Black Rock Galleries Privacy Policy

Black Rock Galleries ("we," "us," "our") takes your privacy seriously.  We developed this Privacy Policy ("Privacy Policy") to explain what information we collect from our users ("users" or "you") and how we use and share this information.  This Privacy Policy applies to your use of our website, www.blackrockgalleries.com, (the "website"), all services available through our website and any related services (found in our Terms and Conditions; here) (collectively, "Services").  We may amend our Privacy Policy from time to time.  We will notify you by revising the date at the top of the Privacy Policy.  Review this Privacy Policy whenever you access the Services to stay informed of our information and privacy practices.

INFORMATION COLLECTED

Black Rock Galleries provides an online platform for estate sale auctions, online sales, and related services including preparing items for auction, sorting, packing, photographing and hauling.  As such, we collect information from users about their belongings and estate sale needs.  This Privacy Policy covers our treatment of information that we may collect in your use of our Services.  This Privacy Policy does not apply to the practices of any third-party provider, company, or individual that we do not own or control, but which may be accessible via our Services.  You should always review the privacy policies of any website you visit from or through our website.  Payments through our website are processed by a third-party company, Authorize.net, and if you provide any payment information via our website you are subject to that processor’s terms and conditions, available here.

• Client/Consigner (“Seller”) Information.  If you are a seller or representative of a seller (a "seller"), when you visit our website or use our Services, we may collect and store information that you provide to us, including but not limited to your first and last name, email address, home address, and information abut the items to be sold, as well as a username and password.  We may also collect your credit card number, card type, expiration date, and security code.  We do not store credit card information, which is encrypted to protect your information.

• Customer/Buyer (“Buyer”) Information.  When you visit our website or use our Services as a buyer, we may collect and store information about you that you provide to us, including but not limited to your first and last name, email address, username and password, as well as your credit card information including your credit card number, card type, expiration date, and security code.  We do not store credit card information, which is encrypted to protect your information.

USE AND SHARING OF YOUR INFORMATION

We do not disseminate, disclose, sell or publish any personally identifiable information without your express written consent, except as set forth below.  Most of our services do not require any form of registration, allowing you to visit our site without telling us who you are.  However, some services may require you to provide us with personal information.  In these situations, if you choose to withhold any personal information requested by us, it may not be possible for you to bid on or sell items on our online auction.  We may collect and use personal information to provide you with products or services, to bill you for products and services you request, to pay you for consignments sold through us, to market products and services which we think may be of interest to you, or to communicate with you for other purposes which are evident from the circumstances or about which we inform you when we collect personal information from you.

• Sellers.  We collect and store the personal information we collect from you, including but not limited to first and last names, email address, postal address and information about items to be sold.  We will publish information about the items to be sold on our online auction, but we will not publish personally identifiable information on our website.  If an item is sold, we will provide the buyer with necessary information for the buyer to pick up the item, including the address of the item.

• Buyers.  We collect and store the information that provided by you, including, but not limited to your first and last name, email address, username and password.  We will not use this personal information for any purposes other than verifying your identity, authenticating your login, and facilitating your access to the Services. 

• Business Partners.  We may transfer your personal information to third parties who act for or on our behalf, for further processing in accordance with the purpose(s) for which the data were originally collected or may otherwise be lawfully processed, such as services delivery, evaluating the usefulness of this website, marketing, data management or technical support.  These third parties have contracted with us to only use personal information for the agreed-upon purpose, and not to sell your personal information to third parties, and not to disclose it to third parties except as may be required by law, as permitted by us or as stated in this Privacy Policy.

• Statistical Information.  From time to time we may collect and store non personally-identifiable information regarding your usage of our website, the website or websites you were visiting before or when you visited our website, your IP address, technical reports, and any other non-identifiable, statistical information.

• Business Transfers.  We may share your non-personally identifiable information in connection with, or during negotiations of, any merger, sale of company assets, financing or acquisition, or in any other situation where information may be disclosed or transferred as one of our business assets.  In this case, we would require the party to whom the information is being disclosed to adhere to the terms of this Privacy Policy.

• Terms and Policies Enforcement.  We may share your information to enforce or apply our Privacy Policy, Terms of Service or our other policies or agreements.

• Protection of Us and Others.  We may access, read, preserve, and disclose any information that we reasonably believe is necessary to comply with law or court order; or protect the rights, property, or safety of us, our employees, our users, or others.

• With Your Consent. We may share your information in other circumstances with your prior written consent.

PROTECTING YOUR INFORMATION

We will store your information internally using industry-standard secure storage technologies. When you submit personal information via the Services, your information is protected both online and off-line, and all information is encrypted.  While we use encryption to protect sensitive information online, we also do everything in our power to protect your information off-line.  All of our users’ information, not just personal information, is restricted.  However, while every effort to protect your information is enacted, we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you provide to us or guarantee that information on the Services may not be accessed, disclosed, altered, or destroyed by unauthorized persons or hardware or software failure.

COOKIES AND WEB BEACONS

"Cookies" are small data file identifiers that are transferred to your computer or mobile web browser that allow us to recognize your browser or mobile device and transfer information about you and your use of our Services.  For example, cookies that we use tell us how many times you have visited our website, your search preferences, and which links you have clicked on.  We use "persistent" cookies to save your login information for future logins to the Services.  

We also use "session ID" cookies to enable certain features of the Services, to better understand how you interact with the Services and to monitor aggregate usage by users and web traffic routing on the Services.  Unlike persistent cookies, session ID cookies are deleted from your computer when you log off from a Service and close your browser.  Most Web browsers are initially configured to accept cookies, but you can change this setting so your browser either refuses all cookies or informs you when a cookie is being sent.  Also, you are free to delete any existing cookies at any time. 

Please note that some features of the Website may not function properly when cookies are disabled or removed.  We use IP addresses to administer our website.

COMMUNICATING WITH YOU

We may contact or communicate with you by email, our social media pages (for example, our pages on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter), website notices, newsletters, or other means available through the Services.  Such communications may contain messages of a commercial or non-commercial nature, including but not limited to, providing you the Services or responding to your inquiry that you requested, marketing and promotions of our Services or the services of our partners and advertisers, for administrative purposes, or to carry out other purposes described in this Privacy Policy.  If you do not want to receive email or other mail from us, please contact us at blackrockgalleries.com.

You are cautioned that any online communications may not be fully confidential.  In addition, you should be aware that federal postal regulations do not protect electronic mail.

You should be aware that our administrative personnel may, in the course of their regular duties, have access to communications for technical or operational purposes. We may also disclose any communications to the extent permitted or required by law.

MARKETING

You are entitled to ask us for a notice identifying the categories of personal information that we share with our affiliates and/or third parties for marketing purposes, and providing contact information for such affiliates and/or third parties.  If you would like a copy of this notice, please submit a written request to Black Rock Galleries, 1720 Fairfield Avenue, Bridgeport, CT 06605.

DO NOT TRACK

We currently do not participate in any "Do Not Track" frameworks that would allow us to respond to signals or other mechanisms from you regarding the collection of your information.  We may engage third parties, such as marketing or analytics partners, who may collect information about your online activities over time and across different websites when you use our website.

SERVICES NOT DIRECTED TO CHILDREN

Children under 18 may not use our Services.  If you are under 18, please do not attempt to use the Services unsupervised.  We do not knowingly collect or solicit any personal information from anyone under the age of 18.  If you are a parent and you become aware that your child has provided us with information without your consent, please contact us at blackrockgalleries.com.

PRIVACY POLICY CHANGES

If we change this Privacy Policy, we will post those changes on our website so our users are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances, if any, we disclose.  If at any point, we decide to use personally identifiable information in a manner different from that stated at the time it was collected, we would notify users by email. Users may always inform us not to use their information.

HOW TO CONTACT US

If you have any questions or concerns regarding this Privacy Policy or our privacy policies in general, please send us a detailed message to blackrockgalleries.com or call 203-335-0000.