BACK ROADS MERCANTILE
PRIVACY POLICY
Effective date: July 28, 2026
Back Roads Mercantile respects the privacy of its customers and website visitors.
This Privacy Policy explains what personal information we collect, why we collect it, how we use and disclose it, and the choices you may have concerning it.
“Back Roads Mercantile,” “we,” “us,” and “our” refer to the operator of the Back Roads Mercantile website and store.
1. Scope of This Policy
This policy applies to personal information collected through:
- Our website and online store
- Checkout and customer account pages
- Telephone, email, and written communications
- Local pickup and direct customer orders
- Contact, personalization, and customer-service forms
- Marketing messages sent by us
- Other interactions that refer to this policy
This policy does not govern websites, marketplaces, payment processors, delivery carriers, or other services operated independently by third parties.
2. Information We Collect
Depending on how you interact with us, we may collect the following categories of information.
Contact information
This may include:
- Name
- Email address
- Telephone number
- Billing address
- Shipping address
Order and transaction information
This may include:
- Products ordered
- Product sizes, colors, and quantities
- Personalization instructions
- Purchase price
- Sales tax
- Shipping method
- Order date and status
- Returns, exchanges, and refunds
- Tracking and delivery information
Payment information
Payments may be handled by third-party payment processors such as STRIPE, PAYPAL.
We generally do not receive or store your complete payment-card number. The payment provider may supply us with limited information such as:
- Payment status
- Card type
- Expiration information
- Billing name and address
- The last four digits of a card
- Transaction and fraud-screening information
The payment provider’s handling of your information is governed by its own privacy policy and terms.
Custom-order information
When you request a personalized product, we may collect:
- Names, dates, and requested wording
- Photographs or artwork
- Logos and organization information
- Design instructions
- Proof approvals
- Other material needed to make the product
Please do not send sensitive personal information that is unnecessary for completing the order.
Communications
We may keep messages and information you provide when you:
- Ask a question
- Request a return or refund
- Report a damaged shipment
- Submit a review
- Request a custom product
- Contact customer service
- Subscribe to store news or promotions
Website and device information
Our website and service providers may automatically collect information such as:
- Internet Protocol address
- Browser type
- Device type
- Operating system
- Pages viewed
- Referring website
- Dates and times of visits
- Shopping-cart activity
- Cookie and similar technology information
- Approximate location inferred from an IP address
We do not need or intend to collect precise physical location from a customer’s device.
3. How We Collect Information
We may collect information:
- Directly from you
- Automatically through our website
- From payment and fraud-prevention providers
- From shipping carriers
- From website hosting, analytics, email, and store-service providers
- From social-media services when you choose to interact with us there
- From another person who purchases or ships a gift to you
4. How We Use Personal Information
We may use personal information to:
- Receive and process orders
- Calculate prices, taxes, and shipping
- Collect and confirm payments
- Make and personalize products
- Pack, ship, and deliver orders
- Provide tracking information
- Communicate about an order
- Arrange local pickup
- Handle returns, refunds, exchanges, and warranty issues
- Respond to questions and requests
- Maintain customer accounts
- Prevent fraud and unauthorized transactions
- Protect our website, customers, and business
- Maintain tax, accounting, and business records
- Improve our website, products, and customer service
- Send marketing messages when permitted
- Comply with legal requirements
- Establish, exercise, or defend legal claims
We will not use customer-supplied photographs, custom designs, or personal information for unrelated advertising without permission, except that we may retain necessary records of the completed transaction.
5. Legal and Business Reasons for Processing Information
Depending on the circumstances, we process information because:
- It is needed to fulfill an order or customer request.
- It is needed to comply with tax, accounting, consumer-protection, or other legal obligations.
- It supports legitimate business purposes such as fraud prevention, security, customer service, and store improvement.
- You gave consent, such as subscribing to promotional email.
- It is needed to protect a person’s rights, safety, or property.
6. How We Disclose Information
We may disclose personal information to service providers that help us operate the store, including:
- Payment processors
- Website hosting providers
- Ecommerce and shopping-cart providers
- Email and customer-service providers
- Tax-calculation and accounting providers
- Shipping carriers and postage services
- Fraud-prevention and security providers
- Data storage and backup providers
- Website analytics providers
- Professional advisers such as accountants, insurers, and attorneys
These providers receive only the information reasonably needed to perform their services.
We may also disclose information:
- At your direction
- To complete a shipment or local pickup
- To comply with a subpoena, court order, or lawful government request
- To investigate fraud, security threats, or unlawful activity
- To protect customers, our business, or other people
- In connection with a sale, merger, transfer, or reorganization of the business
- When otherwise permitted or required by law
7. Selling and Sharing Personal Information
Back Roads Mercantile does not sell customers’ personal information for money.
We do not knowingly disclose personal information for cross-context behavioral or targeted advertising unless that practice is separately disclosed and customers are provided any choice required by law.
Some analytics, advertising, or social-media technologies may be legally classified as “sharing,” “targeted advertising,” or a “sale” in certain jurisdictions even when no money changes hands.
Our current practices are:
- Targeted advertising: NO
- Sale of personal information: No
- Sharing for behavioral advertising: NO
These answers must be updated if our website practices change.
8. Cookies and Similar Technologies
Our website may use cookies and similar technologies to:
- Keep the shopping cart working
- Remember customer choices
- Maintain account sessions
- Process checkout
- Prevent fraud
- Understand website traffic
- Measure site performance
- Support permitted advertising or social-media features
Some cookies are necessary for the website to operate. Others may be optional.
You may be able to control cookies through:
- Our cookie-consent tool, when provided
- Your browser settings
- Privacy settings offered by an analytics or advertising provider
Blocking essential cookies may prevent the shopping cart, login, or checkout from working correctly.
9. Marketing Communications
We may send promotional email only when permitted.
You may unsubscribe through the link in a marketing message or by contacting us. We may continue sending nonpromotional communications necessary to complete an order, provide tracking, respond to a request, or send legally required notices.
We will not require customers to subscribe to marketing as a condition of completing an ordinary purchase.
10. Data Retention
We retain personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, including:
- Completing orders
- Handling returns and customer service
- Maintaining tax and accounting records
- Preventing fraud
- Resolving disputes
- Enforcing agreements
- Complying with legal obligations
Retention periods may differ by category.
When information is no longer reasonably needed, we may delete it, destroy it securely, or convert it into information that no longer identifies an individual.
Custom photographs, artwork, and design materials will not be retained longer than reasonably needed unless:
- You ask us to retain them for future orders
- They form part of a necessary transaction record
- Retention is reasonably required to address a dispute or legal obligation
11. Information Security
We use reasonable administrative, technical, and physical measures intended to protect personal information.
These measures may include:
- Password protection
- Access restrictions
- Secure website connections
- Reputable payment processors
- Software and security updates
- Secure disposal practices
- Limiting the information we collect and retain
No website, storage system, or internet transmission is completely secure. We therefore cannot promise absolute security.
Please do not send complete card numbers, account passwords, Social Security numbers, or similarly sensitive information through ordinary email.
12. Your Privacy Choices and Rights
Depending on where you live and subject to legal exceptions, you may have the right to request that we:
- Confirm whether we process your personal information
- Provide access to certain personal information
- Correct inaccurate personal information
- Delete certain personal information
- Provide a portable copy of certain information
- Opt you out of certain targeted advertising
- Opt you out of the sale of personal information
- Opt you out of certain profiling decisions
- Explain or reconsider the denial of a privacy request
You may submit a request using the contact information at the end of this policy.
We may need to verify your identity before completing a request. Verification may require confirming information connected with your account or order.
We will not unlawfully discriminate against you for exercising an applicable privacy right.
Some information may be retained when reasonably necessary to:
- Complete a transaction
- Maintain tax and accounting records
- Detect fraud
- Protect legal rights
- Comply with law
- Honor warranties or resolve disputes
13. Appeals
When applicable law provides an appeal right, you may appeal our denial of a privacy request by contacting us and writing “Privacy Request Appeal” in the subject line.
Please identify the original request and explain why you believe the decision should be reconsidered.
14. Authorized Agents
Where permitted by law, you may authorize another person to submit a privacy request for you.
We may require evidence of the agent’s authority and may contact you directly to verify your identity and authorization.
15. Children’s Privacy
Our store is intended for a general audience and is not directed to children under 13.
We do not knowingly collect personal information online directly from children under 13 without legally required parental consent.
A parent or guardian who believes a child provided personal information should contact us so that we can review and, when appropriate, delete it.
Adults may purchase products intended for children.
16. Third-Party Websites and Services
Our website may contain links to payment providers, social-media pages, delivery services, or other independent websites.
We do not control those third parties’ privacy or security practices. Review their privacy policies before providing information to them.
17. Social Media
Information posted publicly on our social-media pages may be visible to other people.
Messages sent through a social-media service may also be processed by that service under its own privacy policy. Do not post order numbers, addresses, payment information, or other sensitive information publicly.
18. Changes to This Policy
We may update this policy when our technology, store practices, service providers, or legal obligations change.
The effective date at the top identifies the latest version. Material changes may be announced through the website, email, or another appropriate method.
19. Contact Us
Questions, privacy requests, and complaints may be directed to:
Back Roads Mercantile
Privacy contact: TED GRESHAM
Email: TEDGRESHAM@BACKROADSMERCANTILE.SHOP
Telephone: 936-414-9804
Mailing address: 997 FM 2680, LUFKIN, TX 775904
Website: HTTPS://BACKROADSMERCANTILE.SHOP
Please write “Privacy Request” in the subject line of an email or at the top of a mailed request.