Secure transactions are handled by PayPal. This is their privacy policy:
This policy describes the ways we collect, store, use
and protect your personal information. You accepted this policy when
you signed up for our Service. We may amend this policy at any time
by posting a revised version on our website. The revised version will
be effective at the time we post it. In addition, if the revised version
includes a substantial change, we will provide you with 30 days’
prior notice by posting notice of the change on the "Policy Updates"
page of our website. We last modified this Policy on August 30, 2007
* How we collect information about you
* How we use cookies
* How we protect and store personal information
* How we use the personal information we collect
* How we share personal information with other PayPal users
* How we share personal information with other parties
* How you can restrict PayPal from sharing your personal information
* How you can access or change your personal information
* How you can contact us about privacy questions
How we collect information about you
When you visit the PayPal website, we collect your IP
address and standard web log information, such as your browser type
and the pages you accessed on our website.
If you open an account, we collect the following types
of information from you:
* Contact information - your name, address, phone,
email, Skype ID & other similar info.
* Financial information - the bank account numbers and credit card numbers
that you link to your PayPal account.
Before permitting you to use our Service, we may require
you to provide additional information we can use to verify your identity
or address or manage risk, such as your date of birth, SS number or
other information. We may also obtain information about you from third
parties such as credit bureaus and identity verification services.
When you are using our Service, we collect info about
your account transactions and we may collect info about your computer
or other access device for fraud prevention purposes.
Finally, we may collect additional information from
or about you in other ways not specifically described here. For example,
we may collect information related to your contact with our customer
support team or store results when you respond to a survey.
How we use cookies
When you access our website, we, or companies we hire
to track how our website is used, may place small data files called
"cookies" on your computer.
We send a "session cookie" to your computer
when you log in to your account. This type of cookie helps us to recognize
you if you visit multiple pages on our site during the same session,
so that we don’t need to ask you for your password on each page.
Once you log out or close your browser, this cookie expires and no longer
has any effect.
We also use longer-lasting cookies to display your e-mail
address on our sign-in form, so that you don't need to retype the e-mail
address each time you log in to your account.
We encode our cookies so that only we can interpret
the information stored in them. You are free to decline our cookies
if your browser permits, but doing so may interfere with your use of
our website.
How we protect and store personal information
Throughout this policy, we use the term "personal
information" to describe information that can be associated with
a specific person and can be used to identify that person. We do not
consider personal information to include information that has been anonymized
so that it does not identify a specific user.
We store and process your personal information on our
computers in the US, and we protect it by maintaining physical, electronic
and procedural safeguards in compliance with applicable US federal and
state regulations. We use computer safeguards such as firewalls and
data encryption, we enforce physical access controls to our buildings
and files, and we authorize access to personal information only for
those employees who require it to fulfill their job responsibilities.
How we use the personal information we collect
Our primary purpose in collecting personal information
is to provide you with a safe, smooth, efficient, and customized experience.
We may use your personal information to:
* provide the services and customer support you request;
* process transactions and send notices about your transactions
* resolve disputes, collect fees, and troubleshoot problems;
* prevent potentially prohibited or illegal activities, and enforce
our User Agreement;
* customize, measure, and improve our services and the content and layout
of our website;
* send you targeted marketing, service update notices, and promotional
offers based on your communication preferences;
* compare information for accuracy and verify it with third parties.
How we share personal information with other PayPal
users
To process your payments, we need to share some of your
personal information with the person or company that you are paying
or is paying you. Your contact information, date of sign-up, the number
of payments you have received from verified PayPal customers, and whether
you have verified control of a bank account are displayed to other PayPal
customers who you transact with through PayPal.
If you are buying goods or services and pay through
PayPal, we may provide the seller with the shipping address for the
goods and your confirmed credit card billing address to complete your
transaction with the seller. The seller is not allowed to use this information
to market their services to you unless you have agreed to it.
We work with merchants to enable them to accept payments
from you using PayPal. In doing so, a merchant may share information
about you with us, such as your email address, when you attempt to pay
that merchant. We use this information to confirm to that merchant that
you are a PayPal customer and that the merchant should enable PayPal
as a form of payment for your purchase.
Regardless, we will not disclose your credit card number
or bank account number to anyone you have paid or who has paid you through
PayPal, except with your express permission or if we are required to
do so to comply with a subpoena or other legal process.
How we share personal information with other parties
We may share your personal information with:
* Members of our corporate family (these are companies
owned by our parent, eBay Group Inc., such as Shopping.com or Skype)
to help detect and prevent potentially illegal acts, provide joint services
and for other business purposes. However, these corporate affiliates
will not use this information to market their services to you unless
you have approved it.
* Service providers under contract who help with parts of our business
operations; (fraud prevention, bill collection, marketing, technology
services). Our contracts dictate that these service providers only use
your information in connection with the services they perform for us
and not for their own benefit.
* Financial institutions that we partner with to jointly create and
offer a product such as the PayPal Plus credit card where we share information
with GE Money Bank to determine whether you should receive pre-approved
offers for the PayPal Plus credit card. These financial institutions
may only use this information to market PayPal-related products, unless
you have given consent for other uses.
* Credit bureaus to report outstanding negative balance accounts, as
allowed by law.
* Companies that we plan to merge with or be acquired by. (Should such
a combination occur, we will require that the new combined entity follow
this privacy policy with respect to your personal information. If your
personal information could be used contrary to this policy, you will
receive prior notice.)
* Law enforcement, government officials, or other third parties when
o we are compelled to do so by a subpoena, court order or similar legal
procedure
o we need to do so to comply with law
o we believe in good faith that the disclosure of personal information
is necessary to prevent physical harm or financial loss, to report suspected
illegal activity, or to investigate violations of our User Agreement.
* Other third parties with your consent or direction to do so.
PayPal will not sell or rent any of your personal information
to third parties in the normal course of doing business and only shares
your personal information with third parties as described in this policy.
How you can restrict PayPal from sharing your personal
information
Federal and state laws allow you to restrict the sharing
of your personal information in certain instances. However, these laws
also state that you cannot restrict other types of sharing. Because
we have chosen to refrain from certain types of data sharing, the only
type of sharing of your personal information that you may restrict is
as follows:
If you do not want PayPal to share your personal information
with other financial institutions for the purpose of marketing our jointly
offered products to you, please log in to your account and uncheck the
box in the Information Sharing section of the Notifications and Information
Sharing page. This page can be accessed by going to the Profile subtab
under the My Account tab.
You can also control how we use your contact information
to market our services to you in the notifications preferences.
How you can access or change your personal information
You can review your personal information and make any
necessary changes, at any time by logging in to your account and changing
your preferences in the Profile page of the "My Account" tab.
How you can contact us about privacy questions
If you have questions or concerns regarding this policy,
you should contact us by using this form or writing to us at PayPal,
Attn: Privacy Department, P.O. Box 45950, Omaha, NE 68145-0950. PayPal
maintains offices at 2211 N. First Street, San Jose, CA
PayPal is a TRUSTe licensee. If our response to
your privacy concern is unsatisfactory, then you should contact TRUSTe
by completing the form located at: http://www.truste.org/consumers/watchdog_complaint.php.
TRUSTe will serve as a liaison to PayPal to resolve your concerns regarding
our privacy practices. Please note that TRUSTe will not intervene for
any other type of issue with your account.
