Ross Stores
Consumer Discretionary
59
out of 100. Number 136 of 512, counting from the worst.
Where Ross Stores does well
- Renewals 2 of 20. Few problems found.
- Ross grants explicit privacy rights (request to know, correct, delete, opt out of sale/sharing/targeted advertising) to residents of 19 states, honors Global Privacy Control opt-out signals, offers an appeal process for denied requests, and pledges not to retaliate for exercising rights. Its gift cards have no expiration dates (confirmed in Ross's own SEC correspondence), which is friendlier than retailers that drain balances with dormancy fees. The arbitration clause carves out small-claims court and expressly preserves the right to bring issues to government agencies. Minors' data (under
- is not knowingly sold or shared for targeted advertising.
If you buy a gift card, subscribe to Ross marketing emails, or submit content to them and something goes wrong, you cannot sue in court or join a class action — you must arbitrate alone, one at a time, before a private arbitrator.
The fine print
6 clauses and findings from the draft archive, dated 1 October 2026. The plain English comes first; the small print is the company's own words. None of these has been checked yet.
-
If you buy a gift card, subscribe to Ross marketing emails, or submit content to them and something goes wrong, you cannot sue in court or join a class action — you must arbitrate alone, one at a time, before a private arbitrator. No opt-out is offered.
THESE TERMS CONTAIN A MANDATORY ARBITRATION PROVISION THAT... REQUIRES THE USE OF ARBITRATION ON AN INDIVIDUAL, NON-AGGREGATED BASIS TO RESOLVE SPECIFIC DISPUTES... RATHER THAN JURY TRIALS OR ANY OTHER COURT PROCEEDINGS, OR CLASS ACTIONS OF ANY KIND.
-
Ross can change the deal whenever it wants with no notice to you — just posting changes on the site counts, and simply continuing to browse the site means you agreed to the new terms.
Ross can revise these Terms at any time without notice by posting such changes at the following URL... You agree that your continued use of the Site after such modifications have been made constitutes your acceptance of such revised Terms.
-
Ross openly sells your name, contact info, and browsing history to ad networks like Google Ads and social networks like Meta for targeted advertising.
Sold to Which Categories of Third Parties: Ad networks such as Google ads and to third-party social networks, such as Meta ... Shared with Which Categories of Third Parties for Cross-Context Behavioral or Targeted Advertising: Ad networks (applies to Identifiers and Internet or network activity information, such as browsing history and interactions with our website)
-
Some Ross stores use cameras with facial-recognition technology that scan the geometry of shoppers' faces as they walk around, for 'security' and loss prevention.
Biometric information, specifically, scans of facial geometry collected in some stores that use cameras and facial recognition technology to identify individuals for security, asset protection, and fraud prevention purposes.
-
Just posting a photo with a Ross hashtag on Instagram, or tagging Ross, hands them a permanent, unrevocable license to use your photo, likeness, and handle in advertising or TV ads forever — and they can sell or transfer that license to anyone.
By agreeing to or engaging in any of the activities noted above, you grant to Ross the absolute, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, nonexclusive, transferable right and unrestricted permission to use your Submissions in any manner, in whole or in part... for any purpose, whatsoever, including, without limitation, advertising, promotion... without restriction as to alterations... Ross shall have the right to freely assign its rights hereunder, in whole or in part, to any person or entity. ... Posting content on a Third-party Social Media Site or Ross Social Media Site using a Ross hashtag or tagging Ross [counts as a Submission].
-
No matter what Ross does — even negligence — the most you can ever recover from them for anything site-related is $100, or less if you paid them less than that.
UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFICALLY PROVIDED BY LAW, IN NO EVENT SHALL ROSS' TOTAL LIABILITY TO YOU FOR ALL DAMAGES, LOSSES AND CAUSES OF ACTION... EXCEED THE AMOUNT PAID BY YOU, IF ANY, OR $100 (WHICHEVER IS LESS) FOR ACCESSING OR PARTICIPATING IN ANY ACTIVITY RELATED TO THE SITE.
How these were found
Documents read via browser_open on Oct 1, 2026. Terms of Use (http://www.rossstores.com/terms-of-use/) showed no visible 'last updated' date; Privacy Policy (https://www.rossstores.com/privacy-policy/) appears current as of 2026 and references recent state privacy laws. The Ross Rewards credit card terms are hosted by Comenity Capital Bank (comenity.net) and were not reviewed. No dedicated Ross gift-card terms page was found publicly; the no-expiration fact comes from a 2011 Ross Stores SEC correspondence letter (sec.gov). No verbaim mirrors were needed; both official documents loaded directly. Score is editorial judgment on the 0-100 Sneakiness rubric; all clauses are quoted or closely paraphrased from the documents cited.
These notes come from the original draft and are not independent verification.