Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy describes how the affiliated companies Stacks-Bowers Numismatics, LLC, Spectrum Group International, Inc., Spectrum Auction Services, LLC, Spectrum Numismatics International, Inc., Bowers and Merena Auctions, LLC, SGI France SAS, SBG Finance, LLC, and Stacks-Bowers and Ponterio, LTD (collectively, “we,” “us,” “our,” or “ourselves”) collect, use, and share information from our customers and visitors of the websites that we maintain (the “Sites”). The terms “you” or “your” refer to any of our customers or visitors using the Sites.
By using the Sites, you agree to this Privacy Policy. This is our entire and exclusive Privacy Policy, and it supersedes any earlier versions. We may update the Privacy Policy. When we do so, we will revise the “Last Updated” date of the Privacy Policy.
For a detailed description of the rights of California consumers under the California Consumer Privacy Act, please see the section below titled “California Consumer Privacy Rights.”
- Collection of Your Information
When you use the Sites, you may provide us with, or we may otherwise collect, personal information in various ways, which we describe here.
- Accounts: Before accessing certain features of the Sites, you may need to create an online account. When you create an online account, you will be prompted to provide us with certain personal information that may include your name, address, birthdate, telephone number, and email address. Once you have created an online account, you may be able to modify, edit, or delete personal information relating to your account.
- Products and Services: If you choose to purchase or sell a product through the Sites, or use our services through the Sites, we may ask you for personal information, including your name, email address, telephone number, billing address, credit card number, Social Security Number, and certain financial information. If you are using auction services on one of the Sites, we may collect information about your auction activity and bidding history.
You may download or otherwise obtain forms or applications that you then transmit to us in connection with our products and services. These forms may ask for personal information, including your name, address, telephone number, driver’s license number, email address, Social Security Number, birthdate, and certain financial information.
If you are applying for a loan through one of the Sites, we may collect personal information, including your name, phone number, address, email address, and, where applicable, your credit card or other payment information, demographic information, Social Security Number, banking information, and credit and payments history.
- Communications: In order to provide you with customer service via the Sites, email, telephone, or mail, we may request that you provide personal information including your name, email, and online account information. If we encounter a problem when processing your orders, forms, or applications, or when attempting to provide you with requested services, we may use your personal information to contact you.
You may also provide us with personal information, including your name, shipping address, telephone number, and email address, in order to receive news, offers, catalogs, or other promotional information about our products and services.
If you are communicating with us via telephone, we may monitor or record any calls, for quality control and for our records. We will inform you that your call may be monitored or recorded before the call begins. We do not consent to the recording of telephone conversations by you or by any other party on your behalf. Any calls you have with us are not confidential and are not private.
- Cookies and Other Technologies: The Sites use cookies, web beacons (also known as “pixel tags” or “action tags”), and other technologies to facilitate your navigation of the Sites, recognize you and your access privileges, and track your usage of the Sites.
Cookies are small pieces of information that are stored as text files by your Internet browser on your computer’s hard drive. We use cookies to enable you to select products, place products in an online shopping cart, and to purchase products. If you do this, we keep a record of your browsing activity and purchase history. Most Internet browsers are initially set to accept cookies. You can set your browser to refuse cookies from websites or to remove cookies from your hard drive. If you do so, you may not be able to access or use portions of the Sites, and you may be required to re-enter login details.
We use web beacons to assist us in delivering cookies and help us determine whether you have viewed web pages on the Sites and, if so, how many times.
We use anonymous identifiers to speed up your navigation of the Sites, recognize you and your access privileges, and track your usage of the Sites. An anonymous identifier is a random string of characters that we use for the same purposes as a cookie on platforms, including certain mobile devices, where cookie technology is not available.
We use third-party companies to help tailor our Sites’ content to users, to serve ads on our behalf, and to conduct data analysis. These companies may employ cookies and web beacons to measure advertising effectiveness (such as which web pages are visited or what products are purchased). Any information that these third parties collect via cookies and web beacons is not linked to any personal information collected by us.
The Sites do not respond to web browser “do not track” signals or other mechanisms that provide consumers the ability to exercise choice regarding the collection of personally identifiable information about an individual consumer’s online activities over time and across third-party websites or online service collection.
The Sites use Google Analytics, a service provided by Google, LLC (“Google”®) to collect information about use of the Sites. Google Analytics collects information such as how often users visit the Sites, what pages they visit when they do so, and what other websites they used prior to visiting the Sites. We use the information we receive from Google Analytics to improve the Sites. Google Analytics collects only the Internet protocol (“IP”) address assigned to you on the date you visit any of the Sites. We do not combine the information collected through the use of Google Analytics with personal information. Although Google Analytics plants a permanent cookie on your web browser to identify you as a unique user the next time you visit this site, the cookie cannot be used by anyone but Google. Google’s ability to use and share information collected by Google Analytics about your visits to this site is restricted by the Google Analytics Terms of Use and the Google Privacy Policy. You can prevent Google Analytics from recognizing you on return visits to the Sites by disabling cookies on your browser. To learn more about the use of cookies for Google Analytics and to exercise choice regarding such cookies, please visit the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.
- Log Files: The Sites’ servers automatically recognize the Internet URL from which you access the Sites. We may also log your IP address, Internet service provider, and date/time stamp for system administration, order verification, internal marketing, and system troubleshooting purposes.
Third Parties: We may update and supplement personal information that we have collected directly from our customers with other information that we obtain from third parties. This may include information regarding demographics, income estimations, households, and marital status. In order to conduct due diligence in connection with your orders or service requests, we may acquire additional personal information about you from third parties. When we associate information that we obtain from third parties with personal information that we have collected under this Privacy Policy, we will treat the acquired information like the information that we collected ourselves and, except as described in this Privacy Policy, the information will not be shared with third parties.
- Use of Your Information
We may use your personal information for various reasons, which we describe here.
- Orders and Services: We may use your personal information for registering your account; processing, tracking, and fulfilling your orders and transactions; performing requested services; sending you invoices; and keeping records of your account history.
- Communications with You: We may use your personal information to provide requested information and to communicate with you about orders (including deliveries) and services. We may send you a confirmation email when you register an account or place an order on the Sites.
If you have submitted personal information in order to receive news, catalogs, or special offers, to participate in promotions, or for any other marketing purposes, we may use your personal information to deliver information to you. We always permit you to unsubscribe or opt out of future emails (see the below section titled “Your Rights” for more details). Because we have to communicate with you about orders that you choose to place, you cannot opt out of receiving communications related to your orders.
- Customer Service: We use your personal information to provide you with customer service. We may also notify you of technical updates when it is necessary (for example, if we must temporarily suspend any services for maintenance).
- Internal Use: We may internally use your personal information to improve the Sites’ content and layout, to improve outreach, for our own marketing efforts, and to determine general marketplace information about visitors to the Sites. For example, we may analyze server log data and certain personal information in an aggregate form, such as aggregate purchase price and preferences, in order to develop new products or services.
We may also use your personal information to verify your delivery or credit card information, or to otherwise conduct due diligence to ensure proper processing of your order and to minimize the risk of fraudulent transactions.
- Sharing Your Information
We may share personal information, including your name, address, email address, and birthdate, to third parties to perform specific functions on our behalf. When we disclose personal information to these third-party service providers, we do so in order to help them perform their services.
We provide personal information, including names, shipping addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers, to third-party service providers to help us operate our Sites, maintain customers’ online accounts, provide products and services for or through the Sites, and ship products.
In order for you to obtain our products and services, we may need to provide your credit card number to third-party financial services corporations such as credit-card processors. We may also use your personal information to report to credit bureaus, if necessary.
We may use third-party providers in order to verify your delivery or credit card information, or to otherwise conduct due diligence to ensure proper processing of your order and to minimize the risk of fraudulent transactions.
We use third-party companies to help tailor the Sites’ content to users, to serve ads on our behalf, and to conduct data analysis. We also purchase marketing data from third parties and add it to our existing user database in order to better target our advertising, communicate with you about our products and special offers, and enhance your experience on the Sites.
We may disclose personal information in response to requests from government authorities or law enforcement officials conducting investigations, subpoenas, or court orders, or if we are otherwise required to disclose such information by law. We may disclose personal information where disclosure is necessary to protect our legal rights, enforce our agreements, or protect the rights, property, or safety of others or ourselves. For example, we may share information to reduce the risk of fraud or if someone uses or attempts to use the Sites for illegal reasons or to commit fraud.
We may share the personal information of consumers within our affiliated companies in order to provide consumers with offers for products or services from our affiliated companies. Any of our affiliated companies might acquire or merge with, or be acquired by or merged with, another company, or we might dispose of some or all of our assets via sale, reorganization, consolidation, or liquidation. If that happens, your personal information may be disclosed or transferred to another company.
- Protecting Your Information
We take reasonable and appropriate measures designed to protect your personal information, including implementing certain technical, administrative, and physical security measures intended to help protect customer information from unauthorized access and improper use. This is an ongoing process and, from time to time, we review our security procedures in order to consider appropriate new technology and methods. Please be aware that, despite our best efforts, no security measures are perfect or impenetrable.
- Retention of Your Information
We will retain personal information we collect as described in this Privacy Policy for as long as necessary to fulfill the purpose(s) for which it was collected, pursue legitimate business purposes, comply with all applicable laws, and in accordance with our routine information storage policies. Nothing in this paragraph shall be construed to supersede any individual rights described below.
- Children’s Data
It is our policy to comply with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 and all other applicable laws. We do not knowingly or intentionally collect personal information from persons who are under the age of eighteen (18). If you are under the age of eighteen (18), you should not use the Sites or submit personal information via the Sites.
- Third-Party “Linked-To” Websites
When you are on the Sites, you may have the opportunity to click on links to other websites, including websites operated by unaffiliated third parties. Websites that we do not operate may collect personal information about you. We do not control websites that are operated by these unaffiliated third parties and we are not responsible for the information practices of these websites. This Privacy Policy does not address the information practices of those other websites.
- Cross-Border Transfer
Your personal information may be stored and processed in any country where our affiliated companies have offices or servers or in which we engage service providers. Your personal information may be transferred to countries outside your country of residence that may have different data protection and data processing laws than those in your country. Our Privacy Policy requires all of our offices to at all times ensure a level of protection at least as protective as those mandated by the European Economic Area. Any such transfer shall take place only in accordance with and as permitted by the law of your jurisdiction, but please be aware that the laws and practices relating to the protection of personal information are likely to be different and in some cases may be weaker than those within your home jurisdiction. Regardless, in all events, we shall apply the provisions of this Privacy Policy to your personal information wherever it is located.
- Your Rights
To the extent required by law, you may have the right to obtain reasonable access to the personal information that you have provided to us, a portable copy of such information, and the ability to review, correct, delete, restrict, or object to the processing of such information. You may also have the right to withdraw consent you have given for us to process your personal information. (You can always request to unsubscribe to emails by using the “unsubscribe” link found within our marketing emails.) To the extent you have such rights, you can exercise them by contacting us at the following contact points for each of the affiliated companies:
Stacks-Bowers Numismatics, LLC:
800-299-9152
1231 East Dyer Road, Suite 100
Santa Ana, CA 92705
Attn: Privacy Officer
Spectrum Group International, Inc:
800-299-9152
1231 East Dyer Road, Suite 100
Santa Ana, CA 92705
Attn: Privacy Officer
Spectrum Auction Services, LLC:
800-299-9152
1231 East Dyer Road, Suite 100
Santa Ana, CA 92705
Attn: Privacy Officer
Spectrum Numismatics International, Inc.:
800-299-9152
1231 East Dyer Road, Suite 100
Santa Ana, CA 92705
Attn: Privacy Officer
Bowers and Merena Auctions, LLC:
800-299-9152
1231 East Dyer Road, Suite 100
Santa Ana, CA 92705
Attn: Privacy Officer
SBG Finance, LLC
800-299-9152
1231 East Dyer Road, Suite 100
Santa Ana, CA 92705
Attn: Privacy Officer
SGI France:
800-299-9152
36-38 rue des Mathurins
75008 Paris
Attn: EU GDPR Representative
Stacks-Bowers and Ponterio, LTD:
800-299-9152
Unit 1603, 16/F Mira Place Tower A,
No.132 Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui,
Kowloon, Hong Kong
Attn: Privacy Officer
Although we make good faith efforts to provide individuals with access to their personal information, there may be circumstances in which we are unable to provide access, including but not limited to: where the information contains legal privilege, where we would compromise others’ privacy or other legitimate rights, where the burden or expense of providing access would be disproportionate to the risks to the individual’s privacy in the case in question, or where the information is commercially proprietary. If we determine that access should be restricted in any particular instance, we will endeavor to provide you with an explanation of why that determination has been made and a contact point for any further inquiries. To protect your privacy, we will take commercially reasonable steps to verify your identity before granting access to or making any changes to your personal information.
- Dispute Resolution
EU data subjects may report privacy complaints directly to their local data protection authorities. You may also contact us at the physical addresses, email addresses, or phone numbers listed above to be directed to the relevant authorities.
- California Consumer Privacy Rights
The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) grants California residents certain rights regarding the use of their personal information. This section of the Privacy Policy describes those rights.
(1) The right to notice that personal information will be collected:
You have the right to request that we disclose certain information to you about our collection and use of consumers’ personal information. This information is disclosed below and updated at least once every 12 months.
The categories of information we may collect from you on this Site, and that we have collected from consumers on this Site in the past 12 months, are listed below along with the purposes for which we collect this information:
- Identifiers (such as your name, address, IP address, email address, account name, and Social Security Number): We collect identifiers for a variety of business purposes, including for: allowing customers to register accounts on the Sites; providing customer service and communicating with customers; processing, tracking, and fulfilling orders and transactions; performing requested services; maintaining records; marketing, advertising, and data analysis purposes; facilitating and tracking usage of the Sites; verifying and conducting due diligence on customers; and providing third-party service providers with the information they need to perform services for us. The purposes for which we collect such information may vary based on our relationship with you. Please refer to the sections above titled “Collection of Your Information” and “Use of Your Information” for a further description of the purposes for which we collect such information.
- Personal information categories listed in Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.80(e) (such as your name, signature, Social Security Number, physical characteristics, address, telephone number, passport number, driver’s license, employment history, financial information, medical information, or health insurance information): We collect such personal information for a variety of business purposes, including for: allowing customers to register accounts on the Sites; providing customer service and communicating with customers; processing, tracking, and fulfilling orders and transactions; performing requested services; maintaining records; marketing, advertising, and data analysis purposes; facilitating and tracking usage of the Sites; verifying and conducting due diligence on customers; and providing third-party service providers with the information they need to perform services for us. The purposes for which we collect such information may vary based on our relationship with you. Please refer to the sections above titled “Collection of Your Information” and “Use of Your Information” for a further description of the purposes for which we collect such information.
- Protected classification characteristics under California or federal law (such as your age, race, national origin, citizenship, religion, marital status, medical condition, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation, veteran or military status, genetic information): We may collect your age, birthdate, or marital status for business purposes relating to you creating an account on the Sites and filling out forms or applications relating to our products and services, including in connection with applying for loans. The purposes for which we collect such information may vary based on our relationship with you. Please refer to the sections above titled “Collection of Your Information” and “Use of Your Information” for a further description of the purposes for which we collect such information. We do not collect information regarding your race, national origin, religion, medical condition, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation, veteran or military status, or genetic information.
- Commercial information (such as records of personal property, products, or services purchased, obtained, or considered, or other purchasing or consuming histories or tendencies): We collect commercial information for a variety of business purposes, including to offer you products or services, including financial products, and to verify your identity or creditworthiness. The purposes for which we collect such information may vary based on our relationship with you. Please refer to the sections above titled “Collection of Your Information” and “Use of Your Information” for a further description of the purposes for which we collect such information.
- Internet or network activity and geolocation data (such as browsing history, search history, or physical location): The Sites’ servers automatically recognize the Internet URL from which you access the Sites. We may also log your IP address, Internet service provider, and date/time stamp for system administration, order verification, internal marketing, and system troubleshooting purposes. The Sites use cookies, web beacons, and other technologies to facilitate your navigation of the Sites, recognize you and your access privileges, and track your usage of the Sites. Please refer to the sections above titled “Collection of Your Information” and “Use of Your Information” for a further description of the purposes for which we collect such information.
- Professional or employment-related information (such your current or past job history): We may collect information related to your employment in connection with your application for our goods or services, or to verify your identity or creditworthiness. The purposes for which we collect such information may vary based on our relationship with you. Please refer to the sections above titled “Collection of Your Information” and “Use of Your Information” for a further description of the purposes for which we collect such information.
- We do not collect the following categories of information: biometric information; sensory data; non-public education information; or inferences drawn from personal information, such as a profile reflecting predispositions, behavior, or aptitudes.
(2) The right to know what personal information has been collected, sold, or disclosed for a business purpose, and to whom it was sold or disclosed:
You have the right to request that we disclose certain information to you about what personal information we have collected about you in the past 12 months. Once we receive and confirm your verifiable consumer request, we will disclose to you, depending on the nature of your request:
- The categories of personal information we’ve collected about you.
- The categories of sources for the personal information we’ve collected about you.
- Our business or commercial purpose for collecting and/or selling that personal information.
- The categories of third parties with whom we’ve shared that personal information.
- The specific pieces of personal information we’ve collected about you.
- If we sold or disclosed your personal information for a business purpose, two separate lists disclosing:
- All sales of your personal information, identifying the categories of personal information that were sold and the categories of each third party recipient who purchased that information; and
- All disclosures of your personal information for a business purpose, identifying the categories of personal information that were disclosed and the categories of each third-party recipient who obtained that information.
- Note: We do not sell the personal information of any consumer. However, we may disclose the personal information of consumers within our affiliated companies in order to provide those consumers with offers for products or services from our affiliated companies.
By law, in response to a request submitted under the CCPA, we will never disclose an individual consumer’s specific Social Security number, driver’s license number or other government-issued identification number, financial account number, any health insurance or medical identification number, account password, or any security questions and answers.
(3) The right to opt out of the sale of personal information:
You have the right to direct companies not to sell your personal information.
We do not, and will not, sell your personal information.
(4) The right to have your personal information deleted:
You have the right to request that we delete any of your personal information that we collected from you and retained, subject to certain exceptions. Once we receive and confirm your verifiable consumer request, we will delete (and direct our service providers to delete) your personal information from our records. We will notify you if a statutory exception prevents us from deleting your information.
(5) The right to non-discrimination as a result of exercising these rights.
Finally, you have the right to be protected from discrimination by any business as a result of exercising your rights under the CCPA. For example, as a result of you exercising these rights, we will never deny you goods or services, charge you different prices or rates, or provide you a different level or quality of goods or services.
If you believe we have violated any of rights under the CCPA, including the right to non-discrimination, please contact us at the contact points listed above.
Exercising your rights as a California resident:
If you are a California resident and would like to make a request pursuant to any of the rights described in this section, you may do so by filling out one or more of the forms at the following link: https://www.stacksbowers.com/Pages/dataprivacyrequest.aspx. Alternatively, California residents may make the same requests by calling 800-299-9152, sending an e-mail to dataprivacy@stacksbowers.com or contacting us at: Stacks-Bowers Numismatics, LLC, 1231 East Dyer Road, Suite 100, Santa Ana, CA 92705, Attn: Privacy Officer.
In order to protect your personal information, we are required to verify that any person making a request under this section is in fact you or your authorized agent. In order to verify the identity of the person making a request, we may ask you to provide the following information: your date of birth; your account number with us (we will never ask you for your passwords outside of the encrypted log-in screen used to access your account on our website); your email address that we have on file (we will never ask you for your passwords outside of the encrypted log-in screen used to access your account on our website); or your account history with us, including your recent purchases or transactions and the last four digits of the credit card that you used to make those purchases.
We will use this information only for the purposes of verifying that your request is authentic . However, no consumer will be required to create an account for the purposes of submitting a request under the CCPA.
Once we receive your request, we will respond within 10 days and inform you if we need any more information in order to verify your request. We will provide the information you requested within 45 days of your request. If we require more than 45 days to respond to your request, we will inform you of the reasons why.
If you have an account with us, we will deliver our written response to that account. If you do not have an account with us, we will deliver our written response by mail or electronically, at your option. Any disclosures we provide will only cover the 12-month period preceding the verifiable consumer request’s receipt. The response we provide will also explain the reasons we cannot comply with a request, if applicable.
We do not charge a fee to process or respond to your verifiable consumer request unless it is excessive, repetitive, or manifestly unfounded.
Exercising the rights of a California resident as the resident’s authorized agent:
If you are a consumer and you would like to authorize an agent to submit requests on your behalf, in order to exercise your rights under the CCPA, please designate your authorized agent by filling out the form at the following link:
https://www.stacksbowers.com/Pages/dataprivacyrequest.aspx
Alternatively, you may authorize an agent by calling 800-299-9152. We may require written and signed authorization from you before an agent may act on your behalf.
In order to verify your identity when you are authorizing an agent to act on your behalf, we may ask you to provide the following information: your date of birth; your account number with us (we will never ask you for your passwords outside of the encrypted log-in screen used to access your account on our website); your email address that we have on file (we will never ask you for your passwords outside of the encrypted log-in screen used to access your account on our website); or your account history with us, including your recent purchases or transactions and the last four digits of the credit card that you used to make those purchases.
Children’s privacy rights as California residents:
Protecting children’s privacy is especially important to us. We therefore do not knowingly or intentionally collect personal information from persons who are under eighteen (18) years of age. We also do not sell the personal information of persons who are under eighteen (18) years of age.
- Updates to the Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy. When we do so, we will revise the “Last Updated” date of this Privacy Policy. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy from time to time so you will know if the Privacy Policy has been changed or updated. If you have any questions about the Privacy Policy, please contact us.
Last updated: June 29, 2020
