Privacy Policy

Last updated: October 31, 2026

Your dog’s face on a pair of crew socks is adorable. Your dog’s face sitting forever on a server somewhere is not. This Privacy Policy explains what personal information Sock Joy collects when you visit sockjoy.shop or place an order, why we need it, who helps us handle it, how long we keep it and what you can ask us to do with it. It is written in plain language on purpose. If anything is unclear, email support@sockjoy.shop and a real person will answer within 24 hours on business days.

Sock Joy is the business responsible for your information. Our postal address is Sock Joy, 45 Morton St, New York, NY 10014, US.

1. What we collect, and where it comes from

Almost everything we hold about you is something you typed yourself while ordering or writing to us. We keep the list short because socks do not need much: a name, a place to send them and the details of what to print.

1.1 Order and contact details

When you check out, we collect your name, email address, billing address and the items you chose, including size (Kids, Women’s or Men’s), sock colour, print colour, pack size and the price you paid. If you create an account in My Account, we also keep your login email and a securely stored password so you can see past orders. We do not ask for a phone number to place an order, and we do not use one to contact you.

1.2 Shipping address

We collect the address where the socks should go. That may be your own address or someone else’s. If you send a gift straight to Grandma in Canada, you are giving us her name and address, so please make sure she would be happy for you to share it with us for that delivery. We use a recipient’s address only to deliver that order and to handle any question about it.

1.3 Order notes

Personalisation at Sock Joy happens in the order notes box at checkout. There is no upload tool. You type the names, dates, short messages and photo links you want printed, plus anything else we should know, for example who in a family pack gets which size. Order notes can contain personal information about you and about other people, such as a grandchild’s name, a wedding date or a pet’s name and the years of its life on memorial socks. We treat order notes as order information and use them only to make and support your order.

1.4 Photo links and the photos we fetch

When you paste a photo link (for example a shared cloud-storage link), we open that link and download the image so we can prepare it for printing. Two kinds of information are involved:

• The link itself. It stays in your order notes as part of the order record.
• The photo file we fetched. This is the face, pet, couple or family picture you want on your socks. A photo of a person can be personal information about that person, so we handle it with extra care.

We only fetch links you give us, and we only use the photo to print your order and to answer questions about it. If a link is private and returns “access denied”, we cannot see the image. We email you and ask for a link that is shared so anyone with the link can view it. We do not try to get around access controls, and we do not keep browsing your folder once we have the file we need.

1.5 Messages you send us

If you email support@sockjoy.shop or use our Submit a Ticket page, we keep your message, your email address and anything you attach or include, such as an order number or a picture of a parcel.

1.6 Technical information

Like almost every website, our hosting servers record basic technical details when you visit: your IP address, browser type, the pages you request and the date and time. This is used to keep the site working and secure, for example to spot repeated failed logins or unusual traffic.

1.7 Payment information

Card and bank details are entered with the payment processor shown at checkout, not typed into Sock Joy’s own systems. Once a processor is connected, it tells us whether a payment succeeded and may share limited details such as a transaction reference. We never see or store your full card number.

2. Why we use your information

We use personal information for a small number of clear purposes:

• Making your socks. Reading your order notes, fetching your photo and printing exactly what the notes say. We do not send proofs or mockups, so the order notes are the instruction we follow.
• Getting them to you. Processing your order in 1-3 business days and handing it over for delivery, which usually takes 7-14 business days to the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
• Talking to you about your order. Sending order emails, asking about a broken photo link, and handling changes inside the 24-hour change window, cancellations, returns and refunds.
• Keeping records. Holding order and payment records for accounting and legal reasons.
• Keeping the site safe. Preventing fraud, spam and attacks on the website.
• Improving the store. Looking at general patterns, such as which sizes are ordered most, so we can stock and describe products better. We do this with order records we already hold, not with advertising trackers.

We do not use your photos to train software, build face databases or create new designs to sell to other people. A photo of your family is used for your family’s socks and nothing else.

2.1 Marketing emails

We only send marketing emails if you have agreed to receive them or the law allows it. Every marketing email includes a way to unsubscribe. Order emails, such as confirmations and replies to your questions, are not marketing and you will still receive them.

3. Our legal reasons for using your information

Some privacy laws ask businesses to name the legal basis for each use of personal information. Here is how ours line up:

• To perform our contract with you. We need your contact details, address, order details, order notes and photo to sell and deliver the socks you ordered.
• Legitimate interests. We keep the site secure, prevent fraudulent orders and keep simple records of what was ordered, in ways you would reasonably expect from an online store.
• Consent. We rely on your consent for marketing emails and for any non-essential cookies we may use in future. You can withdraw consent at any time.
• Legal obligations. We keep accounting and transaction records as the law requires.

3.1 Information about other people

Personalized gifts often involve other people: the person in the photo, the name on the cuff, the recipient’s address. By including someone else’s information in your order, you confirm that you have the right to share it with us for this purpose. For photos, that means the photo is yours to use or you have permission from the person who owns it. Our Terms of Service and Intellectual Property Policy explain photo rights in more detail.

4. Who we share information with

We do not sell your personal information. We share it only with service providers who help us run Sock Joy, and only the part they need to do their job. They are expected to protect it and to use it only to provide their service to us.

We do not name individual companies here because providers can change. If you want to know which providers currently handle your information, email us and we will tell you.

4.1 When the law requires it

We may disclose information if we are legally required to, for example in response to a valid court order, or when it is necessary to protect our rights, prevent fraud or protect someone’s safety.

4.2 If the business changes hands

If Sock Joy is ever sold or merged with another business, customer information may transfer to the new owner, who would have to respect this policy for the information it receives.

4.3 Sharing for advertising

We do not share personal information with advertisers for cross-context behavioural advertising. If we ever change that, we will update this page first and give you the choices the law requires.

5. Cookies on sockjoy.shop

Cookies are small files your browser stores so a website can remember things between pages. Our store runs on WordPress and WooCommerce, which use a handful of cookies to keep the shop working:

• Cart and session cookies remember what is in your cart while you choose between the pet face socks and the holiday socks.
• Checkout cookies keep your checkout steps connected so your order goes through.
• Login cookies keep you signed in to My Account if you choose to log in.
• Security cookies help protect forms and logins from misuse.

These are essential cookies. Without them the cart and checkout will not work. We do not claim to use advertising or tracking pixels on the site. If we add any analytics or advertising tool in future, we will update this section, describe the tool and ask for consent where the law requires it.

You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings. If you block essential cookies, you will still be able to browse the shop, but you will not be able to add items to your cart or check out.

6. How long we keep things

We keep information only as long as we need it. The most sensitive item, your photo, has the shortest life.

6.1 Why photos are kept for 30 days after delivery

Thirty days gives us time to help if something goes wrong, for example if a parcel to Australia takes the full 14 business days and arrives with a print question, or if you need a replacement for a pair. After that, the photo file is deleted. If you return socks under our Returns & Exchanges Policy, the return is handled from your order record, not from the deleted photo.

6.2 Memorial and sensitive orders

Memorial pet socks often carry a name and years, and sometimes a photo that means a great deal. We handle them with the same 30-day photo deletion. Please keep your own copy of any photo you treasure. We are a sock shop, not a photo archive.

6.3 Asking for earlier deletion

If you would like your photo deleted sooner, for example once you have received the socks and are happy, email us and we will delete it. If you ask before the socks are printed, we will cancel or pause that item, because we cannot print a photo we no longer have.

7. Your privacy rights, wherever you are

We sell to the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and each place has its own privacy law. The rights below apply as those laws allow. We give everyone the same respectful treatment, and we never charge more or offer worse service because you asked about your privacy.

7.1 United States, including California

Several US states, including California, give residents rights over personal information. Depending on your state, you may ask us to:

• tell you what categories and specific pieces of personal information we hold about you and where they came from;
• correct information that is wrong;
• delete your information, subject to records we must keep by law;
• give you a copy in a portable format;
• opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information for targeted advertising. We do not sell or share it in this way, but you may still send the request.

California residents may use an authorized agent to make a request. We will ask for proof that the agent may act for you.

7.2 Canada

Under Canada’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), you may ask to access the personal information we hold about you, ask how it has been used and shared, and ask us to correct it. You may also withdraw consent to optional uses, such as marketing emails. If you are not satisfied with our answer, you may contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.

7.3 Australia

Under the Australian Privacy Act 1988 and the Australian Privacy Principles, you may ask to access and correct personal information we hold about you. If you have a complaint, please contact us first so we can try to fix it. If you are not satisfied, you may contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.

7.4 New Zealand

Under the New Zealand Privacy Act 2020, you may ask whether we hold personal information about you, ask for access to it and ask us to correct it. If you are not satisfied with how we handle a request or complaint, you may contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner in New Zealand.

7.5 How to make a request

1. Email support@sockjoy.shop with the subject “Privacy request”.
2. Say what you would like: a copy, a correction, deletion or something else.
3. Send it from the email address used for your order or account, or include your order number, so we can check that the request is really from you.
4. We confirm receipt within 24 hours on business days and complete the request within the time the law in your location allows.

Sometimes we cannot delete everything. For example, we must keep a record that an order was paid and refunded. When that happens, we tell you what we kept and why.

8. Children and family orders

Our Kids sizes are bought by grown-ups for children. The store is meant for adults, and we do not knowingly collect personal information directly from children under 13, or under 16 where local law sets a higher age. A parent or grandparent ordering socks with a child’s name or picture is the person giving us that information, and the same rules apply to it as to any other order: used to make the socks, photo deleted 30 days after delivery.

If you believe a child has placed an order or sent us personal information without a parent or guardian, contact us and we will delete it.

9. Keeping your information safe

We use sensible measures to protect what you share with us:

• The whole site uses an encrypted HTTPS connection.
• Access to orders, order notes and photos is limited to the people who need it to make, ship and support your order.
• Payment details are entered with the payment processor shown at checkout, not stored by us.
• Photo files are removed on the 30-day schedule above instead of piling up.

No system is perfectly secure. If a security incident affects your personal information and the law requires us to tell you, we will let you know and explain what we are doing about it. You can help by using a strong, unique password for My Account and by sharing photo links that point to a single photo rather than a whole private album.

10. Where your information is processed

Sock Joy is based in the United States and our orders ship from the USA. If you order from Canada, Australia or New Zealand, your information will be processed in the United States and possibly in other countries where our service providers work. We expect those providers to protect it in line with this policy and applicable law.

11. Changes to this policy

We update this page when our practices change, for example if we connect a payment processor or add a new tool to the site. The “Last updated” date at the top shows the latest version. If a change matters to how we use information you have already given us, we will tell you by email or with a notice on the site.

12. Talk to us about privacy

Questions, requests and complaints about privacy go to support@sockjoy.shop. We reply within 24 hours on business days. You can also write to Sock Joy, 45 Morton St, New York, NY 10014, US.

Related pages: Terms of Service, Payment Methods, Contact Us and FAQs. Your socks, your photos, your choice.