Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy for Tri State Online Auctions

PRIVACY NOTICE

The online auction operator through whom you are registering uses the Online-Auction Software.com, Inc. bidding platform. When you register on this page, your information is collected, used, and disclosed in accordance with Online-Auction Software.com, Inc.’s Privacy Policy, which can be found by clicking on the “Privacy Policy” link below. Online-Auction Software.com, Inc. is committed to protecting your privacy.

PRIVACY POLICY

This privacy policy governs your use of the Web site located at the following Web addresses: bid.tristateonlineauction.com As used in this privacy policy, the terms “we”, “our” and “us” refer to these companies collectively. This privacy policy also governs the collection, use, and disclosure of information submitted by bidders who register using the Online-AuctionSoftware.com, Inc. bidding platform. This privacy policy is effective upon acceptance in registration for new registering users, and is otherwise effective on November 1, 2009, for all other users. We may from time to time make amendments to this privacy policy. We will post all amendments on this Web page. In addition, when you enter the Web site, there will be a pop-up alert notifying you of any amendments. All amendments take effect 30 days after they are posted. Because data-security technology and data-security law are rapidly evolving, we recommend that you visit this Web page frequently to check for amendments to this policy.

1. Collection. We will collect and store the following Personally Identifiable Information (“PII”) on our servers if you choose to register on our site: your name, your company, your address, your driver’s license, and at least one telephone number. We also request PII and/or login information (which would provide access to your PII) elsewhere on our site, including our login page, bidding page, account update page, and e-mail subscription page. Unless you provide us with your PII, it will not be collected or stored. Once you provide us with your PII, you have consented to the transfer and storage of that information in accordance with the terms of this policy. You can review, change, and delete the PII that you provide to us by logging into Your Personal Page, or by contacting us using the information found by clicking the “Contact Us” link on our home page. We may prompt you to make updates to your PII from time to time, but in order to combat “phishing” (a fraudulent tactic employed by criminals to acquire PII), we will request that you make the updates on our site. We will also collect a valid credit card number if you choose to register on our site. Your credit card information will be stored remotely in storage systems owned and/or operated by Start Merchant Services, our payment processor, and not on our servers. In addition, we automatically collect certain non-PII relating to your interaction with our site, such as your IP address. Your IP address is stored when you register on our site and every time you place a bid on our site. We use cookies, but purely for your convenience to allow you to remain logged into our site. We will not collect or store any other cookie information stored on your computer. We do not allow third parties to place cookies on your computer.
2. Use. If you provide us with your PII, it will primarily be used for internal business purposes. Your driver’s license may be collected to ensure that you are old enough to place bids on our site. Your credit card information may be collected to guarantee that you will be able to pay for any items with respect to which you may place the winning bid. Your telephone number will be used in case we need to contact you concerning any bids that you may place. Your address or e-mail address may be used, at your request, to communicate information about upcoming auctions. Your e-mail address or cell phone number may be used, at your request, to send you automatic bidding notifications. You may opt-out of receiving any communications from us either during registration or by editing the Preferences on your online account. Your IP address is used internally for liability purposes to keep a record of each bid's origin. Cookie information will be used purely for your convenience to allow you to remain logged into our site
3. Disclosure. We will not trade, sell, or rent your PII to third parties, except that we reserve the right to transfer your PII to appropriate third parties in the event that we sell all or part of our business, make a sale or transfer of all or substantially all of our assets, or in the event that we are involved in a merger. In the event that we disclose your information in the course of any such sale, transfer, or merger, your information will remain subject to the terms and conditions of this policy and any amendments thereto. Also, if we do disclose your PII in the course of a sale, transfer, or merger of one of our companies, please be advised that we will continue to store your PII until such time as you request that it be deleted. We will not otherwise make your information available to third parties, except when necessary to assist our service providers and vendors in completing authorized undertakings, and/or where necessary to provide confirmation of purchases to persons or entities who require such information to ensure successful fulfillment of any purchases made on our site. We do, however, reserve the right to disclose user PII without user permission in order to protect our legal rights, to comply with the law or legal process, to protect the integrity of our site, and/or to protect the safety and security of site users and visitors. Internally, your information will only be available to employees who have the proper security clearance.
4. Security. We use a variety of methods to protect your information, both during transmission and after receipt, from unauthorized access, use and disclosure. Any PII that you transmit to us is protected during transmission by Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology. SSL technology enables encryption of sensitive information during online transmissions. Any PII that you transmit to us, with the exception of credit card information, is then stored on our database servers. Our database servers are both firewall protected and password protected. In addition, while stored on our database servers, your user password will be encrypted with the 128-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). Our database servers are stored with an off-site agent in secure facilities, and can only be accessed by an authorized representative of our off-site agent. Our off-site agent takes numerous physical security measures to protect our database servers from unauthorized access, including: electronic surveillance by Cloudflare to block DNoS attempts.; dedicated network operations center support 24/7/365; security keys to access the server co-location area; and combination locks on doors used to access equipment in the server co-location area. Your credit card information, once collected, is sent to Start Merchant Services, for additional storage security. Once your credit card information has been sent to Start Merchant Services, we can make authorized transactions using your credit card, but even we are unable to access your credit card information. Start Merchant Services uses various tools, including encryption technology, to protect confidential data both during the transmission of such data and while such data is being stored. Start Merchant Services ,also uses software programs to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or modify information stored in its systems, or to otherwise cause damage to its systems. In the event that we elect to use a different payment processor, notice of such election and notice of the payment processor’s data security practices will be posted as amendments to this policy. While we strive to provide a secure data transfer and storage environment, there are always potential security risks when doing business over the Internet. Consequently, we do not represent or guaranty that the information that you transmit to us will remain secure against all unauthorized access or use. You can assist us with our efforts by preventing unauthorized access to your user password and to your computer. You should make sure that you sign off when finished using a shared computer, and you should otherwise take precautions to protect your user password. If your user password becomes compromised for any reason, you should immediately change your password, and notify us.
5. Children’s Privacy. Our Web site is designed for adult use only. We will not intentionally collect children’s PII, but if you believe that we may have done so, please notify us and we will address the issue.
6. Third Parties. We do not control the privacy policies of third parties, so if you disclose your information to third parties, whether bidders, buyers or sellers, in the course of using our Web site, you may be subject to different rules with respect to the collection, use, and disclosure of your information.

If you have any questions regarding our privacy policy and/or our privacy practices that are not answered in this policy, please contact us using the information found under “Contact Us” link on our home page.