Shopzilla, Inc. Privacy Policy

Shopzilla, Inc. ("Shopzilla") operates online shopping Web sites and provides other services ("Services") designed to deliver the best possible online shopping experience to you, our users. We are committed to protecting the privacy and security of the information we may gather about you, and we appreciate your trust that we will use and share that information carefully and sensibly.

Shopzilla operates the Shopzilla Network, which includes Shopzilla.com, BizRate.com and equivalent domains in the United Kingdom, Germany and France, and all other Web sites we operate or provide comparison-shopping content to, email newsletters or other email, surveys, or other media or Services we offer to consumers from time to time. All information you provide to Shopzilla via the Shopzilla Network, at any of our Web sites or otherwise in connection with our Services, will be transmitted to, held and processed by us as described in this Privacy Policy. Shopzilla is a company incorporated in the United States of America. Accordingly, information submitted by you to Shopzilla will be transmitted to, held and processed in the USA. You should be aware that the laws governing data protection in the USA are not the same as those of European or other countries.

This Privacy Policy describes our practices concerning your privacy. Although this Privacy Policy may seem long, we have prepared a detailed policy because we believe you should know as much as possible about Shopzilla's practices so that you can make informed decisions. By accepting the User Agreement, using the Shopzilla Network, shopping at participating merchants, or otherwise interacting with Shopzilla, you are consenting to the Shopzilla practices, including the use and disclosure of any personally identifiable information you have shared with us, as described in this Privacy Policy.

A SPECIAL NOTE ABOUT CHILDREN
Shopzilla is not designed or intended for use by children under 13, although participating merchants on our Web site may offer children's products for purchase by adults. If you are under 18, you should use Shopzilla only with involvement of a parent or guardian. Children under 13 may not submit any personally identifiable information to us, and if we discover that we have inadvertently gathered any such information from a child under 13, we will take appropriate steps to delete it.

ANTI-SPAM POLICY
Shopzilla is 100% opposed to unsolicited commercial email ("spam"). We do not send emails to anyone without permission and we do not sell or provide email addresses to any unauthorized third party. If you receive any unsolicited emails from spammers, please be assured that Shopzilla did not provide your email address to such parties.

This does not mean that we can prevent spam from happening on the Internet. Unfortunately, spammers obtain email addresses in a number of devious ways, including when you respond and ask to be taken off a spam email list, and in some cases by just generating emails to millions of random email addresses in the hopes of getting a few "live" ones. Please be assured that at Shopzilla we hate spam as much as you do.

All that said, if you believe that you have gotten unsolicited email from us, click here to contact us and we will investigate. Please be assured that we strive not to contact anyone without permission, and if you prefer not to receive any further communications from us, just tell us and we'll try to make sure you never hear from us again.

WHAT PERSONAL INFORMATION DOES Shopzilla GATHER?
The information we learn from shoppers helps us personalize and continually improve your shopping experience at Shopzilla and our participating merchants. Here are the general types of information we gather.

Information You Give Us
We receive and store any information you provide to us when you become a Shopzilla Member, submit a review or survey, communicate by email, telephone or physical mail with our customer service, or otherwise interact with us. Such information may include your name, address, email address, shopping interests and preferences, birthday, hometown, transaction history, and other personal data. You can choose not to provide certain information, but then you might not be able to take advantage of certain useful Shopzilla features.

Information Gathered Automatically
We receive and store certain types of information whenever you interact with us. For example, like many Web sites, we use "cookies" and "clear gifs" to obtain certain types of information when your Web browser accesses Shopzilla and our participating merchants' sites.

Briefly, "cookies" are small files that we transfer to your computer's hard drive or your Web browser memory to enable our systems to recognize your browser and to provide convenience and other features to you, such as recognizing you as a Shopzilla member. "Clear gifs" are tiny graphics with a unique identifier, similar in function to cookies, and may be used to track the online movements of Web users or to let us know if you have opened an email that we sent you.

Examples of the information we collect and analyze in this manner include the Internet protocol (IP) address used to connect your computer to the Internet; computer and connection information such as browser type and version, operating system, and platform; your behavior on our Web site and related Services, including the products and merchants you view or searched for, as well as the URL you come from and go to next (whether this URL is on our site or not); cookie number; and participating merchants you visit. The cookies and clear gifs that we use do not contain and are not tied to personally identifiable information about you.

You are always free to decline our cookies if your browser permits although in that case you may not be able to use certain features on our Web site. Learn how to decline cookies.

Third Party Advertising
We work with third parties, including advertising companies and website analysis firms, who use cookies and clear gifs to collect non-personally identifiable information when you visit our Web site and other sites. This information may be used to provide you with better shopping or savings opportunities through advertisements on this and other Web sites that you visit, or to conduct market research and website analysis. In addition, these third party advertising companies may use web beacons to help manage and optimize our online advertising. Web beacons enable us to recognize a browser's cookie, and to learn which banner ads bring users to our web site. To opt out of this third party advertising tracking, please click here.

DOES SHOPZILLA SHARE THE INFORMATION IT GATHERS?
Information about Shopzilla shoppers and other users is an important part of our business, and we take steps to maintain the privacy and security of such information against unauthorized access. We generally use such information for such purposes as customizing future shopping and savings opportunities for you, improving our Services, and communicating with you if you have authorized such communication. In an effort to serve you better and improve your online shopping experiences, we may also share such information in a responsible manner as described below.

Aggregated Research Data
The information collected from online surveys and reviews is used to develop ratings of, and research for, participating merchants, as well as product reviews and ratings. Our research team produces research reports and other information and data about online shopping for participating merchants and other customers, as well as media and other interested parties. Such information and data is based upon aggregated, anonymous information about millions of online shoppers and does not include personally identifiable information about individuals.

Agents
From time to time, we employ other companies and individuals to perform various functions on our behalf. Examples include sending postal mail and e-mail, analyzing shopper data, and providing other data and services. In such instances, they may have access to personal information needed to perform their functions, but will be prohibited from using it for other purposes. We may at various times also use a web measurement service, which may employ "cookies" and/or software code embedded in our web pages in order to evaluate key website metrics. Any such web measurement service does not collect any personally identifiable information about our visitors unless they voluntarily provide it, and is prohibited from using any such information except to assist us in evaluating user behavior relating to our Web site.

Special Offers
Sometimes we may send email newsletters or special offers to selected groups of Shopzilla shoppers who have chosen to receive email on behalf of participating merchants or other businesses. When we do this, we do not give that merchant or business your name or e-mail address.

If you no longer wish to receive these newsletters or special offers, you can opt-out by notifying us by clicking here or by mail at the address below.

Business Transactions
As we continue to develop our business, we may share information with affiliates and participate in corporate transactions such as mergers and acquisitions, and it is possible that another company may acquire Shopzilla or its business assets in the future. In such cases, user information may be shared with the acquirer and/or other reputable parties involved in those transactions. Users will be notified via email or a prominent notice on our Web site for 30 days prior to a change of ownership or control of their personal information in such a transaction. We provide you with 30 days notice to allow you the opportunity to notify Shopzilla if you do not wish such information to be shared by notifying us by clicking here.

Protection of Shopzilla and Others
We release account and other personal information when we believe release is appropriate to comply with law; enforce or apply our User Agreement and other agreements; assist in fraud protection or investigation; or protect the rights, property, or security of Shopzilla, our users, or others.

With Your Consent
Other than as described above, with your consent at the time you submit information to us, we may also share your information with participating merchants where you have shopped from time to time or their agents or other specified parties. Once we share information with your consent with a merchant or other party, the use and protection of that information by the merchant or other party will be subject to the privacy policies or terms of use of that party. You may opt-out of such sharing of your information by declining to provide it or by sending a subsequent opt-out request to us by clicking here or by mail at the address below; however, opting-out may limit our ability to provide you with a specific service.

PARTICIPATING MERCHANT POLICIES
Online merchants and others who participate in our Web site and other Services are encouraged to participate in industry privacy initiatives and to take a responsible attitude towards consumer privacy. However, since we do not have direct control over the policies or practices of participating merchants and other third parties, we cannot be responsible for their actions. We recommend that you always review the privacy policies and terms of use of merchants and other third parties before you provide any personal information or complete any transaction with such parties.

JOINT SERVICES
In certain areas or features on our Web site or other Services, we may work with a reputable third-party source of specialized information or other content and services to provide you with some information or service ("joint services"). You authorize us to share with such party any information you provide in connection with your use of those joint services, and such party's handling and use of any shared information shall be governed by their own privacy policies and terms of use. You may opt-out of such sharing of your information by declining to provide it or by sending a subsequent opt-out request to us by click here or by mail at the address below; however, opting-out may limit our ability to provide you with a specific service. We recommend that you always review the privacy policies and terms of use before you complete any transaction with the provider of any service.

HOW SECURE IS INFORMATION ABOUT ME?
We work to protect the security of your information during transmission by using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) software, which encrypts information you input. We also use a secure server hosting location, firewall protection, controlled access and encryption technology to protect your data. While no system is completely foolproof, we take the security of your personal information very seriously, and our security measures are designed to protect that information in a responsible manner.

WHAT INFORMATION CAN I ACCESS?
If you register as a Shopzilla member, Shopzilla gives you access to your registration information for the purpose of viewing and updating that information. You are also entitled to request a copy of any other personal information we hold about you. We may charge a fee for complying with this request. If you become aware that the personal information we hold about you is inaccurate, you may request that we amend it.

WHAT CHOICES DO I HAVE?
As discussed above, you can always choose not to provide information, although that might prevent us from personalizing our Services for you or prevent you from taking advantage of certain useful Shopzilla features.

If you have registered as a member, you can add or update your registration information (for instance, if your name, email address or zip code changes), or delete your membership account entirely, at any time by visiting the Your Account area.

We will retain in our files information you have requested to delete in some circumstances, such as to resolve disputes, troubleshoot problems and enforce our User Agreement. Furthermore, such prior information is never completely removed from our databases due to technical and legal constraints, including stored "back up" systems.

EMAIL POLICIES
From time to time, Shopzilla may send newsletters and other email to members and others who have agreed to be contacted by Shopzilla. You can always choose not to receive email from Shopzilla. Each of our email messages contains a link at the bottom of the email for the purpose of adjusting your email subscription preferences or to be removed from our mailing list. (If you do not want to receive notice of changes to our User Agreement and other legal notices from us, such as updates to this Privacy Policy, those notices will still govern your use of Shopzilla, and it is your responsibility to review them for changes.)

PRIVACY QUESTIONS?
If you have any questions or concerns about privacy at Shopzilla, please contact us at by clicking here, and we will try to answer your questions or otherwise resolve the matter to your satisfaction. Or, if you prefer, you may contact us in writing at Shopzilla, Inc., 12200 W. Olympic Blvd., Suite 300, Los Angeles, CA 90064.

REVISIONS
Your contacts with Shopzilla and use of our Web site and other Services are subject to this Privacy Notice. Since our business changes constantly, this Privacy Policy will also change from time to time. Users will be notified via email or a prominent notice on our Web site for 30 days prior to the effective date of any material changes to this Privacy Policy. We provide you with 30 days notice to allow you the opportunity to notify Shopzilla if you do not wish your information to be subject to the proposed changes to this Privacy Policy. You should also check for recent changes on our Web site whenever you visit our Web site or use our other Services.