Privacy Policy

Welcome! Ivy provides interior designers, architects, and other professionals with tools to better manage their day-to-day business and workflow with their clients and vendors. Ivy is also designed to improve the design experience for clients, by allowing them to review project related documents from professionals and to pay professionals. We announced that Ivy joined the Houzz family in February 2018. Houzz is an online platform dedicated to home renovation and design. Houzz brings together home professionals, sellers of home goods, other businesses, homeowners, renters, and design enthusiasts. Through Houzz, people can find design ideas, advice, products, and services related to home renovation and design. 

This Privacy Policy describes what personal information we collect, how we use this information, how this information may be shared, and what choices and rights you have with respect to this information. Access and use of our Platform is subject to this Privacy Policy.

Our Platform is made up of Houzz, Ivy,  and other sites and apps on which this Privacy Policy is posted and that are Houzz-branded or operated by the Houzz group, and all of the related websites, mobile apps, products, services, and communications offered by Houzz, including our plug-ins and embedded content made available on other sites.

The terms “we”, “us,” or “our” refer to (a) Houzz Inc., a Delaware corporation and (b) if you access or use our marketplace on the Houzz Platform and live in the United States, Houzz Shop LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, and if you access or use our marketplace on the Houzz Platform and live outside the United States, Houzz Shop International LLC. The “Houzz group” refers to corporate affiliates of Houzz Inc.  By “you,” we are referring to visitors and users of any part of our Platform.

This Privacy Policy is effective as of April 8, 2019.  If you created your account on Ivy before April 8, 2019 and you have not been notified of this updated Privacy Policy, the previous Ivy Privacy Policy applies to you.

We collect information that you provide us, from third parties, and automatically when you use our Platform. We collect information associated with your device using cookies and similar technologies. We may also receive information about your location.

Information You Provide Us

We collect information that you provide us, including your account and profile information, content you submit or post to our Platform, your purchase information, your communications, and information you provide to us as part of surveys and contests.

Account and Profile Information. When you create an account on our Platform, we collect information you provide us, like your name, email address, interests, gender, age, and profile information. If you are a professional, you may also choose to provide us information related to your business.

Content you Submit. We collect information and content that you submit or post to our Platform, including your photos, comments, reviews, searches, photo notes, Ideabooks, and discussions.

Purchases. If you purchase or sell products or services within our Platform, we collect certain information in order to process your purchases and sales, such as your phone number, address, and payment method (for example, credit card or bank account information).

Communications. When you communicate with us (via email, phone, through our Platform, or otherwise) and when you use our Platform to communicate with others, we store a copy of your communications (including call recordings, subject to providing you notice or obtaining your consent in accordance with applicable law). Certain professionals and sellers on our Platform may choose to use our call tracking feature in order to better manage their business. You are using our Platform when you make calls to these professionals and sellers using their phone number displayed on our Platform. We will provide you notice or obtain your consent in accordance with applicable law before recording these calls. Otherwise, to the extent you communicate with professionals, sellers, and other users outside our Platform, those communications are not subject to this Privacy Policy.

Surveys and Contests. If you participate in our surveys, contests, or promotions, we will collect the information you provide to us.

Information from Others

We collect information that others provide us, including information from other platforms, publicly available information, information from other users of our Platform, information from our partners and corporate affiliates, and information from third-party sites.

Other Platforms. We may receive information about you from third-party platforms that obtain your permission to share this information with us. If you choose to sign-up for our Platform through Facebook or Google or upload your contacts from your third-party email service, you will be asked to share certain information with us as identified by those third-party platforms.

Publicly Available Information. Others may post content on our Platform that includes information about you (for example, as part of photos or stories). If you are a professional or seller, we may also collect information about you from publicly available sources and make it available as part of our Platform. For example, we may receive your name and contact information from industry associations and dealer networks in which you participate and display your affiliation with these organizations.

Other Users. In order to enhance the quality of our Platform, professionals and sellers on our Platform may provide us information about your engagement with them, including whether you have contacted them or responded to them, whether your project has been completed, and whether you have received a product you have ordered. If you are a professional or seller, Platform users and visitors may provide us with feedback and public reviews about you.

Our Partners. We may receive information about you from our partners. For example, our payment processors may update your payment information, advertising partners may help us send communications to your address, and third parties may help us prevent fraud by verifying your contact information.

Houzz Group. Subject to the privacy policies of our corporate affiliates and in accordance with applicable laws, we may receive information about you from them.

Third-Party Sites. Certain third-party sites embed a Houzz plug-in, widget, or content, including through Houzz-branded buttons, badges, and slideshows and Houzz co-branded content partnerships. You may also choose to use our browser extensions. These plug-ins, widgets, and embedded content provide information to us pursuant to our Cookie Policy. In addition, certain professionals’ sites are developed or hosted by Houzz. Houzz collects the information described in this Privacy Policy on those sites, including your messages to the professionals sent through those sites. These professionals collect usage information and your messages as further described in their privacy policies.

Automatically Collected Information

We collect information about your use of our Platform, including your search activity, the pages you view, the date and time of your visit, and if you use our browser extensions, content you interact with on third-party sites. We also collect information that your device provides to us in connection with your use of our Platform, such as your browser type, type of device, browser language, IP address, mobile carrier, unique device identifier, location, and requested and referring URLs.

Cookies and Similar Technologies

We use cookies in connection with your use of our Platform to collect information related to what you see and interact with on our Platform and other Platform access and use. Please see our Cookie Policy for more information on our use of cookies and how to opt-out of cookies, but please note that we do not change system behavior within our Platform in response to browser requests not to be tracked.

Location Information

We will receive your device’s location if you enable this through your browser or mobile device. We may infer your general location from your IP address. You may also choose to provide us your location information by inputting this information in our Platform, including in your Houzz settings, Ivy settings, or when you checkout as a shipping or billing address.

We use the information we collect to provide, support, and personalize our Platform and to communicate with you about our Platform (on and off our Platform). The ways we do this include the following:

If you provide us information about your contacts (for example, when you sign up for our Platform through Facebook), in order to facilitate a more connected experience, we may inform your contacts who have accounts on our Platform that you also have joined our Platform and follow them on your behalf so that you may view their public activities on our Platform.

We may use your communications generally for quality assurance purposes and training and to improve our products and services. We may use your communications to understand and help manage the quality of requests received and responses sent by professionals and sellers on our Platform and to provide them feedback. We may use automated technology to review your communications and improve user experience. Learn more.

We may use your log-in information, cookie information, device information and IP addresses to identify you and log your use across devices and our Platform. We may use your addresses to personalize your experience on our Platform.

For your convenience, we will store information about the payment method you use in connection with the Platform. You may remove or change your payment method on Houzz through your settings. If you would like to change your payment method on Ivy and you use a credit card, please go to your Ivy settings.  For your security, however, if you use ACH to make payments on Ivy, we may need you to contact support@ivy.co.

If you make purchases on Houzz as a visitor and subsequently create an account, for your reference, we will make information available to you about any prior purchases completed using the email address for your account.

If you are a client on Ivy, we use your information to show you all of your payments, as well as invoices, proposals, retainers, and similar documents on a per-project basis.

Any use of your information that is incompatible with these uses will be disclosed to you in advance so that you may opt out of such uses at your discretion.

We do not rent or sell your personal contact information (such as your email address associated with your account registration) to third parties to use for their own marketing purposes. We share information in the following ways:

Platform Visitors and Users

Through Houzz, others may find, contact, view, and follow your profile and public activity on Houzz (for example, if you “like” content on our Platform), including through your username. You can customize your Houzz profile and whether users may follow you through your Houzz settings. Unless you make them private using your Houzz settings and other tools, your Houzz content (for example, Ideabooks, photos, notes on others’ photos, projects, discussions, and social media profiles), followers, and others you follow are viewable and open to comments by others. Learn how to make these private. If you are a professional or seller on Houzz, we may also display aggregated information about your activity in order to help visitors and users evaluate you, including your response rate and last visit to Houzz. We cannot control Platform visitors’ and users’ use of any information or content you choose to make available publicly.

Professionals, Sellers, and Other Businesses

If you request us to find professionals for you, your project information (including the contact information) that you provide will be made available to a limited number of professionals that we believe may be suitable for your project. Professionals and sellers that participate on the Houzz Platform may view your public activities on our Platform and receive feedback you provide to us about your engagement with them. For example, if you requested us to find professionals for you and provide us feedback about your level of interest in these professionals, we may convey such feedback to them. In addition, a professional or seller can view your public activities on our Platform that are interactions with their content (for example, that you added one of their photos to your non-private Ideabook on a particular date, as identified by the username for your profile and any photo or public identifiers you provide for your profile). The business cannot see your non-public account information (for example, email address) or see private activity (for example, if your Ideabook is private). We ask professionals, sellers, and advertising businesses on our Platform to limit the use of your information to the reasons for which the information was provided. However, their use of your information is subject to their own privacy policies.

Service Providers and Platform Partners

We may share your information with others as reasonably needed for our uses described in this Privacy Policy, and we ask them to limit their use of that information.You can find more information about our service providers and platform partners here. In addition, if you specifically agree to share your information with a third-party partner, for example, as part of a contest or promotion we sponsor with such third party, we will share your contact information with that third-party partner.

Advertisers and Ad Networks

We use advertising networks and similar companies to serve advertisements on third-party sites and to assist us in evaluating the effectiveness of our advertising. We may work with advertising partners to serve ads on our Platform. We may use advertising partners to communicate with you at the addresses they have for you. These types of companies use cookies and similar technologies. We may provide advertising networks, advertising partners, and businesses advertising on our platform with aggregate information but other than hashed information or device identifiers, we do not disclose your name, contact information, or other personal information. For more information, please see our Cookie Policy.

Businesses advertising on our Platform may also use cookies or similar technologies to track your activities on our Platform. Some of these businesses are participants in the Network Advertising Initiative or the Digital Advertising Alliance. Please visit these organizations’ opt-out pages to learn about how you may opt out of receiving web-based personalized ads from participating businesses. You can access any settings offered by your mobile operating system to limit ad tracking or install the AppChoices app to learn more about how you may opt out of receiving personalized ads in mobile apps.

Corporate Affiliates and Business Transfers

We may share information from or about you with (a) joint ventures or other companies in the Houzz group, or (b) a potential or actual acquirer, successor, or assignee as part of any reorganization, merger, sale, joint venture, assignment, transfer, or other disposition of all or any portion of our business, assets, or stock (including in bankruptcy or similar proceedings). In these cases, their use will be subject to this Privacy Policy.

Investigations

We may investigate and disclose information from or about you, as permitted by applicable law, if we believe that such investigation or disclosure is (a) reasonably necessary to comply with legal process and law enforcement instructions and orders, such as a search warrant, subpoena, statute, judicial proceeding, or other legal process served on us; (b) helpful to prevent, investigate, or identify possible wrongdoing in connection with our Platform; (c) helpful to protect our rights, reputation, property, or that of our visitors, users, corporate affiliates, or the public; or (d) to enforce compliance with our agreements with you (for example, the Houzz Terms of Use).

Our Platform may include third-party social media features and other third-party plug-ins and widgets. When these features are displayed on our Platform, they are operated or hosted by third parties and are subject to their own privacy policies instead of this Privacy Policy. Our Platform also contains links to third-party sites that are not controlled or operated by us. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites.

An essential part of our services that you sign up for when you create an account on our Platform is to receive communications from the Houzz group through email and our Platform. If you use our mobile app or provide us with your cell phone number, these communications also include text messages and push notifications. We communicate with you about your account, privacy, and interactions with your content (for example, if others “like” your Ideabook, respond to your comment, or if you earn a badge on our Platform). We also ask for your feedback about your experience in connection with our Platform or about your home renovation and design plans. In accordance with applicable law, we communicate to you tips, offers, and similar services from the Houzz group and may feature professionals, sellers, and other businesses on our Platform in these communications. You may change your communication preferences at any time through your Houzz settings if you have a Houzz account and your Ivy settings if you have an Ivy account, and you may also opt-out of similar types of marketing emails from us directly through the email. Your communication preferences on Ivy and Houzz are independent and generally will not affect or change the communications you receive through the rest of the Platform. Please be aware that you cannot opt-out of receiving account and privacy-related messages from us.

Our Platform also allows you and others to send messages in our Platform, share content with others outside our Platform, and if you make your contact information available, for others to contact you outside our Platform.

Unless you are a professional or seller on Houzz, you can deactivate your Houzz account at any time by going to your Houzz settings. To deactivate your account as a professional or seller on Houzz, please contact us as described in the Contact Us section of this Privacy Policy. To deactivate your account on the Ivy Platform, please follow the instructions here or contact us as described in the Contact Us section of this Privacy Policy. When you deactivate your account, you will cease to provide ongoing or future data to us. Your Houzz profile will no longer be viewable but in accordance with applicable law and the Houzz Terms of Use, your photos, reviews, and other content may still be accessible and viewable. In order to request permanent deletion of your account, please contact us as described in the Contact Us section.

We will keep your personal information only for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which we are processing your personal information unless the law permits or requires us to retain your personal information for a longer period. For example, we may need to keep your personal data for quality assurance for our Platform or to defend future legal claims. We also will retain de-identified information after your account has been deleted. Information you have shared with others will remain visible after your account has been deactivated or deleted and after the information has been deleted from your own profile or account. We do not control information or content that others have copied out of our Platform. Please note that copies of information that you have updated, modified, or deleted may continue to reside in our systems for a period of time, and we may maintain copies of this information as part of our business records.

Our Platform is intended for general audiences and is not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. In the event that we learn that we have collected personal information from a child under age 13, we will take appropriate steps to delete that information. If you become aware or believe that a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us as provided in the Contact Us section.

We use reasonable and appropriate measures to protect your personal information from loss, misuse, unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, and destruction, taking into account the risks involved in the processing and the nature of the personal information.

We may revise this Privacy Policy from time to time. The most current version of our Privacy Policy will govern our use of information about you. If we make material changes to our Privacy Policy, we will notify you by email or by posting a notice on our Platform. By continuing to access or use our Platform after those changes become effective, you are subject to the revised Privacy Policy.

If you have questions or comments about this Privacy Policy,

You may also mail us at our address at 285 Hamilton Avenue, Palo Alto, California 94301, USA.

The Houzz group is a global organization, headquartered in the United States, with service providers, corporate affiliates, and operations in several countries. In order to provide you with the services you sign up for by creating an account or visiting our Platform, your personal information will be transferred to and processed in the United States (or any other country where we, our corporate affiliates, agents, and service providers operate). Data protection laws differ among jurisdictions, and the United States and these other jurisdictions may not provide the same level of protection for personal information as your jurisdiction of residence. If you are from the European Economic Area (“EEA”) and we transfer your personal information to countries outside of the EEA, we will take appropriate steps to ensure your personal information is afforded the same level of protection as described in this Privacy Policy. If you are located in the EEA or Switzerland, we comply with all legal requirements for the transfer of personal information to countries outside of the EEA or Switzerland. Learn more about our participation in the Privacy Shield Frameworks.

If you are from the EEA, our legal basis for collecting and using the personal information described in this Privacy Policy will depend on the personal information concerned and the specific context in which we collect it. We collect and use your information for a variety of business purposes that are in our legitimate interests, in order to enter into or perform a contract with you, with your consent, or to comply with our legal obligations.

If you wish to learn more about specific legal grounds we rely on to process your information for any particular purpose (including any legitimate interests we have to process this information), please contact us as provided under the Contact Us section. For example, we rely on our legitimate interests to process information for direct marketing purposes and for fraud prevention and detection, provided these interests are not overridden by your data protection interests or fundamental rights and freedoms.

In some regions, such as the EEA, you may have certain rights in relation to your personal information, including the right to access, correct, update, or request deletion of your personal information. Houzz takes reasonable steps to ensure that the data we collect is reliable for its intended use, accurate, complete, and up to date. You also can manage your profile, Houzz settings and Ivy settings within our Platform. However, if you are not a user of our Platform and you want to contact us directly about accessing, correcting, updating, or deleting your personal information, or altering your data or marketing preferences, you can do so at any time by contacting as provided in the Contact Us section. We will consider your request in accordance with applicable laws.

You can object to processing of your personal information, ask us to restrict processing of your personal information, or request portability of your personal information. Again, you can exercise these rights by contacting us as provided in the Contact Us section. You also can deactivate your Houzz profile and obtain a copy of your Houzz information through your Houzz settings. You may also choose to deactivate your account on Ivy by following the instructions here. 

You can complain to a data protection authority about our collection and use of your personal information in relation to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). For more information, and to submit a GDPR complaint, please contact your local data protection authority. Contact details for data protection authorities in the EEA and Switzerland are available here.

Similarly, if we have collected and processed your personal information with your consent, then you can withdraw your consent at any time. Withdrawing your consent will not affect the lawfulness of any processing we conducted prior to your withdrawal, nor will it affect processing of your personal information conducted in reliance on lawful processing grounds other than consent.

We respond to all requests we receive from individuals wishing to exercise their data protection rights in accordance with applicable data protection laws. We may ask you to verify your identity in order to help us respond efficiently to your request.

Updated April 8, 2019