Privacy Policy

By using and visiting our website, and/or providing us with your personal details, you consent to this Privacy Policy.

Our Privacy Policy outlines how and why Merchant Hall collects, uses, and discloses your personal information. It also outlines how we protect your personal information.

We are committed to protecting your privacy and respect your rights to privacy under the National Privacy Principles. We are also committed to complying with other statutory obligations in respect of the collection, use, disclosure and handling of your personal information.

The protection of your privacy and personal details is one of our highest priorities; we consider this to be one of our major responsibilities. We do not sell our mailing lists, nor do we disclose your private information to any other person or company, other than in the circumstances outlined in this Privacy Policy.

Merchant Hall has taken all reasonable steps to protect the personal information it holds from misuse and loss, and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. Our website and databases are protected to ensure that, to the best of our ability, no outside person will be able to obtain your personal details from us. We use secure firewalls whenever receiving and transferring your personal information on our site and we have secure servers. All of our databases are securely encoded using the MD5 cryptographic algorithm that secures passwords. Plus, our online website administration area employs an SSL connection, which is also used by online banks and shopping sites. SSL (Secure Socket Layer) is an encryption protocol, which encodes data sent over the World Wide Web, rendering it unreadable to anyone intercepting the transmission. Refer also to Security, under Terms and Conditions.

Customers using a credit card should note that their credit card details are not stored on the Merchant Hall server. All credit card payments are transferred to a secure ANZ site for payment and processing. Customers are only transferred back to our website once their credit card payment has been processed in full.

Whilst we strive to protect your personal information and take all reasonable steps to protect the personal information we hold from misuse, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure, we will not be held responsible for any loss, misuse, unauthorized access or disclosure, alteration or destruction of personal information you submit to us, and you do so at your own risk.

We only collect personal details relevant to the goods and services we provide. We do not collect any information about you, other than that you specifically and knowingly provide it to us. When you visit our website, we collect personal information through your purchase of a product, or through your consent to receive our e-newsletter. We may also retain the content of any email message you send to us; however, any personal information contained in your message will only be used or disclosed in ways set out in this Privacy Policy. From time to time we may also send you a customer survey, or request other feedback regarding our products and services.

Examples of the personal information we collect include your:

Name
Address
Telephone or mobile number
Email address
Records of correspondence
Payment details
Product preferences
Answers to any surveys we ask you to complete
Feedback or requests regarding our services and products

You must obtain the consent of any third person whose personal information you provide to us.

If you access a Merchant Hall website, our web servers may place cookies on your computer. These are only accessible by us, and will only be used to track the pages of the website visited by you, in order for us to build a better site more tailored to your needs and interests. If you do not want information to be collected by cookies there is a simple procedure in most browsers, which allows you to turn off the cookie function. If you want to know how to do this, please look at the help menu on your browser.

In addition to the personal information we collect, when you browse Merchant Hall, our Internet Service Provider records your visit and logs the following information for statistical purposes:

Your server address
Your top level domain (eg .com; .gov etc)
The date and time of your visit to the site
The pages you accessed and the documents you downloaded, and
The type of browser you are using

Your personal information may be used by us as follows:

To supply products and services requested by you
To administer your account
To conduct appropriate checks for credit-worthiness and for fraud
To carry out complaints handling
For internal purposes such as staff training, reviews, billing, risk management and other various administrative procedures
To send you our e-newsletter, or any other promotional material regarding the products we sell that you have agreed to receive
To help us develop our website to be useful to you, eg through the use of surveys and cookies
To help us develop our information technology requirements, and help our systems maintenance
To analyse information for product development, marketing and research purposes, and to improve and extend our range of services
For any unrelated secondary purpose to which you consent
As otherwise permitted or required by law

We note that Merchant Hall sends by email e-newsletters to those who subscribe to the service. The e-newsletters contain the latest product information, news and promotional offers. We will only send you information regarding other products we sell, and/or our e-newsletter with your consent. You are free to withdraw your consent to receive such promotional material at any time, by following the unsubscribe instructions contained within the email.

We only disclose your personal details if it is with your consent, or if it is otherwise required or permitted under the Privacy Act or other law, or as stated elsewhere in this Privacy Policy. Such disclosure may include disclosures to organizations that provide us with professional advice, such as solicitors, accountants and business advisors, our suppliers, and debt collection agencies. We may also disclose personal information to avoid an imminent threat to a person’s life or to public safety. However, other than this, we will use all reasonable endeavors to prevent the disclosure of your personal information.

Whilst we endeavour to provide you with links to high quality, reputable sites, they are not under our day-to-day control. When you click through to these sites you leave the area controlled by Merchant Hall. We cannot therefore accept responsibility for any issues arising in connection with either their use of your data, the site content, or the services offered to our readers by these sites. Third party websites are responsible for informing you about their own privacy practices.

Merchant Hall is required by law to ensure that any personal information it collects is by lawful means, is not excessive, is accurate, and is kept up to date. We will retain your personal information only for as long as is necessary to provide you with our goods and services or as required by law. When your personal information is no longer required by us or by law, we will take all reasonable steps necessary to destroy or permanently de-identify your personal information. Under privacy laws you are entitled to know what information is held about you and correct any inaccuracies. Please help us to keep your information up to date by notifying us of any changes.

If you have any questions or complaints in relation to your personal information held, used or disclosed by Merchant Hall, please contact us by telephoning 03 9889 3984 or click here to contact us.

If you are not satisfied with how we have handled your personal information, you are entitled to lodge a complaint in accordance with applicable legislation.

We may change this policy from time to time and will notify you by posting an updated version of this Privacy Policy on our website. By using and visiting our website, and/or providing us with your personal details, you consent to any amendments to our Privacy Policy. This document represents our Privacy Policy as at 31 March 2008.