Hi everyone, Steve Webkinz here. Did you have an old Webkinz account that you were looking to get back? Well, read on and hopefully I can help!
Millions of Webkinz accounts have been created since we launched in 2005, and for various reasons, many of those accounts have since become inactive. Over time, that has added up to a huge amount of data that needs to be stored. In order to save space, we made the decision to “archive” these inactive accounts. This process basically compresses the data into as small a size as possible.
Under this previous system (before April 2, 2019), if a player returned to Webkinz World and tried to log in to their archived account, they would get a message telling them that their information was being retrieved. Within 24 hours of attempting to log back in, our system was designed to automatically find that account in our archives and restore it.
***UPDATE – APRIL 2, 2019: This automatic retrieval system has now changed. See details below***
More recently, new online privacy laws governing children’s websites have come into effect. Those laws prohibits companies from retaining account data for extended periods. For Webkinz this means that if you haven’t logged into your Webkinz account in 7 years, your account will have been deleted from our archives.
If it has been less than 7 years and you can’t remember your login information, you’ll need to contact Customer Support. You can reach them via email at:
PLEASE NOTE that the Customer Support team can only respond to emails during regular business hours: from Monday to Friday, 9am – 5pm EST. They often get a high volume of requests for restoring accounts (especially over weekends), so please be patient. Response times vary, but can sometimes be upwards of around 10 business days. Sending repeated requests every few days will only add to the backlog.
If you can’t remember your username OR your password, it is still possible to recover your account, but you will need to send Customer Support some additional pieces of information to help identify that the account is yours—like your first name, any pet names on the account, or any of the registered pet codes.
If you don’t remember any of this information, or if your account was deleted, please understand when Customer Support says they can’t help. They want to do everything they can to help people reconnect with their Webkinz pets, but there is nothing that can be done once they get beyond these technical and legal restrictions.
Also remember that it is now FREE to start a new Webkinz account! Adopting additional Webkinz pets onto your free account will unlock Full Membership. If you want access to all of the features and fun in Webkinz World, you can purchase a subscription to Deluxe Membership. To learn more about the 3 different tiers of Webkinz membership, check out my earlier Special Report.
ACCOUNT ARCHIVING & RECOVERY POLICY UPDATE STARTING APRIL 2nd, 2019
Since we introduced the ability to have FREE Webkinz accounts a few years ago, even with the 7 year limit, the number of archived accounts has quickly continued to increase nearly beyond our storage capacity.
To address this, starting on April 2, 2019, we will be making the following changes to our User Agreement’s account retention policy:
1. All inactive FREE accounts will be deleted from our archives. Any paid account (that has ever registered a Webkinz pet Adoption Code, purchased Deluxe Membership, or purchased eStore Points) that is currently in our archive will still remain in our archives for up to 7 years from that player’s last log in.
2. Automatically retrieving inactive accounts from our archives (even if you remember your user name and password) will no longer be possible. To restore an inactive account, you will need to submit your request to our Customer Support team via email at: webkinzsupport@ganz.com, providing the information listed above.
3. Going forward we will no longer be archiving accounts. Your account will either be considered active, allowing you to directly log in, or it will be deleted. Free Accounts will be deleted after 6 months of inactivity. Paid accounts will be deleted after 24 months of inactivity. So to keep your account, you’ll need to log in at least once every two years – which considering how many fun events we do, shouldn’t be difficult.
This has been Steve Webkinz reporting for Webkinz Newz! What would you like me to report on next? Let me know in the comments below.
Jut get rid of free accounts and continue making the plush. Let the accounts be free for about a month.
I have emailed with no response I tried logging in and i have login info but it says try the next day this is not fair I paid real money and purchased new webkinz to add to the accounts for my grown kids to reminess Its been over a week and still can’t get into accounts
is there any way to retrieve my pets from an old account? I don’t remember my login info as it has been many years. I would just like to know if there is a way to get those pets back that I used codes for? Also, if someone throws your pet code away before you enter it is there any way to still get your virtual pet?
THANK you Steve ..for explaining it in terms that everyone can understand..YOU ROCK
Wow this was very informational thank you! I learned a lot of stuff I never knew before
Coolio!
Totally get it , good policy
Removing deserted accounts and freeing up valuable data storage, necessary for alleviating bogged down servers, in turn keeps Webkinz World running smoothly for active members. However, perhaps an emailed reminder to log on an inactive paid account, similar to a Deluxe Membership renewing, would be beneficial for both creator and consumer. Although 24 months is a decent stretch of time, I believe it would help ease some of the worries for players if there was a warning in place. Doing so would serve as an influential reminder for members to become more active online, allowing players to protect accounts which they’ve invested both time and money in, and in turn create more potentially profitable traffic for Webkinz World.
KentJLAdams! That is an excellent suggestion! Makes a whole lot of sense. It’s amazing, from just reading various post in Webkinz Newz, just how many players, after years of not playing the game, come back and start playing again. I was off Webkinz for about 2 years, I think. I would have been devastated to find that I couldn’t get my accounts back. I’m so happy I’m back playing Webkinz again. :-)
Thanks, Alucard. That’s very true, I constantly run in to players picking up their accounts again after years of taking a hiatus from the game, myself included. Nice when you see old faces again, would hate if old friends lost their accounts. Webkinz does exceptionally well at adding new features or items to keep players interested though. Perhaps that’s why a multitude of previous members return, that and I’m sure many grew up playing. Anyhow, I’m glad you’re enjoying Webkinz World again.
Hi KentJLAdsms! An email reminder is a great idea!
Hey, KSC. Glad to hear others agree. Hopefully they’ll take the suggestion into consideration. Webkinz is usually solicitous towards the happiness of their members, I’m sure they’ll do whatever they think is best considering the current circumstances.
Y E S. We requested it for so long, and then it becomes a virtual only that we need to pay like, $2,000 for??
I understand the need for deleting inactive accounts, but it still makes me a little bit sad. I hope to keep my account for a long time; I’d be really upset to lose it.