🏡 1. Who We Are

HomeGreenThumb (“we,” “us,” “our,” or “the Site”) operates the website homegreenthumb.com. We are a US-based gardening and plant-care publication providing independent guides, product reviews, and buying advice, and we participate in affiliate and advertising programs, including the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, Google AdSense, and/or Ezoic.

This Privacy Policy applies to information collected through the Site, including via forms, cookies, analytics tools, comments, and advertising partners. It does not apply to information collected offline or through any other website, including websites of any third party that may be linked to or from the Site.

📋 2. Information We Collect

Information You Provide Directly

• Newsletter/email signup: name and email address when you subscribe to our newsletter or free downloads (e.g., “Succulent Care Cheat Sheet”).
• Comments: name, email address, and website (optional) when you leave a comment on an article.
• Contact forms: name, email address, and any information you include in your message.

Information Collected Automatically

• Log data: IP address, browser type, device type, operating system, referring URL, pages visited, and timestamps.
• Cookies & similar technologies: see Section 5 below for a full breakdown.
• Advertising & analytics identifiers: collected by third-party partners such as Google AdSense, Google Analytics, and Ezoic — see Section 6.
• Affiliate click data: when you click an Amazon (or other affiliate) link — see Section 7.

⚙️ 3. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect to:

• Operate, maintain, and improve the Site and its content;
• Send newsletters, requested downloads, and respond to inquiries;
• Display, moderate, and manage blog comments;
• Analyze site traffic and user behavior to improve content and user experience;
• Serve and measure the performance of advertising, including personalized/interest-based ads where permitted;
• Detect, prevent, and address technical issues, fraud, or abuse;
• Comply with legal obligations.

We do not sell your name or email address to third parties. (See Section 11 regarding the CCPA definition of “sale,” which includes certain advertising data sharing.)

🤝 4. Who We Share Information With

We share limited information with the following categories of third parties, only as necessary to operate the Site:

• Advertising networks: Google AdSense and/or Ezoic (and their own network of demand partners) to serve and measure ads.
• Analytics providers: Google Analytics, to understand site traffic and usage.
• Affiliate networks: Amazon Associates, to track and attribute qualifying purchases.
• Email service provider: ▶ EDIT (e.g., Mailchimp, ConvertKit) — to manage newsletter subscriptions.
• Hosting & security providers: ▶ EDIT (e.g., your web host, CDN/security provider such as Cloudflare) — to keep the Site running and secure.
• Legal & safety: if required to comply with a legal obligation, protect our rights, or respond to a valid legal request.

We do not share your personal information with third parties for their own independent marketing purposes without your consent.

🍪 5. Cookies & Tracking Technologies

Cookies are small text files stored on your device. We and our partners use the following categories of cookies:

You can control or delete cookies through your browser settings. Blocking cookies may affect Site functionality and personalization. Where required by law (e.g., for EU/UK/California visitors), we will request your consent via a cookie consent banner before setting non-essential cookies.

📊 6. Google AdSense, Google Analytics & Ezoic

This Site displays advertising served by Google AdSense and/or Ezoic, and uses Google Analytics to understand traffic. These third parties may use cookies, web beacons, and similar technologies to collect information about your visits to this and other websites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you.

Google

Google uses advertising cookies (including the DoubleClick DART cookie) to serve ads based on your prior visits to this and other websites. Google’s use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads based on your visit to this Site and/or other sites on the Internet.

Ezoic

Where Ezoic is used, it may work with a number of monitoring, advertising, analytics, and other technology partners who may set additional cookies and collect data as part of ad delivery and site optimization. Ezoic’s own privacy policy and partner list are available for review.

Interest-Based Advertising Opt-Out

You can opt out of many third-party ad networks’ interest-based advertising through the following industry tools:

🛒 7. Amazon Associates Tracking

HomeGreenThumb is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. When you click an Amazon affiliate link on this Site, Amazon may place a cookie on your device to track that the visit originated from our Site, so that we may receive a commission on qualifying purchases, at no additional cost to you.

We do not receive or store your Amazon account information, payment details, or order history — this data is collected and processed directly by Amazon, subject to Amazon’s own Privacy Notice.

For more detail on how our affiliate relationships work, see our Affiliate Disclosure page.

🔗 8. Third-Party Links

The Site contains links to third-party websites, including retailers, manufacturers, and other resources. This Privacy Policy applies only to homegreenthumb.com. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of any third-party site. We encourage you to review the privacy policy of any external site you visit.

🧒 9. Children’s Privacy (COPPA)

This Site is intended for a general audience and is not directed at children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 in accordance with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). If we become aware that we have inadvertently collected personal information from a child under 13, we will take steps to delete that information promptly.

If you believe a child under 13 has provided us with personal information, please contact us at privacy@homegreenthumb.com so we can investigate and remove it.

✅ 10. Your Privacy Rights

Depending on your location, you may have some or all of the following rights regarding your personal information:

To exercise any of these rights, contact us using the details in Section 15. We will respond within the timeframe required by applicable law (generally within 30–45 days).

🐻 11. California Privacy Rights (CCPA/CPRA)

If you are a California resident, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), gives you specific rights regarding your personal information, including the rights listed in Section 10 above.

“Sale” & “Sharing” of Information

Under the CCPA’s broad definition, our use of advertising cookies (e.g., through Google AdSense/Ezoic) to enable interest-based advertising may be considered a “sale” or “sharing” of personal information, even though no money changes hands for your personal data directly. You have the right to opt out of this.

We will not discriminate against you for exercising any CCPA/CPRA right. Authorized agents may submit requests on your behalf with proper verification.

🇪🇺 12. GDPR — EU/EEA/UK Visitors

If you are located in the European Economic Area (EEA) or the UK, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and UK GDPR give you additional rights over your personal data, including the rights listed in Section 10, as well as the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection supervisory authority.

Legal Basis for Processing

• Consent — for non-essential cookies, advertising, and newsletter signups;
• Legitimate interest — for basic analytics and Site security;
• Contractual necessity — to respond to inquiries you initiate.

Where consent is our legal basis, you may withdraw it at any time without affecting the lawfulness of processing before withdrawal. If you are located in the EEA/UK, we may rely on a cookie consent banner to obtain your consent before setting non-essential cookies.

🔒 13. Data Security & Retention

We implement reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards designed to protect your personal information from unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction (e.g., SSL/TLS encryption in transit, restricted admin access, reputable hosting infrastructure). However, no method of transmission over the Internet or electronic storage is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

We retain personal information only as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes described in this Policy, comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements. Newsletter data is retained until you unsubscribe; comment data is retained as part of the public comment record unless removal is requested.

🔄 14. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technology, legal requirements, or other factors. We will post the revised policy on this page with an updated “Last Updated” date. Material changes may be communicated via a notice on the Site or, where required, via email. Your continued use of the Site after changes are posted constitutes acceptance of the revised Policy.