Privacy Statement
Melissa & Doug is committed to providing you with a satisfying shopping experience. We are always trying to better understand and present you with information about the products and services that are most helpful to you. To help us in that process, we do collect information about you through your online shopping experiences. This Privacy Statement describes the types of information we collect and how we use it. By using our website, www.MelissaAndDoug.com, (“Site”), you consent to the use of the information that you provide to us in accordance with this Privacy Statement. We do update this Privacy Statement from time to time so please review this Privacy Statement regularly. If we materially alter our Privacy Statement, we will notify you of such changes by posting a notice on our Site and/or contacting you at the e-mail address provided to us. Your continued use of the Site will be deemed your agreement that your information may be used in accordance with the new policy. If you do not agree with the changes, then you should stop using the Site, and you should notify us that you do not want your information used in accordance with the changes.
Some of the information we collect from you is considered personally identifiable information (“Personal Information”). Personal Information is information which can be used, alone or in combination with other information, to identify an individual.
In this Privacy Statement, we list the circumstances under which we collect Personal Information, and the type of Personal Information we collect. We also explain how we use, share, and protect Personal Information. When you engage in any of the activities listed below, you are agreeing to let us collect, use, and share your Personal Information in the manner described in this Privacy Statement.
WHERE AND WHEN DO WE COLLECT INFORMATION?
We collect Personal Information from you when you engage in the following activities:
- When you visit our website on any device, desktop, mobile or tablet. www.MelissaAndDoug.com (“Site”).
- When you make an online purchase through our Site.
- When you register and create an account on our Site.
- When you call us on the telephone, send us an e-mail, submit a product review, or submit a form on our Site.
- When you sign up for our e-mail or text service to receive offers, news & tips.
- When you contact us regarding a return.
- When you contact our Help Center.
- If we use a reward or loyalty program and you enroll in such program.
- When the user rates or writes a review of a product on the Site.
- When you register a product through our Site.
- When you upload content such as photographs and comments to our Site, or to any of our social media sites (“Social Media”).
- When you participate in any of our programs and promotions, or respond to a survey or questionnaire.
- When you click-through or engage with Melissa & Doug content which is displayed on a third party website, mobile site, or social networking site.
WHAT PERSONAL INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT?
Personal Information that we collect may include:
- Details of your visits to our Site and the resources that you access, including, but not limited to, traffic data, location data, weblogs and other communication data, including your IP address, the date and time you accessed or left the Site and which pages you viewed. Some parts of our Site use cookies and other technologies to collect this information about your general internet usage. See section below ‘How We Use Cookies” to learn more.
- Information that you provide directly to us by filling in forms on our Site, such as your name, address, date of birth, e-mail address, telephone number, and social media handles.
- Details on the products that you purchase through our Site, as well as your name, address, telephone number and email address. We do not collect or maintain your payment card data. Your payments are processed through a third party.
- Photographs, comments, opinions, and other information that you share with us through our Site and Social Media.
- Information that you provide directly to us if you review our products, such as a nickname, location, email address, gender and age.
- If you create an account with us, we may collect your name, email address and password.
- If you enroll in our loyalty program, you may provide us with your full name, email, address, and birthday
By submitting a telephone number to Melissa & Doug you agree that a representative of Melissa & Doug can contact you at the number you provide, potentially using automated technology (including texts/SMS messaging) or a pre-recorded message. Your consent is not an obligation to receive any of our products.
How We Use Cookies
We may use cookies to recognize your device. A cookie is a small data file that is saved on your internet browser or device hard drive which tracks the websites you’ve visited. Cookies let us preserve the contents of your shopping cart between your visits and recognize you the next time you visit our Site. We also use cookies to measure activity on our Site, which allows us to identify which areas and features of our Site are most popular. This information allows us to make improvements and updates to our Site, provide customized viewing options and pre-populate forms, and compile statistics on Site activity to improve security or reduce fraud.
Parts of the Site, such as your shopping account, will not function if you do not have cookies enabled. You can set your browser to refuse cookies, or to alert you when cookies are being sent. If you turn off cookies or refuse them, you will not be able to make a purchase from the Site, nor will we be able to recognize you as a registered user to allow you access to your account information. To enable or disable cookies on your browser, please consult your browser documentation or contact your software provider.
We do not track users across time or across websites.
We may use other automatic collection technologies such as web beacons, match scripts and pixel tags. These features let us collect information such as whether you visited a particular web page, whether you opened an e-mail we sent you, or whether you followed a link that we provide to you.
We do not use flash cookies on our Site.
HOW DO WE USE AND SHARE PERSONAL INFORMATION?
We use Personal Information to improve and enhance your shopping experience, in the following ways:
- To respond to your inquiries and improve our customer service.
- To communicate with you about our products, services, offers and promotions, news and events that may be of interest to you.
- To present you with opportunities to complete a survey or questionnaire about our company or our products.
- To help us develop and improve our Site and Social Media.
- To tailor and present advertisements and offers to you based on the searches you perform, information you provide, your activity on our Site or Social Media, or your activity on third-party websites and social media.
- To administer reward and/or loyalty programs and promotions.
- To support and improve our internal business processes and functions, such as product fulfillment, marketing, authentication, customer service, security, fraud prevention, safety and legal.
- To conduct data analysis and research, develop new products, identify trends, and determine the effectiveness of promotional campaigns.
We may share Personal Information with third party service providers in the following ways:
- As necessary to authorize credit card transactions through our payment processors, such as Shopify, for processing your payments, fulfill your orders, and create personalized items that you purchase from us.
- To help operate our business such as by website hosting, fraud screening, data analysis, information technology, customer service, e-mail delivery, and auditing.
- To administer a reward and/or loyalty program, promotions, incentives, payment plan(s), offers and/or any other benefits for our customers.
- To collect user rating or reviews of a product on the Site.
- To protect our rights and the rights of our users, and to comply with legal obligations such as responding to subpoenas, or other requests from government entities.
- To investigate, prevent, or take action against potential or suspected illegal activities, fraud, threats to personal safety, or violations of our terms and conditions.
- To conduct marketing campaigns or targeted advertising.
- Where we are contractually obligated to disclose it.
- In ways for which you provide us with your consent.
- To evaluate or conduct a merger, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution or other sale or transfer of some or all of our assets, whether as a going concern or as part of bankruptcy, liquidation, or similar proceeding, in which Personal information held by us about our Site users is among the assets transferred.
Where we disclose Personal Information for a purpose set forth herein, we enter a contract with the third party that describes the purpose and requires the third-party recipient to both keep that Personal Information confidential and not use it for any purpose except performing the contract.
We will not use Personal Information we collected for materially different, unrelated, or incompatible purposes without providing you with notice and/or updating this Privacy Statement.
Any information that you share with us by posting to public areas such as our Site and Social Media may be seen by others.
We may share Personal Information with reputable third-party organizations to contact consumers for marketing and promotional purposes. Third party contacts to our customers may be initiated only by postal mail. We may also collaborate with third parties to present targeted internet-based advertising to you. See more below.
SPECIAL NOTICE ABOUT INTEREST-BASED ADVERTISING
Some websites may belong to interest-based advertising networks that collect and use your browsing history across various websites to choose which ads to display to you on their websites. Melissa & Doug may participate in interest-based advertising to enhance your customer experience. We also may use information collected through interest-based advertising to improve our customer service and provide you with communications and promotions from us or others.
You can opt out of receiving interest-based advertising by following these links:
- http://www.networkadvertising.org/managing/opt_out.asp
- www.aboutads.info/choices
We may also use your information for targeted advertising. This means that we may display interest-based advertising using information you make available to us when you interact with our Site, content, or services and/or products. Interest-based ads, also sometimes referred to as personalized or targeted ads, are displayed to you based on information from activities such as purchasing on our Site or visiting certain parts of our Site. Advertisers or ad companies working on our behalf sometimes use technology to serve the ads that appear on our Site directly to your browser. Those third parties automatically receive your IP address when this happens. They may also use cookies to measure the effectiveness of their ads and to personalize ad content. We do not have access to or control over cookies or other features that advertisers and third-party websites may use, and the information practices of these advertisers and third-party websites are not covered by our Privacy Statement.
We will not use your information to target, segment, or profile individuals based on health (including pregnancy), negative financial status or condition, political affiliation or beliefs, racial or ethnic origin, religious or philosophical affiliation or beliefs, sex life or sexual orientation, trade union membership, data relating to alleged or actual commission of a crime, or for any unlawful or discriminatory purpose or in a manner that would be inconsistent with your reasonable expectation of privacy.
If you opt out, you still may see ads or receive communications from us, although but they will not be based on your interests. You also may not be able to participate in certain activities or receive promotions tailored to you.
If you are a California resident, please see additional details below on your choices related to this use of your personal information.
SPECIAL NOTICE ABOUT OUR COUNTLESS WAYS TO PLAY GALLERY
Our Play Space Gallery offers you the opportunity to share images that inspire play. When you volunteer to share an image in our gallery, we and our gallery service provider collect the image, your social media handle, and the caption that you’ve placed on the image. We may post this information on our Countless Ways to Play Gallery, on other pages of our Site, and on our Social Media. We also may publish this information in our catalogs, e-mail marketing, point of sale store materials, and in other promotional and marketing materials. By choosing to share this information, you agree to the terms of this Privacy Statement, our Terms of Use and our Countless Ways to Play Terms and Conditions.
Do not upload information to our gallery if you do not wish such information to be seen by others.
If you change your mind and do not want us to use information that you have already shared with us, simply Contact Us here.
HOW DO WE PROTECT PERSONAL INFORMATION?
We use industry standard security techniques on our Site to help protect the Personal Information we collect. Personal Information we collect is stored on servers we have attempted to secure using Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption software.
Some versions of browsers and some firewalls don't allow communication through secure servers. In that case, you won’t be able to connect to our server and therefore won’t be able to place an order through a secure connection.
No transmission of data over the Internet or by mobile device is guaranteed to be completely secure. It may be possible for third parties not under our control to intercept or access transmissions or private communications unlawfully. While we strive to protect your Personal Information, neither Melissa & Doug nor any of our service providers can ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to us over the Internet. Any such transmission is done at your own risk.
Melissa & Doug does not ask you to provide Personal Information by sending e-mail requests. Therefore, if you receive an e-mail that looks like it comes from Melissa & Doug and asks you for Personal Information (such as your name, address, or credit card number), do not respond. The e-mail may be a phishing attempt to steal your Personal Information.
WHAT ARE YOUR CHOICES?
You may receive e-mails, text messages (with prior express written opt-in), or other communications from us or our marketing partners with information about our products, services, offers and promotions, news, and tips. You can opt out of receiving these messages in the following ways:
- By following the “unsubscribe” link contained in the e-mails you receive.
- By replying STOP to any text message that you receive, or texting STOP to 12534.
- By contacting us by e-mail at Service@MelissaAndDoug.com or by telephone at 1-800-284-3948.
If you opt out of receiving e-mails or text messages from us, we still may retain your Personal Information for recordkeeping and internal research and analysis, but will not contact you with marketing communications.
You can disable cookies on your web browser by referring to the HELP menu option on the toolbar for most browsers. If you reject or disable cookies, you still may see ads or receive communications from us, although but they will not be based on your interests.
THIRD PARTIES AND LINKED SERVICES
Melissa & Doug products are available for sale by many retailers, specialty stores and department stores which operate their own websites, mobile applications and social media websites. Our Site and Social Media may contain links to those retailers, or to websites and social media pages of other third parties such as advertisers or co-branding partners. We may partner with specialized third-party services to process your payment information for online orders. Information collected by these third parties is not provided to Melissa & Doug, and we are not responsible for the collection, use and disclosure of that information. If you have any questions about the privacy policy of a third party, please contact them directly. By accessing those third-party websites through our Site, you are consenting to the terms and privacy policies of those websites. Melissa & Doug does not accept any responsibility or liability for their policies whatsoever as we have no control over them.
RETENTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
We will retain Personal Information for the period necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this statement unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by applicable law or regulation.
PERSONAL INFORMATION OF CHILDREN
Our Site and Social Media are directed to parents and to individuals over the age of eighteen (18) who shop for and purchase our products. By using our Site, you affirm that you are at least 18 years of age or older. We are not liable for any damages that may result from a user’s misrepresentation of age.
We do not knowingly solicit or collect Personal Information from children under the age of 13 without verifiable parental consent. If we discover that a child under the age of 13 has shared Personal Information with us, we will not use that information except as necessary to protect the safety of the child and others as the law permits or requires. We also will take all reasonable measures to have that information deleted. If you become aware that we have collected Personal Information from a child under the age of 13, please contact us immediately at the e-mail address or telephone number provided below.
Parents or legal guardians of children under 13 cannot agree to these Terms on their behalf.
HOW TO CONTACT US
If you have questions, comments or complaints about our privacy practices, how your Personal Information has been used, or if you would like to correct or update Personal Information that you have provided to us, you may contact us as follows:
- Call us Mon - Fri 9AM-5PM ET at 1-800-284-3948
- You can also Contact Us here
- You may update or change your shipping or billing information by signing into your account at www.melissaanddoug.com.
Please allow at least 10 days to process your requests.
FOR CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS
If you reside in California and have provided Personal Information to us, you may request information about our disclosure of certain categories of Personal Information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes under California’s Shine the Light law. Such requests must be submitted to us at one of the following addresses: service@melissaanddoug.com or call 1-800-284-3948.
If you are a resident of California, you have the following rights under the California Privacy Rights Act/California Consumer Privacy Act (collectively the “CCPA”):
- to know what categories of Personal Information about you we have collected and used, including how the Personal Information was collected;
- to know what categories of Personal Information are being sold (if any) or disclosed, and if it is being sold or disclosed to third parties, and a list of categories of information that are sold;
- to opt out of the sale or sharing of your Personal Information;
- to access your Personal Information, including the right to download or transfer Personal Information collected during the previous 12 months;
- to request that your Personal Information be deleted;
- to request that your Personal Information be corrected;
- to request that we limit the use of your sensitive Personal Information (to the extent we collect any such data);
- to request that we not share or use your Personal Information for cross-context behavioral advertising;
- to equal service and equal price for goods or services even if you exercise your rights under the CCPA.
For more information on these rights and how to exercise those rights, click here.
California residents have the right to opt-out of the sale and/or sharing of their Personal Information under CCPA. While we do not directly sell your Personal Information to third parties, some of our sharing of your Personal Information for purposes of cross-context behavioral advertising (i.e. targeted ads) may be considered a sale under the CCPA. We may also use your Personal Information to analyze and improve our brand experiences and conduct consumer surveys and questionnaires in order to better direct our marketing campaigns.
Specifically, we share your Personal Information with third parties to provide more relevant, personalized ads to consumers. To opt-out of the sale and/or sharing of your Personal Information click on the following link: Do Not Sell or Share my Personal Information.
Additionally, the CCPA grants residents the right to opt-out of profiling. In general, “profiling” is the automated processing of Personal Information to evaluate, analyze and/or predict personal aspects such as economic status, personal preferences, interests, behavior, etc. However, such profiling may not involve any further action. In other words, profiling effectively means gathering information about an individual (or group of individuals) and evaluating their characteristics or behavior patterns in order to place them into a certain category or group, in particular to analyze and/or make predictions about, for example, their interests and/or likely behavior. We may use your Personal Information to for such purposes at it relates to our marketing and advertising campaigns. To opt-out of such profiling, click on the following link: Submit Profiling Opt-Out Request.
A consumer or their representative may instead submit a request to opt out of sharing, selling or profiling by contacting us here.
Please note that online opt-outs are device and browser-specific. You may still see personalized ads from us while using a different device or browser, unless you also opt-out using that device or browser.
Please note that some third party vendors do not respect the U.S. Privacy String, which is the mechanism we use to communicate your Request to Opt-Out to third parties that collect information via cookies on our website. If you choose, you may also use the Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA) WebChoices Tool to globally opt-out of third-party tracking via website cookies.
We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of your CCPA rights. Unless permitted by the CCPA, we will not:
- Deny you goods or services.
- Charge you different prices or rates for goods or services, including through granting discounts or other benefits, or imposing penalties.
- Provide you a different level or quality of goods or services.
- Suggest that you may receive a different price or rate for goods or services or a different level or quality of goods or services.
Note that if you decide to delete your personal information, you may lose out on coupons and other targeted incentives that may save you money, such as our rewards and/or loyalty program. In order to keep these incentives, we must have access to your personal information. You can opt-in to these incentives by joining our loyalty program; however, if you request to have your personal information deleted via the methods listed above, you will no longer have access to these incentives.
We may offer you certain financial incentives permitted by the CCPA that can result in different prices, rates, or quality levels. Any CCPA-permitted financial incentive we offer will reasonably relate to your personal information's value and contain written terms that describe the program's material aspects. Participation in a financial incentive program requires your prior opt-in consent, which you may revoke at any time. To view more details on the loyalty program(s) we offer and learn more about those programs and how to opt-in and enroll, click here.
If you exercise your rights under the CCPA, Melissa & Doug will not discriminate or retaliate against you.
Accessibility Statement
We are committed to making sure that our Site is accessible to everyone. To access this Privacy Statement in an alternative form, please contact us by:
- Phone: If you use assistive technology and run into any difficulties while using our site, please give us a call at 1-800-284-3948 and we will do everything we can to make it right.
- Email: If you prefer email, you can contact us here.
- Help Center: And if you have any questions about shopping our site, please visit our FAQ)
For more information, please see our Accessibility Statement here.
Last modified: September 5, 2023