Privacy Policy

Last Updated: December 14, 2020

World Art Finder (hereinafter "WAF," “we,” “us,” or “our”) owns and operates www.worldartfinder.com, its affiliated websites and applications (our “Sites”), and provides related products, services, newsletters, and other offerings (together with the Sites, our “Services”) to artists, art professionals, and art lovers around the world. Please read our Terms of Use for detailed information about our Services and your legal obligations.

This Privacy Policy (the “Policy”) is intended to provide you with information on how we collect, use, and share the personal data (also referred to as personal information) of individuals who are external to our organization, including visitors of our Sites, users of our Services, applicants for employment, and artists (collectively, “you” or “your”). Personal data is generally any information about you - an identified or identifiable natural person. This Policy also describes your rights regarding use, access, and correction of your personal information.

If after reading this Policy you have additional questions or would like further information, please contact us.


PERSONAL DATA WE COLLECT AND HOW WE USE IT

We collect and process personal data only for lawful reasons, such as our legitimate business interests, your consent, or to fulfill our legal or contractual obligations. We do not request highly sensitive data, such as racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, health or medical information, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, or data concerning a person's sex life or sexual orientation. We do not intentionally process highly sensitive personal data and reserve the right to reject or delete it.

Information You Provide to Us

Most of the information WAF collects is provided by you voluntarily while using our Services.

Here are the categories of personal data that you voluntarily provide to us:

  • Name, email address, and any other contact information that you provide by filling out WAF forms
  • Billing information, such as credit card number and billing address
  • Work or professional information, such as your company or job title
  • Unique identifiers, such as username or password
  • Demographic information, such as age, education, gender, interests, and ZIP code
  • Details of transactions and preferences from your use of the Services
  • Correspondence with other users, artists, galleries, or art organizations that you send through our Services, as well as correspondence sent to WAF 

As a registered Business member, you may ask WAF to review or retrieve emails sent to your business. WAF will access these emails to provide these services for you.

We use the personal data you provide to us for the following business purposes:

  • Set up and administer your account
  • Provide and improve the Services, including displaying content based on your previous transactions and preferences
  • Answer your inquiries and provide customer service
  • Marketing and advertising of our Services, including our newsletters (please see the Your Rights/Opt Outsection below for how to opt out of marketing communications)
  • Post testimonials about our Services (only with your consent)
  • Prevent, discover, and investigate fraud, criminal activity, or violations of our Terms of Use
  • Secure the Sites and our Services
  • Administer contests and sweepstakes you entered

Information Obtained from Third-Party Sources

WAF may obtain credit information about you from an outside credit reporting agency to help us with customer authentication and credit-related decisions. 

We also collect and publish biographical and other information about artists, which we use to promote the artists and display their works on our Services. The information WAF collects about artists is provided by registered artists, galleries, nonprofit art organizations, art professionals, and from publicly available sources.

If you provide personal information about others, or if others give us your information, WAF will only use that information for the specific reason for which it was provided.

Information We Collect by Automated Means

Cookies

A cookie is a piece of information that a web server may place on your computer when you visit a website. While cookies can be used to identify a user’s computer, they do not contain information that can be used to identify a user by name. WAF and its partners use cookies and similar technologies on certain pages to help analyze webpage flow, customize services, content, and advertising, as well as measure promotional effectiveness. WAF may use cookies, for example, to keep track of your preferences and profile information. Cookies are also used to collect general usage and volume statistical information. Cookies may be permanent or temporary (also called session cookies).

Here are some notes about cookies:

  • You may disable cookies if your browser permits—the exact procedure will vary from browser to browser, but on most browsers the help section will tell you how to prevent your browser from automatically accepting cookies, how to have the browser notify you when you receive a new cookie, or how to disable cookies altogether
  • WAF offers certain features that are available only through the use of cookies, therefore if you disable cookies, you may not be able to enjoy the full functionality of our Services
  • WAF also uses cookies in My Profile and Account to help identify you and maintain your signed-in status
Analytics and Advertising

WAF uses Google Analytics and other analytics companies to provide a web analytics service to our Sites. The information generated by your use of the Sites (including your IP address) will be transmitted to and stored by analytics companies on servers in the United States. WAF will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of the Sites, compiling reports on website activity for website operators, and providing other services relating to Site activity and internet usage.

WAF partners with third-party advertising companies which use cookies or similar technologies to collect and use your browsing information (e.g., persistent IDs, browser type, time and date, page visits, and other information) during your visit to our Sites to provide advertisements about goods or services likely to be of greater interest to you (i.e., interest-based advertising). They may also use persistent identifiers to track your internet usage over time and across other websites in their networks beyond our Sites. WAF does not provide these companies with personal data such as your name, address, telephone number, or email address. If you wish to opt out of interest-based advertising, click here (or if located in the European Union, click here). Please note, you will continue to receive generic ads.

WAF also uses Google Analytics Demographics Reports and Remarketing to advertise online. Third-party vendors, including Google, may show WAF ads on sites across the internet. WAF and third-party vendors, including Google, use first-party cookies and third-party cookies together to inform, optimize, and serve ads based on past visits to the WAF Sites. You may opt out of these cookies by visiting Google’s Advertising and Privacy page here.

Log Files

WAF uses your IP address to help diagnose server problems, and to administer our website. WAF uses your IP addresses to analyze trends and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use.

Every time you access a WAF Site, some data is temporarily stored and processed in a log file, such as your IP address, the browser type, the operating system, the recalled page, or the date and time of the recall. This data is only evaluated for statistical purposes, such as to help us diagnose problems with our servers, to administer our sites, or to improve our Services.

HTML5

We use Local Shared Objects, such as HTML5, to store content information and preferences. Third parties with whom we partner to provide certain features on our Sites or to display advertising based upon your web browsing activity also use HTML5 to collect and store information. Various browsers may offer their own management tools for removing HTML5.

Do Not Track

Your browser or device may include “Do Not Track” functionality. WAF’s information collection and disclosure practices, and the choices that we provide to customers, will continue to operate as described in this Privacy Policy, whether or not a “Do Not Track” signal is received.

For more information on how to control or limit cookies and similar technologies, please see www.allaboutcookies.org/cookies.


HOW WE SHARE YOUR INFORMATION

WAF shares the personal data we collect as described above with third parties for the business purposes described in this Privacy Policy. WAF does not sell, rent, or lease your personal data to third parties, and WAF does not transfer your personal data to third parties for their direct marketing purposes.

WAF may share your personal data with third parties as follows:

  • With service providers under contract to help provide the Services and assist us with our business operations (such as our direct marketing, payment processing, fraud investigations, bill collection, affiliate and rewards programs, and co-branded credit cards)
  • As required by law, such as to comply with a subpoena, or similar legal process, including to meet national security or law enforcement requirements
  • When WAF believes in good faith that disclosure is necessary to protect rights or safety, investigate fraud, or respond to a government request
  • If WAF is involved in a merger, acquisition, or sale of all or a portion of its assets; in such a case, you will be notified via email and/or a prominent notice on the Sites of any change in ownership, or uses of your personal data, as well as any choices you may have regarding your personal data
  • With other users of the Services that you interact with to help you complete a transaction

There may be other instances where we share your personal data with third parties based upon your consent.


INTERNATIONAL TRANSFERS

The personal data we collect within your country may be transferred outside of your country to WAF or its third-party contractors or service providers (mentioned above) for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy. As required by law, we rely on adequacy decisions, appropriate safeguards, or derogations when we transfer personal data across international borders. If you are located in the EEA, UK, or Switzerland, you may request information about how we transfer your personal data across borders by contacting us


PRIVACY SHIELD

Although WAF is aware that the Court of Justice of the European Union has invalidated the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework adequacy decision, we remain committed to subjecting all personal data transferred to the United States from the EU, UK, and Switzerland to the applicable Principles of the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework and the Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework (collectively, the “Privacy Shield Principles”). We also comply with the Privacy Shield Principles for all onward transfers of personal data from the EU, UK, and Switzerland, including the onward transfer liability provisions. If there is any conflict between the policies in this privacy policy and data subject rights under the Privacy Shield Principles, the Privacy Shield Principles shall govern. To learn more about the Privacy Shield program, and to view our certification page, please visit https://www.privacyshield.gov/list

The US Federal Trade Commission has jurisdiction over WAF’s compliance with the Privacy Shield Principles. In certain situations, we may be required to disclose personal data in response to lawful requests by public authorities, including in order to meet national security or law enforcement requirements.

In compliance with the Privacy Shield Principles, WAF commits to resolve complaints about your privacy and our collection or use of your personal information transferred to the United States pursuant to Privacy Shield. European Union, United Kingdom, and Swiss individuals with Privacy Shield inquiries or complaints should first contact WAF at: privacy@worldartfinder.com. If you do not receive timely acknowledgment of your complaint, or if your complaint is not satisfactorily addressed, please visit www.bbb.org/EU-privacy-shield/for-eu-consumers for more information and to file a complaint. This service is provided free of charge to you.

If your Privacy Shield complaint cannot be resolved through the above channels, under certain conditions, you may invoke binding arbitration for some residual claims not resolved by other redress mechanisms. See Privacy Shield Annex 1 at https://www.privacyshield.gov/article?id=ANNEX-I-introduction.


HOW WE STORE AND SECURE YOUR INFORMATION

WAF retains your information for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide you Services. If you wish to cancel your account or request that WAF no longer use your personal data, contact us. WAF will retain and use your personal data as necessary to comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements.

All information you provide is stored on a secure server, and WAF follows generally accepted industry standards to protect the personal data we process both during transmission and once received. However, no method of transmission over the internet, or method of electronic storage, is 100% secure. Absolute security of your information cannot be guaranteed, and any transmission of data is at your own risk. If you have any questions about security on the WAF websites, contact us.


YOUR RIGHTS/OPT OUT

Depending on your location, you may have certain rights regarding your personal data, including:

  • You may request access to your personal data and obtain information about our processing of your personal data, with whom we share your personal data, and your rights
  • You may request that we restrict our processing of your personal data
  • You may object to our processing of your personal data
  • Where we process personal data based on your consent, you may withdraw your consent
  • You may correct personal data that is inaccurate and have incomplete personal data completed.
  • You may request that we delete your personal data or return or provide a copy of it to you.

We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of your rights.

You may correct, update, amend, delete/remove, or deactivate your account and personal data by making the change on your My Profile page on WAF, or by emailing WAF customer service. WAF customer service will respond to your request within 24-48 hours, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m.–5 p.m. (MT).

You may choose to stop receiving WAF newsletters or marketing emails at any time by following the unsubscribe instructions included in those communications, or you can contact us. WAF posts customer testimonials only with the customer’s prior consent. If you wish to remove personal data that is being publicly displayed on our Services, contact us.

We may request proof of your identity before acting upon any request. To submit a question or concern about your rights, please contact us at privacy@worldartfinder.com. If you live in the EEA, UK, or Switzerland, and you are unsatisfied with our response, you have the right to lodge a complaint regarding your personal data with an applicable supervisory authority.


LINKS TO OTHER WEBSITES

The WAF Sites include links to other websites whose privacy practices may differ from that of WAF. If you submit personal data to any of those sites, your information is governed by their privacy statements. WAF encourages you to carefully read the privacy policy of any website you visit.

WAF Sites include widgets, which are interactive mini-programs that run on our Sites to provide specific services from another company (e.g., displaying the news, opinions, videos, etc.). Personal data, such as your email address, may be collected when you click on a widget. Cookies may also be set by a widget to enable it to function properly. Information collected by any widget is governed by the privacy policy of the company that created the widget.


NOTE TO PARENTS OR GUARDIANS

Our Services are not intended for use by children, and we do not knowingly or intentionally solicit data from or market to children under the age of 18. WAF reserves the right to delete any child’s information or registration.


PRIVACY POLICY CHANGES

If we modify this Privacy Policy, we will post the updated version on our Sites and announce it on the Member Home Page. It is your responsibility to periodically review this Policy, and you are bound by any changes to it by using our Services or continuing to affiliate with us after such changes have been posted.


HOW TO CONTACT US

WAF is the controller of your personal data and determines the purposes and means by which such personal data is processed, subject to applicable law. 

If you have any questions about the WAF Privacy Policy, please contact customer service or send us mail at:

World Art Finder LLC
5101 S Rio Grande St, Unit 1305
Littleton, CO 80120
USA