Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy describes your rights with respect to how we collect, use and share your personal information.  It applies to all visitors and users of DirectBids.com or any associated websites (each a “Website”).

What Information Do We Collect?

You can browse our site without disclosing your personal information. When you visit our Website you may provide us with two types of information: personal information you knowingly choose to disclose that is collected on an individual basis and website use information collected on an aggregate basis as you and others browse our Website.

Use Information  Testing

We collect and store certain information automatically provided to us when you visit our Websites, including without limitation the date and local time of your visit, the originating IP address, the domain name, the type of browser and operating system you are using (if provided by your browser, and including plug-in and related information), the URL clickstream to, through and from our Website (if provided by your browser), the object requested and the completion status of the request.  We also may use software tools to measure and collect session information, including without limitation response and download times, errors, page visit lengths and page interaction information.

This information is collected automatically and is not linked to your personal information. We use this information to assess the way visitors use our Website and help us to make improvements.

Personal Information You Provide

We collect the personal data that you may volunteer while using our services. When you send us a message through our "Contact Us" form, we collect your name and email address. We may store the messages you send to us, along with our responses.

Your credit card information is housed through a third-party provider.  We do not have access to your credit card information; instead, each user is given a unique identifier in our system that is tied to the credit card information held by a third-party provider.

We also collect transactional information based on your activities on the Websites (such as bidding, buying and payment history) which we may use to improve the services we offer or otherwise in furtherance of our business.

We do not routinely collect information about our visitors from other sources, such as public records or private organizations, but we reserve the right to do so to verify information you provide to us or if we believe you are violating our Terms of Use or to the extent necessary to enforce our rights under this policy or the Terms of Use.

How Do We Use Your Personal Information?

We use your personal information to provide you with access to the Websites and their related services and tools, and to improve your experience.  We may use your personal information to:

• provide access to the Websites and their services, including auction services;
• assist sellers with completion of auctions;
• contact you as necessary to complete an auction;
• investigate disputes or complaints (provided that we are not obligated to take any action);
• enforce this Privacy Policy, our Terms of Use, and any other applicable policies;
• review and improve our services;
• tell you about our services, provide updates to our policies, and inform you of service updates and promotional offers, if any; 
• compare information for accuracy, and verify it with third parties;
• provide any other services requested by you; and
• send you information we believe may be of interest to you, provided you will always be provided an opportunity to opt out as a recipient of such information.

Cookies – What Are Cookies?

A cookie is a very small text document, which often includes an anonymous unique identifier. When you visit a website, that website asks your computer for permission to store this file in a part of your hard drive specifically designated for cookies. Each website can send its own cookie to your browser if your browsers preferences allow it, but (to protect your privacy) your browser only permits a website to access the cookies it has already sent to you, not the cookies sent to you by other websites.

How Do We Use The Information We Collect From Cookies?

As you shop on our Websites, we use cookies to differentiate you from other shoppers so your shopping cart is available only to you. Cookies do not allow us to gather any personal information about you.

You can turn off or prevent your browser from accepting new cookies in your web browser's settings.  Because cookies allow you to take advantage of some of the features of our Websites, we recommend that you leave them turned off.  If you block or otherwise reject our cookies, you may not be able to sign up for an account or place bids.

Sharing Information With Third Parties

We do not disclose, share, or sell your personal information with third parties, except that (1) we may share information as necessary to process, ship and complete an auction transaction and we will share your information with the seller if you are the winning bidder, (2) we may share and transfer your personal information to a third party that purchases or to which we transfer our business (provided that such third party must agree to privacy terms and protections at least as strict as those contained in this policy), (3) we may permit a potential third party purchaser or transferee to review your information in connection with its review of our business (provided that we will require such third party to review such information in such a way that its privacy is maintained), (4) to the extent necessary to enforce our rights under the Terms of Use or this policy and protect the safe operations of the Websites, which may include sharing the identity of individuals who we believe have violated the Terms of Use or this policy with trade associations or operators of similar websites, provided that in no event will we do so in an effort to seek collection of a debt; and (5) to the extent authorized by you.  In addition you authorize us to share your personal information with Stripe or any successor that we use to process and store your credit card information. We reserve the right to disclose information about you as required by law, in response to legal process and law enforcement requests.

Confidentiality / Security

We give you the option of using a secure transmission method to send us the following types of personal data:

• primary personal data (such as name and contact details)
• identifiers (such as credit card details, Website password)

We have implemented security policies, rules and technical measures to reduce risks to your personal data associated with:

• unauthorized access
• improper use or disclosure
• unauthorized modification
• unlawful destruction or accidental loss

While we strive to maintain the security of your personal information at all times, there are inherent risks in sharing personal information via the internet and you agree to assume the risk that third parties, through criminal or wrongful actions, gain access to your personal information despite our policies and efforts.

All our employees and data processors who have access to and are associated with the processing of personal data are obliged to respect the confidentiality of our visitors personal data.

You agree not to seek access to information stored on the Website that you are not authorized to access and you agree to notify us if you become aware of others seeking to do so.

Security

When you transmit credit card information to complete a purchase or for verification purposes, we always transmit that credit card number in an encrypted format.  We use the industry-standard, 128-bit SSL (secure socket layer) encryption. We are using the services of a respected company that specializes in protecting electronic data.

What is a secure server anyway?

Web browsers can operate in "normal" mode and in "secure" mode. You can tell which mode your browser is in by looking at the toolbar at the bottom of the browser window. If you see a broken key, or an open padlock, you are in normal mode. If the key is whole, or the padlock is closed, you are in "secure" mode.

When you surf the internet in "normal" mode, all of the information you type into your browser and all the information the website sends to you are visible to eavesdroppers. When your browser is in "secure" mode it encrypts all the information between itself and the server. Encrypted information looks like meaningless garbage to eavesdroppers, which helps to secure your personal information.

How To Access Or Modify Your Personal Information

You may view and modify the information in your account profile on our Websites by logging in to your account.

You can request to see information we may have about you by:

• sending an email to info@directbids.com
• sending postal mail to our mailing address

We allow you to challenge the data that we hold about you and, where appropriate, you may have the data:

• erased
• rectified or amended
• completed

Are Minors Allowed to Use the Websites?

No.  As described further in our Terms of Use, we require users of the Websites to be 18 or older.

Notices and Revisions

Any visit to our Websites is governed by this Privacy Policy, as well as our General Terms http://www.directbids.com/generalterms and any other applicable policies.  Our Privacy Policy is subject to change.  We will inform you of changes, and those changes will become effective, in the same manner as changes to our Terms of Use.

Privacy Support

If you have a question or concern about our Privacy Policy, please contact us.