Virtualstock Privacy Policy

Virtualstock Limited ("Virtualstock", “we”, “us” or “our”) is committed to protecting your privacy.

This Policy (together with our Website terms of use, available at http://www.virtualstock.com/terms-and-conditions, and any other documents referred to on it) sets out the basis on which any personal data (meaning any information about you which is personally identifiable) that Virtualstock collects from you or that you provide to Virtualstock, will be processed by Virtualstock. Please read the following information carefully to understand our practices regarding your personal data.

For the purposes of data protection legislation, the Data Controller is Virtualstock Limited, a company registered in England and Wales under company registration number 05078942 and whose registered office address is at "Virtualstock Limited, Work.Life, The White Building, 33 King's Rd, Reading RG1 3AR, United Kingdom". Virtualstock is responsible for your information under this Privacy Policy.

Amendments and updates to this Policy may be made from time to time. Any revisions will be posted on this page and where appropriate, notified to you by email, so you will always be aware of what information we collect and how we use that information. Please review this page regularly so that you are aware of any changes.

1.                 Information we collect and what it is used for

We may collect and process the information about you under three general categories: Information you provide us; information we collect about you; and information we receive from other sources.

  • Information you provide

As part of Virtualstock’s service of delivering and managing data containing product information and images for web stores and online procurement systems, we will collect information about you by you providing that information through opening a user account or filling in forms on the Virtualstock Website (‘the Website’) or by corresponding with us by phone, email or otherwise. This may include information categorized as personal data:

  • Personal details such as your name, email address, address and phone number, when you register;
  • Business contact information such as your job title, department, and name of organisation;
  • Financial information and history including bank and credit card information and history and buying or selling information provided during a transaction;
  • Demographic information such as behaviour and preferences, interests and postcode when you search for a product, upload a product onto our Website, place an order on the Website, and/or participate in any social media functions on the Website;
  • Other information that we may request from you through surveys, participation in promotions, or other features of our services.

We will not knowing collect personal sensitive data.

We will use this information to carry out our obligations and to provide you with the information, products and services that you request from us, and to provide you with information about similar products and services. If you are an existing customer, we will use this information to contact you with recommendations and suggestions of products which we feel may interest you. We will also use this information to notify you of any changes to our service and to ensure that the content on our Website is presented in the most effective manner for you.  

The information you provide to us in connection with our products and services will not be shared with third parties except as required by law.

With your consent, we may pass your details on to third parties to enable them to supply you with services or products or assist you further with advising you on the suitability of those products, provided that you have provided your consent and selected to opt in to receive information from third parties.

  • Information we collect about you

For each of your visits to our Website, we may automatically collect the following information:

  • Technical information, including the Internet Protocol (IP) address used to connect your computer to the Internet, your login information, browser type and version, time zone setting, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and Platform;
  • Information about your visit, including the full Uniform Resource Locators (URL) clickstream to, through and from our Website (including date and time); products you viewed or searched for, page response times, download errors, length of visits to certain pages, products you viewed and searched for, page interaction information (such as scrolling, clicks, and mouse-overs), and methods used to browse away from the page and any phone number used to call our customer service number, geo-location from your mobile device when such information is not disabled through your mobile device;
  • Cookies and Similar Technologies, such as web beacons, pixels, and mobile identifiers. We may also allow our business partners to use tracking technologies when using our services on our platform, “the Edge”, or engage others to track your behaviour on our behalf.
  • Information we receive from other sources

As part of our services, we work closely with third parties including but not limited to our business partners, sub-contractors in technical, payment and delivery services, advertising networks, analytics providers, search information providers, credit reference agencies, and we may receive information about you from them. We may also receive information about you from social media sites. If you connect your social media account to your Virtualstock account, you agree that Virtualstock can collect, use and retain the information received from the social media site(s) in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

For example, we may receive background check results or financial warnings from service providers, or identity verification service providers, or fraud warnings and demographic data.

  • What the information is used for

Your information will be used, stored and processed in order to allow you to use the Website and Platform, maintain a safe and trusted online environment, and to promote our advertising and marketing.

  • Using of the Website and Platform

Your information will be used to enable you to access and use the Website and Platform; enable you to communicate with retailers and suppliers; operate, protect, improve and optimise the Website and Platform and experience, such as by performing analytics and conducting research; personalise and otherwise customise your experience by showing ads based on your search history and preferences; enable to access and use payment services; provide customer service, send you service or support messages such as updates, security alerts and account notifications.

  • Maintaining a Safe and Trusted Online Environment

We also use your information in order to maintain a safe environment, for fraud detection and prevention; for any other purpose you authorise at the time of collection; to conduct investigations and risk assessments; to verify or authenticate information or identifications provided; to conduct checks against databases and other information resources for the supply of products; to comply with our legal obligations; and to resolve any disputes with any other users and to enforce our agreements with third parties.

  • Promoting our Advertising and Marketing

 

We will use your information to send you promotional messages including advertising and marketing information that we feel may be of interest to you based on your preferences; we may also administer promotional activities or events sponsored by Virtualstock or our business partners.

We will combine the information received from other sources with information provided and collected in order to provide you with our services.

2.                 Where we store your personal data

We take all reasonable steps to ensure that your data is treated securely and in accordance with this Privacy Policy. The data that we collect from you may be transferred to, and stored at, a destination outside the European Economic Area ("EEA"). It may also be processed by staff operating outside the EEA who work for us or for one of our suppliers. Such staff maybe engaged in, among other things, the fulfilment of your order, the processing of your payment details and the provision of support services. By submitting your personal data, you agree to this transfer, storing or processing. All information you provide to us is stored on our secure servers. Any payment transactions will be encrypted using SSL technology. Where we have given you (or where you have chosen) a password which enables you to access certain parts of our site, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. We ask you not to share a password with anyone. Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the Internet is not completely secure. Although we will do our best to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted to our site; any transmission is at your own risk. Once we have received your information, we will use strict procedures and security features to try to prevent unauthorised access.

3.                 Disclosure of your information

We may disclose your personal information to selected third parties as follows:-

  • To business partners, sellers/purchasers (as appropriate), suppliers and sub-contractors for the performance of any contract we enter into with them or you;
  • To analytics and search engine providers that assist us in the improvement and optimisation of our site;
  • To credit reference agencies for the purpose of assessing your credit score where this is a condition of us or a third party entering into a contract with you;
  • In certain circumstances, for example, for hosting, other relevant third parties may transfer, process and store your personal information outside of the European Economic Area ("EEA") for business and administration purposes;

By submitting your personal data to us through our Website and clicking on the consent button, you consent to your personal data being transferred outside the EEA. Where this is done, we will use strict procedures and security features to try to prevent unauthorised access.

  • To any actual or prospective seller or buyer of our business;
  • In order to comply with any legal obligation, or in order to enforce our terms and conditions we may be required to disclose your personal information;
  • If Virtualstock or substantially all of its assets are acquired by a third party, personal data held by us about our customers will be one of the transferred assets;
  • Virtualstock may share your personal information with its group companies, which means subsidiaries and holding companies
  • For the purposes of the prevention or detection of offences, and/or the apprehension or prosecution of offenders, we may share any information that we collect with the Police, other public or private sector agencies, governmental or representative bodies in accordance with the relevant legislation. This will include public authorities, insurance companies, finance companies and/or other agencies.
  • Your data will be stored for 7 (seven) years after which your data will be erased.

4.                 Marketing communications

When you register with Virtualstock, we ask you whether you would like to receive our communications detailing offers, news and services from Virtualstock and/or information from third party companies via email and/or via post that we feel may be of interest to you. In order to receive these communications, you will need to opt in during registration or you can opt out of receiving this information by clicking the link found at the bottom of each email or updating your account preferences.

5.                 Service providers

We use a variety of third party service providers to help us provide services related to the Edge. Service providers may be located inside or outside of the European Economic Area (“EEA”). For example, service providers may help us: (i) verify or authenticate your identification, (ii) check information against public databases, (iii) assist us with background checks, fraud prevention, and risk assessment, or (iv) provide customer service, advertising, or payments services. These providers have limited access to your information to perform these tasks on our behalf, and are contractually obligated to use it consistent with this Privacy Policy.

6.                 YOUR RIGHTS

You have the right to:

  • Access all personal information supplied to us and held by us in order to rectify any inaccuracies on the information held. Further enquiries should be made to our data protection team at dpt@virtualstock.co.uk
  • Request the erasure of your personal data or to object to the processing of your data
  • Request that your personal data be ported to you or a new provider if the data is processed automatically

Lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority. The designated supervisory for the UK is the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). For details of our complaint procedure, please contact our data protection team by email on dpt@virtualstock.co.uk.

  • Withdraw consent to us processing your data at any time. This will not affect the processing already carried out with your consent.
  • Request further information regarding the personal data that we hold about you and the source(s) of that information.

7.                 Cookies

Our Website uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of our Website. This helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our Website and also allows us to improve the Website. By continuing to browse the site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers that we store on your browser or the hard drive of your computer if you agree. Cookies contain information that is transferred to your computer's hard drive.

We use the following cookies:

(a) strictly necessary cookies. These are cookies that are required for the operation of our Website. They include, for example, cookies that enable you to log into secure areas of our Website, use a shopping cart or make use of e-billing services;

(b) analytical/performance cookies. They allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors and to see how visitors move around our Website when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way our Website works, for example, by ensuring that users are finding what they are looking for easily;

(c) functionality cookies. These are used to recognise you when you return to our Website. This enables us to personalise our content for you, greet you by name and remember your preferences (for example, your choice of language or region);

(d) targeting cookies. These cookies record your visit to our Website, the pages you have visited and the links you have followed.

We will use this information to make our Website and the advertising displayed on it more relevant to your interests. We may also share this information with third parties for this purpose. Please note that third parties (including, for example, advertising networks and providers of external services like web traffic analysis services) may also use cookies, over which we have no control. These cookies are likely to be analytical/performance cookies or targeting cookies. You block cookies by activating the setting on your browser that allows you to refuse the setting of all or some cookies. However, if you use your browser settings to block all cookies (including essential cookies) you may not be able to access all or parts of our site. Persistent cookies stay valid, and will work until their expiry date (unless you delete them before they expire), session cookies expire when you close your web browser.

8.                 Acceptance

By using registering for and using our Website and clicking on the consent button, you consent to the practices described in this Privacy Policy.

9.                 Contact

Questions, comments and requests regarding this Policy are welcomed and should be addressed to dpt@virtualstock.co.uk.