Privacy Policy

Effective Date: March 22, 2026

Last Updated: March 22, 2026

1. Introduction

Welcome to Pet Starship (“we,” “us,” or “our”). We operate the website https://petstarship.com (the “Site”). This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you visit our Site. Pet Starship is a United States-based website dedicated to providing pet owners with helpful product reviews, buying guides, and recommendations for dogs, cats, and other companion animals.

This Privacy Policy applies to all information collected through our Site, including any related services, sales, marketing, or events (collectively, the “Services”). By accessing or using our Site, you agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree with the terms of this Privacy Policy, please do not access the Site.

We encourage you to read this Privacy Policy carefully to understand our practices regarding your personal data and how we will treat it. If you have any questions or concerns about this policy or our data practices, please contact us using the information provided at the end of this document.

2. Information We Collect

We collect information in several ways when you interact with our Site. The types of information we may collect include:

2.1 Personal Information You Provide

When you voluntarily provide information to us, we may collect the following:

Contact Information: Your name and email address when you submit a message through our Contact Form 7-powered contact forms.
Communication Content: The content of messages or inquiries you send to us via our contact forms or email.
Subscription Information: Your email address if you subscribe to our newsletter or updates.

2.2 Information Collected Automatically

When you visit our Site, certain information is collected automatically through cookies and similar tracking technologies:

Device Information: Your IP address, browser type and version, operating system, device type (desktop, mobile, tablet), and screen resolution.
Usage Data: Pages visited, time and date of your visit, time spent on pages, clickstream data, referring website addresses, and exit pages.
Location Data: General geographic location based on your IP address (city, region, country).
Browsing Behavior: Information about how you navigate through the Site, including which links you click, which products you view, and your scrolling behavior.

2.3 Information from Third Parties

We may receive limited information from third-party services that are integrated with our Site, such as analytics data from Google Analytics and aggregate performance data from our affiliate network partners. This data is typically anonymized or aggregated and does not directly identify you.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect for the following purposes:

Respond to Inquiries: To respond to your questions, comments, and requests submitted through our contact forms.
Improve Our Site: To analyze usage patterns and trends so we can improve our Site’s content, layout, functionality, and user experience.
Analytics: To understand how visitors interact with our Site, which pages are most popular, and how users find us, using tools such as Google Analytics.
Serve Advertisements: To display relevant advertisements through Google AdSense and other advertising networks, which may be personalized based on your browsing history and interests.
Affiliate Services: To track affiliate link clicks and attribute purchases to the appropriate affiliate programs (such as Amazon Associates, Walmart, and Chewy), ensuring proper commission tracking.
Communication: To send you updates, newsletters, or promotional materials if you have opted in to receive such communications. You may opt out at any time.
Legal Compliance: To comply with applicable laws, regulations, legal processes, or enforceable governmental requests.
Security: To detect, prevent, and address technical issues, fraud, or security concerns.

4. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

Our Site uses cookies and similar tracking technologies to enhance your browsing experience, analyze Site traffic, and understand where our visitors come from. A cookie is a small text file stored on your device when you visit a website. Below is a detailed breakdown of the cookies used on our Site.

4.1 First-Party Cookies (WordPress)

Our Site is built on WordPress, which uses the following cookies:

wordpress_logged_in_[hash]: Used to identify logged-in users and store authentication details. This cookie is set only for registered users or administrators.
wp-settings-[UID] and wp-settings-time-[UID]: Used to customize the admin interface and may persist for up to one year.
wordpress_test_cookie: Used to check whether your browser accepts cookies. It is deleted when you close your browser.
comment_author_[hash], comment_author_email_[hash], comment_author_url_[hash]: If you leave a comment, these cookies save your name, email address, and website URL for your convenience so you do not have to re-enter them.

4.2 Google Analytics Cookies

We use Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google LLC, to help us understand how visitors use our Site. Google Analytics uses the following cookies:

_ga: This cookie is used to distinguish unique users by assigning a randomly generated number as a client identifier. It is included in each page request and is used to calculate visitor, session, and campaign data for the Site’s analytics reports. This cookie expires after 2 years.
_gid: This cookie is used to distinguish unique users. Like the _ga cookie, it is included in each page request and is used to calculate visitor, session, and campaign data. This cookie expires after 24 hours.
_gat: This cookie is used to throttle the request rate to Google Analytics, limiting data collection on high-traffic sites. It expires after 1 minute.

Google Analytics collects information such as how often users visit the Site, what pages they visit, and what other sites they visited prior to coming to our Site. We use this information solely to improve our Site. Google Analytics collects the IP address assigned to you on the date you visit the Site, but we have enabled IP anonymization so that Google Analytics anonymizes your IP address before storing it. Google’s ability to use and share information collected by Google Analytics about your visits to our Site is restricted by the Google Analytics Terms of Service and the Google Privacy Policy.

You can opt out of Google Analytics tracking by installing the Google Analytics Opt-Out Browser Add-on.

4.3 Google AdSense Cookies

We use Google AdSense to display advertisements on our Site. Google AdSense uses cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to our Site and other websites on the Internet. Specifically:

DART Cookie: Google uses the DoubleClick DART cookie to serve ads to our Site’s visitors based upon their visits to our Site and other sites on the Internet. The DART cookie enables Google and its partners to serve advertisements to users based on their visit to our Site and/or other sites on the Internet.
Personalized Advertising: Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on a user’s prior visits to our website or other websites. Google’s use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to our users based on their visit to our Site and/or other sites on the Internet.
Opt-Out of DART Cookie: Users may opt out of the use of the DART cookie for interest-based advertising by visiting the Google Ads Settings page. You may also opt out of certain third-party vendor’s use of cookies for personalized advertising by visiting www.aboutads.info/choices or the Network Advertising Initiative opt-out page.

For more information about how Google uses data when you use our Site, please visit How Google uses data when you use our partners’ sites or apps.

4.4 Amazon Associates Cookies

As an Amazon Associate, our Site contains affiliate links to products on Amazon.com. When you click on an Amazon affiliate link on our Site, Amazon places cookies on your device to track your activity and attribute any qualifying purchases to our affiliate account. These cookies are governed by Amazon’s privacy policy and typically last for 24 hours (or 90 days if you add an item to your cart). We do not have access to the personal data Amazon collects through these cookies; we only receive anonymized commission reports.

For more information, please review Amazon’s Privacy Notice.

4.5 Managing and Disabling Cookies

You have the right to decide whether to accept or reject cookies. Most web browsers are set to accept cookies by default. You can usually modify your browser settings to decline cookies if you prefer. Below are links to instructions for managing cookies in popular browsers:

Please note that if you choose to disable cookies, some features of our Site may not function properly, and your user experience may be diminished.

5. Third-Party Advertising

We use Google AdSense, operated by Google LLC, to display advertisements on our Site. Google AdSense is a third-party advertising service that uses cookies, including the DoubleClick cookie, to serve ads that are relevant to you based on your browsing history and interests.

Third-party ad networks and advertisers that serve ads on our Site may use cookies, JavaScript, web beacons, and other tracking technologies to measure the effectiveness of their advertisements and to personalize the advertising content you see. These third-party cookies are governed by each advertiser’s respective privacy policy, not by this Privacy Policy.

The DoubleClick cookie is used by Google in the ads served on the websites of its partners, such as websites displaying Google AdSense ads or participating in Google-certified ad networks. When users visit a partner’s website and either view or click on an ad, a cookie may be dropped on that end user’s browser. You can opt out of the DoubleClick cookie by visiting Google Ad Settings.

We do not have access to or control over cookies or other tracking technologies that may be used by third-party advertisers. We recommend that you review the privacy policies of any third-party advertisers whose ads appear on our Site.

6. Affiliate Links and Partnerships

Pet Starship participates in several affiliate marketing programs, which means we earn commissions on qualifying purchases made through links on our Site. Our affiliate partnerships include, but are not limited to:

Amazon Associates Program: Pet Starship 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 on an Amazon product link on our Site and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.
Walmart Affiliate Program (via Impact): We participate in the Walmart affiliate program through the Impact Radius platform. Links to Walmart products on our Site may contain affiliate tracking codes. If you make a purchase through these links, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
Chewy Affiliate Program: We are an affiliate partner of Chewy.com. Product links to Chewy on our Site may include affiliate tracking identifiers. Purchases made through these links may result in us earning a commission at no additional cost to you.

Important: Clicking on affiliate links and making purchases through them does not cost you anything extra. The price you pay is the same whether you use an affiliate link or go directly to the retailer’s website. Affiliate commissions are paid by the retailer, not by you. Our affiliate relationships do not influence our editorial content or product recommendations. We are committed to providing honest, unbiased reviews and recommendations to help you make informed decisions for your pets.

Each affiliate program uses its own cookies and tracking technologies to attribute sales. These tracking mechanisms are governed by the respective privacy policies of Amazon, Walmart, and Chewy. We do not receive any personally identifiable information about you from our affiliate partners; we only receive anonymized transaction and commission data.

7. Third-Party Links

Our Site contains links to third-party websites, including online retailers, product manufacturers, veterinary resources, and other pet-related websites. These third-party sites have their own independent privacy policies, and we have no responsibility or liability for the content, activities, or privacy practices of those linked sites.

We encourage you to review the privacy policy of every site you visit. The inclusion of a link on our Site does not imply our endorsement of that third-party site’s privacy practices. Clicking on a third-party link will direct you away from our Site, and the information you provide to or that is collected by those third parties is not covered by this Privacy Policy.

8. Data Sharing and Disclosure

We do not sell, trade, rent, or otherwise transfer your personally identifiable information to outside parties except in the limited circumstances described below:

Analytics Providers: We share anonymized and aggregated usage data with Google Analytics to help us understand Site traffic and usage patterns. Google processes this data in accordance with its own privacy policy.
Advertising Networks: Google AdSense and associated ad networks may collect and use data through cookies placed on our Site to serve personalized advertisements. This data processing is governed by Google’s privacy policy.
Affiliate Networks: When you click an affiliate link, the respective affiliate network (Amazon Associates, Impact/Walmart, Chewy/Partnerize) may collect data about your click and subsequent purchase activity. This data is used solely for commission tracking purposes.
Service Providers: We may share information with trusted third-party service providers who assist us in operating our Site, hosting our content, or servicing you, so long as those parties agree to keep this information confidential.
Legal Requirements: We may disclose your information if required to do so by law or in response to valid requests by public authorities (e.g., a court or a government agency), or if we believe disclosure is necessary to protect our rights, your safety, the safety of others, investigate fraud, or respond to a government request.

9. Data Retention

We retain your personal information only for as long as is necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected, or as required by applicable laws and regulations:

Contact Form Submissions: Information submitted through our contact forms (name, email address, message content) is retained for up to 2 years to allow us to respond to inquiries, maintain correspondence records, and improve our customer service. After this period, the data is securely deleted.
Analytics Data: Google Analytics data is retained in accordance with our Google Analytics data retention settings. We have configured our analytics data retention period to 14 months, after which user-level and event-level data is automatically deleted.
Cookie Data: Cookie expiration periods vary by type, as described in Section 4 above. You can delete cookies at any time through your browser settings.
Server Logs: Web server logs that may contain IP addresses and access information are retained for up to 90 days for security and troubleshooting purposes, after which they are automatically purged.

If you request deletion of your personal data, we will comply within a reasonable timeframe, subject to any legal obligations requiring us to retain certain records.

10. Children’s Privacy (COPPA Compliance)

Our Site is not directed to children under the age of 13, and we do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from children under 13 years of age. If you are a parent or guardian and you believe your child under 13 has provided us with personal information, please contact us immediately at [email protected].

If we become aware that we have inadvertently collected personal information from a child under 13 without verification of parental consent, we will take immediate steps to delete that information from our servers. We comply with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and all applicable regulations regarding children’s privacy.

11. Your Privacy Rights

Depending on your location and applicable laws, you may have certain rights regarding your personal information. We are committed to honoring your privacy rights and have outlined them below.

11.1 Rights for EU/EEA Visitors (GDPR)

If you are a resident of the European Union or European Economic Area, you have the following rights under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR):

Right of Access: You have the right to request copies of your personal data that we hold. We may charge a small fee for this service in certain circumstances.
Right to Rectification: You have the right to request that we correct any information you believe is inaccurate or incomplete.
Right to Erasure: You have the right to request that we erase your personal data, under certain conditions, such as when the data is no longer necessary for the purpose it was collected.
Right to Restrict Processing: You have the right to request that we restrict the processing of your personal data, under certain conditions, such as when you contest the accuracy of the data.
Right to Data Portability: You have the right to request that we transfer the data we have collected to another organization, or directly to you, in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format, under certain conditions.
Right to Object: You have the right to object to our processing of your personal data, under certain conditions, including processing for direct marketing purposes or processing based on legitimate interests.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at [email protected]. We will respond to your request within 30 days. We may ask you to verify your identity before processing your request.

11.2 Rights for California Residents (CCPA)

If you are a California resident, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) provides you with the following rights:

Right to Know: You have the right to request that we disclose the categories and specific pieces of personal information we have collected about you, the categories of sources from which we collected your personal information, our business or commercial purpose for collecting your personal information, and the categories of third parties with whom we share your personal information.
Right to Delete: You have the right to request that we delete any personal information about you that we have collected, subject to certain exceptions.
Right to Opt-Out of Sale: You have the right to opt out of the sale of your personal information. As stated above, we do not sell your personal information.
Right to Non-Discrimination: We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of your CCPA rights. We will not deny you goods or services, charge you different prices, provide a different level of service, or suggest that you would receive a different price or level of service for exercising your rights.

To exercise your CCPA rights, please contact us at [email protected]. We will verify your identity before processing your request and respond within 45 days.

12. California Privacy Rights (CCPA — Detailed Disclosure)

In accordance with the California Consumer Privacy Act, the following provides additional details about our data collection and sharing practices specific to California residents.

12.1 Categories of Personal Information Collected

In the preceding 12 months, we have collected the following categories of personal information:

Identifiers: Name and email address (collected via contact forms).
Internet or Other Electronic Network Activity Information: Browsing history on our Site, search history on our Site, and information regarding your interaction with our Site and advertisements, including IP address, browser type, referring URLs, and pages visited.
Geolocation Data: Approximate geographic location based on IP address.

12.2 Business or Commercial Purpose for Collecting

We collect these categories of personal information for the following business purposes:

Responding to inquiries and providing customer service.
Analyzing and improving our Site content and user experience.
Displaying advertisements and measuring their effectiveness.
Tracking affiliate link performance and attributing commissions.
Detecting security incidents and protecting against malicious activity.

12.3 Sale of Personal Information

We do not sell personal information. We have not sold personal information in the preceding 12 months. While third-party advertising cookies may collect data about your browsing activity on our Site, this activity is not considered a “sale” of personal information under the CCPA as it is conducted for the purpose of serving relevant advertisements and falls under the service provider exception.

12.4 How to Opt Out

Although we do not sell personal information, if you wish to limit the collection of your data by third-party advertisers, you may:

Adjust your browser settings to reject cookies.
Use the Google Ads Settings page to opt out of personalized advertising.
Visit www.aboutads.info/choices to opt out of interest-based advertising from participating companies.
Install the Google Analytics Opt-Out Browser Add-on.

13. Do Not Track Signals

Some web browsers transmit “Do Not Track” (DNT) signals to the websites and other online services with which the browser communicates. There is currently no universally accepted standard for how companies should respond to DNT signals. At this time, our Site does not respond to Do Not Track signals. However, you can manage your cookie preferences and opt out of certain tracking as described in Section 4.5 and Section 12.4 of this Privacy Policy.

We will continue to monitor developments around DNT browser technology and the implementation of a standard. If a universally accepted standard is established, we will update this Privacy Policy to reflect our compliance with that standard.

14. Data Security

We implement reasonable administrative, technical, and physical security measures to protect your personal information from unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. Our security measures include:

SSL/TLS Encryption: Our Site uses HTTPS (SSL/TLS encryption) to ensure that data transmitted between your browser and our servers is encrypted and secure.
Secure Hosting: Our Site is hosted on secure servers with industry-standard firewalls and intrusion detection systems.
Access Controls: Access to personal information is restricted to authorized personnel who need the information to perform their job functions.
Regular Updates: We regularly update our WordPress installation, plugins, and themes to patch known security vulnerabilities.

However, please be aware that no method of transmission over the Internet or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. While we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security. We encourage you to take steps to protect your own information, such as using strong passwords and keeping your browser and operating system up to date.

15. International Data Transfers

Pet Starship is operated in the United States. If you are located outside of the United States, please be aware that any information you provide to us will be transferred to and processed in the United States, where data protection laws may differ from those in your country of residence.

By using our Site, you consent to the transfer of your information to the United States and the processing of your information in accordance with this Privacy Policy. We will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your data is treated securely and in accordance with this Privacy Policy, and no transfer of your personal data will take place to an organization or a country unless there are adequate controls in place, including the security of your data and other personal information.

For visitors from the European Union or European Economic Area, the transfer of your data to the United States may constitute a transfer to a third country. We rely on standard contractual clauses and other appropriate safeguards as a legal basis for such transfers, in accordance with GDPR requirements.

16. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We reserve the right to update or modify this Privacy Policy at any time. When we make changes, we will revise the “Last Updated” date at the top of this page. If we make material changes to this Privacy Policy, we may also notify you by placing a prominent notice on our Site.

We encourage you to periodically review this Privacy Policy to stay informed about how we are protecting your information. Your continued use of the Site after any changes or revisions to this Privacy Policy constitutes your agreement to the terms of the revised Privacy Policy.

If we make significant changes that materially affect how we handle previously collected personal information, we will make reasonable efforts to provide notice and obtain consent where required by applicable law.

17. Contact Us

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us:

Email: [email protected]
Website: https://petstarship.com
Mailing Address: Pet Starship, United States

We will make every reasonable effort to respond to your inquiry within 30 days. For requests related to GDPR or CCPA rights, please refer to Sections 11 and 12 for specific response timeframes.

If you are not satisfied with our response to your privacy concern, you may also have the right to lodge a complaint with the relevant data protection authority in your jurisdiction.