Privacy Policy

Effective October 10, 2026 · Hollowstead Seed Co.

Who we are

Hollowstead Seed Co. operates hollowsteadseeds.com, an online seed shop based in Missouri, United States. In this policy, “Hollowstead,” “we,” “us,” and “our” refer to Hollowstead Seed Co.

This policy explains the information we collect through the website, why we use it, when we share it, and the choices available to you.

What information we collect

When you place an order

We may collect your name, email address, phone number if provided, billing address, shipping address, the products and quantities you order, order notes, shipping choices, order totals, tax information, payment status, and other details needed to fulfill or support the purchase.

When you use an account, review, or contact form

If you create a customer account, we keep the account information you provide and information associated with your orders. If you leave a product review, the review, rating, and the public name you choose may be displayed on the site. If you email or otherwise contact us, we receive the information you send in that message.

Technical and security information

Like most websites, our hosting, security, and commerce systems may receive technical information such as your IP address, browser and device information, requested pages, timestamps, referrer information, and server or security logs. We use this information to keep the site working, diagnose problems, reduce fraud and abuse, and protect the store.

How we use information

We use personal information when reasonably necessary to:

• process, ship, and support your orders;
• send transactional messages such as receipts, shipping updates, account notices, and customer-service replies;
• provide customer accounts and order history where enabled;
• handle refunds, replacements, disputes, fraud review, and security incidents;
• calculate taxes, maintain business records, and meet legal or accounting obligations;
• understand site performance and improve our shop, growing guides, products, and checkout experience; and
• send marketing only when we have a lawful reason to do so and, where required, your permission.

Hollowstead Growing Notes

Growing Notes is optional. Hollowstead stores your email address, consent history, chosen topics and frequency on this website. If you opt in to growing reminders, we also store your selected varieties, time zone, optional ZIP code, local frost dates and planting records. Your private growing journal stores dated notes for the varieties you choose; notes are not included in email reminders. Reminders are separate from newsletter preferences and are combined into at most one email per day. You can change or stop either through your private preferences link or a connected Hollowstead account. Connecting an account stores its user ID and verified association with your garden. New public account signups use CAPTCHA and an emailed password-setup link; account creation does not subscribe you to emails. Historical frost estimates are not live weather forecasts. You must confirm through an email link before joining. Purchasing does not subscribe you automatically. For optional checkout signups, consent is recorded with your order and confirmation is queued after payment.

Emails are sent through our configured email delivery service, currently Google Workspace. That service processes the email address and message to deliver it. We record sending results and any available delivery failures or complaints. Preference and unsubscribe links stay on this website. You can unsubscribe at any time. Our first-party signup form uses an abuse-prevention field and temporary hashed request limits.

Newsletter signup, My Garden account creation and requests for a preferences link use Google reCAPTCHA to prevent automated abuse. When the security check loads, Google processes browser and device information and uses a necessary security cookie. Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Confirmation, private preferences and unsubscribe links do not require this check.

Contact-form spam protection

The Get in Touch form uses Google reCAPTCHA to help block automated spam. When the form loads, your browser connects to Google’s reCAPTCHA service, which may process technical browser and device information and use cookies for the security check. Our server sends the resulting verification token to Google before sending your message; it does not send your message text, name, or email address in that verification request. Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Google Customer Reviews

When Google Customer Reviews is enabled, our order-confirmation page loads Google’s survey opt-in service and provides Google with your checkout email address, order ID, delivery country, and estimated arrival date. This sharing takes place to display the prompt, before you choose whether to receive the survey invitation. The service may also receive technical browser and device information and use cookies under Google’s Privacy Policy.

Taking part is optional. If you agree in Google’s prompt, Google may email you a survey about your shopping experience after the estimated delivery date. Choosing not to participate does not affect your order. This choice does not subscribe you to Growing Notes or other Hollowstead marketing. Our survey integration does not include your street address, payment-card details, or product identifiers in the order information it passes to Google.

Payments and Stripe

We use Stripe to process card and supported express-checkout payments. Payment information needed to authorize a transaction is sent to Stripe and processed under Stripe’s Privacy Policy. Depending on the payment method, Stripe may receive information such as your billing details, purchase amount, device information, and payment credentials.

Hollowstead does not intentionally store your full card number or card security code in the WordPress/WooCommerce database. We receive the payment status and the transaction information needed to manage the order, refund, or dispute.

Cookies, local storage, and analytics

Our store uses cookies and similar browser storage for two broad purposes: making the shop function and understanding how it is used.

Our Matomo analytics software uses infrastructure we control. The website sends analytics through our first-party collector at stats.hollowsteadseeds.com, with backing infrastructure at thompsonmedicare.com. Matomo may receive technical information such as IP address, browser/device information, page URL, referrer, and a first-party visitor identifier. Our Hollowstead analytics integration also measures product names/SKUs, categories, quantities, cart totals, order totals, and order number for ecommerce reporting.

We deliberately do not send customer names, email addresses, billing or shipping street addresses, or payment-card details through the Hollowstead Site Core analytics context.

You can control cookies through your browser. Blocking essential commerce cookies may prevent the cart, login, or checkout from working correctly. Where applicable law requires additional consent for analytics, we will use an appropriate consent mechanism.

When we share information

We share information only as reasonably necessary to operate the store or when law requires it. That may include:

• payment providers, including Stripe, to process and support transactions;
• hosting, security, email, and technology providers that help us operate and protect the site;
• review-survey providers, including Google when Google Customer Reviews is enabled, as explained above;
• shipping and fulfillment providers that need order and delivery information to get your package to you;
• professional advisers such as accountants or legal advisers when needed for legitimate business or compliance purposes; and
• government, law-enforcement, courts, or other parties when we reasonably believe disclosure is required by law or necessary to protect rights, safety, customers, or the store.

We do not sell personal information to data brokers, and we do not share personal information for money. We also do not use Hollowstead customer information to run third-party cross-site behavioral advertising.

How long we keep information

We keep information for as long as reasonably necessary for the purpose it was collected, including fulfilling orders, providing customer service, handling returns or disputes, preventing fraud, maintaining tax and accounting records, and meeting legal obligations. Retention periods can differ by record type. When information is no longer needed, we may delete or anonymize it where practical.

Your choices and privacy requests

Depending on where you live, you may have rights to ask what personal information we hold about you, request a copy, correct inaccurate information, or request deletion of eligible information. Some records—such as information we must keep for tax, accounting, fraud-prevention, transaction, or legal purposes—may need to be retained even after a deletion request.

To make a privacy request, use our Get in Touch form. We may need to verify that the request is really yours before providing, changing, or deleting account or order information.

You can also unsubscribe from promotional email using the unsubscribe method in the message, if we send promotional email to you.

Children’s privacy

Hollowstead Seed Co. is a general-audience retail website and is not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information online from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided us personal information, contact us so we can review the situation.

Security

We use reasonable administrative and technical safeguards designed to protect store and customer information. No website, network, or storage system can be guaranteed completely secure, so we cannot promise absolute security.

Third-party websites

Our site may link to websites we do not control. Their privacy practices are governed by their own policies, not this one.

Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy when our store, technology, vendors, or legal obligations change. We will post the revised version here and update the effective date when the changes are material.