You may be concerned, from time to time, about the security and privacy of your personal details when you are asked to pass this information to a company via the Internet.
At AuctionsPlus, we are very aware of your need for security and privacy and are committed to safeguarding this information. The Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act), and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) govern the way in which we manage your personal information.
This privacy policy sets out how we collect, use, disclose and otherwise manage personal information about you. It also provides information about how you may access your personal data, seek correction of your personal information and make complaints if you think we have breached the APPs and how we deal with such complaints.
This privacy policy does not apply to personal information collected by AuctionsPlus that is exempted under the Privacy Act, for example employee records.
In this privacy policy, ‘AuctionsPlus’, ‘we’, ‘us’ and ‘our’ is a reference to AuctionsPlus Pty Ltd.
The types of personal information we collect depends on the nature of our engagement with you.
We will typically collect personal information about you when you register for an account on our website, including your first and last name, email address, and phone number.
If you request to become an 'Approved Buyer' on our website, we will also collect information about your business and properties.
Examples of other types of personal information we may collect include:
More comprehensive information may be requested depending on the commercial arrangements and services provided.
AuctionsPlus does not store credit card details of its users. We use third party payment gateway providers, such as Stripe, to process payments made for our services online. If you purchase services from us on our website (such as when subscribing to our LivestockBI market information tool), your payment information will be collected by that third party provider.
The purpose we collect, use, hold and disclose personal information about you, depends on your interaction with us. Generally, we will collect, use, hold, and disclose your personal information if it is reasonably necessary for or directly related to the performance of our functions and activities, and for the purposes of:
(a) providing services to you and others, including facilitating auctions through our website and providing our assessor training courses;
(b) providing you with email confirmations of your account registration, your status as an approved buyer, assessor or agent and transactions you participate in on our website, including invoices and receipts for listing fees and other charges for our services;
(c) verifying your identify;
(d) assessing your eligibility to participate in our auctions as a prospective buyer, vendor, agent or assessor;
(e) responding to requests, queries and complaints;
(f) providing you with Auction Catalogues, monthly newsletters and weekly Market Comments. These are "opt in" mailing lists which carry instructions to "opt out";
(g) facilitating our legal and regulatory obligations;
(h) preparing anonymised market reports;
(i) operating our website, including our LivestockBI market information tool;
(j) occasionally providing you with information that we consider to be important or of interest to you, including details of auctions you might be interested in and other goods and services that we, our related entities and other organisations that we have affiliations with, offer that may be of interest to you; and
(k) obtaining user feedback and analysing our services and customer needs with a view to developing new or improved services.
LivestockBI is a market information tool where subscribed users can view recent prices, market trends and market analysis. The data we share through LivestockBI will not typically contain any personal information. However, by participating in auctions on our website, you consent for information about you relevant to that auction (including de-identified information about the price you paid or received and the location of your property) being used and disclosed for the purpose of providing our LivestockBI market information tool.
Personal information will generally be collected directly from you. For example, through the use of our online account registration form, which we will ask you to complete before granting you access to any of our auctions. This registration is voluntary, but bidding access to auctions cannot be granted until billing bona fides have been established. This is to safeguard the selling agent and the owner of the listed product.
There may be some instances where personal information about you will be collected indirectly because it is unreasonable or impractical to collect personal information directly from you, for instance, if you use an agent to register or bid for you on our platform.
If you provide us with another person's personal information, you should only do so if you have their authority or consent to provide us with that information. You should also direct that person to our website, where they can locate a copy of this privacy policy.
If you access our website, we may collect additional personal information about you in the form of geolocation data (as it relates to the location of auctions and stock holdings), your IP address and domain name.
Our website also uses cookies. The main purpose of cookies is to identify users and to prepare customised web pages for them. We use cookies to monitor usage of our website and to create a personal record of when you visit our website and what pages you view so that we may serve you more effectively.
While this information may not be of itself ‘personal information’ for the purpose of the Privacy Act, it may be used to identify you when linked with other data.
We will not share, sell or trade your personal information with any entity or person, except as set out in this policy or as permitted by the Privacy Act.
We may disclose your personal information to:
(a) counterparties (and related parties, like a participating stud) for the purpose of creating auction listings and completing auction transactions;
(b) the public, if you are a registered agent or assessor with us, by publishing your name and contact details on our website in connection with an auction listing or auction results;
(c) the public by making specific documents or information (which may contain personal information about you, including your name and signature) you provide to us in connection with your use of our website (e.g. a Sheep Health Declaration) publicly available on our website;
(d) other registered users of our website in some limited special sales, even if you have not actually made a purchase in that sale;
(e) vendors and selling agents for auctions you have placed a bid in, where you have consented to us doing so, for the purpose of those vendors and selling agents contacting you for marketing purposes;
(f) our service providers, including auditors and providers of call centre services that we engage to obtain user feedback on our behalf.
Your cookies may be sent to Google for the purpose of utilising Google Analytics, which is a technology that allows us to understand how you engage with our website and improve our services. This information will be managed in accordance with Google's Privacy Policy (www.google.com/policies/privacy/).
We may also disclose your email address or phone number to Facebook for marketing optimisation. Your information will be encrypted in order to protect you and will be handled in accordance with Facebook’s Terms of Service (www.facebook.com/legal/terms) and Data Policy (www.facebook.com/about/privacy/).
We may also disclose personal information to the police, other enforcement authorities or regulatory bodies to assist in any investigations regarding suspected unlawful activity or misconduct, whether directly or indirectly related to our activities. For example, where we have reason to suspect fraudulent activity or an infringement of animal welfare legislation.
If our business enters into a joint venture with or is merged with another business entity, or AuctionsPlus sells its business or assets, or a part of them, your information may be disclosed to our new business partners or the purchaser of our business or assets.
We are not likely to disclose your personal information overseas, except as indicated in this privacy policy or permitted by the Privacy Act, unless we otherwise advise you in writing.
It is generally not practical to remain anonymous or to use a pseudonym when dealing with AuctionsPlus as we usually need to use your personal information to provide services to you and to allow you to participate in auctions on our website. If you choose not to provide us with your personal information, we may not be able to provide you with requested services, or provide you with requested information concerning an account or complaint.
If you hold a registered account with us, you can access and check some of the information we hold on record about you whenever you access our website and log in to your account. Once you have logged in, click on User Details under Your Usercode in the main menu. If this information is incorrect there is a link that allows you to seek a correction by emailing us with the correct details. We will respond to your request within a reasonable period, and may charge you a reasonable fee for processing your request. This method affords continuous online updating abilities for all users of the system.
If you do not hold a registered account with us, or if your request for access or correction relates personal information we do not make available through the above process, please contact our Privacy Officer using the details provided at the end of this privacy policy.
If we refuse to grant you access to, or to make a correction to, your personal information, we will give you a written notice that sets out our reasons for our refusal (unless it would be unreasonable to provide those reasons), including details of the mechanisms available to you to make a complaint.
We store your personal information in different ways, including in paper and in electronic form. We take reasonable steps to ensure that your personal information is stored securely. Stored information about you is protected from unauthorised access through the use of firewalls, secure passwords and login processes.
From time to time, we may review and update this privacy policy. Personal information will be collected and handled by us in accordance with the most recently updated policy.
This privacy policy was last updated on 12 March 2021.
If you feel that we have not lived up to our privacy commitments under the Privacy Act, the APPs or a privacy code that applies to us, please contact us using the details below and we will take steps to investigate the complaint and respond to you within a reasonable period of time.
If you have any queries or concerns relating to our policies or the way we handle your personal information, please contact our Privacy Officer at:
Street address: Suite 4, Level 5 / 1 Elizabeth Plaza, North Sydney, NSW 2060
Email address: info@auctionsplus.com.au
Telephone: (02) 9262 4222
Website: www.auctionsplus.com.au
If after this process you are not satisfied with our response, or if you believe we have breached the APPs, you have the right to refer your complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC). To lodge a complaint, visit the ‘Privacy complaints’ section of the OAIC website, located at www.oaic.gov.au/privacy/privacy-complaints.
AuctionsPlus is a market leader in providing online services for the buying and selling of livestock. We provide the best product possible to assist with a value-added livestock trading experience that make AuctionsPlus the most effective way to buy and sell livestock.