EFFECTIVE DATE: April 24, 2014

Bench Tree Group (“Bench Tree”) values your privacy. In this Privacy Policy (“Policy”), we describe how we collect, use, and disclose information that we obtain about visitors to and registered users of our website https://benchtree.com/ (the “Site”) and the services available through our Site (collectively, the “Services”).

By visiting the Site, or using any of our Services, you agree that your personal information will be handled as described in this Policy. Your use of our Site or Services, and any dispute over privacy, is subject to this Policy and our Terms of Use including its applicable limitations on damages and the resolution of disputes. The Bench Tree Terms of Use are incorporated by reference into this Policy.

What Information Do We Collect About You and Why?

You may browse certain areas of our Site, but to download materials, information and updates, you must be an authorized, registered user. We may collect information about you directly from you and from third parties, as well as automatically through your use of our Site or Services.

Information We Collect Directly From You. As noted, certain areas and features of our Site and Services require registration. To register you must provide your first and last name, company name and address, and company email address. We also may collect additional optional information from you, including your position or job title; however, you are not required to provide us with this information. A Bench Tree administrator will review your registration and either approve or deny it.

Information We Collect Automatically. We may automatically collect the following information about your use of our Site or Services through cookies, web beacons, and other technologies: your domain name; your browser type and operating system; web pages you view; links you click; your IP address; the length of time you visit our Site and or use our Services; and the referring URL, or the webpage that led you to our Site. Please see the section “Our Use of Cookies and Other Tracking Mechanisms?” below for more information about our use of cookies and other tracking mechanisms.

How We Use Your Information

We use the information that we gather about you for the following purposes:

• To provide our Services to you, to communicate with you about your use of our Services, to respond to your inquiries, to fulfil your orders, and for other customer service purposes.
• To tailor the content and information that we may send or display to you, to offer location customization, and personalized help and instructions, and to otherwise personalize your experiences while using the Site or our Services.
• For marketing and promotional purposes. For example, we may use your information, such as your email address, to send you news and newsletters, special offers, and promotions, or to otherwise contact you about products or information we think may interest you.
• To better understand how users access and use our Site and Services, both on an aggregated and individualized basis, in order to improve our Site and Services and respond to user desires and preferences, and for other research and analytical purposes.

How We Share Your Information

We do not share your information with third party marketers. We may share the information that we collect about you, including personally identifiable information, as follows:

• Bench Tree Users. Your user name and any information that you post to our Site, such as reviews, comments, and text will be available to, and searchable by, all users of the Site and Services.
• Affiliates. We may disclose the information we collect from you to our affiliates or subsidiaries; however, if we do so, their use and disclosure of your personally identifiable information will be subject to this Policy.
• Service Providers. We may disclose the information we collect from you to third party vendors, service providers, contractors or agents who perform functions on our behalf.
• Business Transfers. If we are acquired by or merged with another company, if substantially all of our assets are transferred to another company, or as part of a bankruptcy proceeding, we may transfer the information we have collected from you to the other company.
• In Response to Legal Process. We also may disclose the information we collect from you in order to comply with the law, a judicial proceeding, court order, or other legal process, such as in response to a court order or a subpoena.
• To Protect Us and Others. We also may disclose the information we collect from you where we believe it is necessary to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding illegal activities, suspected fraud, situations involving potential threats to the safety of any person, violations of our Terms of Use or this Policy, or as evidence in litigation in which Bench Tree is involved.
• Aggregate and De-Identified Information. We may share aggregate or de-identified information about users with third parties for marketing, advertising, research or similar purposes.

Our Use of Cookies and Other Tracking Mechanisms

When you interact with our Site, we strive to make your experience easy and meaningful. We or our third-party service providers may use cookies, web beacons (clear GIFs, web bugs), and other technologies to track user activity and collect Site data. We may combine this information with other personal information we collect from you. By continuing to use our Site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies and web beacons on your device.

Cookies. We (or our service providers) use cookies to track visitor activity on our Site. A cookie is a text file that a website transfers to your computer’s hard drive for record-keeping purposes. We use cookies to track user activities on our Site, such as the pages visited and time spent on our Site. Most browsers allow users to refuse cookies. The Help portion of the toolbar on most browsers will tell you how to prevent your computer from accepting new cookies, how to have the browser notify you when you receive a new cookie, or how to disable cookies altogether. Visitors to our Site who disable cookies will be able to browse certain areas of the Site, but will not be able to access password-restricted areas or content.

Clear GIFs, pixel tags, and other technologies. Clear GIFs are tiny graphics with a unique identifier, similar in function to cookies. In contrast to cookies, which are stored on your computer’s hard drive, clear GIFs are embedded invisibly on web pages. We and our third party service providers may use clear GIFs (a.k.a. web beacons, web bugs or pixel tags), in connection with our Site to, among other things, track the activities of visitors, help us manage content and compile information about usage. We and our third party service providers also use clear GIFs in HTML e-mails to our customers, to help us track e-mail response rates, identify when our e-mails are viewed, and track whether our e-mails are forwarded.

Third Party Analytics and Tracking. We may use automated devices and applications, such as Google Analytics, to evaluate usage of our Site. We also may use other analytic means to evaluate usage of our Site. We use these tools to help us improve our Site, performance and user experiences. We do not share your personal information with these third parties, and we do not track your activities once you leave our Site.

User Content

We may permit you to post content on our Site, including your comments and questions. If you post your own content on our Site, your posting may viewed by others and we cannot prevent such information from being by others used in a manner that may violate this Policy, the law, or your personal privacy.

Third-Party Links

Our Site and Services may contain links to third-party websites. Any access to and use of such linked websites is not governed by this Policy, but instead is governed by the privacy policies of those third party websites. We are not responsible for the information practices of such third party websites.

Security of My Personal Information

We have implemented commercially reasonable precautions to protect the information we collect from loss, misuse, and unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, and destruction. Please be aware that despite our best efforts, no data security measures can guarantee 100% security. You should take steps to protect against unauthorized access to your account by, among other things, signing off after using a shared computer, choosing a robust password that nobody else knows or can easily guess, and keeping your log-in and password private. We are not responsible for any lost, stolen, or compromised passwords or for any activity on your account via unauthorized password activity.

Access To My Personal Information

You may modify registration information by contacting our site administrator at privacy@benchtree.com. Please note that copies of information that you have updated, modified or deleted may remain viewable in cached and archived pages of the Site for a period of time.

What Choices Do I Have Regarding Use of My Personal Information?

We may send periodic promotional or informational emails to you. You may opt-out of such communications by following the opt-out instructions contained in the e-mail. Please note that it may take up to 10 business days for us to process opt-out requests. If you opt-out of receiving emails about recommendations or other information we think may interest you, we may still send you e-mails about your account or any Services you have requested or received from us.

Contact Us

If you have questions about the privacy aspects of our Services or would like to make a complaint, please contact us using our online contact form, or call +1-512-869-6900.

Changes to this Policy

This Policy is current as of the Effective Date set forth above. We may change this Policy from time to time, so please be sure to check back periodically. If we make any changes to this Policy that materially affect our practices with regard to the personal information we have previously collected from you, we will endeavor to provide you with notice in advance of such change by highlighting the change on our Site, or emailing your email address of record.