This privacy statement covers the website www.AuctionPoint.com and all property-specific, auction websites generated by AuctionPoint (each a "Site", and collectively the "Sites"). By accessing, using or registering with a Site, you accept and agree to AuctionPoint's Privacy Policy. AuctionPoint creates virtual auction venues which it licenses and makes available to commercial real estate professionals and members of the general public. Any user information collected is considered private and is not used or shared without the user's permission except as permitted herein. The following privacy statement summarizes AuctionPoint's protection and use of any personal information provided by visitors to the Sites.
Information Collected by AuctionPoint:
AuctionPoint collects: (i) user information from several areas of the Site including
the member and bidder registration areas and auction set-up screens, (ii) user log-in
activity and bid history for statistical, archival, and business purposes, and (iii)
user financial information (such as billing address, credit card number, and expiration
date) for credit card authorization purposes. AuctionPoint may track the IP address
of a user's computer or place a "cookie" in the browser files of a user's computer.
This is required by AuctionPoint services to provide automated features.
Use of Information Collected:
Collected information helps AuctionPoint better understand its users' needs in order
to improve its product and offerings. Email addresses are used to communicate with
registered users and for site administration purposes. Personal information may
be used to contact users for the purpose of research, product development, marketing,
or customer service. User log-in and bid activity is collected and analyzed and
may be utilized by AuctionPoint in the aggregate or in the abstract for a variety
of business purposes. Financial information is used for credit card authorization
purposes. Within AuctionPoint, only accounting managers have access to the credit
card account information. This information is not shared with anyone outside of
AuctionPoint. IP address and cookie log data is analyzed to better understand traffic
flows and user preferences.
Use of Email Tools:
You may NOT use any email services that we offer to send spam (i.e., unsolicited
commercial email) or otherwise send content that would violate AuctionPoint's Terms
and Conditions. We may monitor, track or save the use of this feature, but will
be under no obligation to monitor, track or save email messages sent from these
tools.
Shared Information:
Though AuctionPoint makes every effort to preserve user privacy, we may need to
disclose personal information when required by law wherein we have good faith belief
that such action is necessary to comply with a current judicial proceeding, a court
order or legal process served on the Sites. AuctionPoint shares member information
in the following areas on the site: Listing Broker Information and Auction Administration.
When a Listing Broker creates an auction, listing broker contact information is
also entered. Users viewing the Sites can view broker contact information (name,
email and phone number) when they view a property auction Site. When a bidder registers
for an auction, bidder contact information is also entered. The Listing Broker can
view registered bidder contact information (name, email and phone number) when they
administer an auction. AuctionPoint shares information with its partners for the
purpose of providing related services in which we deem our users have interest.
The use that AuctionPoint's partners make of customer information will not exceed
AuctionPoint's use of the data. Key billing information (such as credit card number,
expiration date and dollar amount) gathered from users using credit cards to register
for auctions will be shared with CyberSource Corporation, our credit card processing
partner, in order to authorize charges to the credit card. AuctionPoint also uses
third party providers to perform email and postal mailings on behalf of AuctionPoint,
but this information (such as name, address and email) is confidential and is not
used by the provider for any other purpose. AuctionPoint does not rent or lease
user information to any third party, except as disclosed here. From time to time,
AuctionPoint may obtain information (such as email addresses) from third party providers.
It is our goal to only contact individuals who we believe may have a legitimate
business interest in AuctionPoint based on their membership or participation in
other organizations or web sites, and who have indicated a willingness to be contacted
for this purpose. While AuctionPoint endeavors to work with other sites and companies
with a similar respect for user privacy, AuctionPoint cannot be responsible for
the privacy practices of other sites.
Please be aware that in the event AuctionPoint merges with a third party, or in the event all or substantially all of AuctionPoint's assets are acquired by a third party, customer information, including personally identifiable information, will be shared with and/or transferred to such third party. The information may only be used by such third parties for the primary purpose for which the information was originally collected. If such third parties, or if AuctionPoint for its own business needs, desire to use the personally identifiable information for another purpose, you will be notified prior to the information being used for a new purpose, and you will have the opportunity to opt out of such new use of your personally identifiable information.
Security of Personal Information:
AuctionPoint's clients and their personal information are considered to be AuctionPoint's
greatest asset and thus their privacy is treated with the utmost regard and respect.
AuctionPoint takes every reasonable precaution to secure personal information within
both its computers and its physical premises. The security of your personal information
is important to AuctionPoint. When you enter sensitive information (such as a credit
card number) on our registration pages, we encrypt that information using secure
socket layer technology (SSL).
We follow generally accepted industry standards to protect the personal information submitted to us, both during transmission and once we receive it. However, no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is 100% secure. Therefore, while we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.
Cookies:
Cookies are used on this site. A cookie is a small text file that is stored on a
user's computer for record-keeping purposes. We use both session cookies and persistent
cookies. We use session cookies to make it easier for you to use our site and to
enable certain specialized functionality that requires maintaining information about
your session. A session cookie is not stored on your hard disk and expires when
you close your browser. A persistent cookie remains on your hard disk for an extended
period of time. You can remove persistent cookies by following the directions in
your Internet browser's "help" files.
If you select the "Remember Me" function on the Site, we will store a persistent cookie on your hard drive which allows you to bypass the login requirement each time you access the site. Additionally, we use a persistent cookie to enable us to track and target the interests of our users to enhance the experience on our site.
We do not store in persistent cookies any personally identifiable information you submit while on our site. Due to the functionality provided by the Sites, the use of cookies is required. If you reject cookies, the Sites will not perform properly.
Third-Party Advertising Companies:
From time to time, we may use third-party advertising companies to serve ads when
you visit the Sites. The third-party advertising technology that we use on the Site
uses information derived from your visits to target advertising within the Site.
In addition, our advertisers may use other third-party advertising technology to
target advertising on the Site. In the course of advertisements being served to
you, a unique third-party cookie or cookies may be placed on your browser. In addition,
we may use Web beacons, provided by third-party advertising companies, to help manage
and optimize our online advertising. Web beacons enable us to recognize a browser's
cookie when a browser visits this site, and to learn which banner ads bring users
to our Web site.
Testimonials:
We post customer testimonials on our web site which may contain personally identifiable
information such as the customer's name. We do obtain the customer's consent to
post their name along with their testimonial prior to any posting of such testimonial.
Opting-out, editing, updating or deleting personal information:
AuctionPoint utilizes email as a vital and primary communication channel with registered
users and customers. As a registered user/customer, you hereby acknowledge and grant
AuctionPoint the permission to communicate with you via email (as well as other
communication channel such as phone and fax) for any purposes AuctionPoint determines
to be relevant including, but not limited to, system messages, product updates,
service announcements and other marketing messages. AuctionPoint will use best efforts
to honor customers request to opt out of marketing messages, but under no circumstances
will AuctionPoint have any liability for sending any email to its registered users/customers.
Users who do not wish to receive marketing emails are requested to contact AuctionPoint via email. We also send our users Site and service announcement updates. Members are not able to un-subscribe from service announcements, which contain important information about service notices and responsibilities. AuctionPoint occasionally communicates with its users via email and phone to provide information about requested services and regarding issues related to their account. You may correct or update your personally identifiable information by making the change on your member account page.
Changes to this Privacy Statement:
If AuctionPoint decides to change its privacy policy, it will post those changes
to this privacy statement, the homepage, and other places deemed appropriate so
that you are aware of what information is collected, how it is used, and under what
circumstances, if any, it is disclosed. AuctionPoint reserves the right to modify
this privacy statement at any time, so please review it frequently. If AuctionPoint
makes material changes to this policy, we will notify you here, by email, or by
means of a notice on the Site.