Privacy Policy:
Collection of Personal Information
We
take your electronic privacy seriously. Whilst the SMS Group are the
sole owner of the information we gather on the Website and during the
course of a Bidbear Auction, we will not share any of your
information with any outside party without your explicit consent unless
we are required by law or in the good-faith belief that such action is
necessary in order to conform to the edicts of the law.
In the process of conducting its business Bidbear collects certain information from our customers in order to
help us provide a high level of customer service during business
transactions.
Information can be collected verbally,
electronically or in writing, when you bid on auctions, purchase our
products or when you contact us.
Notification of Changes to Privacy Policy
Any amendments to this Privacy Policy will be posted on the
Website so our users are always aware of what information we collect,
how we use it, and under what circumstances, if any, we disclose it.
Newsletter and Bulletins
The information you provide upon
registration for membership and for Bidbear News will be used to
keep you informed about auctions, news, specials and relevant
information regarding Bidbear and its associated partners and
suppliers, and will not be sold or disclosed to any third party.
By signing up for
the Bidbear News mailing list, you understand that Bidbear will
send you emails periodically, You have the opportunity to unsubscribe
from the Bidbear News database at any time.
Personally Identifiable Information
Personally Identifiable Information is any information that personally identifies you. We
acquire the following information when you sign-up as a member: email
address, name, physical address, date of birth, phone and fax number
and mobile phone number. We
maintain and use this information for the purpose of conducting the
auctions, maintaining accurate records of transactions and issuing our
newsletter.
Some of the information that we ask for is mandatory. It
enables us to identify who is using the service and enables you to
achieve the best possible results from Bidbear Auctions. All
remaining fields of information can be completed at the user's
discretion.
We also record other information including responses to
promotions, giveaways and competitions. Whenever a page is requested
from our web server, we record the time, date and URL of the request,
along with information on the browser software that is being used. This
information is collected to provide valuable research in better
understanding the preferences of our members and to enable us to better
target our communications, including competitions and prizes.
Use and Disclosure
Only
specific, key employees are granted access to confidential member
information. We may occasionally survey our members asking how we can
improve our service and auctions. Under no circumstances will we trade,
rent, sell or share this information to a third party.
To prevent
unauthorised access to sensitive data and maintain data accuracy, we
have put in place appropriate physical, electronic, and managerial
procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online.
Access to sensitive data is restricted to key personnel in our company.
Additionally, passwords are changed routinely, and as a matter of
policy, passwords are changed with personnel changes.
Our use for your Personally Identifiable Information can include:
- To notify you if you are a winner;
- To bill you for the goods and services you purchase.
- To resolve disputes;
- To send you information about Bidbear, our Website and Auctions;
- To enforce out terms and conditions;
- Look across multiple users to identify problems and to identify users using multiple user IDs or aliases;
- We may send you information on behalf of our sister sites all owned and controlled by SMS Group.
We will not disclose any Personally Identifiable Information
about you without your express consent unless we believe it is
necessary:
- Where it is required by law;
- To provide you with services which you have requested;
- Administer and manage those services, including charging, billing and collecting debts;
- To implement our terms of service;
- To protect our rights or property or those of any Website user, or any member of the public;
For the purposes set out above we may disclose your personal
information to organisations outside Bidbear. Where appropriate,
these disclosures are subject to privacy and data protection act. The
organisations to which we disclose information include:
-
Payment transaction PAYPAL
-
Suppliers and our partners for the delivery of products.
-
Outsourced service providers who manage the services we provide to you, including:
-
mailing systems
-
information technology services
-
our professional advisers, including our accountants, auditors and lawyers;
-
government and regulatory authorities and other organisations, as required or authorised by law.
Cookies
A cookie is a piece of
data stored on your hard drive containing information about you. The
use of cookies on Websites is a common industry standard. Cookies act
as unique identifiers, used to distinguish different members. They
enable us to track and target your interests to enhance your experience
on our site. For instance, by setting a cookie on the Website, you
would not have to log in a password more than once, thereby saving time
while on our site. Once you log out of your browser, the cookie simply
terminates. Please note that even after we have terminated a cookie,
remnants of that cookie may remain on your computer. These remnants are
normally inactive.
We may use cookies when we conduct auctions, surveys, and contests to limit multiple responses and registrations.
We will never use cookies to retrieve information from your computer that was not originally sent by us to you in a cookie.
Spamming
"Spamming" can be defined as sending mass unsolicited
emails and/or Short Messages (SMS). We operate an "opt-in" only policy
and we will only send you promotional material where we have your
express permission, unless there is a legal or operational requirement
for us to do so. If you receive promotional material that you no longer
wish to receive, please notify us to modify your database record.
Data Quality and Security of Personal Information
We take reasonable
precautions to protect your security. We use encryption technology to
ensure information is protected when being sent over the Internet.
Unfortunately, there is always a risk involved in sending information
through any channel including the Internet and you do so entirely at
your own risk.
Your user name and password created upon registration play an
important role in keeping your personal information secure. If you
suspect that your user name and password have been disclosed to an
unauthorised person(s), we suggest you immediately alter your details
or instruct Bidbear to do this for you.
Bidbear will deactivate your user ID and password upon
your request. This will remove your contact details and financial
information from our active database. Bidbear will retain some
information to help prevent fraud, resolve disputes, assist with any
investigations, enforce our Terms and Conditions and comply with legal
requirements.
Bidbear will not be held responsible for any unauthorised
access of information, unauthorised use of information or if your
information is accessed through unauthorised or improper use of your
account or membership privileges due to your failure to adequately
secure your password.
Authorised employees and contractors will have limited access
to your personal information where it is necessary to enable them to
perform relative functions.
If you have any questions or comments in relation to this Privacy Policy please contact support@bidbear.co.uk.
