10 Online Retailers Who Respect Your Privacy

10th-most respectful: RalphLauren.com
Privacy score: 80
RalphLauren.com (RL) scores 45 out of 50 possible points on the privacy policy end of the equation. Its only shortcoming on this metric, according to privacyscore, is that its privacy policy does not say that it will notify users in the event of a government data request.

Ninth-most respectful: Gap.com
Privacy score: 81
The Gap (GPS) actually scores worse than Ralph Lauren on the privacy policy end of things, as privacyscore dings the site for apparently holding onto the data of users who cancel their accounts. But it makes up for it with its third-party tracker rating, where it scores 46 out of 50 possible points.
One third-party tracking service, Akamai (AKAM), shows up on 99% of the site's pages. But the service gets high marks across the board: It protects user anonymity, gives consumers the option to opt out, retains data for just 12 months, and adheres to the privacy guidelines of the Network Advertising Initiative and Digital Advertising Alliance. In other words, the third-party trackers on the Gap.com generally go about their business in a responsible way.

Eighth-most respectful: BestBuy.com
Privacy score: 83
While it loses some points for failing to confirm vendor confidentiality (that is, promising that their service providers will behave when they have access to your data), BestBuy.com (BBY) makes up for it by sticking primarily with consumer-friendly third-party trackers such as the Google Display Network.

Seventh-most respectful: Costco.com
Privacy score: 83
Costco (COST) distinguishes itself by doing very little in the way of third-party tracking. Only one company, CoreMetrics, was found to be engaging in such tracking on Costco.com. And while CoreMetrics gets middling grades from privacyscore for holding onto data for more than 48 months and not being subject to industry oversight, its presence isn't felt much on the site: It showed up just 9% of the time in privacyscore's tests.

Sixth-most respectful: AutoPartsWarehouse.com
Privacy score: 85
Like Costco, there's very little in the way of third-party tracking on this site. Only two trackers, SpecificMedia and Google Display Network, showed up in the privacyscore scans, and neither was a prominent presence on the site. And given that both services get high marks for their data practices, AutoPartsWarehouse.com gets a perfect 50 on that side of the equation.

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