Privacy policy

PLEASE READ THIS PRIVACY POLICY CAREFULLY. BY CLICKING OR CHECKING “SIGN UP”, “I AGREE TO GAEA GLOBAL’S PRIVACY POLICY”, “I AGREE AND CONSENT TO THE COLLECTION, USE, DISCLOSURE, STORAGE, TRANSFER AND/OR PROCESSING OF MY PERSONAL DATA FOR THE PURPOSE STATED IN, AND UNDER THE TERMS OF, GAEA GLOBAL’S PRIVACY POLICY” OR SIMILAR STATEMENTS AVAILABLE AT THE GAEA GLOBAL REGISTRATION PAGE, YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU HAVE READ AND UNDERSTOOD THE TERMS OF THIS PRIVACY POLICY AND THAT YOU HAVE AGREED AND CONSENTED TO THE COLLECTION, USE, DISCLOSURE, STORAGE, TRANSFER AND/OR PROCESSING OF YOUR PERSONAL DATA AS DESCRIBED AND UNDER THE TERMS HEREIN.

1. Introduction to this Privacy Policy

1.1. GAEA Global and its affiliates (collectively or individually, “GAEA Global”, “we” or “us”) take your privacy seriously. In Vietnam, the GAEA Global entity controlling your personal data will be Gaea global LLC.

1.2. In the course of providing you with the Services (as defined in the Terms of Use) or access to the Platform (as defined in the Terms of Use), we will be collecting, using, disclosing, storing and/or processing data, including your personal data.

1.3. This Privacy Policy exists to keep you in the know about how we collect, use, disclose, store and/or process the data we collect and receive during the course of providing the Services to you as a Customer. We will only collect, use, disclose, store and/or process your personal data in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

1.4. It is important that you read this Privacy Policy together with any other applicable notices we may provide on specific occasions when we are collecting, using, disclosing and/or processing personal data about you, so that you are fully aware of how and why we are using your personal data.

1.5. We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Any changes we make to this Privacy Policy in the future will be reflected on this page and material changes will be notified to you. Where permissible under local laws, your continued use of the Services, access to the GAEA Global Platform or use of the Services, including placing Orders (as defined in the Terms of Use) on the Platform, or express consent thereto, shall constitute your acknowledgment and acceptance of the changes we make to this Privacy Policy. You agree that it is your responsibility to check back frequently to see any updates or changes to this Privacy Policy. 

1.6. This Privacy Policy applies in conjunction with other notices, contractual clauses and consent clauses that apply in relation to the collection, storage, use, disclosure and/or processing of your personal data by us and is not intended to override them unless we state expressly otherwise.

2. The Personal Data We Collect From You

2.1. Personal data means any information about an individual, whether recorded in a material form or not and whether true or not, who can be identified from that data (whether directly or indirectly), or from that data and other data to which we have or are likely to have access.

2.2. During the course of your use of the GAEA Global Platform and the provision of the Services, we may collect personal data about you, as follows:

1. Identity data, such as your name, gender, profile picture, and date of birth; 
2. Contact data, such as billing address, delivery address, email address and phone numbers; 
3. Biometric data, such as voice files when you use our customer care support lines
4. Account data, such as bank account details, bank statements, credit card details and payment details (such account data may also be collected directly by our affiliates and/or third party payment service providers);
5. Transaction data, such as details about orders and payments, and other details of products and Services related to you;
6. Technical data, such as Internet protocol (IP) address, your login data, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system, international mobile equipment identity, device identifier, IMEI, MAC address, cookies (where applicable) and other information and technology on the devices you use to access the GAEA Global Platform;
7. Profile data, such as your username and password, orders related to you, your interests, preferences, feedback and survey responses;
8. Usage data, such as information on how you use the GAEA Global Platform, products and Services or view any content on the Platform, including the time spent on the Platform, items and data searched for on the Platform, access times and dates, as well as websites you were visiting before you came to the Platform and other similar statistics;
9. Marketing and communications data, such as your preferences in receiving marketing from us and our third parties, your communication preferences and your chat, email or call history on the GAEA Global Platform or with third party customer service providers; and
10. Additional information we may request you to submit for due diligence checks as required for identity verification (such as copies of government issued identification, e.g. passport, ID cards, etc.) or if we believe you are violating our Privacy Policy or our Terms of Use.

2.3. During the course of your use of the GAEA Global Platform and our provision of the Services, we may receive personal data from you in the situations, as follows: 

• When you browse our website (both mobile and web versions);
• When you create an account with us;
• When you apply for, subscribe to or otherwise use any of the Services;
• When you make a transaction regarding the products available on the Platform;
• When you activate or use any payment-related functions available on the GAEA Global Platform or provided by our third party service providers; 
• When you use any of the features, functions, mini-apps or mobile games available on the GAEA Global Platform or Services;
• When you record any user-generated content which is uploaded on the GAEA Global Platform;
• When you use the chat function on the GAEA Global Platform;
• When you subscribe to our publications or marketing collaterals;
• When you enter a competition, promotion or survey;
• When you participate in any activity or campaign on the GAEA Global Platform;
• When you log in to your account on the GAEA Global Platform or otherwise interact with us via an external service or application, such as Facebook or Google; 
• When you interact with us offline, including when you interact with our outsourced customer service agents.

2.4. We may collect personal data from you, third parties (including but not limited to agents, vendors, contractors, partners and any others who provide services to us, who collect your personal information and/or perform functions on our behalf, or with whom we collaborate, including but not limited to payment service providers, government sources of data, financial providers, credit bureaus, delivery, marketing and other service partners), our affiliates, or such data may be collected automatically when you use the GAEA Global Platform or the Services, as set out in this section. See also section 11.3 below on the collection of computer data. 

2.5. Where we collect personal data from third parties and/or our affiliates, we will only collect your personal data, where permitted by law, for or in connection with the purposes for which those third parties or our affiliates are engaged, for the purposes of our collaboration with the third parties or affiliates, or for the requirement to carry out verification or due diligence checks. During the course of your use of the GAEA Global Platform and our provision of the Services, you agree that you have provided your consent (whether to us, the third party or our affiliates) to the transfer of your personal data from third parties and/or our affiliates to GAEA Global for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy or any other terms.

2.6. You must only submit personal data which is accurate and not misleading and you must keep it up to date and inform us of any changes to the personal data you have provided to us. We shall have the right to request for documentation and carry out the necessary checks to verify the personal data provided by you as part of our user verification processes or as required under law.

2.7. We will only be able to collect certain categories of personal data if you voluntarily provide the personal data to us or as otherwise provided for under this Privacy Policy. If you choose not to provide your personal data to us or subsequently withdraw your consent to our use of your personal data, we may not be able to provide you with certain features or functionality on the Services or access to the GAEA Global Platform.

2.8. If you provide personal data of any third party to us, you represent and warrant that you have obtained the necessary consent, license and permissions from that third party to share and transfer his/her personal data to us, and for us to collect, store, use and disclose that data in accordance with this Privacy Policy. 

2.9. If you sign up to be a user on our GAEA Global Platform using your social media account or link your GAEA Global account to your social media account or use certain other GAEA Global social media features, we may access personal data about you which you have voluntarily provided to your social media provider in accordance with the provider’s policies and we will manage your personal data in accordance with this Privacy Policy. 

3. Purpose of Collecting Personal Information

3.1. The personal data we collect (as defined in section 2 above) from you or via third parties may be used for certain purposes, as follows:

(i) Processing your order for products (whether sold by GAEA Global or a third party Seller)

• To process orders you submit through the Platform;
• To deliver the products you have purchased through the Platform. We may pass your personal information on to a third party (e.g. our logistics partner) or relevant regulatory authority (e.g. customs) in order to make delivery of the product to you;
• To update you on the delivery of the products;
• To provide customer support for your orders; and
• To verify and carry out payment transactions (including any credit card payments, bank transfers, offline payments, remittances, or e-wallet transactions) in relation to payments related to you and/or Services used by you. In order to verify and carry out such payment transactions, payment information, which may include personal data, will be transferred to third parties such as our payment service providers.

(ii) Providing Services

• To facilitate your use of the Services or access to the Platform;
• To administer your account (if any) with us;
• To display your name, username or profile on the Platform (including on any reviews you may post);
• To respond to your queries, feedback, claims or disputes, whether directly or through our third party service providers;
• To assess your application for loan facilities and/or to perform credit risk assessments in relation to application for financing services (where applicable); and
• To facilitate the integration of third party’s loyalty membership programs with our Platform.

(iii) Marketing and advertising

• To provide you with information we think you may find useful or which you have requested from us (provided you have opted to receive such information);
• To send you marketing or promotional information about our products and services on our Platform from time to time (provided you have opted to receive such information);
• To help us conduct marketing and advertising.

(iv) Legal and operational purposes

• To ascertain your identity in connection with fraud detection purposes;
• To compare information, and verify with third parties in order to ensure that the information is accurate;
• To process any complaints, feedback, enforcement action and take-down requests in relation to any content you have uploaded to the GAEA Global Platform;
• To produce statistics and research for internal and statutory reporting and/or record-keeping requirements;
• To store, host, back up your personal data;
• To prevent or investigate any actual or suspected violations of our Terms of Use, Privacy Policy, fraud, unlawful activity, omission or misconduct, whether relating to your use of our Services or any other matter arising from your relationship with us;
• To perform due diligence checks;
• To comply with legal and regulatory requirements (including, where applicable, the display of your name, contact details and company details), including any law enforcement requests, in connection with any legal proceedings, or otherwise deemed necessary by us; and
• Where necessary to prevent a threat to life, health or safety.

(v) Analytics, research, business and development

• To understand your user experience with the Services and the Platform;
• To improve the layout or content of the pages of the Platform and customize them for users;
• To identify visitors on the GAEA Global Platform;
• To conduct surveys, including carrying out research on our users’ demographics and behavior;
• To improve our current technology via machine learning or other means;
• To derive further attributes relating to you based on personal data provided by you (whether to us or third parties), in order to provide you with more targeted and/or relevant information;
• To conduct data analysis, testing and research, monitoring and analyzing usage and activity trends;
• To further develop our products and services; and
• To know our Customers better.

(vi) Other

• Any other purpose to which your consent has been obtained; and
• To conduct automated decision-making processes in accordance with any of the above purposes.

4. Scope of Information Usage

4.1. The personal data we collect will be used domestically or transferred to overseas to serve the purposes as stated in this Privacy Policy.

5. Information Retaining Period

5.1. We will only retain your personal data for as long as permitted by law or as relevant for the purposes for which it was collected.

5.2. We will cease to retain your personal data, or remove the means by which the data can be associated with you, as soon as it is reasonable to assume that such retention no longer serves the purposes for which the personal data was collected, and is no longer necessary for any legal or business purpose.

5.3. Without prejudice to the other terms and conditions provided hereunder, your personal data shall be retained until your request to delete your personal data and/or deactivate your GAEA Global user account with us.

6. Persons or organizations who can approach such information

6.1. In Vietnam, the GAEA Global entity controlling your personal data will be Gaea Global LLC.

6.2. We may share (or permit the sharing of) your personal data with and/or transfer your personal data to third parties and/or our affiliates for the usage purposes mentioned in this Privacy Policy. These third parties and affiliates, which may be located inside or outside Vietnam, include but are not limited to:

1. Service providers (such as agents, vendors, contractors and partners) in areas such as payment services, logistics and shipping, marketing, data analytics, market or consumer research, survey, social media, customer service, installation services, information technology and website hosting;
2. Their service providers and related companies; and
3. Other users of the Platform or Services.

6.3. In disclosing your personal data to them, we endeavor to ensure that the third parties and our affiliates keep your personal data secure from unauthorized access, collection, use, disclosure, processing or similar risks and retain your personal data only for as long as your personal data is needed to achieve the above-mentioned purposes.

6.4. We may also share personal data in connection with any proposed purchase, merger or acquisition of any part of our business, provided that we satisfy the requirements of applicable data protection law when disclosing your personal data.

6.5. We may transfer or permit the transfer of your personal data outside Vietnam for any of the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy. However, we will not transfer or permit any of your personal data to be transferred outside Vietnam unless the transfer is in compliance with applicable laws.

6.6. We may share your personal data with our third party service providers or affiliates (e.g. payment service providers) in order for them to offer services to you other than those related to your use of the Platform or our Services. Your acceptance and use of the third party service provider’s or our affiliate’s services shall be subject to terms and conditions as may be agreed between you and the third party service provider or our affiliate. Upon your acceptance of the third party service provider’s or our affiliate’s service offering, the collection, use, disclosure, storage, transfer and processing of your data (including your personal data and any data disclosed by us to such third party service provider or affiliate) shall be subject to the applicable privacy policy of the third party service provider or our affiliate, which shall be the data controller of such data. You agree that any queries or complaints relating to your acceptance or use of the third party service provider’s or our affiliate’s services shall be directed to the party named in the applicable privacy policy.

7. Address of entity collecting and managing data, including contact method for consumers to inquire about the collection, process activities of information related to the consumer

7.1. If you have any questions on personal data protection or data privacy, please refer to our list of frequently asked questions on data protection/ privacy.

7.2. If your queries are not covered in our FAQs, or if you have any queries or complaints about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your personal data, please feel free to contact us via our online chat service or as follows:

Gaea Global LLC

Address: 5th Floor, Thanh Long tower, 456 Xo Viet Nghe Tinh, ward 25

Binh Thanh district, Ho Chi Minh City Email: concierge@gaea-global.com

8. Method and instrument for consumers to approach and correct their personal data on the e-commerce system of entity collecting data

8.1. It is important that the personal data you provide to us is accurate and complete for you to continue using the Platform and for us to provide the Services. You are responsible for informing us of changes to your personal data, or in the event you believe that the personal data we have about you is inaccurate, incomplete, misleading or out of date.

8.2. You can update your personal data anytime by accessing your account on the Platform.

8.3. We take steps to share the updates to your personal data with third parties and our affiliates with whom we have shared your personal data if your personal data is still necessary for the above-stated purposes.

8.4. You may request information about your personal data which we have collected, or enquire about the ways in which your personal data may have been used, disclosed, stored or processed by us via the personal account information setting on our Platform or by contacting us using the contact details below. You may also request correction of any error or omission in your personal data which we have collected in the same way. In order to facilitate processing of your request, it may be necessary for us to request further information relating to your request. Where permissible under law, we may refuse such correction requests if deemed vexatious or unreasonable.

8.5. Where permitted by applicable data protection laws, we reserve the right to charge a reasonable administrative fee for retrieving your personal data records. If so, we will inform you of the fee before processing your request.

9. Personal information confidential commitment

9.1. To safeguard your personal data from unauthorized access, collection, use, disclosure, processing, copying, modification, disposal, loss, misuse, modification or similar risks, we have introduced appropriate administrative, physical and technical measures such as:

1. Restricting access to personal data to individuals who require access;
2. Maintaining technology products to prevent unauthorized computer access;
3. Using  SSL (secure sockets layer) encryption technology when processing your financial details; and/or
4. implementing other security measures as required by applicable law.

9.2. You should be aware, however, that no method of transmission over the Internet or method of electronic storage is completely secure. While security cannot be guaranteed, we strive to protect the security of your information and are constantly reviewing and enhancing our information security measures.

9.3. The GAEA Global Platform may contain links to other websites operated by other parties, such as our business affiliates, Sellers, or payment gateways. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of websites operated by these other parties. You are advised to check on the applicable privacy policies of those websites to determine how they will handle any information they collect from you.

10. Mechanism of receiving and processing complaints of consumers relating to personal information being used improperly with the announced purpose or scope

10.1. In case you have any suspicions about your personal data being used with improper purpose or scope of use that we announced, you can submit your questions or complaints about our use of your personal data via our online chat service or our contact details specified in section 7.2.

10.2. Our data protection staff will receive your complaints and subject to the nature and degree of your queries or complaints, we will have detailed measures to resolve your queries or complaints.

11. Miscellaneous

11.1. Withdrawal of Consent to Continued Use, Disclosure, Storing and/or Processing of Personal Data

1. You may communicate the withdrawal of your consent to the continued use, disclosure, storing and/or processing of your personal data by contacting us using the contact details in section 7.2, subject to the conditions and/or limitations imposed by applicable laws or regulations.
2. Please note that if you communicate your withdrawal of your consent to our use, disclosure, storing or processing of your personal data for the purposes and in the manner as stated above or exercise your other rights as available under applicable local laws, we may not be in a position to continue to provide the Services to you or perform any contract we have with you, and we will not be liable in the event that we do not continue to provide the Services to, or perform our contract with you. Our legal rights and remedies are expressly reserved in such an event.
3. You may unsubscribe from receiving marketing information at any time in our mobile application settings or by using the unsubscribe function within the electronic marketing material. We may use your contact information to send newsletters from us and from our related companies.

11.2. Minors

1. GAEA Global does not sell products to minors (which is to be determined based on the applicable law), nor does it intend to provide any of the Services or the use of the Platform to minors. We do not knowingly collect any personal data relating to minors.
2. You hereby confirm and warrant that you are above the age of minority and you are capable of understanding and accepting the terms of this Privacy Policy. If you are a minor, you may use our Platform only with the involvement of a parent or legal guardian.
3. As a parent or legal guardian, please do not allow minors under your care to submit personal data to GAEA Global. In the event that such personal data of a minor is disclosed to GAEA Global, you hereby consent to the processing of the minor’s personal data and accept and agree to be bound by this Privacy Policy and take responsibility for his or her actions.
4. We will not be responsible for any unauthorized use of the Services on the GAEA Global Platform by yourself, users who act on your behalf or any unauthorized users. It is your responsibility to make your own informed decisions about the use of the Services on the Platform and take necessary steps to prevent any misuse of the Services on the Platform.

11.3. Collection of Computer Data

1. We or our authorized service providers may use cookies, web beacons, and other similar technologies in connection with your use of the Services or access of the Platform.
2. When you visit the GAEA Global Platform through your computer, mobile device, or any other device with Internet connectivity, our company servers will automatically record data that your browser sends whenever you visit a website, such as the technical data and usage data outlined in section 2.2 above.
3. This data is collected for analysis and evaluation in order to help us improve our website and the services and products we provide, as well as to help us to personalize the content to match your preferred interests more quickly. The data is also collected to make the Services and the Platform more convenient and useful to you, and to provide more relevant advertising related to market products, services and features to you.
4. Cookies are small text files (typically made up of letters and numbers) placed in the memory of your browser or device when you visit a website or view a message. They allow us to recognize a particular device or browser. Web beacons are small graphic images that may be included on our Services and the Platform. They allow us to count users who have viewed these pages so that we can better understand your preference and interests.
5. You may be able to manage and delete cookies through your browser or device settings. However, certain cookies are required to enable core functionality (such as adding items to your shopping basket), so please note that changing and deleting cookies may affect the functionality available on the Platform or through our Services.

11.4. This Privacy Policy takes effect from 4 April 2023