Temu | Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy describes how, Whaleco Technology Limited, an Irish company ("Temu", "we", "us" or "our") handles personal information that we collect through our digital properties that link to this Privacy Policy, including our website (www.temu.com) and mobile application (collectively, the "Service"), and other activities as described in this Privacy Policy. At Temu, we care deeply about privacy. We strive to be transparent about our privacy practices, including how we treat your personal information. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, share, and otherwise process the personal information of users in connection with our Service. In this Privacy Policy, we also explain the rights individuals who are affected by our data handling may have with regard to their personal information.
Our contact details are set out in the “Contact Us” section.
What Information We Collect
In the course of providing and improving our Service, we collect your personal information for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy. The following are the types of personal information that we collect:
Information that you provide
When you create an account, browse the Service, place an order at checkout, contact us directly, or otherwise use the Service, you may provide some or all of the following information:
Account and profile
We collect your mobile phone number and/or email address as the login credentials for your account and assign a user identification number to your account. If you choose to register or log in via external third-party services, such as Facebook or Google, you agree we may collect your profile photo, username, and/or email address associated with the relevant third-party service provider. We also collect information in your profile, account settings and preferences in your Temu account. We also collect your country/region.
Purchases
We collect data related to your orders on the Service (e.g., transaction ID, transaction history, product identification number), payment information required to complete the transaction (e.g., payment card number or other third-party payment information required for payment, billing address), information provided by you for product sizing purposes, your shipping address (e.g., city, state, country/region, postal code), designated package collection point (e.g., city, state, country/region, postal code) in countries where we enable this functionality, and recipient contact information (e.g., name, mobile phone number). In accordance with applicable laws and/or requirements of public authorities (e.g., customs authorities), we may collect information that may personally identify you (e.g., your national ID number or passport number) for the purpose of customs clearance to fulfil orders, and this information will be stored securely.
Customer support activity
When you communicate with our customer service team through our customer support functions in the mobile application/on the website, either with a customer service agent or with our virtual assistant (via the chatbot or hotline), through social media, or any other means, we will collect your communication history with us which includes any text, images, video, audio, or supporting documents exchanged between us.
Information when you contact us
When you contact us, we collect the information you send us, such as reports, feedback, or inquiries about your use of the Service or information about possible violations of our Terms of Use or other policies.
Chats with merchandise partners
When you chat with merchandise partners (directly or via virtual assistant) on Temu, we collect your chat communications and other related information.
User-generated content
When you provide any content (e.g., images, videos, or text) to leave product reviews and ratings, provide images to search for items, or provide images or text to customise products, we collect this information and its associated metadata to support and enable your use of the Service.
Promotion participation
We collect certain information when you participate in a contest, promotion, survey, or other promotional activities we may offer from time to time, as part of the participation process, such as your desired incentive selection. We recommend that you read the rules and other relevant information for each promotional activity that you participate in. In addition, we collect information about your preferences for receiving marketing communications from us, as well as your interactions with them.
Other information not explicitly listed above
We will collect other information that you provide for purposes as described in this Privacy Policy or for any other purpose disclosed to you at the time we collect your information.
Information from third-party sources
To the extent permitted by applicable laws, we may receive and collect your personal information from other third-party sources, such as:
Data providers
We receive and collect your personal information, such as identity verification information and fraud prevention risk-scoring, from information services to help us detect fraud regarding payments, prevent unauthorized transactions, and safeguard the Service.
Marketing and advertising partners
We receive and collect your personal information from our marketing and advertising partners, such as business partners with whom we collaborate on marketing events and promotion of the Service. Specifically, we receive from these partners information including, for example, the specific advertisements you clicked on, attribution information via cookies and similar technologies to help us determine the origin of traffic to our Service, device data if you clicked on certain advertisements, responses to marketing emails, advertisements and offers, and audience information from marketing partners where they have the authority to share that information with us.
Public authorities, public sources, and rights holders
We obtain your personal information which may include username, address, email, mobile phone number, purchase and/or payment information from third party sources, for example, as necessary to comply with our obligations, prevent, investigate and detect an alleged claim or crime, or for a party to assert their legal rights.
Our payment processors
We obtain your personal information from our third-party payment processors who help us process transactions, provide our Service, and prevent fraudulent or illegal activity. The personal information our payment processors pass to us includes your name, email address, billing address, and phone number.
Other third-party services
We collect your personal information from other third-party services, such as:
Social media services, from whom we may collect your username, profile picture, and/or email address associated with the relevant third-party services, if you choose to register or log in via said third-party service.
Logistics service providers, from whom we may collect your certain information, such as package information, delivery progress, proof of delivery, and delivery address, and make this information available to you within your account, to effectively fulfill your order.
Third-party mapping platforms, from whom we may receive, collect and locate the geographical coordinates of the address you have provided to us (e.g., Google maps), to easily direct you to the most appropriate package collection point for deliveries in countries where we enable this functionality.
Information collected automatically
To enhance your experience with the Service and support the other purposes for which we collect personal information as outlined in this Privacy Policy, we may automatically collect information about you, your computer, or mobile device and your interactions with the Service and our communications over time, such as:
Device data
We collect personal information about the device you use to access the Service, such as device model, operating system information, internet service provider, language settings, unique identifiers (e.g., identifiers used for advertising purposes where permitted by law).
Service usage information
We collect personal information about your interactions with the Service, including the source from which you arrived at our pages, the pages you viewed, other interactions with the Service (e.g., your browsing history, searching and purchasing history), the items in your shopping cart and whether you opened our emails or clicked on the links within our emails. We also collect service-related, diagnostic, and performance information, including crash reports and performance logs.
General location data
We collect your approximate location data based on your technical information (e.g., IP address).
Data collected via cookies and similar technologies
We collect information via cookies and similar technologies stored on your device. These cookies are either necessary and required to provide our Service (for example, the cookies we use to remember your privacy settings) or optional (for example, the cookies used to track and measure the advertisements shown to you). To learn how to disable certain cookies, please read our Cookies and Similar Technologies Policy.
Declining to provide information
We need to collect your personal information to provide certain services. If you do not provide the information we require to provide the Service, we cannot provide the Service. Other information is optional, but without it, the quality of your experience of the Service may be affected.
How and Why We Use Your Information
We use the personal information that we collect for various purposes, including to develop, improve, support, and provide the Service, allowing you to use its features while fulfilling and enforcing our Terms of Use. We may use your personal information for the following purposes:
Create and maintain your account
We use your personal information to create and maintain your account on the Service and enable account security features (e.g., sending security codes via email or text messages).
Orders and delivery of products and services
We use your personal information to receive and process orders, deliver products and services, process payments, communicate with you regarding orders, products, services, and promotional offers, and facilitate order disputes, refunds and/or returns of your orders.
Improve and optimize services and troubleshooting
We use your personal information to optimize features, analyze performance metrics, fix errors, and maintain and improve the Service and our business. As part of these activities, we may create aggregated or otherwise deidentified data based on the personal information we collect.
Personalise your experience
We use your personal information to recommend features, products, and services that may be of interest to you. Personal information will also be used to determine your preferences and personalise your experience with the Service.
Communicate with you and provide customer support
We use your personal information to communicate with you (e.g., announcements, updates, security alerts, support, and administrative messages) and provide customer support for your requests, questions, and feedback.
Promotional activities
We use your user profile picture and account information to identify you in promotional activities, and facilitate your invitations to friends who you want to invite to join the Service.
Marketing
We and our service providers collect and use your personal information for marketing purposes in accordance with applicable laws. To the extent permitted by applicable laws, we may send you direct marketing communications, such as emails, text messages, push notifications and WhatsApp messages. You may opt out of our marketing communications as described in the “Your Rights and Choices” section below.
Interest-based advertising
We and our third-party advertising partners may collect and use your personal information for interest-based advertising purposes. For example, we may use your interactions with the Service (e.g., your browsing, searching and purchasing history on the Service), and information included in your account profile (e.g., your country if recorded) to show you interest-based advertising on our platform, which displays a merchandise partner’s listing or product more prominently. We do not use information which on its own personally identifies you, such as your name or email address, to show you interest-based advertising. In providing interest-based advertising, we follow the Self-Regulatory Principles for Online Behavioural Advertising as set forth by the Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA), which is an advocacy organisation for responsible digital marketing and consumer privacy. You can learn more about interest-based advertising and your opt-out choices here.
Fraud prevention and security
We use your personal information to prevent, detect, investigate, and respond to fraud, unauthorised access to or use of the Service, violations of the Terms of Use and other Temu policies, or other misconduct.
Compliance, legal obligations and protection
We may use your personal information for compliance purposes and to comply with applicable laws, including lawful requests, and legal processes (e.g., responding to subpoenas or requests from government or regulatory authorities); to protect our, your, and other users' rights, privacy, safety, or property (e.g., the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims); to audit internal processes to ensure compliance with legal and contractual requirements and our internal policies; to enforce the terms and conditions that govern the Service; to prevent, identify, investigate, and deter fraudulent, harmful, unauthorized, unethical, or illegal activities, including cyberattacks and identity theft.
Purposes for which we seek your consent
In some cases, we may ask for your consent to collect, use, or share your personal information for a specific purpose that we communicate to you, in accordance with applicable laws.
Cookies and similar technologies for technical operations, performance enhancement, advertising, analytics, etc.
For more information about cookies and how we use them, please read our Cookies and Similar Technologies Policy.
How and Why We Share Your Information
At Temu, we care deeply about privacy. We may share your personal information with the following parties for the purposes outlined below:
Affiliates
As a global company, our Service is supported by entities within our corporate group. We share some of your personal information with Temu subsidiaries and affiliates as necessary to provide organisational, technical, legal and compliance support for the Service, including for the purposes of order fulfilment, and other core platform functions. Such personal information includes shipping address, and contact information. These subsidiaries and affiliates either follow the same practices described in this Privacy Policy or follow practices at least as protective as those described in this Privacy Policy.
Service providers
We share your personal information with third parties who provide services on our behalf or help us operate the Service or our business (e.g., hosting, information technology, customer support, content delivery, email delivery, order fulfillment and delivery, marketing, fraud detection, compliance, security and website analytics). These third-party service providers only have access to personal information needed to perform their functions and services, and we require these service providers to use personal information only as necessary to perform their services or comply with applicable legal obligations.
Payment processors
We share your personal information with our payment processors to complete payments, process disputes, and/or process refunds.
Advertising and analytics partners
We may share your personal information with third-party advertising, marketing, and analytics companies for the interest-based advertising and analytics purposes described in our Cookies and Similar Technologies Policy. For additional information and to learn about your right to opt out of such practices, see the “Your Rights and Choices” section, and the Cookies and Similar Technologies Policy.
Third parties designated by you
We may share your personal information with third parties where you have instructed us or provided your consent to do so. We may share the personal information required for the services you request with third parties designated by you, for example, where you choose to share a link to a Temu product listing via a third-party social media service. Please be aware that when you use third-party sites or services, their own terms and privacy policies will govern your use of those sites or services.
Business and marketing partners
We may share your personal information with third parties with whom we collaborate in order to offer or promote the Service. For example, depending on your communication preferences, we may share your personal information with third-party service providers with whom we have partnered in order to send you marketing communications, for example via text messages and/or emails.
Professional advisors, public authorities, institutions, and regulators
We may share your personal information with our professional advisors (e.g., lawyers, auditors, bankers and insurers); public authorities, such as law enforcement authorities in response to legal processes (e.g., responding to subpoenas or requests from law enforcement requests); and with other parties (e.g., financial institutions) in order to enforce our agreements or policies, protect the rights, property and safety of Temu, users and others, and to detect, prevent and address actual or suspected fraud, violations of Temu's Terms of Use, other illegal activities, security issues or when it is required by law.
Business transferees
In the rare event of a business transaction such as a merger, acquisition, or reorganisation, we may share some of your personal information with relevant parties (e.g., a buyer or successor) in order to facilitate such a transaction. If we intend to transfer information about you, we will inform you either by email or by posting a notice on the Service.
Merchandise partners
We may share your personal information with the merchandise partners related to the product reviews you leave, the return or refund reasons you request a return or refund, and customisation information for customised/personalised items. To fulfill your order, we may share with the merchandise partner your name, shipping address, contact information, communications with our customer support functions, and your order information, for example, to address a query or complaint, or when the merchandise partner connects directly with logistics service providers. The merchandise partner will not receive your payment information or device data.
Other users
Please note that, in using our Service, your personal information may be visible to other users. In accordance with your settings and preferences, we may display your profile photo and username to other users, including when you participate in a promotion or marketing program (e.g., referring friends to our Service and accepting invitations from other users), or when you review or rate a product. To opt out of this profile photo and username sharing, please visit the “Notifications” menu and disable “Avatar and username sharing” and/or edit your reviews.
Your Rights and Choices
We provide you with the ability to exercise certain rights and choices regarding our collection, use and sharing of your personal information. To exercise such rights, please visit the “Your Privacy Options” menu. In accordance with the Protection of Personal Information Act (“POPIA”), your rights and choices may include:
Right to access
You have the right to obtain from us the confirmation as to whether or not we hold personal information about you, and, where that is the case, access to your personal information.
Right to correct or delete
You have the right to request us to correct or delete your personal information we maintain about you that is inaccurate, irrelevant, excessive, out of date, incomplete, misleading, or otherwise required by POPIA. You may also request that we destroy or delete a record of your personal information if we are no longer authorised to retain it.
Right to object to processing of your personal information
You have the right to object, on grounds relating to your particular situation, at any time to processing of personal information. When we process personal information for direct marketing purposes, including profiling to the extent that it is related to such direct marketing, you have the right to object at any time to the processing of your personal information. See section below on “Opt-out from Marketing Communications” for further information.
Right to withdraw consent
You have the right to withdraw your consent at any time, where processing is based on your consent. The withdrawal of consent will not affect the lawfulness of processing based on consent before its withdrawal (please note, however, that we may still be entitled to process your personal information if we have another legal basis other than consent for doing so).
Right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority
You have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator of South Africa whose contact details are available here.
Opt-out from marketing communications
To manage your preferences or opt-out of marketing communications made available to you, you may go to the “Notifications” menu to take further actions or follow the instructions provided below. Rest assured that you can continue to use Temu even if you opt out of marketing communications.
Email promotional offers: When you provide us with your email address, we may send you certain marketing emails subject to the requirements of applicable laws. Standard data rates may apply. If you do not want to receive any marketing emails from us, you may also follow the unsubscribe options at the bottom of each email to stop receiving such emails.
Mobile promotional offers: When you provide us with your mobile phone number, we may send you certain marketing text messages subject to the requirements of applicable laws. Standard data and messaging rates may apply. If you no longer wish to receive any marketing text messages from us, you may also follow the instructions provided in these messages.
WhatsApp promotional offers: When you provide us with your WhatsApp account or your mobile phone number, we may send you certain marketing messages via your WhatsApp account or via the WhatsApp account associated with your mobile phone number, subject to the requirements of applicable laws. Standard data rates may apply. If you no longer wish to receive WhatsApp marketing messages from us, you may also follow the instructions provided in the messages.
Push notifications: You may receive push notifications sent by Temu mobile application subject to the requirements of applicable laws. Standard data rates may apply. If you no longer wish to receive marketing push notifications from us, you may also adjust push notification settings on your device.
Change settings for cookies and similar technologies
Most browsers let you remove or reject cookies. To do this, follow the instructions in your browser settings. Many browsers accept cookies by default until you change your settings. Please note that if you set your browser to disable cookies, the Service may not work properly. For more information about cookies and similar technologies, including how to see what cookies and similar technologies have been set on your browser and how to manage and delete them, visit https://www.allaboutcookies.org. You can also configure your device to prevent images from loading to prevent web beacons from functioning.
Links to third-party platforms
The Service may contain links to websites, mobile applications, and other online services operated by third parties. In addition, our content may be integrated into web pages or other online services that are not associated with us. If you choose to connect to the Service through your social media account or another third-party platform, you may be able to use your settings in your account with that platform to limit the information we receive from it. However, please note that these links and integrations are not an endorsement of, or representation that we are affiliated with, any third party. Moreover, we do not control websites, mobile applications or online services operated by third parties, and we are not responsible for their actions. Therefore, we encourage you to read the policies and terms of use/service of the other websites, mobile applications and online services you use. If you revoke our ability to access information from a third-party platform, that choice will not apply to information that we have already received from that third party.
Do Not Track
Some Internet browsers may be configured to send “Do Not Track” signals to the online services that you visit. We currently do not respond to “Do Not Track” or similar signals.
Other choices
Please see the Cookies and Similar Technologies Policy for additional rights and choices you may have and how to exercise such rights and choices.
Our Global Operations and Data Transfers
To support our global operations:
We store the information described in the “What Information We Collect” section in servers located in the UK and European Economic Area.
Certain of our subsidiaries and affiliates, located outside the country in which you reside are given limited remote access to your personal information. See the “How and Why we Share your Information” section above for more information.
We may share your personal information with service providers, merchandise partners, partners and other parties described in the “How and Why We Share Your Information” section, which can be located outside the country in which you reside.
When we transfer your information outside of the country in which you reside, where laws regarding the protection of personal information may be different from the laws of the jurisdiction in which you reside, we implement appropriate safeguard measures to ensure that your personal information benefits from an adequate or essential equivalent level of data protection such as by relying on standard contractual clauses to transfer information detailed under the “What Information We Collect” section, as described in the “How and Why We Share Your Information” section, to certain of our subsidiaries and affiliates and third parties located outside of the country in which you reside.
In certain situations, we rely on lawful basis provided under POPIA to transfer your information outside the country in which you reside, for example, to our merchandise partners located outside the country in which you reside, when necessary to fulfil your order and provide customer support.
If you do not want your information transferred outside of the country in which you reside, you should immediately stop accessing or using the Services.
Children
The Service is neither intended for, nor aimed at, children. Temu does not sell products for purchase by children. We sell children's products for purchase by adults. We do not knowingly collect personal information from users who are under the age of 18 or are considered minors under applicable national laws through the Service. If we become aware that we have unintentionally collected personal information from a minor through the Service, we will promptly delete the information from our records. If you are a parent or guardian of a child about whom you believe we have collected personal information, please contact us as specified in the “Contact Us” section of this Privacy Policy or through our online reporting form.
Data Security and Retention
The security of your personal information is important to us. We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to help protect your personal information from loss, theft, misuse, unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, and/or destruction. We also follow the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (“PCI-DSS”) in handling your credit card information. However, security risk is inherent in all internet and information technologies.
We generally retain personal information as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which we collected it, as well as for the purposes of satisfying any applicable legal, accounting, or reporting requirements, to establish, exercise or defend legal claims, or for fraud prevention purposes. To determine the appropriate retention period for personal information, we may consider factors such as the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal information, the potential risk of harm from unauthorized use or disclosure of your personal information, the purposes for which we process your personal information and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements.
Changes to the Privacy Policy
We reserve the right to modify this Privacy Policy at any time. If we make material changes to this Privacy Policy, we will notify you by updating the date of this Privacy Policy, posting it on the Service or providing any notice required by applicable laws. Any modifications to this Privacy Policy will be effective from the time of posting the modified version (or as otherwise indicated at the time of posting). We recommend that you review the Privacy Policy each time you visit our Service to stay informed of our privacy practices.
Contact Us
If you have any questions or comments about our Privacy Policy or the terms mentioned, you may contact us at any time through this web form. You can also contact our Data Protection Officer at privacy@temu.com.
You may also send mail to the following address: Whaleco Technology Limited, First Floor, 25 St, Stephens Green, Dublin 2, Ireland.