Privacy Policy

1. About This Policy

 

VAHDAM India is a direct-to-consumer brand rooted in the farms of India, delivering premium teas, coffees, spices and dietary supplements to customers in over 100 countries.

We take the privacy of everyone who visits our website or shops with us extremely seriously.

This Privacy Policy explains what personal information we collect about you, why we collect it, how we use and protect it, with whom we share it, and what rights you have over it. It applies to all visitors and customers of www.vahdam.global and our regional storefronts.

Our website is operated by Vahdam Teas Private Limited (referred to in this Policy as “VAHDAM”, “we”, “us” or “our”).

Please read this Policy carefully. By browsing our website or placing an order, you confirm that you have read and understood this Policy. If you do not agree, please refrain from using our website.

This Policy is to be read alongside our Terms & Conditions and Cookie Policy. If you have any questions, contact us at help@vahdamteas.com.

 

2. Who We Are

 

Vahdam Teas Private Limited is the data controller responsible for your personal information under this Privacy Policy.

• Registered Entity: Vahdam Teas Private Limited
• Registered Office: 713, International Trade Tower, Nehru Place, Delhi, India, 110019
• Corporate Office: C-12/3, Sector-85, Noida, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Uttar Pradesh – 201305, India
• Email: help@vahdamteas.com
• Website: www.vahdam.global, www.vahdam.com/, www.vahdam.co.uk/
• Grievance Officer (India DPDPA): Vaibhav Jaiswal & Senior Associate, Customer Experience

 

3. Information We Collect

 

We collect information about you in the following ways:

 

3.1 Information You Give Us Directly

 

• Account registration: name, email address, phone number, date of birth (optional), and password.
• Orders and purchases: billing address, delivery address, and payment information (processed securely by our payment partners — we do not store full card numbers).
• Communications: messages you send us via email, chat, or our contact form, including your enquiry details.
• Surveys and competitions: responses, contact details and any information you volunteer.
• Reviews and user-generated content: product reviews, ratings and social media interactions.
• Marketing preferences: your opt-in or opt-out choices for email, SMS, WhatsApp and push notifications.

 

3.2 Information We Collect Automatically

 

• Device and browser data: IP address, browser type, operating system, device identifiers.
• Usage data: pages visited, products viewed, links clicked, referral URLs, time spent on site, cart activity.
• Location data: country and approximate city derived from your IP address.
• Cookies and tracking technologies: as described in Section 6 of this Policy.
• Transaction history: past purchases, returns and wishlist activity.

 

3.3 Information We Receive From Third Parties

 

• Payment processors: transaction confirmation and fraud-screening results.
• Logistics partners: delivery tracking updates.
• Social media platforms: if you log in via a social media account or interact with our social media pages, we may receive limited profile information.
• Advertising partners: aggregated audience-matching data (e.g., hashed email matched against Meta or Google audiences).
• Analytics providers: aggregated website performance metrics.

 

4. How We Use Your Information

 

We use your personal information for specific, lawful purposes. Where required by law, we identify the legal basis for each purpose.

• Purpose: Process and fulfil your orders
    What We Use: Name, address, payment details, order history
    Legal Basis: Contract performance
• Purpose: Manage your account
    What We Use: Account credentials, preferences, order history
    Legal Basis: Contract performance
• Purpose: Provide customer service
    What We Use: Communications, order details, account data
    Legal Basis: Contract performance; Legitimate interests
• Purpose: Send transactional communications
    What We Use: Email, phone/SMS for order updates, delivery alerts
    Legal Basis: Contract performance
• Purpose: Send marketing communications (with consent)
    What We Use: Email, SMS, WhatsApp, push notifications
    Legal Basis: Consent (withdrawable at any time)
• Purpose: Personalise your experience
    What We Use: Browse history, purchase history, preferences
    Legal Basis: Legitimate interests; Consent (for cookies)
• Purpose: Display targeted advertising
    What We Use: Hashed identifiers shared with Meta, Google
    Legal Basis: Consent (for non-essential cookies); Legitimate interests
• Purpose: Prevent fraud and ensure security
    What We Use: IP address, device data, transaction history
    Legal Basis: Legal obligation; Legitimate interests
• Purpose: Improve our website and products
    What We Use: Usage data, survey responses, analytics
    Legal Basis: Legitimate interests
• Purpose: Comply with legal obligations
    What We Use: Any data required by law
    Legal Basis: Legal obligation
• Purpose: Run competitions and promotions
    What We Use: Contact and entry details
    Legal Basis: Consent; Contract performance

We will never use your personal information in ways that are incompatible with the purposes described above.

 

5. Consent and Your Choices

 

5.1 When We Rely on Consent

 

For certain uses of your personal information — in particular, sending you marketing communications and setting non-essential cookies — we ask for your consent.

This means:

• You will be clearly told what you are consenting to, in plain language.
• Consent is always voluntary. Withholding it will not prevent you from purchasing or accessing our website.
• You may withdraw consent at any time, without any negative consequences to your account or service.
• We keep a record of when and how consent was given.

 

5.2 Marketing Communications

 

We will only send you promotional emails, SMS messages, WhatsApp messages or push notifications if you have opted in to receive them.

You can withdraw consent at any time by:

• Clicking the “Unsubscribe” link in any marketing email;
• Replying “STOP” to any marketing SMS or WhatsApp message;
• Updating your preferences in your account settings; or
• Emailing us at help@vahdamteas.com.

In India, marketing SMS messages are sent in compliance with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations (TCCCPR) 2018, using DLT-registered sender headers.

WhatsApp messages are sent via WhatsApp Business and are additionally subject to WhatsApp’s own Privacy Policy.

Where we use RCS (Rich Communication Services) messaging, messages are delivered via certified RCS Business Messaging providers with verified-sender branding.

 

5.3 Withdrawing Consent

 

You may withdraw any consent you have given us at any time by contacting us at help@vahdamteas.com.

Withdrawal of consent does not affect the lawfulness of processing that took place before withdrawal.

If you withdraw consent for marketing, you will continue to receive transactional communications necessary to fulfil your orders.

 

6. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

 

6.1 What Are Cookies?

 

Cookies are small text files placed on your device when you visit our website. They help us remember your preferences, understand how you use our site, and show you relevant content and advertising. Some cookies are essential for the website to work properly; others are optional and are set only with your consent. We also use web beacons, pixels, software development kits (SDKs), and similar technologies that serve similar purposes.

 

6.2 Your Cookie Choices

 

When you first visit our website, you will see a cookie consent banner. You can choose to accept all cookies, reject all non-essential cookies, or customise your preferences by category. You can change your preferences at any time by clicking the “Cookie Settings” link in our website footer.

 

6.3 Cookie Categories

 

The text layout below explains the categories of cookies we use:

• Strictly Necessary Cookies
  Purpose: Essential for the website to function. Cannot be disabled.
  Illustrative Examples: Shopping cart, login sessions, checkout, fraud prevention
  Duration: Session / Persistent

• Functional Cookies
  Purpose: Remember your preferences to improve your experience.
  Illustrative Examples: Language, currency, region, recently viewed products
  Duration: Up to 12 months

• Analytics & Performance Cookies
  Purpose: Help us understand how visitors interact with our website so we can improve it.
  Illustrative Examples: Google Analytics, Shopify Analytics, heatmaps
  Duration: Up to 24 months

• Marketing & Advertising Cookies
  Purpose: Used to deliver relevant advertisements and measure ad effectiveness. Set only with your consent.
  Illustrative Examples: Meta Pixel, Google Ads Tags, TikTok Pixel, Pinterest Tag
  Duration: Up to 13 months

• Personalisation Cookies
  Purpose: Power product recommendations, abandoned-cart reminders and lifecycle messaging. Set only with your consent.
  Illustrative Examples: Klaviyo, WebEngage, recommendation engines
  Duration: Up to 12 months

 

6.4 Third-Party Cookies

 

Some cookies on our website are set by third-party partners rather than directly by VAHDAM. We do not control the behaviour of these third-party cookies, and we recommend that you review their respective privacy policies. Key third parties include:

• Google (Analytics, Ads): policies.google.com/privacy
• Meta (Facebook, Instagram): facebook.com/policy.php
• Klaviyo: klaviyo.com/privacy
• Shopify: shopify.com/legal/privacy

 

6.5 Managing Cookies in Your Browser

 

Most browsers allow you to control cookies through their settings. Please note that disabling certain cookies may affect the functionality of our website. For guidance, visit:

• Google Chrome: Settings > Privacy and Security > Cookies
• Safari: Preferences > Privacy
• Mozilla Firefox: Options > Privacy & Security
• Microsoft Edge: Settings > Privacy, Search and Services

For more information about cookies, visit www.allaboutcookies.org.

 

7. Sharing Your Information

 

We do not sell your personal information for money. We share it only with trusted parties in the following circumstances:

 

7.1 Service Providers

 

We share data with carefully selected third parties who help us operate our business. They are permitted to use your data only for the purposes we specify.

• E-commerce platform: Shopify — hosts our website and processes order data.
• Payment processors: e.g., Razorpay, PayPal, Stripe — for secure payment handling.
• Logistics and fulfilment: courier and warehousing partners for order delivery and returns.
• Marketing and communications: Klaviyo, WebEngage — for email, SMS, WhatsApp, push and RCS messaging.
• Advertising: Meta (Facebook, Instagram), Google Ads, TikTok, Pinterest — for targeted advertising (subject to your consent).
• Analytics: Google Analytics and other analytics tools.
• Customer support: helpdesk and CRM platform providers.
• Professional advisors: lawyers, accountants, auditors, insurers.

 

7.2 Within the VAHDAM Group

 

We may share your information with our corporate affiliates and subsidiaries for the purposes of fraud prevention, improving our services, or delivering joint offerings you have requested. Affiliates will not market to you unless you have separately opted in.

 

7.3 Legal Disclosures

 

We may disclose your personal information where required to do so by law, court order, or in response to valid requests by government or law enforcement authorities. We may also disclose data to enforce our Terms & Conditions, protect our rights or property, or ensure the safety of our users or the public.

 

7.4 Business Transfers

 

If VAHDAM is involved in a merger, acquisition, financing, restructuring, or sale of assets, your information may be transferred as part of that transaction. We will notify you if such a transfer results in a material change to how your data is used.

 

8. International Data Transfers

 

VAHDAM is headquartered in India and serves customers globally. Your personal information may be transferred to, and processed in, countries outside your home country, including the United States, the European Economic Area (EEA), the United Kingdom, and other countries where our service providers operate.

When we transfer personal data internationally, we use appropriate legal safeguards, which may include:

• EU Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) for transfers from the EEA;
• The UK International Data Transfer Addendum (IDTA) for transfers from the UK;
• Compliance with the EU–US Data Privacy Framework where the recipient is certified;
• Cross-border transfer mechanisms under India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (DPDPA) as notified by the Central Government; and
• Other legally recognised transfer mechanisms as applicable.

You may request a copy of the relevant safeguards by contacting us at help@vahdamteas.com.

 

9. How Long We Keep Your Data

 

We retain your personal information only for as long as necessary for the purposes set out in this Policy, and to meet our legal, accounting and regulatory obligations.

• Account data: For the lifetime of your account, plus up to 24 months after account closure or last activity
• Order and invoice data: 7–8 years from the date of transaction (statutory accounting and tax obligations)
• Marketing preferences & consent records: Until you withdraw consent or unsubscribe, plus a reasonable period to evidence compliance
• Customer communications and support tickets: 24–36 months from last interaction
• Cookie consent records: Up to 13 months from the date of consent
• Fraud prevention and security logs: Up to 5 years as required by applicable law
• Anonymised / aggregated analytics data: Indefinitely (as it cannot identify you)

When personal information is no longer required, we securely delete or anonymise it.

 

10. How We Protect Your Information

 

We take the security of your personal information seriously and have implemented appropriate technical and organisational measures, including:

• Encryption in transit: all data transmitted between your browser and our website is protected using TLS (Transport Layer Security).
• Access controls: access to personal data is restricted to authorised personnel on a need-to-know basis.
• Payment security: we use PCI-DSS-compliant payment processors. We do not store full card numbers on our systems.
• Vendor due diligence: we require third-party service providers to maintain appropriate security standards.
• Incident response: if we become aware of a personal data breach that affects your rights and freedoms, we will notify the relevant supervisory authorities and affected individuals in accordance with applicable law.

No method of transmission over the internet is completely secure. While we do our best to protect your data, we cannot guarantee absolute security. You are responsible for keeping your account credentials confidential.

 

11. Your Privacy Rights

 

Depending on where you are located, you may have specific rights regarding your personal information. We are committed to honouring all applicable rights.

• EU / EEA (GDPR): Right to access • Right to rectification • Right to erasure (“right to be forgotten”) • Right to restriction of processing • Right to data portability • Right to object to processing (including profiling) • Right to withdraw consent at any time • Right to lodge a complaint with your national data protection authority
• United Kingdom (UK GDPR): Same rights as above under UK GDPR. You may also lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO): ico.org.uk
• India (DPDPA 2023): Right to a summary of personal data we process about you • Right to correction, completion and updating • Right to erasure • Right to nominate another person to exercise your rights in the event of your death or incapacity • Right to grievance redressal through our Grievance Officer
• United States – California (CCPA / CPRA): Right to know what personal information we collect, use, disclose and sell • Right to deletion • Right to correction • Right to opt out of the “sale” or “sharing” of personal information • Right to limit use of Sensitive Personal Information • Right to non-discrimination for exercising rights
• Other US States (VA, CO, CT, TX, etc.): Broadly similar rights to access, correct, delete and port data, and to opt out of targeted advertising and profiling for decisions with significant effects. State-specific rights apply as mandated.
• Australia (Privacy Act 1988): Right to access and correct personal information we hold about you • Right to make a complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC)
• Canada (PIPEDA): Right to access personal information • Right to challenge accuracy and completeness • Right to withdraw consent • Right to make a complaint to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada

 

11.1 How to Exercise Your Rights

 

To exercise any of the rights above, please contact us at help@vahdamteas.com.

We will respond within the timeframe required by applicable law (typically 30 days under GDPR/UK GDPR; 45 days under CCPA; and 30 days under India DPDPA). We may need to verify your identity before fulfilling your request.

 

11.2 Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information (California Residents)

 

California residents may opt out of the “sale” or “sharing” of personal information at any time by clicking the “Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information” link in our website footer, or by contacting us at help@vahdamteas.com.

 

11.3 Complaints

 

If you are not satisfied with our response to a privacy request, or believe we are processing your data unlawfully, you have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection supervisory authority. For India, redressal is available through our Grievance Officer and, once constituted, the Data Protection Board of India.

 

12. Children’s Privacy

 

Our website and services are not directed to children. We define children as persons under the age of 18 in India, or under the applicable minimum age in your jurisdiction (13 in the United States, 16 in the EU/UK unless member state law provides otherwise). We do not knowingly collect personal information from children without verifiable parental or guardian consent. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us immediately at help@vahdamteas.com so we can delete it.

 

13. Advertising and Social Media

 

13.1 Interest-Based Advertising

 

With your consent (via our cookie banner), we work with advertising partners such as Meta (Facebook, Instagram), Google, TikTok and Pinterest to show you personalised advertisements on third-party platforms. This may involve:

• Sharing hashed or pseudonymised identifiers (such as a hashed email address or device identifier) to match your identity against the platform’s user base;
• Building “look-alike” audiences of users with similar characteristics; and
• Measuring the effectiveness of our advertising campaigns.

You can adjust your ad preferences directly with these platforms:

• Meta: facebook.com/adpreferences
• Google: adssettings.google.com

 

13.2 Social Media Plugins and Features

 

Our website may include social media features (such as “Share” or “Like” buttons). These features may collect your IP address, record which pages you visit, and set cookies to enable the feature to function. Your interactions with these features are governed by the privacy policy of the social media company providing them.

 

14. Links to Third-Party Websites

 

Our website may contain links to third-party websites, applications and services that are not operated by us. This Privacy Policy does not apply to those sites. We recommend that you review the privacy policies of any third-party sites you visit. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of other organisations.

 

15. Changes to This Policy

 

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technology, legal requirements or for or other operational reasons. When we do, we will:

• Update the “Effective Date” at the top of this Policy;
• Post the revised Policy on our website; and
• Where the changes are material, notify you by email or via a prominent notice on our website.

We encourage you to review this Policy periodically to stay informed about how we protect your information.

 

16. How to Contact Us

 

If you have any questions, concerns or requests relating to this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please get in touch:

• Privacy / Data Queries: help@vahdamteas.com
• Postal Address: Vahdam Teas Private Limited, 713, International Trade Tower, Nehru Place, Delhi, India, 110019
• Grievance Officer (India): Vaibhav Jaiswal & Senior Associate, Customer Experience, reachable at help@vahdamteas.com
• Response Time: Within 30 days of receipt of your request (or sooner as required by applicable law)

We value your trust. Your privacy matters to us as much as the quality of every cup of tea we deliver.