California residents, please see our California Privacy Statement and Notice at Collection in Section 11 below

PRIVACY POLICY

This Privacy Policy describes how we handle your personal information when you (“professional”, “you”, or “your”) use the Houzz Platform and your rights and choices regarding this information. By “Platform” or “Houzz Platform” we mean the Houzz, Houzz Pro, Ivy, and ConX platforms (located at houzz.com, pro.houzz.com, ivy.co, and conx.co, respectively), and any Houzz service feature, or tool that links to this Privacy Policy. The Houzz Platform also includes mobile apps, products, software, services, programs, and networks offered by Houzz, including our plug-ins and browser extensions.

Access to and use of our Platform is subject to this Privacy Policy. The collection of personal information of job applicants is governed by the Job Applicant Privacy Notice.

The terms “we,” “us,” “our,” or “Houzz” refer to the Houzz Group, including Houzz Inc., Houzz Shop LLC, and their corporate affiliates.

The term “merchant” includes sellers and vendors of products available on the e-commerce marketplace on the Platform.

1. Collection of Personal Information

The personal information we collect depends on how you choose to engage with the Platform. In general, we collect, as a data controller, personal information that you provide us, from third parties, and automatically when you use our Platform. These categories are described below.

Personal Information You Provide Us

We collect personal information that you provide us, including your account and profile information, content you submit or post to our Platform, your purchase information, your communications, and personal information you provide to us as part of promotions, surveys, and contests.

Account and Profile Information. When you create an account on our Platform, we collect your email address and other information you may choose to provide us, like your name, address, interests, and profile information. If you are a professional, you may also provide us with information related to your business, including a business name, description, phone number, and areas served. If you use financial tools or services offered through our Platform, for example, to request or accept payments for your business services, we collect information to facilitate those transactions, such as proof of business ownership, bank name, account numbers, tax numbers and other documentation as needed to verify your identity or integrate with our service providers.

Content You Submit. We collect information and content that you submit, share, or create across our Platform. This includes information and content submitted, shared, or created, including your company information, profile picture, reviews, messages, comments, searches, photos, style preferences, ideabooks, discussion, project details, project costs, project timelines, change orders, and invoices.

Purchases. If you purchase or sell products or services or make or receive payments within our Platform, we collect certain information to complete your purchases, sales, and payments, such as your phone number, address, and payment method (for example, credit card or bank account information). If you participate in our Trade Program or Business Program, you may be asked to provide proof that you are eligible for the program or for a tax exemption.

Communications. When you communicate with us (via email, phone, through our Platform, through our chatbots, or otherwise) and when you use our Platform to communicate with others, we may record, monitor, collect, and use details about you and your communications (including call time and call duration). Certain professionals on our Platform may choose to use our call tracking feature to better manage their business. You are using our Platform when you make calls to these professionals using their phone number displayed on our Platform. We will provide you notice or obtain your consent in accordance with applicable law before recording or monitoring these calls. To the extent you communicate with professionals, merchants, and other users outside our Platform, those communications are not subject to this Privacy Policy.

Surveys and Contests. If you participate in our surveys, contests, or promotions, we collect the information you provide to us.

Processing with Your Consent. From time to time, Houzz may seek your consent to use your information for a particular purpose. Where you consent to doing so, we will use the information for that purpose.

Personal Information from Others

We collect information that others make available to us, including information from other platforms, publicly available information, information from other users of our Platform, information from our partners, service providers, and corporate affiliates, and information from third-party sites.

Other Platforms. We may receive information about you from third-party platforms when you allow the third-party platform to share this information with us or allow Houzz to obtain this information from the third party. For example, we may receive information such as your name, email address, and profile photo when you sign up for our Platform through Facebook, Google, or Apple. We may also receive information about you when you upload your contacts from your third-party email service, use our Platform (or a third-party integration on our Platform) to manage your calendar on another platform, or to manage and send communications (e.g., email or text messages).

Publicly Available Information. If you are a professional or merchant, we may collect and verify information about you from publicly available sources and, where permitted by applicable law, make it available as part of our Platform. For example, we may receive your name and contact information from industry associations and dealer networks in which you participate and display your affiliation with these organizations. We also may collect and display the details of any license you have using publicly available records.

Other Users and Customers. Others may post content on our Platform that includes information about you (for example, as part of photos, stories, and reviews) or provide us your information in connection with using our Platform (e.g., to manage their business, organize photoshoots of their projects, participate in referral programs, and to advertise through our Platform). To enhance the quality of our Platform, professionals and merchants on our Platform may provide us information about your engagement with them, including whether you have contacted them or responded to them, whether your project has been completed, and whether you have received a product you have ordered. If you are a professional or merchant, Platform users and visitors may provide us with feedback and public reviews about you.

Our Partners and Service Providers. We may receive information about you from our partners and service providers. For example, our payment processors may update your payment information, advertising partners may help us send you communications, and third parties may help us prevent fraud by verifying your contact information. In addition, our financial partners that conduct "know your customer" or "know your business" (KYC or KYB) verification and our banking partners that issue the Houzz credit card(s) may provide us with information they collect directly from you. For example, they may share with us information used to verify your identity, whether you have a Houzz credit card, details related to any card reward or loyalty program, or information resulting from prescreening you for card offers.

Houzz Group. In accordance with applicable laws and subject to this Privacy Policy and any supplemental policies, Houzz Group entities may receive information about you from other Houzz Group entities.

Third-Party Sites. Certain third-party sites embed a Houzz plug-in, widget, or content, including through Houzz-branded buttons, badges, and slideshows and Houzz co-branded content partnerships. Our plug-ins, widgets, embedded content, and pixels may collect information pursuant to our Cookie Policy.

Website Services. Website Services means any website displaying content included by or on behalf of you into standard Houzz web templates with hosting managed by Houzz. As with the rest of our Platform, we collect the information described in this Privacy Policy when providing Website Services, including your messages to professionals sent through those sites. Professionals collect usage information for their websites and receive your messages sent through those sites.

Automatically Collected Personal Information

Each time you access the Platform, information is sent to our server by your Internet browser or app and stored in our log files. We collect information about your use of our Platform, including your search activity, the pages you view, the date and time of your visit, and if you use our browser extensions, the content you interact with on third-party sites (for example, if you save an image from a third-party site to your Houzz account), and how you navigate and interact with a page or screen. We also collect information, such as your browser type, type of device, browser language, IP address, mobile carrier, unique device identifier, and requested and referring URLs that your device provides in connection with use of our Platform

Cookies and Similar Technologies. We use cookies and similar technologies in connection with your use of our Platform to collect information related to what you see and interact with on our Platform and other Platform access and use. We partner with third parties that collect information this way. These third parties place digital tracking tools on Houzz websites, applications, and advertising to facilitate tracking, advertising, and measurement services and to enable your access to the content that you have asked for. Third-party content providers may have access to information about the content you have chosen to view. Please see our Cookie Policy for more information on our use of cookies and, depending on where you reside, how to accept or opt-out of cookies

Location Information. You may choose to provide information such as your home, work, and project locations in our Platform, including in your Houzz Settings, Ivy or ConX settings, or when you checkout as a shipping or billing address. If you use certain Houzz Pro features and have enabled the location setting through your browser or mobile device, we may receive limited location information from your device when you are close to a location that you may have specified within the Houzz Platform. We may also infer your general location from your IP address

2. Use of Personal Information

We use the personal information we collect to provide, support, and personalize our Platform and to communicate with you about our Platform (on and off our Platform). We process this information to:

• provide and improve our Platform, its features, and functionality, including to display content you post publicly, fulfill your purchases, process, store, and deliver your communications; to provide customer service and support; to respond to your inquiries or requests; to back-up our systems; and to improve the security of our Platform;
• evaluate use of our Platform for our business purposes and to provide and improve our products and services, including new and co-branded products and services and our Platform's functionality;
• personalize your experience, such as tailoring the content and information made available to you and our support services;
• display relevant or targeted advertising (on our Platform and third-party sites) for us and other businesses and to evaluate the success of such advertising;
• promote engagement with the Houzz Platform, including to get in touch with you about certain features, offers, and surveys;
• provide feedback to professionals and merchants on our Platform;
• communicate with you as described in our agreements with you (for example, the Houzz Terms of Use) or this Privacy Policy;
• prevent fraud and to maintain a quality experience for our business purposes or legal reasons, including to filter for spam and communications that violate our agreements with you (for example, the Houzz Terms of Use);
• enforce compliance with our agreements with you (for example, the Houzz Terms of Use) and applicable law; to comply with our legal obligations; to prosecute or defend a lawsuit, arbitration, or similar legal proceeding; to respond to lawful requests by public authorities (including national security or law enforcement requirements);
• perform research and analysis for our business purposes and to conduct journalist research; and
• award badges and similar designations and if you decide to participate, to administer surveys, contests, and promotions.

We use specific types of personal information that we may collect for the following purposes.

Contacts. If you choose to provide information about your contacts (for example, when you sign up for our Platform through Facebook), we may inform contacts with accounts on our Platform that you also have joined.

Communications. We use your communications to provide and improve the Houzz Platform. We may use your communications for quality-assurance and training. We may also use your communications to understand and help manage the quality of communications received and sent by professionals and merchants on our Platform and to provide them with feedback. We may use automated technology to support communications and improve user experience. Learn more.

Device and Activity Information. We use your device information, IP address, and other information we collect from cookies and similar technologies for personalization, advertising, and operating our websites. Some of the information we collect using cookies is essential to provide the Platform to you, such as helping you log in your account. Some uses of this information assist us with the performance and functionality of the Platform, such as remembering your site preferences or items you have placed in your shopping cart. Other uses of this information enable us to analyze site usage and improve the Platform.

We also enable our service providers, third-party businesses advertising on our Platform, advertising networks, and advertising partners to use cookies or similar technologies to track your activities on our Platform and other online properties to provide you with tailored ads across websites, apps, and devices and to understand how those ads perform. To learn how to opt-out of cookie tracking please see our Cookie Policy.

Purchases and Payment Information. For your convenience, we and our payment processors will store information about the payment method(s) you use in connection with the Platform. While our payment processors may store your complete credit card number, Houzz does not. You can remove or change your payment method on Houzz through your Privacy Settings. You can change your credit card payment method via your Houzz or Ivy settings. If you make purchases on Houzz as a visitor and subsequently create an account, for your reference, we may make information available to you about any prior purchases completed using the email address on your account.

Location. With your permission, we use your location information to provide you with location-based alerts for your projects, for example, we may tell you the weather conditions or remind you to start or stop your project timers. You can stop sharing your location for these purposes at any time, by updating your device settings.

Algorithmic Processing. Certain Houzz functionalities may process various types of information by automated means including by algorithmic, machine learning, and artificial intelligence to personalize and recommend content and products for you including services for enhanced project visualization and budget assistance.

3. Sharing Your Personal Information

We share your personal information in the following ways:

Platform Visitors and Users

One of the main purposes of having a Houzz profile is to share home renovation and design ideas with others. Through Houzz, others have the ability to find, contact, view, and follow your profile and public activity on Houzz (for example, if you like content on our Platform or if you create an ideabook and do not mark it private) and link it to your username. You can customize your Houzz profile and whether users may follow you through your Houzz Settings. Your Houzz content (for example, ideabooks, photos, notes on others' photos, projects, discussions, and social media profiles), followers, and others you follow are publicly viewable on the Platform and open to comments by other Houzz users. You can make some of your content private via the Houzz settings; please click here to learn more. If you are a professional or merchant on Houzz, we may also display information to help visitors and users evaluate you. This information may include aggregated information on our Platform about your Platform activity (e.g., response rate), and information that is publicly available from third parties.

Professionals, Merchants, and Other Businesses on our Platform

Having a profile on Houzz allows you to connect with professionals, merchants, and other users. You can use our Platform to find professionals for your project in which case your project and contact information will be made available to a limited number of professionals applicable to your criteria. Depending on how you use the Platform, professionals may be able to view and comment on some of your activities. If you provide Houzz with feedback about a professional, that feedback may be communicated to them. If you interact with a professional’s content, then related metadata will be communicated to the professional. When you receive messages from professionals through the Platform, Houzz and the professionals can track your interaction with these messages and phone calls, including whether you opened the messages or answered the phone call, or documents shared with these messages. A professional or merchant cannot see your non-public account information or see private activity (for example, if your ideabook is private).

Service Providers and Partners

We may share your information with service providers to help us operate our Platform and provide services to you. For example, we ask third parties to help us perform payment processing, telecommunications, product sales and support, logistics, order fulfillment, marketing and advertising, IT services, fraud detection, customer management, and analytics providers to help us understand user behavior on our Platform. We also use service providers and partners to perform services explained in our Cookie Policy. To the extent we make third-party content available on our platform, those third parties may be able to access information about the content you have chosen to view. You can find more information about our service providers and partners with which we may share your information. Only if you specifically agree to share your contact information with a third-party partner, for example, as part of a contest or promotion we sponsor with such a third party, will we share your contact information with that third-party partner for their direct marketing purposes.

We may share information about you with third-party platforms when you allow the third-party platform to receive this information from us or allow Houzz to share this information with the third party. Our Platform may include third-party social media features and other third-party plug-ins and widgets. When these features are displayed on our Platform, they are operated or hosted by third parties. We are not responsible for these third parties and third-party platforms, so please carefully review their privacy policies and your permissions granted to these third parties and platforms. For example, you may sign-up for our Platform through Google or Apple.

Advertisers and Ad Networks

We use advertising networks and partners to serve advertisements for us and other businesses, including interest-based, targeted advertising, on third-party sites and to assist us in evaluating the effectiveness of our advertising. We may also work with advertising networks and partners to serve ads on our Platform and to communicate with you at the addresses they have for you. We may provide advertising networks, advertising partners, and businesses advertising on our Platform with aggregate information but other than hashed information or device identifiers, we do not disclose your name, contact information, or other personal information. For example, we may provide a hashed version of your email address or other information to advertising networks (e.g., Facebook and Google) to serve advertisements to you or others. Depending on where you live, you may have the right to opt out of the sharing of your information for this purpose, to learn how to opt out please see the Your Choices and Rights section of this Privacy Policy.

Corporate Affiliates and Business Transfers

We may share information from or about you with: (a) other companies in the Houzz Group, or (b) a potential or actual acquirer, successor, or assignee as part of any reorganization, merger, sale, joint venture, assignment, transfer or other disposition of all or any portion of our business, assets, or stock (including bankruptcy or similar proceedings) to another company. We may share your personal information with that company and its advisors before and after the transaction date. In the event of a sale or transfer of our business, we will notify you in the same way we notify you of a material change to this Privacy Policy.

Legal Obligations

We may disclose information from or about you, as required or permitted by applicable law, if we believe that such disclosure is reasonably necessary to (a) comply with legal process and law enforcement instructions and orders, such as a search warrant, subpoena, statute, judicial proceeding, or other legal process served on us, a service provider, or a partner (which may include disclosure to law enforcement, courts, or governmental authorities); (b) prevent, investigate, or identify possible wrongdoing in connection with our Platform; (c) protect our rights, reputation, property, or that of our visitors, users, corporate affiliates, or the public; or (d) enforce compliance with our agreements with you (for example, the Houzz Terms of Use).

4. Communications

An essential part of our Platform that you sign up for when you create an account on our Platform is to receive communications from us or our professional partners through email, phone call, and text message, or through our Platform. If you use our mobile app, these communications also include push notifications. We communicate with you about your account, privacy, use of the Platform, including interactions with your content (for example, if others "like" your ideabook, respond to your comment, or if you earn a badge on our Platform), news relating to the Platform, its features and industry developments, and communications concerning promotions run by us or third parties. We also ask for your feedback about your experience in connection with our Platform or about your home renovation and design plans. In accordance with applicable law, we or our professional partners may send you marketing communications (e.g., with tips, offers, and similar services). These communications may feature us, our Platform, co-branded products and services, professionals, merchants, and other businesses on our Platform.

If you provide us your phone number, we and our professional partners may call you or send you text messages to help you with using the Platform (e.g., to discuss your home remodeling or design project, to find professionals, to assist with your order, or if you are a professional, to find products or to provide you tips about your professional profile). If you are a professional or other business, we may use your contact information (whether publicly available or provided to Houzz) to call and otherwise contact you about our Platform, including to market and sell our products or services or those available on our Platform.

Our Platform also allows you and others to send messages and make calls in our Platform, share content with others outside our Platform, and if you make your contact information available, for others to contact you outside of our Platform.

5. Your Choices and Rights

Depending on where you live and how you use our Platform, you may have certain rights relating to your personal information. Below we explain how to exercise these rights:

Access to Information

You can ask us to confirm if we are processing your personal information, provide you with details about our processing, and access much of the information you have provided us by logging into your account. To request access to both your Houzz or Ivy information contact us as provided in the Contact Us section.

Correct Your Information

You can update your information within your settings and modify content that contains information about you from your account. To edit your personal information, visit your profile in your Houzz Settings and Ivy Settings. You may also contact us about correcting or updating your personal information using the methods provided in the Contact Us section.

Download Your Information

You may request to receive a copy of your Houzz information through your Houzz Settings and clicking on Download a Copy of your Data.

Delete Your Information

To request permanent deletion of your personal information, please contact us as described in the Contact Us section or go to your Houzz Settings and click on Delete my Houzz Account as further outlined here.

Communications Preferences

You may change your communication preferences at any time through your Houzz Settings if you have a Houzz account and your Ivy settings if you have an Ivy account, and you may also opt-out of similar types of marketing emails from us directly through the email. To opt-out of our text messages at any time, you can follow the instructions provided in the text message, which typically is to reply "STOP." You may opt-out of sales and marketing phone calls from us by letting us know during the call or by contacting us as described in the Contact Us section. Please be aware that you cannot opt-out of receiving necessary account- and privacy-related messages from us. If you wish to stop receiving push notifications from us, you can turn off push notifications for the mobile application in the settings of your mobile device.

Opt-Out Rights

Where provided under your local laws, you may opt-out of having your personal information shared with third parties for targeted advertising and similar commercial purposes by visiting "Your Privacy Choices" located in the footer of this website, or by adjusting your Houzz Settings. Additionally, where provided for by applicable law, you may use an Opt-out Preference Signal or Universal Opt-out Mechanism to notify us of your privacy preference. We will recognize your opt-out preference, as opting-out of the sale or sharing of your personal information with third parties as defined by applicable law. We will apply your opt-out preference only to the browser or device used to signal your preference. When you login to our Platform, we will apply your opt-out preference to your account.

Cookie Preferences

You may opt-out of certain cookies set via the Platform by visiting your Houzz settings or through your browser settings. Please see the "How I can control cookies" section of the Cookie Policy for more information.

Complaints

If you would like to raise a concern about our use of your personal information, please contact us as described in the Contact Us section. We respond to all requests we receive from individuals wishing to exercise their data protection or privacy rights in accordance with applicable privacy and data protection laws. We may also ask you to verify your identity to help us respond to your request securely and efficiently. Depending on the laws in your local jurisdiction, you may be able to appeal decisions made regarding your rights. For individuals in Europe, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland, please see the "International Transfer" section of this Privacy Policy for additional information regarding your rights.

6. Data Security and Retention

We use reasonable measures to protect your personal information from loss, misuse, unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, and destruction, taking into account the risks involved in the processing and the nature of the personal information.

We will keep your personal information for only as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which we are processing your personal information unless the law permits or requires us to retain your personal information longer. For example, we may need to keep your personal information to provide services on our Platform or to defend future legal claims. We also will retain de-identified information after your account has been deleted. Personal information you have shared with others may remain visible after your account has been deactivated, deleted or after the information has been removed from your own profile or account. Please note that copies of information that you have updated, modified, or deleted may continue to reside in our systems for a period of time, and we may maintain copies of this information as part of our business records.

7. Children

Our Platform is intended for general audiences and is not directed to children under 18. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 18. In the event that we learn that we have collected personal information from a child under age 18, we will take reasonable steps to delete that information. If you become aware or believe that a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us as provided in the Contact Us section.

8. Updates to this Privacy Policy

We may revise this Privacy Policy from time to time. The most current version of our Privacy Policy will govern our use of information about you. If we make material changes to our Privacy Policy, we will notify you by email or by posting a notice on our Platform or by other means, to offer you an opportunity to review the changes before they become effective. By continuing to access or use our Platform after those changes become effective, you are subject to the revised Privacy Policy.

9. Contact Us

If you have questions or comments about this Privacy Policy (including about the manner in which we or our service providers treat your personal information), you may contact us in the following ways:

• If you are an Ivy user, please email us at support@ivy.co;
• If you are a ConX user, please email us at conx-privacy@houzz.com;
• if you are a Houzz user and a resident of the European Economic Area, please email us at EUprivacy@houzz.com;
• all other Houzz users, please email us at privacy@houzz.com.

You may also reach our Privacy team by mailing us at our address at Houzz Inc., 8605 Santa Monica Blvd., #90918, West Hollywood, CA 90069-4109, USA, Attn: Privacy.

10. International Transfers of Personal Information

We may transfer your personal information to our affiliates, third-party partners, and service providers who are located around the world. When we transfer your information to countries that may not have equivalent privacy and data protection rules to the laws of your country, we take measures to comply with the applicable data protection laws related to our transfer. If you are located in the European Economic Area (“EEA”), the United Kingdom (“UK”) or Switzerland, where applicable law requires a transfer mechanism, we ensure that one or more of the following legal frameworks is in place: (a) we comply with the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework to receive personal data transfers from the European Union/European Economic Area to the U.S. (see “Data Privacy Framework Notice”), (b) the recipient is based in a jurisdiction that the European Commission has decided maintains an adequate level of protection for personal data, or (c) the recipient has enacted appropriate safeguards under Article 46 of the GDPR (for example Binding Corporate Rules or Standard Contractual Clauses).

Data Privacy Framework Notice

Houzz Inc. and our U.S. affiliates comply with the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (EU-U.S. DPF), the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. DPF, and the Swiss-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (Swiss-U.S. DPF) (collectively, the “DPF”) as set forth by the U.S. Department of Commerce. We have self-certified our commitment to comply with the DPF Principles with respect to personal information we transfer to the United States from the EEA, the UK, and Switzerland. If there is ever any conflict between the terms in this Privacy Policy and the DPF Principles, the DPF Principles will govern. Our commitments under the DPF Principles are subject to the investigatory and enforcement powers of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. To learn more about the DPF program, and to view our certification, please visit https://www.dataprivacyframework.gov/.

Access, Choice, and Onward Transfers

We describe the types of personal information we receive in the U.S., as well as the purposes for which we collect and use it, in the Collection of Information and Use of Information Sections of this Privacy Policy. If you are located in the EU, UK or Switzerland, you have the right to request access to the personal information that we hold about you and request that we correct, amend or delete your personal information if it is inaccurate or processed in violation of the DPF Principles. We will give you an opportunity to opt out where personal information we collect will be used for a purpose that is materially different from those set out in this Privacy Policy.

We comply with the DPF Principles for all onward transfers of personal information from the EEA, UK, and Switzerland, including the onward transfer liability provisions. You can read more about how we share your personal information and the purposes for which we do so, in the Sharing Your Information Section of this Privacy Policy. Under certain circumstances, we may be required to disclose your personal information in response to lawful requests by public authorities, including to meet national security or law enforcement requirements. If you would like to exercise any of your rights, or otherwise wish to limit the use or disclosure of your personal information in accordance with the DPF Principles, please contact us via the contact details set out below.

Accountability and Redress

If you have a question or complaint you believe to be within the scope of our DPF certification, please contact us first at privacy@houzz.com to resolve your concern. We will respond and attempt to resolve your concern within 45 days.

In the event we are unable to resolve your concerns, you can contact our U.S.-based third-party dispute resolution provider (JAMS) at no cost to you, by visiting this link. Under certain conditions, more fully described in Annex I on the DPF website, you may be entitled to invoke binding arbitration when certain dispute resolution options do not satisfactorily resolve your concerns.