Check your privacy and data-handling statements against what the store actually does

Turn each privacy promise into a checkable behavior

Read the published policy beside the registration notice and checkout notice. Preserve the exact sentence and its URL, then identify what would make it true: a guest checkout option, a configured retention period, an erasure action, a restricted access list or an actual marketing subscription workflow. A broad sentence about all data needs a broader check than a screenshot of one settings screen.

WooCommerce places its account, retention and privacy-notice controls under Settings, Accounts and Privacy. Record your installed version and any extension that supplies the behavior you are checking. Use the documented controls as a starting point, then compare them with the configuration and real records your authorized administrator can inspect. Do not delete a customer's data just to demonstrate a policy sentence.

Account creation and order collection are different promises

WooCommerce documents guest checkout separately from login and account creation. Guest orders are not tied to a WordPress user account. Account creation can be offered during checkout, after checkout or on My Account, depending on the enabled options. The documentation also says subscription customers need an account. A policy that describes every buyer as creating an account therefore needs checking against the particular purchase paths your store offers.

Record whether a buyer can place an order without registering, where registration is offered and what the notices say at those points. Guest checkout does not mean no order data is collected. If the public text equates absence of an account with absence of records, compare that sentence with the guest-order information the store actually retains before correcting it.

Retention, erasure and deletion have different results

For each WooCommerce retention field, record both the number and its unit. The documentation says a blank field retains that data indefinitely. It distinguishes inactive accounts from pending, failed, canceled and completed orders. Cleanup moves eligible pending, failed and canceled orders to trash, anonymizes completed orders to preserve sales statistics, and deletes eligible inactive accounts. These outcomes do not support one blanket statement that all orders are deleted after the same interval.

An erasure request follows another path. WooCommerce documents a setting controlling removal of personal data from orders when processing an account erasure request; subscriptions and downloads have separate controls. The eraser documentation likewise distinguishes customer records and notes that data may be anonymized or retained under the relevant settings or obligations. Record which action the staff actually completed and which categories it covered. Receiving a request, confirming it and completing the applicable erasure work are separate events.

Compare policy wording with both the configuration and available records of completed handling. A configured period alone does not show that the cleanup actually occurred. Keep systems outside the examined store, including any separately retained exports or service records, as open scope items until their owners confirm handling. Obtain qualified privacy advice for applicable retention and erasure duties before changing settings or promising a particular legal result.

Check access, marketing choices and the notices buyers see

Statements about who can see customer information need an inventory of actual access. Ask the authorized administrator to identify the staff roles, integrations and service providers that can view, export or receive the relevant data. Record categories and responsibilities rather than passwords or customer lists. The accounts-and-privacy screen alone does not establish the access of every connected service.

For marketing wording, inspect the checkbox the buyer actually sees, its initial state, the component that provides it and the available record of the buyer's choice. Compare those facts with any statement that marketing is optional or begins only after a choice. Keep account registration, a privacy notice and a marketing preference as separate observations. This comparison identifies a mismatch; it does not decide whether a consent mechanism satisfies a particular law.

WooCommerce lets a store select its privacy page and add linked notices to registration and checkout. Some themes also use that selection elsewhere. Open the actual links from the live surfaces you list rather than assuming that selecting the page supplied every footer link. Compare the destination and current text with the notice beside it.

Resolve the mismatch with an owner and evidence

Classify each row as matching, contradicted or unverified. For a contradiction, decide whether the wording inaccurately describes an intended behavior or the store fails to perform an intended commitment. Assign the content or configuration change to its owner, with privacy advice where legal duties are involved. Preserve the earlier wording and the evidence behind the decision. Check the affected notice and behavior after the authorized correction.

Stripe's website-activation guidance includes contact and policy information and expects the business presentation to align with its application. That makes accurate public text relevant to a Stripe review, but does not make a setting a provider approval. Prism's published website-review scope includes store policies and business disclosures. For a scoped consultation, bring the public URLs and a non-sensitive summary of the specific mismatch; agree which pages and questions will be examined.

Privacy statement and setting comparison

For each row, record the exact public sentence, the dated configuration or procedure evidence, and matching, contradicted or unverified. Add the correction owner and next check. Keep customer records, credentials and private exports in your authorized systems; this worksheet is an index, not a data dump.

Worksheet entries are not submitted by Prism’s worksheet and are not saved by the site. Use record types, availability, anonymized observations, or match/mismatch results. Do not enter government identifiers, customer names or addresses, customer messages, receipt-access links, card or bank details, passwords, or keys. Send sensitive documents only through the provider’s verified secure channel.

These are temporary notes. Leaving or reloading this page may clear them. Worksheet entries are not sent automatically. If you copy notes into the consultation message and submit the form, Prism receives them as part of your request.