Privacy Policy

SECTION 1 – WHAT DO WE DO WITH YOUR INFORMATION?

When you purchase something from our store, as part of the buying and selling process, we collect the personal information you give us, such as your name, address and email address. You are not required to provide the personal information that we have requested, but if you choose not to, in many cases, we may not be able to provide you with our products or services or respond to any queries. 

The information we collect allows us to keep you updated on the latest product announcements, research and events and tailor our communication to suit your interests. When browsing our store, we automatically receive your computer information, including your IP address, browser and operating system.  

Non-Personal information is collected in a form that does not identify any specific individual. Non-Personal information includes information regarding customer activity on our website, which enables us to understand which parts of our website, products and services are of most interest and to improve our offerings to our customers. 

Email marketing (if applicable): With your permission, we may send you emails about our store, new products, and other information that we think may interest you, e.g. research results. 

Emails: We will preserve the contents of any email message you send us if we believe we have a legal requirement to do so. 

SECTION 2 – CONSENT

How do you get my consent?

When you provide us with personal information to complete a transaction, verify your credit card, place an order, arrange for a delivery or return a purchase, we imply that you consent to our collecting it and using it for that specific reason only. 

If we ask for your personal information for a secondary reason, like marketing, we will either ask you directly for your expressed consent, or provide you with an opportunity to say no. 

How do I withdraw my consent?

If, after you opt-in, you change your mind, you may withdraw your consent for us to contact you, for the continued collection, use or disclosure of your information, at any time, by contacting us at [email protected] or by clicking on the UNSUBSCRIBE link in any communications from us. 

SECTION 3 – DISCLOSURE

It is our policy not to sell or pass on any personal information that you may have provided to us unless required to do so by law or you violate our Terms of Service or in the following circumstances:

– At times, it may be necessary to make certain personal information available to strategic partners (see Section 4) to make products and services available or that help market our products to customers. Personal information will only be shared if required to improve our products, services and advertising. Personal information will not be shared with third parties for their marketing purposes.

-In the event of a merger or acquisition, we may transfer all personal information that we collect to the relevant third party.

 

SECTION 4 – 

Payments are hosted by BlueSnap, Stripe or Paypal. All direct payment gateways adhere to the standards set by PCI-DSS as managed by the PCI Security Standards Council, which is a joint effort of brands like Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover. PCI-DSS requirements help ensure the secure handling of credit card information by our store and its service providers.

For more insight, you may also want to read BlueSnap’s, Stripe and Paypal’s Terms and Conditions or Privacy Statement.

SECTION 5 – THIRD-PARTY SERVICES

In general, the third-party providers used by us will only collect, use and disclose your information to the extent necessary to allow them to perform the services they provide to us. However, certain third-party service providers, such as payment gateways and other payment transaction processors, have their own privacy policies in respect to the information we are required to provide to them for your purchase-related transactions.

For these providers, we recommend that you read their privacy policies so you can understand the manner in which your personal information will be handled by these providers. In particular, remember that certain providers may be located in or have facilities that are located in a different jurisdiction than either you or us.

So if you elect to proceed with a transaction that involves the services of a third party service provider, then your information may become subject to the laws of the jurisdiction(s) in which that service provider or its facilities are located.

As an example, if you are located in Canada and your transaction is processed by a payment gateway located in the United States, then your personal information used in completing that transaction may be subject to disclosure under United States legislation, including the Patriot Act.

Once you leave our store’s website or are redirected to a third-party website or application, you are no longer governed by this Privacy Policy or our website’s Terms of Service.

Links

When you click on links on our store, they may direct you away from our site. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of other sites and encourage you to read their privacy statements.

SECTION 6 – PROTECTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

To protect your personal information, we take reasonable precautions and follow industry best practices to make sure it is not inappropriately lost, misused, accessed, disclosed, altered or destroyed.

If you provide us with your credit card information, the information is encrypted using secure socket layer technology (SSL) and stored with a AES-256 encryption. Although no method of transmission over the Internet or electronic storage is 100% secure, we follow all PCI-DSS requirements and implement additional generally accepted industry standards.

SECTION 7 – RETENTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

VerticalFAS will retain your personal information for as long as you have a member account or the information is necessary to fulfil the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law.

SECTION 8 – ACCESS TO PERSONAL INFORMATION

You can help ensure that your contact information and preferences are accurate, complete and up to date by logging into your account. For other personal information that we hold, we will provide you with access upon your request. We may decline requests that are frivolous, vexatious, jeopardise the privacy of others, are extremely impractical, or for which access is not otherwise required by law.

Access, correction and deletion requests can be made by contacting [email protected]

SECTION 9 – COOKIES AND OTHER TECHNOLOGIES

VFAS websites, email messages and advertisements may use “cookies” and other technologies such as tracking, re-marketing tags and pixels based on context e.g. a search query or inferred interests. These technologies help us to better understand user behaviour, tell us which parts of the website people have visited and facilitate and measure the effectiveness of advertisements and web searches. This allows us to improve the user’s experience.

Cookies are files with small amount of data that is commonly used an anonymous unique identifier. These are sent to your browser from the website that you visit and are stored on your computer’s hard drive.

Our website uses these “cookies” to collect information and to improve our Service. You have the option to either accept or refuse these cookies, and know when a cookie is being sent to your computer. If you choose to refuse our cookies, you may not be able to use some portions of our Service.

You may also use your browser’s settings to disable cookies and other tracking tools. Platforms such as Facebook and Google also allow you to modify your ad settings to control how advertisers interact with you.

SECTION 10 – AGE OF CONSENT

By using this site, you represent that you are at least the age of majority in your state or province of residence, or that you are the age of majority in your state or province of residence and you have given us your consent to allow any of your minor dependents to use this site.

SECTION 11 – CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

We reserve the right to modify this privacy policy at any time, so please review it frequently. Changes and clarifications will take effect immediately upon their posting on the website. If we make material changes to this policy, we will notify you here that it has been updated, so that you are aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances, if any, we use and/or disclose it.

If our store is acquired or merged with another company, your information may be transferred to the new owners so that we may continue to sell products to you.

QUESTIONS AND CONTACT INFORMATION

If you would like to: access, correct, amend or delete any personal information we have about you, register a complaint, or simply want more information contact our Privacy Compliance Officer at [email protected] or [email protected]

We only ask for personal information when we truly need it to provide a service to you. We collect it by fair and lawful means, with your knowledge and consent. We also let you know why we’re collecting it and how it will be used.

We only retain collected information for as long as necessary to provide you with your requested service. What data we store, we’ll protect within commercially acceptable means to prevent loss and theft, as well as unauthorised access, disclosure, copying, use or modification.

We don’t share any personally identifying information publicly or with third-parties, except when required to by law.

Our website may link to external sites that are not operated by us. Please be aware that we have no control over the content and practices of these sites, and cannot accept responsibility or liability for their respective privacy policies.

You are free to refuse our request for your personal information, with the understanding that we may be unable to provide you with some of your desired services.

Your continued use of our website will be regarded as acceptance of our practices around privacy and personal information. If you have any questions about how we handle user data and personal information, feel free to contact us.

This policy is effective as of 14 July 2022.