Privacy Policy

Last updated: 03/01/2024

This document (our “Privacy Policy”) explains how we collect and use your Personal Data, how and with whom we share your Personal Data, and how we protect your Personal Data.

Remember, that your use of the Services is at all times subject to our Terms of Service, which incorporates this Privacy Policy. Any terms we use in this Privacy Policy without defining them have the definitions given to them in the Terms of Service.

By using or accessing our Services in any manner, you acknowledge that you accept the practices and policies below, and you hereby consent that we will collect, use and share your information as described in this Privacy Policy.

If you do not want us to collect Personal Data from you or share Personal Data with any third parties or otherwise disclose your Personal Data, you should not use the Services.

Table of Contents

  1. WHAT this Privacy Policy covers
  2. TYPES of Personal Data we collect
  3. SOURCES of Personal Data we collect
  4. USES of Personal Data we collect
  5. DISCLOSURE of Personal Data we collect
  6. PROTECTION of Personal Data we collect

WHAT this Privacy Policy covers

This Privacy Policy Covers how we treat Personal Data that we gather when you access or use our Services. “Personal Data” means any information that identifies or relates to a particular individual and also includes information referred to as “personally identifiable information” or “personal information” under applicable data privacy laws, rules or regulations. This Privacy Policy does not cover the practices of companies we don’t own or control or people we don’t manage.

TYPES of Personal Data we collect

In the table below, we provide the list of categories of Personal Data that Backpack collects and some examples for a better understanding. We also have identified the main sources and purposes for collection:

Categories of Personal Data

  • Personal Identifiers: This includes first and last name, date of birth, email address, mobile telephone number, and address.
  • Customer Records: Unique identifiers associated with your browsing sessions on the Website.
  • Device and IP Data: Browser type, IP address, computer or mobile device unique ID number, operating system, referring and exit pages, device event information.
  • Commercial Data: Previous transaction and purchase history, consumer profiles, purchasing or consuming tendencies.
  • Education Information: This may include current or past enrollment data, student ID or other identifying information at an education institution.
  • Professional or employment-related information: This includes occupation and other professional related experience information.

SOURCES of Personal Data we collect

Consumer (You)

Backpack collects information directly from you as the consumer when:

  • You sign up to our Services, create an account or complete any other type of application or form provided by us.
  • You voluntarily provide information in free-form text boxes through the Services or through responses to surveys or questionnaires.
  • You interact with our customer support services, such as in-app chat, email, phone, social media or website.
  • When you send us an email or otherwise contact us.
  • When you use the Services and such information is collected automatically through cookies (described in the “Cookies and Tracking Tools” section below).

Third Parties

We may obtain information about you from other sources, including sources that we rely on to enrich our Services, such as service providers, education institutions, merchant partners, online advertising companies, and social media platforms.

  • 529 Plan Partners: We may share de-identified purchase and shopping information with 529 Plans to help inform new services or improve existing ones.
  • Education Institutions: If you use the Website in connection with a Backpack account, we may share purchase and shopping information with Education Institutions on a deidentified basis.
  • Merchant partners: We may obtain information about you, such as your billing and shipping address, from third parties like our merchant partners you interact with, identity verification services, or public sources or that we receive from companies that partner with us to provide products and services. We may also provide merchant partners with deidentified purchase and shopping information.
  • Social media platforms and other publicly available data sources managed by third parties. The information we have access to varies by third party site and is controlled by your privacy settings on that site and your authorization.

Cookies and Tracking Tools

Backpack may also use cookies and similar technologies such as pixel tags, web beacons, clear GIFs and JavaScript (collectively, “Cookies”) to enable our servers to recognize your web browser, tell us how and when you visit our Services, analyze trends, learn about our user base and operate and improve our Services.

Cookies are small pieces of data – usually text files – placed on your computer, tablet, phone or similar device when you use that device to access our Services. We may also supplement the information we collect from you with information received from third parties, including third parties that have placed their own Cookies on your device(s).

We use the following types of Cookies:

  • Essential Cookies. Essential Cookies are required for providing you with features or services that you have requested. For example, certain Cookies enable you to log into secure areas of our Services. Disabling these Cookies may make certain features and services unavailable.
  • Performance/Analytical Cookies. Performance/Analytical Cookies allow us to understand how visitors use our Services. They do this by collecting information about the number of visitors to the Services, what pages visitors view on our Services and how long visitors are viewing pages on the Services. Performance/Analytical Cookies also help us measure the performance of our advertising campaigns in order to help us improve our campaigns and the Services’ content for those who engage with our advertising. For example, Google LLC (“Google”) uses cookies in connection with its Google Analytics services. Google’s ability to use and share information collected by Google Analytics about your visits to the Services is subject to the Google Analytics Terms of Use and the Google Privacy Policy. You have the option to opt-out of Google’s use of Cookies by visiting the Google advertising opt-out page at www.google.com/privacy_ads.html or the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on at https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout/.

You can block cookies at any time using your web browser settings, but doing so may limit your browsing experience and your ability to use certain features of the Website. We do not currently respond to “Do Not Track” or DNT browser signals or any other mechanism that automatically communicates your choice not to be tracked online.

Your use of Backpack’s Services is evidence of your consent to Backpack storing and accessing cookies and other information on your computer or phone and Backpack’s use of Google Analytics in connection with such activities. Please read the information at the link provided so you understand what you are consenting to.

USES of Personal Data we collect

We collect Personal Data to be able to deliver and improve our Services for the benefit of our consumers.

Providing our Services

We may use your information to provide our Services, including providing you with personalized shopping reccomendations, providing support to you, or providing you with information specifc to certain transactions or purchases.

Improving our Services

We use your Personal Data to understand our customer base, conduct research and analysis, develop new or improved products and Services, and build relationships with education institutions and merchant partners. If you are an employee, representative, or agent of an education institution or merchant, vendor, or other business entity, Backpack may use the information collected from you in connection with the business relationship between the entity and Backpack, or to market a prospective relationship to the entity you represent.

Marketing our Services

We may use your Personal Data to provide service update notices and to notify you about products, services, and promotions that may be of interest to you, based on your communication preferences.

Communicating with You

We may use your Personal Data in responding to correspondence that we receive from you, contacting you when necessary or requested, and sending you information about Backpack or the Services. We may also use your Personal Data to send emails and other communications according to your preferences or that display content that we think will interest you.

Meeting Legal Requirements and Enforcing Legal Terms

Backpack operates in a regulated industry and works with a number of regulated partners such as our banking and payment partners. We may use your Personal Data to meet legal and regulatory requirements, such as:

  1. Providing, Customizing and Improving the Servicessome text
    1. Creating and managing your account or other user profiles.
    2. Processing orders or other transactions; billing.
    3. Providing you with the products, services or information you request.
    4. Meeting or fulfilling the reason you provided the information to us.
    5. Providing support and assistance for the Services.
    6. Improving the Services, including testing, research, internal analytics and product development.
    7. Personalizing the Services, website content and communications based on your preferences.
    8. Doing fraud protection, security and debugging.
  2. Marketing the Servicessome text
    1. Marketing and selling the Services.
    2. Showing you advertisements, including interest-based or online behavioral advertising.
  3. Corresponding with Yousome text
    1. Responding to correspondence that we receive from you, contacting you when necessary or requested, and sending you information about Backpack or the Services.
    2. Sending emails and other communications according to your preferences or that display content that we think will interest you.
  4. Meeting Legal Requirements and Enforcing Legal Termssome text
    1. Fulfilling our legal obligations under applicable law, regulation, court order or other legal process, such as preventing, detecting and investigating security incidents and potentially illegal or prohibited activities.
    2. Protecting the rights, property or safety of you, Backpack or another party.
    3. Enforcing any agreements with you.
    4. Responding to claims that any posting or other content violates third-party rights.
    5. Resolving disputes.

DISCLOSURE of Personal Data we collect

Personal Data Shared with Third Parties

Except as described in this Privacy Policy and unless otherwise expressly authorized by you in writing, Backpack will never share, sell, or communicate your Personal Data to or with anyone for any reason. We only share and disclose your Personal Data with the following third parties. We have categorized each party so that you may easily understand the purpose of our data collection.

Categories of Third Parties Why we share your Personal Data Commercial Purpose
Service Providers We may share your Personal Data with service providers including third-party vendors, consultants, contractors who perform services for us or on our behalf and require access to such information to do that work. Vendors Backpack shares your Personal Data with can include but are not limited to:
  • Bank and payment partners
  • Ledger providers
  • KYC technology providers
Yes
Purchasers of Our Business We may share or transfer all of your Personal Data to a third party in connection with, or during negotiations of, any merger, sale of company assets, bankruptcy, financing, acquisition or other transaction in which that third party assumes control of our business (in whole or in part). Yes
Law Enforcement We will only share your Personal Data with law enforcement in order to comply, as necessary, with applicable laws and regulatory requirements, as well as legal process, respond to mandatory legal or governmental requests or demands for information, enforce our agreements, policies, procedures and terms of use, and protect ourselves, our customers, or the general public from illegal activities. No
Payment Processors We may share your Personal Data with our payment processors as necessary to enable them to process payments, and for anti-fraud purposes. Yes
Business Partners and Backpack Affiliates We may share your Personal Data with our Business Partners as necessary to provide you with the Services. Yes

Data that is Not Personal Data

We may create aggregated, de-identified or anonymized data from the Personal Data we collect, including by removing information that makes the data personally identifiable to a particular user. We may use such aggregated, de-identified or anonymized data and share it with third parties for our lawful business purposes, including to analyze, build and improve the Services and promote our business, provided that we will not share such data in a manner that could identify you.

PROTECTION of Personal Data we collect

Updating Your Personal Data

While we make every effort to ensure that all Personal Data we collect and store is accurate, complete, and up-to-date, you can help us by promptly notifying us if there are any changes to your information. You will be able to view and change aspects of your Personal Data by logging in to your Backpack Account.

Data Retention

We retain Personal Data about you for as long as necessary to provide you with our Services or to perform our business or commercial purposes for collecting your Personal Data. When establishing a retention period for specific categories of data, we consider who we collected the data from, our need for the Personal Data, why we collected the Personal Data, and the sensitivity of the Personal Data. In some cases we retain Personal Data for longer, if doing so is necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes or collect fees owed, or is otherwise permitted or required by applicable law, rule or regulation. We may further retain information in an anonymous or aggregated form where that information would not identify you personally.

For example, we retain your device/IP data for as long as we need it to ensure that our systems are working appropriately, effectively and efficiently.

California Resident Rights

Under California Civil Code Sections 1798.83-1798.84, California residents are entitled to contact us to prevent disclosure of Personal Data to third parties for such third parties’ direct marketing purposes; in order to submit such a request, please contact us at support@backpack529.com.

Nevada Resident Rights

If you are a resident of Nevada, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of certain Personal Data to third parties. You can exercise this right by contacting us at support@backpack529.com with the subject line “Nevada Do Not Sell Request” and providing us with your name and the email address associated with your account. Please note that we do not currently sell your Personal Data as sales are defined in Nevada Revised Statutes Chapter 603A.

How We Protect Your Privacy

We are committed to protecting the privacy and confidentiality of your Personal Data. We limit access to your Personal Data to our authorized employees or agents and we contractually require our business partners and service providers to limit their use of your Personal Data. We also maintain physical, technical, and administrative safeguards to protect your Personal Data against loss, misuse, damage or modification, and unauthorized access or disclosure. Although we work to protect the security of your account and other data that we hold in our records, please be aware that no method of transmitting data over the internet or storing data is completely secure.

Social Media

The Website may include social media features, such as the Facebook "Like" or "Share" buttons. These features may collect your IP address and which pages or features you are using or visiting on the website or the Website, and may set a cookie to enable the feature to function properly. Social Media features are either hosted by a third-party or hosted by us. Your interactions with these features are governed by the privacy policy of the company providing them. We do not control and we take no responsibility for the use of your Personal Data by these third-party sites.

Third-Party Links

The Website may contain links to other websites or apps. Your access to and use of such linked sites is not governed by this Privacy Policy but, instead, is governed by the privacy policies of those third-party websites. We are not responsible for the Personal Data practices of such third-party websites. Please review the privacy policies of such sites before you disclose your Personal Data to them.

Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act

The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”) requires that online service providers obtain parental consent before they knowingly collect personally identifiable information online from minors who are under 13 years of age. The Backpack Website is not intended for minors. We do not knowingly collect or solicit Personal Data from anyone under the age of 13. If we become aware that a child under the age 13 has provide Data to us, we will delete that Personal Data as quickly as possible. If you believe that a minor under 13 years of age may have provided us Personal Data, please contact us at support@backpack529.com.

Changes to this Privacy Policy; Other Policies

We may change this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices concerning the collection, use, and sharing of Personal Data. The revised Privacy Policy will be effective immediately upon posting to our websites, by notification through the Website or through email. If you continue to use the Website after we make changes then you will be deemed to have agreed to the changes, so please check this Privacy Policy periodically for updates.

Contact Us

If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy, please contact: support@backpack529.com