Google Payments Privacy Notice

Last modified 11 December 2020

The Google Privacy Policy describes how we treat personal information when you use Google's products and services. Google Payments is offered to Google Account holders, and your use of it is subject to the Google Privacy Policy. In addition, this Privacy Notice describes Google privacy practices that are specific to Google Payments.

Your use of Google Payments is governed by the Google Payments Terms of Service, which describes in more detail the Services covered by this Privacy Notice. Capitalised terms not defined in this Google Payments Privacy Notice shall have the meaning ascribed to them in the Google Payments Terms of Service.

The Google Payments Privacy Notice applies to Services offered by Google LLC or its wholly owned subsidiaries, including Google Payment Corp. ('GPC'). Please consult the Google Payments Terms of Service made available to you within the Service to learn which subsidiary is offering the Service. For users (except those selling on a Google marketplace) based in the European Economic Area (excluding the UK), the data controller responsible for your information is Google Ireland Limited. For users (except those selling on a Google marketplace) based in the UK, the data controller responsible for your information is Google LLC. If you are based in the European Economic Area, excluding the UK, and are selling on a Google marketplace, the data controller responsible for your information is Google Payment Ireland Limited. If you are based in the UK and are selling on a Google marketplace, the data controller responsible for your information is Google Payment Limited. For users based in Brazil, the data controller responsible for your information is Google LLC and, to the extent required under Brazilian law, it may be Google Brasil Pagamentos Ltda.

Information that we collect

In addition to the information listed in the Google Privacy Policy, we may also collect the following:

Registration information – When you sign up for Google Payments, you are creating a Google Payments Account that is associated with your Google Account. Depending on the Google Payments services that you use, in addition to the information listed in the Google Privacy Policy, you may be asked to provide the following information: credit or debit card number and card expiry date, bank account number and expiry date, address, phone number, date of birth, national insurance number or taxpayer identification number (or some other government-issued identification number), and for sellers or businesses specifically, your business category and certain information about your sales or transaction volume. In some cases, we may also ask you to send us additional information or to answer additional questions to help verify your information. Finally, if you register a Carrier or Operator Billing Account, we will ask you to provide us with certain information about your Carrier or Operator account.
Information obtained from third parties – We may obtain information about you from third parties, including third-party verification services. This includes information arising from Google Payments transactions at merchant locations, information regarding your use of payment methods and your accounts issued by third parties that are linked to Google Payments, the identity of your card issuer or financial institution, information regarding access to balances held in your Google Payments Account, information from a Carrier or Operator in connection with Carrier or Operator Billing, and consumer reports, as the term 'consumer reports' is defined by the US Fair Credit Reporting Act. Also, for sellers, we may obtain information about you and your business from a credit bureau or a business information service.
Transaction information – When you use Google Payments to conduct a transaction, we may collect information about the transaction, including the date, time and amount of the transaction, the merchant's location and description, a description provided by the seller of the goods or services purchased, any photo that you choose to associate with the transaction, the names and email addresses of the seller and buyer (or sender and recipient), the type of payment method used, your description of the reason for the transaction and the offer associated with the transaction, if any.

How we use the information that we collect

In addition to the uses listed in the Google Privacy Policy, we use the information that you provide to us and to GPC or another of our subsidiaries, as well as information about you from third parties, in order to provide you with Google Payments for customer service purposes, and to prevent harm to the rights, property or safety of Google, our users or the public, including to help prevent fraud, phishing or other misconduct. Such information may also be used to assist third parties in the provision of products or services that you request from them. We also use the information to review your Google Payments Account to determine whether you continue to meet the terms of the account, to make decisions about your future Google Payments transactions and for other legitimate business needs related to the Google Payments transactions initiated by you.

Your registration information is stored in association with your Google Account, and your registration of a payment method will be stored on Google's servers. In addition, certain data elements may also be stored on your mobile device. We may retain the information that you provide for extended periods of time for the purpose of complying with legal process and regulatory obligations.

Information that we share

We will only share your personal information with other companies or individuals outside of Google in the following circumstances:

As permitted under the Google Privacy Policy.
As necessary to process your transaction and maintain your account, including to provide security improvements and protect your account against fraud.
To complete your registration for a service provided by a third party.
To inform a third-party merchant, whose site or app you visit, whether you have a Google Payments Account that can be used for making payment through that merchant’s site or app.
With your card or other payment method's issuer and payment network, as well as payment processors and other organisations working on their behalf, to ensure the security and validity of the payment method and transactions requested using it.

For example, when you make a purchase or transaction using Google Payments, we make certain personal information about you available to the company or individual that you purchase from or transact with. This includes sharing your personal information with the developer from whom you purchase when you use Google Payments to make a purchase on Google Play. It may also include sending a merchant website or app your zip or postcode and information about your form of payment when you initiate a payment using a 'Buy with Google Pay' or similar button, so that the merchant can calculate updated purchase information (such as tax, delivery costs and other price information) and identify whether the merchant can accept that form of payment from you as well as benefits or restrictions for particular forms of payment for your purchase. When you add a third-party payment method to your Google Payments Account, we may exchange certain personal information about you, such as your name, profile image, email, IP and billing address, phone number, device info, location and Google Account activity info, with the third-party payment provider as necessary to provide the service.

When you visit a participating merchant site or app, the merchant can check whether you have a Google Payments Account with an eligible payment method that can be used to make a purchase through the merchant’s site or app, in order to reduce the likelihood that you will see unusable features on sites or apps.

Any information that you provide directly to a third-party merchant, website or application is not covered by this privacy notice. We are not responsible for the privacy or security practices of merchants or other third parties with whom you choose to share your personal information directly. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any third party to whom you choose to share your personal information directly.

The information that we collect, including information obtained from third parties, is shared with our affiliates, meaning other companies owned and controlled by Google LLC. Our affiliates, which can be financial and non-financial entities, will use such information for their everyday business purposes.

We provide you with the right to opt out of certain sharing between GPC and its affiliates. Specifically, you may choose to opt out of:

Sharing between GPC and its affiliates of information about your creditworthiness for their everyday business purposes; and/or,
Our affiliates marketing their products or services to you based on your personal information that we collect and share with them. This information includes your account history with us.

You may also choose to opt out of Google LLC or its affiliates informing a third-party merchant, whose site or app you visit, whether you have a Google Payments Account that can be used for payment through that merchant’s site or app.

If you choose to opt out, your choice will be effective until you tell us to change your choice.

If you don't want us to share personal information about your creditworthiness between GPC and its affiliates, or if you do not want our affiliates to use your personal information collected by us and shared with them to market to you, or if you do not want Google LLC or its affiliates to inform a third-party merchant, whose site or app you visit, whether you have a Google Payments Account, please indicate your preference by logging in to your account, going to the Google Payments privacy settings page and updating your preferences.

We will not share your personal information with anyone outside of GPC or with our affiliates except as described in this privacy. As explained above, Google Payments is a product offered to Google Account holders. Data that you provide to Google LLC for the purpose of signing up for a Google Account is not affected by the opt-out provisions in this notice.

Information security

For more information about our security practices, please see the main Google Privacy Policy.

The security of your Google Payments Account depends on you keeping your account password(s), PINs and other access information for the Service confidential. If you share your account information with a third party, he or she will have access to your account and your personal information.

It is your responsibility to control access to your mobile device and the Google Payments application on your device, including keeping your password(s) and/or PIN confidential and not sharing it with anyone. It is also your responsibility to alert Google or the relevant partner if you believe that the security of the information in the Google Payments application has been compromised.