The policy set forth below is provided in English only to avoid any misinterpretations caused by a language translation. If necessary, please seek the proper advice, or please do not use this web site.
Sotheby's International Realty©
PRIVACY STATEMENT
Last modified June 9, 2008
Sotheby's International Realty Affiliates LLC operates the web site at www.sothebysrealty.com (“Site”). We respect the privacy of each user of the Site (referred to as "you" or "a user"), whether you are just beginning your real estate search or have previously visited our Site. This Privacy Statement gives you specific information about how we protect your privacy, how we treat information we collect on the Site that identifies an individual user (“Personal Information”), and how we use aggregated information.
BY REGISTERING FOR OR USING THE SITE, YOU SIGNIFY YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF THIS PRIVACY STATEMENT. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THIS PRIVACY STATEMENT, YOU CANNOT USE THE SITE. We reserve the right to modify this Statement at any time by posting a notice on the Site's home page. (If we consider it appropriate, we may also provide additional notice of significant changes.) Your use of the Site after the date of the last modification listed at the beginning of this Privacy Statement indicates to us that you agree to the changes.
Location of Servers and Transfer of Information to the United States
The Site is hosted by servers in the United States. If you are located outside of the United States, your Personal Information will be transferred to the United States. By submitting your Personal Information, you consent to its transfer to the United States and to its storage, processing, and use there in accordance with this Privacy Statement.
Scope of this Privacy Statement
This Privacy Statement applies to your use of this Site only. We do not own, operate or control the web sites of our Franchisees or sales associates. Accordingly, this Statement does not apply to a Franchisee's or sales associate's web site or to a Franchisee's or sales associate's collection, use, storage and disclosure of your Personal Information.
1. Collection and Use of Your Personal Information
We collect your Personal Information on the Site in order to enhance the services we offer you. We collect Personal Information from you only when you voluntarily submit it in order to obtain certain services or information, including (A) registrations for special communications, such as saving a search for you and, but only if you request it, sending you new listings that fit the profile of your saved search; (B) requests to find a property, to list your property, and to find a sales associate; (C) requests to contact us; (D) requests to receive periodic industry updates; (E) requests to email a listing to a friend; and (F) inquiries about franchising opportunities.
Requests to Find or List a Property and to Find a Sales Associate
If you submit a request through this Site to find or list a property or to find a sales associate, you will be asked to provide Personal Information and we refer this information to Franchisees or sales associates to respond to your request. For example, if you ask that we list your property or if you ask to see more listings in a given area, you will be directed to a Franchisee in that area.
Contacting Us
If you contact us, we collect Personal Information, which is retained or referred to an independent Franchisee or sales associate depending on the nature of your inquiry. If you are looking for a property or a sales associate, it is referred to a Franchisee or sales associate; if your inquiry or complaint requires a response from us, it is referred to the appropriate department for research and a response. The information we collect is not used in any other way and is not retained after one year.
Refer a Listing to a Friend
If you choose to send a listing to a friend, you will be asked to provide the friend's name and email address in order to personalize the email and to send the email. We do not store this information, and the information is used only to send the one-time referral email.
2. Collection of Non-Personal Information
Even if you do not send us any Personal Information, we collect information about how you use our site (“Non-Personal Information”). This information cannot be used to identify you personally and is explained in more detail below under “Non-Personal Information”.
Cookies
A cookie is a small data file, often including an anonymous unique identifier that is sent from a web site's computer and stored on your computer's hard drive. Use of cookies is common on the Internet. A web site can send its own cookie to your browser if your browser's preferences allow it, but (to protect your privacy) your browser permits a web site to access only the cookies it has already sent to you, not the cookies sent to you by other sites. You can configure your browser to accept all cookies, reject all cookies, or notify you when a cookie is sent. (Each browser is different, so check the "Help" menu of your browser to learn how to change your cookie preferences.) You can reset your browser to refuse all cookies or indicate when a cookie is being sent. But if you refuse cookies, some parts of the Site will not function properly and may not provide services or information you have requested. For example, without cookies, we will not be able to provide you with searches that you have asked us to save.
Non-Personal Information
Like many sites, we obtain Non-Personal Information such as IP (internet protocol) addresses, browser types, the name of your ISP (internet service provider), information about where a user comes from before arriving at our Site, what pages a user visits, the order of those pages, and the amount of time spent on each. A vendor performs this service for us by sending a cookie to gather this information, compile it, and report to us. We use Non-Personal Information to customize the advertising and content you see, improve our services, conduct research, and provide anonymous aggregated reporting for internal audits and third-parties.
3. Use of Information
We use the Personal Information and the Non-Personal Information we collect on the Site (A) to provide you with the services that you ask to receive through the Site, including saving searches and, if you request it, sending you updates about those searches, (B) to receive, if you choose, to receive periodic industry updates, (C) to answer your questions or complaints, (D) to refer you to Franchisees and sales associates about finding or listing a property or to locate a sale associate; (E) to refer a listing to a friend; (F) inquiries about franchising opportunities and (G) for analytical purposes to help us improve the Site and for our business generally.
4. Sharing Your Information
We do not rent, sell, or share with third parties the Personal Information we collect from you on this Site except (i) to provide information or services that you have requested, (ii) with your permission, or (iii) under the following circumstances:
A. Third party vendors we engage to provide services on our behalf, such as hosting, web-site development, and support, have access to Personal Information, but they have agreed not to disclose the Personal Information or to use it for any purpose other than providing the requested services.
B. There may arise special circumstances where it is necessary for us to disclose and use Personal Information and Non-Personal Information, such as: to enforce this Privacy Statement or any other part of our Terms of Use; to protect our property or rights; to protect the safety of anyone; to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding illegal or improper activities; to carry out a merger or consolidation with another entity, a sale or transfer of some or all of our assets, or any similar transaction; or for other reasons we determine in good faith are necessary, appropriate, or required by law, such as when we respond to subpoenas, court orders, or other legal or administrative process.
The Site contains links to third-party web sites, including Sotheby's Auction House, our Franchisees, real estate industry organizations and community outreach organizations. If you hold your mouse over a link, it will indicate whether clicking the link will send you off our Site. When you click on those links, you will go to a third-party site where you will be subject to that site's privacy statement and we encourage you to read that policy statement. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of those other web sites and we expressly disclaim any liability for their actions, including actions relating to the use and disclosure of Personal Information by those third parties. We remind you to be aware of when you leave our Site and enter a third-party web site, including one of our independent Franchisees, and again encourage you to read the privacy statement on any web site that collects your Personal Information.
5. Security
Our hosting services maintains its systems in accordance with reasonable industry standards to reasonably secure the information of its customers. However, no data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. "Perfect security" does not exist on the Internet, and you use the Site at your own risk.
6. Correction/Updating Personal Information
If your Personal Information changes or if you no longer wish to use the Site, you may correct or update your Personal Information or unsubscribe from any industry updates you have requested by modifying or deleting your profile on the Site, writing to customer service at Sotheby's International Realty Affiliates LLC, Attn: Interactive Marketing, 1 Campus Drive, Parsippany, NJ 07054 or sending an email to realty.webmaster@sothebysrealty.com.
7. Children
This Site is not directed to children under the age of 13 (“Children”), and we do not knowingly collect any information, including Personal Information, from Children.
8. California Privacy Rights
Under California law, California residents have the right to request in writing from businesses with whom they have an established business relationship (1) a list of categories of personal information, such as name, address, e-mail address, and the type of services provided to the customer, that a business has disclosed to third parties [including affiliates that are separate legal entities] during the immediately preceding calendar year for the third parties' direct marketing purposes and (2) the names and addresses of all such third parties.
To request the above information please contact us by writing to customer service at Sotheby's International Realty Affiliates LLC, Attn: Interactive Marketing, 1 Campus Drive, Parsippany, NJ 07054 or sending an email to realty.webmaster@sothebysrealty.com.
We will respond to such requests within 30 days of receipt. Please note that we are only required to respond to each customer once per calendar year.
9. Comments and Questions
If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Statement, please contact us by using the “Contact Us” feature or by postal mail at Sotheby's International Realty Affiliates LLC, Attn: Interactive Marketing, 1 Campus Drive, Parsippany, NJ 07054.
