HipSnip Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions

In this policy, the following expressions have the following meanings:

• Retailer means any party supplying goods and/or services to Users.
• Our Product or the HipSnip Product means a shopping Q&A channel incorporating frequently asked questions functionality populated by end users and a community of experts and powered by HipSnip proprietary technology.
• Publisher means any party which has agreed to utilise the HipSnip Product.
• Publisher Site means a Publisher’s website carrying a hypertext link to Our Product.
• Publisher Link means a hypertext link to Our Product on a Publisher’s Site.
• Service means the provision of Our Product.
• HipSnip or we means HipSnip Limited.
• HipSnip Admin Interface means the login-protected section on our website that provides the Publisher or Retailer with reporting on activity and commissions, account and service management.
• User means an end-user experiencing HipSnip’ technology and accessing Our Product via a Publisher Link.
• Visitor or you means anyone who visits our website, including Publishers and Users.

HipSnip recognise that your privacy is very important to you and that it is your right to control your personal information, whether you are a Publisher, a Visitor or a User.

What does this privacy policy cover?

This privacy policy explains our practices relating to the data we collect from Visitors. It also explains our practices relating to the collection of data from Users when they interact with our affiliate links.

This privacy policy is therefore separated into discrete sections for:

• A) Visitors
• B) Publishers & Retailers
• C) Users
• D) General

A) VISITORS »

This section describes the information collected from Visitors and how it is used by HipSnip.

How we use cookies on our website

A cookie is a small text file that is stored on a user's computer for tracking and record-keeping purposes. We use both session ID cookies and persistent cookies, further details of which can be obtained hipsnip.com/cookies .We use session cookies to make it easier for you to navigate our site. A session ID cookie expires when you close your browser. A persistent cookie remains on your hard drive for an extended period of time. You can remove persistent cookies via your browser’s ‘clear cookie’ function. Please see allaboutcookies.org for more information about blocking cookies on your particular web browser.

Unless you have adjusted your browser setting so that it will refuse cookies, we will drop cookies as soon as you visit our site.

Persistent cookies enable us to track and target your interests to enhance your experience on our website [and, if applicable, the HipSnip Admin Interface]. For example, we use this data to understand how you interact with our website so we can make improvements to the information and design of our website. By agreeing to the terms of this privacy policy, you consent to the cookies referenced above being dropped onto your machine.

What we share with third parties

We use an analytics company, which drops cookies via our website and collects non-personally identifiable information about you, so we can understand how you use our website. We do not have access to or control over these cookies, but please see hipsnip.com/cookies for more information on these cookies. By agreeing to the terms of this privacy policy, you consent to the cookies referenced above being dropped onto your machine.

B) PUBLISHERS »

What information we collect from Publishers

When Publishers sign up to use Our Product, we collect at least the following pieces of information:

• Full name
• Email address
• Telephone number
• Website information
• Payment & Tax Information
• Address

We also store information about when and how Publishers use our reports and other tools and interfaces provided by us.

How we use Publisher information

We use this information to perform the following tasks:

• To contact Publishers to help them with use and optimisation of the Service
• To pay Publishers the commissions they earn through the Service
• To communicate with Publishers on HipSnip-related matters
• To provide Publishers with order and billing history information
• To improve the service we provide to Publishers based on how Publishers use our service and the tools which we provide to them.

Updating Publisher personal information

Publishers can edit any of their personal information by logging into their HipSnip Admin Interface and updating their account details. It is a Publisher’s responsibility to:

• protect against unauthorised access to their details and the HipSnip Publisher Interface;
• log-off or exit from the HipSnip Publisher Interface when not using it; and
• keep its password secret.

What we share with third parties

We may share with certain key partners and advertisers some anonymous Publisher information in order to optimise our advertiser relationships and increase revenue yields for Publishers.

HipSnip will never sell, rent or otherwise disclose any of your personal information, including your email address, to any third party without your prior and explicit consent. However, we may disclose your personal data to third parties:

• In the event that we sell or buy any business or assets, in which case we may disclose your personal data to the prospective seller or buyer of such business or assets.
• If we are under a duty to disclose or share your personal data in order to comply with any legal obligation, or in order to enforce or apply the terms on which we have agreed to provide the service or to protect the rights, property, or safety of HipSnip, our customers, or others. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organisations for the purpose of fraud protection and credit risk reduction.

C) USERS »

This section explains how information about Users is obtained and used by us.

What is HipSnip?

Our Product is used by Publishers & Retailers to help them earn an income. It is intended to be unobtrusive and seamless to a User’s online experience, and works by creating/tagging links to where products can be purchased online within the content Users are reading. If Users buy something as a result of clicking on these links, the Retailer may pay a referral fee. This referral fee does not come out of Users’ pockets, nor does it affect the price Users pay or the experience Users have on the Retailer site.

What information does HipSnip collect about Users through its technology and how does it use this information?

When Users sign up to use Our Product, we collect at least the following pieces of information:

• Full name
• Email address
• Gender
• Country of residence
• Age range

Except for this we do not intentionally capture any personally identifiable data.

We do store Users’ IP addresses, from which we can determine a User’s vicinity. We need this information to ensure the links we create are to Retailers in a User’s country. We do not use this information to identify any individuals.

We also store information about the device Users use to access the internet, such as the browser type, browser version, and device used to access sites within our network. This helps us ensure we can diagnose and fix browser compatibility issues more swiftly, and optimise our service to suit the preferred browsing environments.

We aim to provide Users with more relevant advertising and useful links to products in which they are likely to be interested, and to Retailers from whom they are likely to want to buy. To achieve this, we collect anonymous information, using cookies, about the websites within our affiliate network that Users visit, which of our links Users click on, and whether Users make a purchase (although we do not always know this). Further information regarding the cookies we utilise to collect this information is contained hipsnip.com/cookies

We use cookies to collect the information we need to optimise the product/Retailer links we monetise/create, and improve the service we provide to Publishers and to Users. However, we do not ever drop any third-party cookie within our own JavaScript, so Users can be certain that their data and privacy is being protected in the manner we describe within this policy.

D) GENERAL »

How we keep your data secure

All information you provide to us is stored in the EU on secure servers that are protected in secure facilities including firewall protection.

HipSnip has implemented such technology and security features, as well as strict internal guidelines, to safeguard the privacy of your personal information from unauthorised access or improper use. We will continue to enhance security as new technology becomes available.

While we make every effort to ensure that your information is secure on our system, no data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. As a result, we cannot guarantee the security of any information you transmit to us, and you do so at your own risk.

Access authorisation is granted to key HipSnip staff only. Backups are run to prevent loss of information, and our Internet servers are housed in secure facilities.

We have security measures in place to protect our customer database and access to this database is restricted internally.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

We reserve the right to modify this privacy policy at any time, so please review it frequently. If we make material changes to this policy, we will notify you here, by email or, in the case of Publishers, by means of a notice on the HipSnip Admin Interface.

Contacting HipSnip

If you have any questions about this privacy policy, our practices, or your dealings with HipSnip, you can contact us info@hipsnip.com

You have certain rights under the Data Protection Act 1998, including the right to be told what personal information we hold about you on our database. Should you wish to exercise that right, or if you have any questions concerning the HipSnip privacy policy, please contact us via the following channels:

HipSnip Limited

24th Floor Portland House

Bressenden Place

London

SW1E 5BH.

United Kingdom.

legal@hipsnip.com

(Please note that by English law we are entitled to charge you a small sum for providing this information).

Data Protection Information

You can obtain further information about data protection and privacy laws by visiting the Information Commissioner’s web site at: www.ico.gov.uk/for_the_public.aspx