Best Agents
Best Agents (“us”, “our” or “we”) respects the privacy of the visitors to its Website, the home page of which is located at bestagents.us (the “Site”). This Privacy Policy is intended to inform you of our policies and practices regarding the collection, use and disclosure of Personal Information and Anonymous Information you submit to us through our Site. Please note that the type of information we collect and hold about you will depend on whether or not you are a registered user of our Website.
This Privacy Policy has been developed in accordance with our legal obligations. This Privacy Policy applies to all Personal Information and Anonymous Information, excluding our employee information and information in the public domain that has been and will be collected, used and disclosed by Best Agents.
“Personal Information” is information about you that is personally identifiable to you, like your name address, email address, phone number, as well as other non-public information that is associated with the foregoing.
“Anonymous Information” means information that is not associated with or linked to your Personal Information. Anonymous Information does not allow the identification of individual persons. We may create Anonymous Information from (i) automatically gathered information, or (ii) Personal Information by excluding information (such as names) that make the information personally identifiable to you.
Please read this Privacy Policy carefully so that you will understand how your Personal Information will be treated as you make use of our Site. By using the site, you agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy and you expressly consent to the processing of your Personal Information according to this Privacy Policy.
INFORMATION BEST AGENTS GATHERS
Registration/Enroll
When you browse the Site and do not interact with the Site for any online service or product from Best Agents, you browse anonymously. Personally identifiable information such as your name, address, phone number and email address, etc., is not collected as you browse.
If you register or enroll to use Best Agents services, we collect and store Personal Information that specifically identifies you or your account. At this time, the most information you would be required to submit is your first name, middle name, last name, User ID, password, street address, city, state, zip/postal code, country, phone number, email address, date of birth, and gender. Other information requested by Best Agents is optional. We may, in the future, include other optional requests for information from you to help us to tailor the Site for you and deliver personalized information to you. Without your consent, we will not share, rent or sell any Personal Information with third parties in any way other than what is disclosed in this Privacy Policy.
Automatically Gathered Information
Best Agents automatically collects browser type and browser software version to tailor the presentation of the Site and the Site services to the Visitor’s or User’s platform and to maintain a record of the User’s or Visitor’s activity on the Site. As an automatic process, our Web server software records a log file of IP addresses that access the Site. We also collect IP address information but do not ordinarily link IP addresses to Users’ Personal Information. However, we can and will use IP addresses to identify a User when we, in our sole discretion, determine that it is necessary to enforce compliance with our Terms of Service or to protect our service, Sits, customers or others. Further, 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 the Best Agents Customer Service when you respond to a survey.
Cookies
Cookies are small text files a website creates when you visit a site. There are two common types of cookies, “session cookie” and “persistent cookie”. Session cookie is created by a website when that website is accessed and it is automatically deleted by closing the web browser. A persistent cookie is a cookie that is stored on the hard drive of the user’s computer for a period of time chosen by the website that set the cookie, usually for a number of years, unless the user deletes it manually. The use of cookies is an industry standard and cookies in and of themselves do not personally identify users, although they do identify a user’s computer.
We use cookies as a part of the log-in process. If you choose to reject cookies from our Site, you may not be able to log-in and use all the functions and services on the Site. We also use cookies to learn how all our visitors navigate throughout the various parts of the Web site. This website tracking data is used in the aggregate to help us provide the most efficient service and navigational tools for our visitors. Cookies can also make your use of the Site easier by saving log-in preferences. You can indicate whether or not you wish to have your log-in preferences save by checking the “Remember Me” box at registration. If this option is checked, persistent cookies are used to store your log-in information so that you will not need to enter your log-in id each time you visit the Site. If this option is not selected you may need to re-enter your log-in information every time you visit the Site.
HOW BEST AGENTS USES INFORMATION
Personal Information
Once collected, we may use your Personal Information for the following purposes:
To register you as a Best Agents visitor, and to confirm your status as a real estate agent, and Best Agents member;
To process, fulfill and follow up on your membership application;
To create internal reports to understand individual and aggregate web usage and activity levels;
To answer your emails or on-line requests;
To send information you request;
To ensure the Best Agents Site is relevant to your needs;
To deliver Best Agents services such as newsletters or events;
To notify you about Best Agents and its subsidiary companies’ new products/services special offers, upgrades and other related information from Best Agents and other approved third parties.
We provide the option and you can change your mind at any time about receiving email communication by using the unsubscribe instructions provided with each e-mail.
Anonymous Information
We may use Anonymous Information to analyze inquiry, request and usage patterns so that we may enhance our services and the Site. We reserve the right to use and disclose Anonymous Information to third parties in our discretion.
SHARE AND DISCLOSING INFORMATION
We do not sell or trade the Personal Information collected. We may share personal information with our business partners in order to provide them an opportunity to offer products or services that may be of interest to you. Best Agents may also occasionally hire other companies to provide limited services on our behalf including, but not limited to, packaging, mailing and delivering purchases, answering customer questions about products or services, consulting services, data modeling, printing, sending postal mail and processing event registration. We will only provide those companies the information they need to deliver the service. They are prohibited from using that information for any other purpose.
Legal Requests
Best Agents cooperates with law enforcement inquiries, as well as other third parties to enforce laws, such as intellectual property rights, fraud, theft, harassment and other rights. We can (and you authorize us to) disclose any information about you, including the content of your online communications, if we believe in good faith that such disclosure is necessary to:
(a) Comply with relevant laws or to respond to subpoenas or warrants served on us;
(b) Protect or defend the rights or property of Best Agents or third parties;
(c) Assist in an investigation; or
(d) Protect the personal safety of Best Agents personnel or members of the public in urgent circumstances.
BANNER ADVERTISEMENTS ON OUR WEBSITE
Online advertisements on the Site do not collect any personally identifiable information on individual visitors. Best Agents does collect aggregate data on visitors such as time of day and web browser type. Such information may be shared with advertisers to determine their advertising effectiveness.
AFFILIATES
We may in the future have a parent company, any subsidiaries, joint ventures or other companies under a common control (collectively, “Affiliates”). We may share some or all of your Personal Information with these Affiliates, in which case we will require our Affiliates to honor this Privacy Policy.
REGARDING MINOR AND PRIVACY
We are aware that protecting the privacy of the very young is especially important. Hence, we never collect or maintain information at our website from those we actually know are under 13, and no part of our website is structured to attract anyone under 13.
INFORMATION SECURITY
We take security of your Personal Information seriously and take numerous precautions, including administrative, technical, and physical measures, to protect the security of your Personal Information from loss, theft, and misuse, as well as against unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, and destruction. We implements security measures to protect against unauthorized access to or unauthorized alteration, disclosure or destruction of data. We restrict access to Personal Information to Best Agents employees and business partners who may need to know that information in order to operate, develop or improve our services. These individuals are bound by confidentiality obligations and may be subject to discipline, including termination and criminal prosecution, if they fail to meet these obligations. We encrypt certain sensitive information using Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology to ensure that your Personal Information is safe and it is transmitted to us.
No Guarantee
However, no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. Hence, while we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your Personal Information, we cannot guarantee the absolute security of any Personal Information transmitted to or from our Site. There may be factors beyond our control that may result in disclosure of your Personal Information data. As a consequence, we disclaim any warranties or representations relating to maintenance or nondisclosure of your Personal Information.
DATA RETENTION
We will retain your information for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide you services. Please contact us, if you wish to cancel your account or request that we no longer use your information to provide you services. We will retain and use your information as necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements.
THIS SITE CONTAINS LINKS TO OTHER SITES
Best Agents is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of any other websites to which the Site links or to which link to the Site. By clicking on a link, logo or other item, or using certain services available on the Site, including the online communication services, please note that you may no longer be on the Site. To check what Internet location you are on, note the URL at the top and/or bottom of your browser. We encourage you to read the posted privacy statement of that website whenever interacting with any website.
OPTING OUT
We provide the opportunity to “opt-out” of having your Personal Information used for certain purposes, when we ask for this information. For example, if you set up an account but do not wish to receive any additional marketing material from us, you can indicate your preference during signup. If you no longer wish to receive our mails, you may opt-out of receiving them by following the instructions included in each mail, by signing into your account or by emailing us.
NOTIFICATION OF CHANGES
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time as Site services change or expand. If we make substantial changes to this Privacy Policy, we will post the updated policy on this page and we will post notice that this Privacy Policy has changed in the setting area of the Site and in this Policy. The notification of revised terms will appear on the website thirty (30) days prior to the changes taking place. Once any changes that we make to this Privacy Policy become effective, your continued use of the Site after such time will signify your acceptance of the new terms.
MODIFYING YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION
If you are a registered user of the Best Agents website, subscriber to Best Agents publications, purchaser of Best Agents products or a Best Agents member, you may review and update/correct your information by contacting us via the “Contact Us” on the site.
CONTACT US
We welcome your feedback. If you have any questions about the Best Agents online Privacy Policy, please feel free to contact us via the “Contact Us” on the site.