Bidzilla Privacy Policy
Last updated: February 2010
Frax & Company, LLLP ("Company") respects and is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy applies to data collected by Company through its website located at www.bidzilla.com ("Bidzilla").
This Privacy Policy does not apply to information collected by websites, software, services, or features provided by third parties hired by Company to provide such services on our behalf (collectively, "Third Party Providers") and accessible through Bidzilla or otherwise. We have provided a list of Third Party Providers who may collect data through Bidzilla at the end of this Privacy Policy. Please contact the providers of Third Party Services if you have questions about their privacy policies.
By accepting this Privacy Policy and the General Terms and Conditions during registration, you expressly consent to Company's collection, storage, use, and disclosure of your personal information as described in this Privacy Policy.
Data Collection.
You are not required to identify yourself or to reveal personal information in order to browse Bidzilla. However, in order to establish an account with Company or to make use of certain services available at Bidzilla (including purchasing bids and bidding on items available through Bidzilla), you will be required to provide certain personal information as described below. Once you provide your personal information, you are not anonymous. If you choose to provide Company with any personal information, you consent to the transfer, storage, and disclosure of your personal information as described in this Privacy Policy.
Usage Information.
Company may collect certain information that you make available to us by interacting with Bidzilla, even if you do not establish an account. This information may include the pages you view on Bidzilla, traffic analysis data used to optimize Bidzilla, and technical information such as your browser's window dimensions, your operating system, and the time you spend viewing a website page. Company may also collect certain commonly available information that your browser provides to every website that you visit. This information includes your Internet Protocol (IP) address, the website page you have requested, the referring website (including search engines), your browser software and version, your browser's language settings, and the access time and date. Company may use "cookies" and other similar technology in connection with Bidzilla, as discussed below.
User Account Information.
Company may request certain personally identifiable information (for example, your email address, mailing address, telephone number, and date of birth) in order to access and use Bidzilla or other services through Bidzilla. If you choose to establish a user account and make purchases through Bidzilla, Company will require you to provide additional information, such as your credit card information and billing address. Company will store any demographic or other personal information you choose to provide to us during registration.
During your creation of a registered account with Bidzilla, you will be required to choose a user name. This user name will be displayed throughout Bidzilla and, therefore, available to the public and associated with your activity on Bidzilla. Bidzilla reserves the right to review and approve your user name, in its sole discretion. Unless you choose to associate your user name with your personal information, other Bidzilla users will not be able to personally identify you or your activities on Bidzilla. When visiting Bidzilla from a public or shared computer, certain information about you, such as your user name, may be visible to others who may use such the computer after you. It is your responsibility to protect your personal information when using public or shared computers.
Types of Information.
In addition to the personal information described above, Company may also collect and store the following personal information:
- all transactional information related to your activities using Bidzilla;
- shipping, billing, and other information relating to any purchase or shipping;
- any correspondence you send to Company; and
- other supplemental information provided by third parties.
Use of Personal Information.
Company may collect and use your personal information to operate and improve its websites and other services. These uses may include customizing, measuring and improving our services, content, and advertising; performing research and analysis aimed at improving our products, services, and technologies; making Bidzilla and other Company services easier to use by eliminating the need for you to repeatedly enter the same information; permitting you to gain access to certain features of Bidzilla not available to the general public (including your user account information and preferences); preventing potentially prohibited or illegal activities; and enforcing Company's Terms and Conditions; and comparing information for accuracy and verify it with third parties.
Company may also use your personal information to communicate with you. Company may send you: mandatory service communications such as welcome letters, billing reminders, information on technical service issues, and security announcements; member letters that are considered part of the Bidzilla services; targeted advertising; and occasional material related to services, service updates, targeted marketing, and promotional offers. You may opt out of promotional mailings and surveys from Company by sending an email to support@bidzilla.com. Company may also use your personal information to resolve disputes, collect fees, and troubleshoot problems.
Disclosure of Personal Information.
Except as described in this Privacy Policy, Company will not disclose your personal information to third parties without your consent. Company will not sell, lease, or rent your email address or contact information to third parties.
Company may hire Third Party Providers to provide limited services on its behalf, such as handling the processing and delivery of mailings, hosting websites, processing transactions, or performing statistical analysis of our services. Third Party Providers will be permitted to obtain only the personal information they need to deliver such services. Third Party Providers are required to maintain the confidentiality of the information and are prohibited from using it for any other purpose. However, for credit card processing, Company's fraud detection vendors may use aggregate data to improve their ability to detect fraudulent uses of credit cards.
Company may access or disclose information about you, including the content of your communications, in order to: (a) comply with the law or respond to lawful requests or legal process; (b) protect the rights or property of Company or its customers, including the enforcement of our agreements or policies governing your use of Bidzilla; or (c) act on a good faith belief that such access or disclosure is necessary to protect the personal safety of Company's employees, customers, or the public.
Access, Review, and Modification of Personal Information; Closing Account.
You can access, review, and change most of your personal information by signing on to Bidzilla. Generally, Company will not manually modify your personal information on your behalf. However, some personal information can only be changed by contacting Bidzilla customer service, such as the name listed on your account and your user name. You must promptly update your personal information if it changes or is inaccurate. Once you make a public posting (for example, if you post in a Bidzilla forum or comment on an auction item), place a bid, join or leave an auction, or if your name appears on the monthly leaderboard, you may not be able to change or remove such information, even if you close or cancel your account.
Upon your written request to the address provided below, Company will close your account and remove your personal profile information (i.e. your user name) from public view on the Bidzilla website as soon as reasonably possible, based on your account activity and in accordance with applicable law. Company retains certain personal information from closed accounts to comply with law, prevent fraud, collect any fees owed, resolve disputes, troubleshoot problems, assist with any investigations, enforce the Terms and Conditions, and take other actions otherwise permitted by law.
Use of Cookies.
Bidzilla uses "cookies," which are small text files stored on your computer hard drive that can be retrieved by your Internet browser to assist in customizing your experience with Bidzilla. Cookies cannot run or install programs (including viruses) on your computer. The information saved supports the functionality of Bidzilla, for example by keeping track of your visual preferences or controlling the frequency of "pop-up" windows.
Company may use cookies to store your preferences and other information on your computer in order to save you time by eliminating the need to enter the same information repeatedly when you visit Bidzilla. Cookies allow Company to display your personalized content on your later visits to these websites. When you sign in to Bidzilla using your username and password, Company causes your unique session ID number to be stored in an encrypted cookie on your hard disk. This cookie allows you to move from page to page at the site without having to sign in again on each page.
You have the ability to accept or decline cookies. Most Internet browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. If you choose to decline cookies, you may not be able to sign in or use other interactive features of Bidzilla and Company services that depend on cookies. Please review your browser's documentation if you would like to disable or reject cookies. Turning off these settings may result in limited functionality of Bidzilla.
If you choose to accept cookies, you also have the ability to choose to delete cookies that you have accepted. Please refer to your browser's documentation if you would like to delete cookies. If you choose to delete cookies, any settings and preferences controlled by those cookies will be deleted and may need to be recreated.
Certain features of Bidzilla, including third party advertising, may be provided by third parties and may set cookies that are not controlled by Bidzilla. Please review the privacy policies of our Third Party Providers. Links to our Third Party Providers' privacy polices are provided below.
Use of Web Beacons.
In addition, Bidzilla, email correspondence, and other communications by Company may contain "web beacons," "single-pixel GIFs," "tracking images," or other similar technology. These files are small, transparent images provided by Company or third party website statistics software and are used solely to facilitate the collection of non-personally identifiable information about your use of Bidzilla, including the number of website visitors Bidzilla receives, the number of times an email from Company is opened, and other similar information.
Our Security Measures.
Your Bidzilla account and profile and the information contained therein are password protected. Use of unique numbers, letters, and special characters may improve the security of your password. You should not disclose your user account password to anyone. Company employees will never ask for your password. Please remember to log out of your account and to close your internet browser window when you leave Bidzilla. This is especially important if you use a computer in a public location. If you do share your password or your personal information with others, remember that you are responsible for all actions taken in the name of your account. If you lose control of your password, you may lose substantial control over your personal information and may be subject to legally binding actions taken on your behalf. Therefore, if your password has been compromised for any reason, you should immediately notify Company and change your password.
The personal information we collect is stored on Company servers. Company is committed to protecting your personal information and makes use of multiple security measures (encryption, passwords, physical security, etc.) to protect against unauthorized access and disclosure. For example, Company stores the personal information you provide on computer systems with limited access, which are located in controlled facilities. When Company transmits highly confidential information (such as a credit card number or password) over the Internet, Company protects it with industry standard encryption (such as the Transport Layer Security protocol). Any credit card information that you provide to us is either encrypted or limited to the first three (3) and last five (5) digits when stored.
However, third parties might unlawfully intercept or access transmissions or private communications, and other users may abuse or misuse personal information that they collect from Bidzilla. Therefore, although Company works hard to protect your privacy, we do not promise, and you should not expect, that your personal information or private communications will always remain private.
Protection from Web Crawlers or Spam.
Company will use your email address with your express consent only for the purposes stated in the Terms of Use and this Privacy Policy. Company will not rent or sell your email address to third parties, and Company will prevent your email address from being recorded by "web crawlers" or "web spiders" to the best of our ability. If you believe that your email address has been recorded in this way, please let us know immediately.
A Note to Parents.
Children under age eighteen (18) are not permitted to register with Bidzilla or use Company's services.
Contact Information.
Company welcomes your comments and questions regarding this Privacy Policy, including any questions you might have about the particular use of your information. If you would like to contact us regarding this Privacy Policy, please feel free to email us at support@Bidzilla.com or by mail at Bidzilla, P.O. Box 570, Bartow, FL 33831.
Privacy Policies of Third Party Providers.
Links to the privacy policies of Third Party Providers who may collect personal information through Bidzilla are listed below for your review in the event that you have questions regarding the privacy practices of our Third Party Providers.
Changes to this Privacy Policy.
Company may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in Bidzilla and to reflect customer feedback. When changes are posted to this Privacy Policy, Company will revise the "last updated" date written at the top of this Privacy Policy. If there are material changes to this Privacy Policy or in how Company will use your personal information, Company will notify you either by prominently posting a notice of such changes on Bidzilla prior to implementing the change or by directly notifying you. You should periodically review this Privacy Policy to stay informed about how Company protects your information. If you disagree with any changes to this Privacy Policy, you may choose to opt-out by sending written notice to Bidzilla, P.O. Box 570, Bartow, FL 33831, requesting termination of your account.
