The Retail Network, Inc. / TheRetailNetwork.org Privacy Notice

The Retail Network, Inc. and TheRetailNetwork.org knows that you care how information about you is used and shared, and we appreciate your trust that we will do so carefully and sensibly. This notice describes our privacy policy. By visiting The Retail Network, Inc. and TheRetailNetwork.org you are accepting the practices described in this Privacy Notice.

What Personal Information About Customers Does The Retail Network, Inc and TheRetailNetwork.org Gather?

The information we learn from customers helps us personalize and continually improve your Retail Network experience. Here are the types of information we gather.

Information You Give Us: We receive and store any information you enter on our Web site or give us in any other way. We use the information that you provide for such purposes as responding to your requests, customizing future Retail Network events, improving our web site, and communicating with you.
Automatic Information: We receive and store certain types of information whenever you interact with us. For example, like many Web sites, we use "cookies," and we obtain certain types of information when your Web browser accesses TheRetailNetwork.org.
E-mail Communications: To help us make e-mails more useful and interesting, we often receive a confirmation when you open e-mail from The Retail Network, Inc. or TheRetailNetwork.org if your computer supports such capabilities. We also compare our customer list to lists received from other companies, in an effort to avoid sending unnecessary messages to our customers. If you do not want to receive e-mail or other mail from us, please contact us.
Information from Other Sources: We might receive information about you from other sources and add it to our account information.

What About Cookies?

Cookies are alphanumeric identifiers that we transfer to your computer's hard drive through your Web browser to enable our systems to recognize your browser and to provide you with additional features.
The Help portion of the toolbar on most browsers will tell you how to prevent your browser from accepting new cookies, how to have the browser notify you when you receive a new cookie, or how to disable cookies altogether. Additionally, you can disable or delete similar data used by browser add-ons, such as Flash cookies, by changing the add-on's settings or visiting the Website of its manufacturer. However, because cookies allow you to take advantage of some of TheRetailNetwork.org's essential features, we recommend that you leave them turned on. For instance, if you block or otherwise reject our cookies, you will not be able to add items to your Shopping Cart, proceed to Checkout, or use any of The Retail Network, Inc. or TheRetailNetwork.org's products and services that require you to Sign in.

Does The Retail Network, Inc. and TheRetailNetwork.org Share the Information It Receives?

Information about our customers is an important part of our business. We share customer information only as described below that either are subject to this Privacy Notice or follow practices at least as protective as those described in this Privacy Notice.

Third-Party Service Providers: We employ other companies and individuals to perform functions on our behalf. Examples include sending postal mail and e-mail, removing repetitive information from customer lists, analyzing data, providing marketing assistance and processing credit card payments. They have access to personal information needed to perform their functions, but may not use it for other purposes.
Member List Sales: We will on occasion choose to sell our member list (including name, company name, address, emails and phone numbers) to select third parties if we believe the product or service will be a benefit to our members.
Promotional Offers: Sometimes we send offers to selected groups of The Retail Network, Inc. and TheRetailNetwork.org's members on behalf of other businesses. When we do this, we do not give that business your name and address.
Business Transfers: As we continue to develop our business, we might develop subsidiaries or business units. In such transactions, customer information generally is one of the transferred business assets but remains subject to the promises made in any pre-existing Privacy Notice (unless, of course, the customer consents otherwise). Also, in the unlikely event that The Retail Network, Inc. or TheRetailNetwork.org or substantially all of its assets are acquired, customer information will of course be one of the transferred assets.
Protection of The Retail Network, Inc., TheRetailNetwork.org and Others: We release account and other personal information when we believe release is appropriate to comply with the law; enforce or apply our Conditions of Use and other agreements; or protect the rights, property, or safety of The Retail Network, Inc., TheRetailNetwork.org, our users, or others. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organizations for fraud protection and credit risk reduction. Obviously, however, this does not include selling, renting, sharing, or otherwise disclosing personally identifiable information from customers for commercial purposes in violation of the commitments set forth in this Privacy Notice.
With Your Consent: Other than as set out above, you will receive notice when information about you might go to third parties, and you will have an opportunity to choose not to share the information.

How Secure Is Information About Me?

We work to protect the security of your information during transmission by using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) software, which encrypts information you input.
We reveal only the last five digits of your credit card numbers when confirming an order. Of course, we transmit the entire credit card number to the appropriate credit card company during order processing.
It is important for you to protect against unauthorized access to your password and to your computer. Be sure to sign off when finished using a shared computer.

What About Third-Party Advertisers and Links to Other Websites?

Our site may include third-party advertising and links to other websites. We do not provide any personally identifiable customer information to these advertisers or third-party websites.

These third-party websites and advertisers, or Internet advertising companies working on their behalf, sometimes use technology to send (or "serve") the advertisements that appear on our website directly to your browser. They automatically receive your IP address when this happens. They may also use cookies, JavaScript, web beacons (also known as action tags or single-pixel gifs), and other technologies to measure the effectiveness of their ads and to personalize advertising content. We do not have access to or control over cookies or other features that they may use, and the information practices of these advertisers and third-party websites are not covered by this Privacy Notice. Please contact them directly for more information about their privacy practices.

The Retail Network, Inc. and TheRetailNetwork.org may also display targeted advertising based on personal information about users. Although The Retail Network, Inc. and TheRetailNetwork.org does not provide any personal information to advertisers, advertisers (including ad-serving companies) may assume that users who interact with or click on a targeted advertisement meet the targeting criteria used to display the ad (for example, users in New York who manage shopping centers).

Which Information Can I Access?

The Retail Network, Inc. and TheRetailNetwork.org gives you access to information about your account and your interactions with The Retail Network, Inc. and TheRetailNetwork.org for the limited purpose of viewing and, in certain cases, updating that information.

What Choices Do I Have?

As discussed above, you can always choose not to provide information, even though it might be needed to register or to take advantage of The Retail Network, Inc. or TheRetailNetwork.org’s features.
You can add or update certain user account information on TheRetailNetowrk.org pages. When you update information, we usually keep a copy of the prior version for our records.
If you do not want to receive e-mail or other mail from us, please adjust your user profile. (If you do not want to receive Conditions of Use and other legal notices from us, such as this Privacy Notice, those notices will still govern your use of The Retail Network, Inc. and TheRetailNetwork.org and it is your responsibility to review them for changes.)
The Help portion of the toolbar on most browsers will tell you how to prevent your browser from accepting new cookies, how to have the browser notify you when you receive a new cookie, or how to disable cookies altogether. Additionally, you can disable or delete similar data used by browser add-ons, such as Flash cookies, by changing the add-on's settings or visiting the Website of its manufacturer. However, because cookies allow you to take advantage of some of The Retail Network, Inc. and TheRetailNetwork.org's essential features, we recommend that you leave them turned on. For instance, if you block or otherwise reject our cookies, you will not be able to add items to your Shopping Cart, proceed to Checkout, or use any The Retail Network, Inc.’s or TheRetailNetwork.org's products and services that require you to Sign in.

Are Children Allowed to Use The Retail Network, Inc. or TheRetailNetwork.org?

The Retail Network, Inc. and TheRetailNetwork.org does not sell products or memberships for purchase by children. If you are under 18, you may use The Retail Network, Inc. or TheRetailNetwork.org only with the involvement of a parent or guardian.

Does The Retail Network, Inc. Participate in the Safe Harbor Program?

The Retail Network, Inc. and TheRetailNetwork.org is a participant in the Safe Harbor program developed by the U.S. Department of Commerce and the European Union. We have certified that we adhere to the Safe Harbor Privacy Principles agreed upon by the U.S. and the E.U. For more information about the Safe Harbor and to view our certification, visit the U.S. Department of Commerce's Safe Harbor Web site. If you would like to contact The Retail Network, Inc. directly about the Safe Harbor program, please send an e-mail to info@theretailnetwork.org.

Conditions of Use, Notices, and Revisions

If you choose to visit The Retail Network, Inc. or TheRetailNetwork.org, your visit and any dispute over privacy is subject to this Notice and our Conditions of Use, including limitations on damages, arbitration of disputes, and application of the law of the state of New York. If you have any concern about privacy at The Retail Network, Inc. or TheRetailNetwork.org, please contact us at info@theretailnetwork.org with a thorough description, and we will try to resolve it.

Our business changes constantly, and our Privacy Notice and the Conditions of Use will change also. We may e-mail periodic reminders of our notices and conditions, unless you have instructed us not to, but you should check our Web site frequently to see recent changes. Unless stated otherwise, our current Privacy Notice applies to all information that we have about you and your account. We stand behind the promises we make, however, and will never materially change our policies and practices to make them less protective of customer information collected in the past without the consent of affected customers.

Examples of Information Collected

Information You Give Us

You provide most such information when you search, buy, post, participate in a contest or questionnaire, or communicate with customer service. For example, you provide information when you search for a member or register for an event through The Retail Network, Inc. or TheRetailNetwork.org; provide information in Your Profile; communicate with us by phone, e-mail, or otherwise; complete a questionnaire or a contest entry form; provide employer information when opening a corporate account; participate in other community features; share information with The Retail Network, Inc or TheRetailNetwork.org; and employ other Personal Notification Services. As a result of those actions, you might supply us with such information as your name, address, and phone numbers; credit card information; content of e-mails to us; personal description and photograph in Your Profile; and financial information, including Social Security and driver's license numbers.

Automatic Information

Examples of the information we collect and analyze include the Internet protocol (IP) address used to connect your computer to the Internet; login; e-mail address; password; computer and connection information such as browser type, version, and timezone setting, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system, and platform; purchase history, which we sometimes aggregate with similar information from other customers; the full Uniform Resource Locator (URL) clickstream to, through, and from our Web site, including date and time; cookie number; people you viewed or searched for; and the phone number you used to call our 800 number. We may also use browser data such as cookies, Flash cookies (also known as Flash Local Shared Objects), or similar data on certain parts of our Website for fraud prevention and other purposes. During some visits we may use software tools such as JavaScript to measure and collect session information, including page response times, download errors, length of visits to certain pages, page interaction information (such as scrolling, clicks, and mouse-overs), and methods used to browse away from the page.

Information from Other Sources

Examples of information we receive from other sources include updated address information from our carriers or other third parties, which we use to correct our records or communication more easily; account information and page-view information; search term and search result; and credit history information from credit bureaus, which we use to help prevent and detect fraud.

Third-Party Advertisers and Links to Other Websites

Examples of third-party advertisers and advertising companies that you can link to from The Retail Network, Inc. or TheRetailNetwork.org's website or that serve advertising content directly to your browser on certain The Retail Network, Inc or TheRetailNetwork.org pages may include Doubleclick. You can find out more about its information collection and use practices, including how to opt out of cookies and other collection techniques that is uses, by accessing their website.

Information You Can Access

Examples of information you can access easily at The Retail Network, Inc. or TheRetailNetwork.org include up-to-date information regarding personally identifiable information (including name, e-mail, password and communications preferences); payment settings (including credit card information); and e-mail notification settings (including Alerts and newsletters).