties

• Payment processors: confirmation of payment, partial card details, and fraud signals.
• Analytics and advertising providers: aggregated audience and campaign performance data.
• Social platforms: where you interact with our pages or follow a shared link, limited data those platforms make available to us.
• Rescue organizations and Sellers: information provided in connection with onboarding and verification.

2.5 Information We Do Not Collect

We do not knowingly collect Social Security numbers except as required for prize or Seller tax reporting, and we do not collect biometric identifiers, precise device geolocation for advertising purposes, or information about your health.

3. How We Use Information

We use personal information to:

• Create and administer your account and verify your age and eligibility;
• Obtain, record, and verify parental or guardian consent where a registrant is between 13 and 17;
• Operate contests, including accepting entries, recording votes, tracking referrals, determining results, and awarding prizes;
• Detect and investigate fraud, vote manipulation, duplicate accounts, and violations of our terms;
• Process payments for purchases made directly from Woof World, issue refunds for those purchases, and administer the commission we receive on Seller transactions;
• Operate memberships and the reward points program;
• Operate the community, including displaying content you post and enabling reporting and moderation;
• Provide customer support and respond to your inquiries;
• Send transactional and service messages relating to your account, entries, purchases, and legal notices;
• Send marketing communications where permitted, subject to Section 7 and Section 9;
• Measure and improve the Site, and analyze usage and campaign performance;
• Comply with legal obligations, including tax reporting and record retention, and enforce our terms.

4. Cookies and Similar Technologies

We use cookies, pixels, tags, and similar technologies for four purposes: to make the Site function, to remember your preferences, to measure how the Site is used, and to deliver and measure advertising. Strictly necessary cookies cannot be disabled through our preference tool because the Site cannot operate without them.

You can manage non-essential cookies at any time through the Cookie Preferences link in the Site footer, and through your browser settings. Our Cookie Policy describes the categories we use in more detail. We honor Global Privacy Control and similar browser-based opt-out preference signals where required by applicable law.

5. How We Share Information

We do not sell personal information for money. We share personal information as follows:

• Service providers: hosting, community, membership, rewards, email and SMS delivery, customer relationship management, analytics, fraud prevention, and prize fulfillment vendors, each permitted to use the information only to perform services for us. Our payment processor handles card processing for all transactions on the Site, including Seller onboarding, Seller payouts, and refunds on Seller transactions, and processes some information as an independent controller under its own privacy policy rather than solely on our behalf..
• Publicly, where you choose: content you post in public areas of the community, and information displayed in connection with a contest entry, as described in Section 6.
• Winner announcements: first name, last initial, city, state, and the name and image of the dog, as described in the Terms of Service and the applicable Official Rules.
• Sponsors and media partners: entry content and associated name, image, and likeness, under the license granted in the Terms of Service. We do not provide sponsors with your email address, postal address, or phone number unless you separately opt in.
• Sellers: the information necessary to fulfill an order you place with them, and the order and customer information necessary for them to process refunds, returns, and disputes for that order.
• Rescue organizations: where a prize is payable to an owning organization, the information necessary to issue the prize.
• Advertising and analytics partners: as described in Section 6.
• Legal and safety: where required by law, subpoena, or legal process; to enforce our terms; to investigate suspected fraud or violations; or to protect the rights, safety, or property of Woof World, our users, the public, or any animal.
• Business transfers: in connection with a merger, acquisition, financing, reorganization, or sale of assets, subject to this Policy or a successor policy.

6. Public Information

Some information is visible to others by design. Content you post in public areas of the community, your username and profile image, and contest entries and their vote totals may be visible to other users and to the general public, and may be indexed by search engines. Entries may be displayed and promoted by us across the Site, in advertising, and on third-party platforms.

Direct messages are not displayed publicly. They are not confidential as to Woof World, and we may access and retain them as described in the Terms of Service.

Consider carefully what you include in an entry or a post. Once content has been shared publicly or republished by others, we cannot fully retrieve or delete it.

7. Advertising and Analytics

We work with advertising and analytics partners who use cookies and similar technologies to measure our campaigns and to show you advertising for Woof World on other sites and platforms. This activity may be treated as a “sale” or “share” of personal information, or as “targeted advertising,” under certain state privacy laws, even though no money changes hands.

You may opt out of this activity at any time through the Your Privacy Choices link in the Site footer, through the Cookie Preferences tool, or by enabling a recognized opt-out preference signal in your browser. See Section 11 for the rights available to residents of particular states.

8. Your Communications Choices

Transactional and service messages relating to your account, entries, purchases, prizes, and legal notices are not optional while your account is active.

You may unsubscribe from marketing email at any time using the link in any marketing message or through your account settings. If you enroll in our SMS program, you may stop messages by replying STOP; enrollment is separate, optional, and is never a condition of purchase or of entering a contest. SMS consent records, including the time of consent and the language displayed, are retained as described in Section 12.

9. Minors

9.1 Children Under 13

The Site is a general-audience service and is not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 13. Registration requires a date of birth, and registrations indicating an age under 13 are blocked. If we learn that we have collected personal information from a child under 13, we will delete it promptly. If you believe a child under 13 has provided us information, contact privacy@woofworld.com.

9.2 Users Aged 13 to 17

Registrants between 13 and 17 may create an account only with the verified consent of a parent or legal guardian. We collect the guardian’s name and email address and send a confirmation link to that address; the account remains limited until consent is confirmed. Consent to enter a contest is obtained before an entry is accepted, and the consenting guardian is the recipient of any prize.

Users under 18 may browse the Site, cast free votes, participate in referral features, and enter contests with guardian consent. They may not access the community, purchase memberships, products, or services, enroll as a Seller, or enroll in our SMS program.

9.3 Marketing and Advertising to Minors

We do not send marketing communications to registered users we know to be under 18, and we do not include them in targeted advertising audiences or share their information with advertising partners for that purpose. Users under 18 receive only transactional and service messages relating to their account, entries, and participation.

9.4 Guardian Rights

A parent or legal guardian may review the personal information we hold about their minor, request its correction or deletion, refuse to permit further collection, and withdraw consent, by contacting privacy@woofworld.com. Withdrawal of consent takes effect prospectively and may render the minor ineligible to continue in a contest. We may request information reasonably necessary to verify the identity and authority of the person making the request.

9.5 Guardian Consent Records

Records of parental or guardian consent, including the guardian email address, the time and method of consent, and the language displayed at the time, are maintained in a dedicated append-only record separate from the general account database. These records are retained for the period described in Section 12 and are not deleted in the ordinary course when an account is closed, because they evidence the lawfulness of collection that already occurred.

10. Data Security

We maintain administrative, technical, and physical safeguards designed to protect personal information, including encryption in transit, access controls, and restriction of employee and vendor access to information needed to perform their functions. Payment card data is handled by our payment processors and is not stored on our systems.

No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security. You are responsible for safeguarding your account credentials and for notifying us promptly of any unauthorized use.

11. Your Privacy Rights

Depending on where you live, you may have some or all of the following rights with respect to personal information we hold about you:

• To know what personal information we have collected, the sources, the purposes, and the categories of recipients;
• To access or obtain a portable copy of that information;
• To correct inaccurate information;
• To request deletion, subject to exceptions that permit us to retain information for legal, tax, security, fraud prevention, and contest integrity purposes;
• To opt out of targeted advertising, and of any sale or sharing of personal information;
• To limit the use of sensitive personal information, where applicable;
• To appeal a denial of a request; and
• To be free from discrimination for exercising these rights.

To exercise a right, submit a request to privacy@woofworld.com or through the request mechanism in your account settings. We will verify your identity before responding, and we may decline a request we cannot verify. An authorized agent may submit a request on your behalf with proof of authorization. We will respond within the period required by applicable law and will inform you of the basis for any denial and of your right to appeal.

Residents of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and other states with comprehensive privacy statutes have rights under those statutes as described above. California residents also have the right to request information about disclosures for direct marketing purposes.

12. Data Retention

We retain personal information for as long as needed for the purposes described in this Policy, and thereafter as required for legal, tax, accounting, security, and dispute resolution purposes. In general:

• Account information is retained while your account is active and for a limited period afterward;
• Transaction and tax records are retained for the period required by applicable tax and accounting rules;
• Contest entries, vote records, and integrity investigation records are retained for the period necessary to administer, verify, and defend the results of a contest;
• Entry metadata collected for an authenticity review is retained only for the period necessary to complete that review and any related dispute;
• Guardian consent records are retained for an extended period as described in Section 9.5;
• Marketing and SMS consent and opt-out records are retained for the period necessary to honor your preferences and to evidence consent.

13. Notice of Financial Incentive

Our membership and reward points programs may be considered financial incentive programs under certain state privacy laws, because participants receive benefits such as discounts and rewards in connection with the collection and use of personal information.

Participation is entirely voluntary. You may join at the point of enrollment and may withdraw at any time through your account settings or by contacting privacy@woofworld.com. The material terms of each program, including how points are earned, redeemed, and forfeited, are described in the applicable program terms.

We calculate the value of the information involved by reference to the reasonable cost to us of providing the benefits offered, and we have concluded that the benefits provided bear a reasonable relationship to that value. We do not use the information collected through these programs for any purpose other than those described in this Policy.

14. Third-Party Links and Services

The Site links to and integrates with third-party sites and services, including social platforms, payment processors, Seller storefronts, and rescue organization websites. We do not control those parties, and their handling of your information is governed by their own privacy policies, which you should review.

15. Users Outside the United States

The Site is operated from the United States and is intended for United States residents. If you access the Site from outside the United States, your information will be transferred to and processed in the United States, where privacy laws may differ from those in your location.

16. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Policy from time to time. When we do, we will change the version number and effective date above and retain prior versions in an accessible archive. For material changes, we will provide notice by email to the address on your account or by prominent notice on the Site before the changes take effect. Where required by law, we will obtain your consent before applying a material change to information already collected.

17. Contact Us

Woof World, LLC
1314 E Las Olas Blvd #2097, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301
Privacy requests: privacy@woofworld.com
Support: support@woofworld.com  
Legal: legal@woofworld.com
(866) 833-DOGS