FRANCHISE FLIPPERS PRIVACY POLICY

EFFECTIVE DATE: May 9, 2019

This privacy policy sets out how Franchise Hawk, LLC, d/b/a Franchise Flippers (“Franchise Flippers”) uses and protects any information that you give Franchise Flippers when you use this website. The privacy policy is meant to help you understand what information we collect, why we collect it, and how you can update or delete your information. Franchise Flippers provides a variety of online services to assist individuals, brokers, and other interested parties with buying and selling franchises. This privacy policy does not describe the collection, use, or disclosure of information through means other than this website or any other third party. For information on a third party’s use, collection, or disclosure practices, please review the privacy policy on the applicable third party’s website. Franchise Flippers is not responsible for the websites, content, or privacy practices of any third party.  

Franchise Flippers may change this policy from time to time by updating this page. You should check this page from time to time to ensure that you are happy with any changes. This policy was last updated on May 8, 2019.

OUR COMMITMENT TO INDIVIDUAL PRIVACY

Franchise Flippers is committed to protecting the privacy and accuracy of your information. We collect Usage Data (as described below) and may collect zip codes and other information in connection with your use of the Franchise Flippers website. We collect personally identifiable information only when you provide it, and we collect the least amount of personally identifiable information required to provide you with requested services. The types of personally identifiable information collected will depend on the nature of the submission or the features of the website used, but could include your name, address, phone number, information related to your franchise business, and/or email address.

Franchise Flippers does not request and we ask that you not send us any sensitive information (e.g., government-issued identification numbers, racial or ethnic information, political opinions, religious affiliations, health, biometrics or genetic characteristics). If you choose not to provide requested personal information, you can still visit most Franchise Flippers web pages, but you might be unable to access certain services that require our interaction with you.

WHAT WE COLLECT

We collect a variety of information that you provide directly to us. In general, we collect information from you through:

• Using any of our services, including registering for a user account through our websites
• Signing up for e-mail updates
• Uploading or posting to public forums associated with Franchise Flippers
• Submitting requests or questions to us via forms or e-mail
• Requesting customer support and technical assistance

We may collect the following information:

• Name, address, telephone number, and e-mail address
• Log-in credentials, if you register a user account through our websites
• Information about your customer service and maintenance interactions with us
• Information pertaining to your business, franchise, job, professional affiliation, and other personal information
• Information you provide to us in connection with any application process for services or a franchise listing
• User-generated content you upload or post through our services
• Information from third parties about you in connection with any affiliate programs we may offer
• Any other information you choose to directly provide to us in connection with your use of our services

Please note, we will never ask for your social security number.  

Franchise Flippers uses a third party payment processor to process payments made to us. In connection with the processing of such payments, we do not retain any personally identifiable information or any financial information such as credit card numbers. All such information is provided directly to our third party processor, Stripe, whose use of your personal information is governed by their privacy policy, which may be viewed at: https://stripe.com/us/privacy.

INFORMATION WE COLLECT THROUGH AUTOMATED MEANS

Cookies, Web Beacons

A cookie is a small file which asks permission to be placed on your computer’s hard drive. Once you agree, the file is added and the cookie helps analyze web traffic or lets you know when you visit a particular site. Cookies allow web applications to respond to you as an individual. The web application can tailor its operations to your needs, likes and dislikes by gathering and remembering information about your preferences. Web beacons are electronic images embedded into a web page, which may be placed by us or a third party tracking utility partner) can tell us what advertising you have seen on the website, and allows us to offer you a more diverse selection of advertising information and may also be used together with cookies to identify which pages are being used. This helps us analyze data about web page traffic and improve our website in order to tailor it to customer needs. A cookie or web beacon in no way gives us access to your computer or any information about you, other than the data you choose to share with us. Web beacons may also be included in emails sent by the website to determine when and if such emails are opened or forwarded.

You can choose to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. This may prevent you from taking full advantage of the website.

Analytics Information

When you use our services, we and our service providers (which are third-party companies that work on our behalf) may use cookies, and similar technologies to track, collect and aggregate certain information including, among other things, which pages of our websites were visited, the order in which they were visited, when they were visited, the URLs from which you linked to our websites, and which hyperlinks were “clicked.” Collecting such information may involve logging the IP address, operating system and browser software used by each user of the website. Through such information, we may be able to determine from an IP address a user’s Internet Service Provider and the general geographic location (city/state) of his or her point of connectivity. We also use or may use these technologies to help us determine and identify repeat visitors, the type of content and sites to which a user of our websites links, the length of time each user spends at any particular area of our websites, and the specific functionalities that users choose to use.

We use third-party web analytics services (such as those of Google Analytics) on our website to collect and analyze usage information through cookies and similar tools; engage in auditing, researching, or reporting; assist with fraud prevention; and provide certain features to you. We also provide a limited amount of your information (such as your e-mail address and order history) to our marketing agency partners so that they can analyze website usage on our behalf, which allows us to improve our services.

For more information about our use of cookies and similar technologies, including how you can install the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on to prevent Google from using your information for analytics, or otherwise control or disable cookies, please see https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

Online Advertising

We may allow third party companies, including advertising companies to place cookies on our website. These cookies enable such companies to track your activity across various sites where they display ads and record your activities so they can show ads that they consider relevant to you as you browse the Internet. These Cookies store information about the content you are browsing together with an identifier linked to your device or IP address. These Cookies also allow us and third parties to know whether you’ve seen an ad or a type of ad, and how long it has been since you’ve last seen it. This information is used for frequency capping purposes, to help tailor the ads you see, and to measure the effectiveness of ads. You may choose to modify your browser settings to decline cookies.  

WHAT WE DO WITH THE INFORMATION WE GATHER

We require this information to understand your needs and provide you with a better service, and in particular for the following reasons:

• Send you information in connection with the services offered
• Provide the services you have requested, pursuant to our Terms and Conditions
• Respond to your communications and requests
• Contact you by e-mail, postal mail, or phone (including via SMS messages) regarding Franchise Flippers services, surveys, research studies, promotions, special events and other subjects that we think may be of interest to you
• To confirm or fulfill a request that you make (e.g. in order to send you information you request related to a franchise, we will share your contact information with a participating user)
• Customize the content we provide through our services
• To manage relationships with partners, brokers, franchisees and franchisors, advertisers, or other third parties to which the website may disclose personally identifiable information pursuant to this policy
• Help us better understand your interests and needs, and improve our services
• Comply with any procedures, laws, and regulations which apply to us where it is necessary for our legitimate interests or the legitimate interests of others
• Establish, exercise, or defend our legal rights where it is necessary for our legitimate interests or the legitimate interests of others
• Internal record keeping

The website may share personally identifiable information that you provide with third parties in the following cases:

• The website maintains relationships with third party providers for some of the products and services offered through the website. If you request information or services through the website, you agree that the website may share personally identifiable information and usage data as may be necessary to provide such information to, or perform such services for, you. In some cases, the information that you provide through the website may be collected directly by a third party or its affiliates. Personally identifiable information also may be shared with the specific third parties that can respond to your requests in the form of reporting and other follow-up communications. The subsequent use or disclosure of any information collected by or provided to third parties is subject to their privacy policies and practices.
• As provided in this policy, and if you are 18 years of age or older and have agreed to receive third party direct marketing materials, the website may share your personally identifiable information with third parties for direct marketing purposes. Although we will endeavor to notify all third-party direct marketers that the information provided to them is confidential, the subsequent use or disclosure of information is subject to those third parties’ privacy policies and practices.
• If you make any personally identifiable information publicly available on the website (e.g., by posting a listing which contains personally identifiable information), anyone may see and use such information and we are not responsible for such use. Franchise Flippers reserves the right to share any personally identifiable information you post on the website with third parties with your prior consent. To the extent the website does so, the subsequent use and disclosure of such information is subject to the privacy policies and practices of those third parties. 
• Internal record keeping

AGGREGATE / ANONYMOUS DATA

We may aggregate and/or anonymize any information collected through the website so that such information can no longer be linked to you or your device (“Aggregate/Anonymous Information”). We may use Aggregate/Anonymous Information for any purpose, including without limitation for research and marketing purposes, statistical analyses of website(s) usage, and may also share such data with any third parties, including advertisers, promotional partners, and sponsors.

SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS AND FEATURES

Our websites may contain links to third-party social media sites, and also contain third-party integrations (such as LinkedIn, or the Facebook “Like” button) and functionalities. If you choose to use these sites or features, you may disclose your information not just to those third-parties, but also to their users and the public more generally depending on how their services function. Franchise Flippers is not responsible for the content or practices of those websites or services. The collection, use, and disclosure of your information will be subject to the privacy policies of the third-party websites or services, and we urge you to read the privacy and security policies of those third-parties.

DATA SUBJECT RIGHTS AND YOUR CHOICES

You may have certain rights with respect to your information as further described in this section.

Your local laws may permit you to request that we:

• Provide access to and/or a copy of certain information we hold about you
• Prevent the processing of your information for direct-marketing purposes (including any direct marketing processing based on profiling)
• Update information which is out of date or incorrect
• Delete certain information which we are holding about you
• Restrict the way that we process and disclose certain of your information
• Transfer your information to a third-party provider of services
• Revoke your consent for the processing of your information

We will consider all requests and provide our response within the time period stated by applicable law. Please note, however, that certain information may be exempt from such requests in some circumstances, which may include if we need to keep processing your information for our legitimate interests, to comply with a legal obligation, or if necessary for the performance of a contract involving you or us. To the extent that you make such a request, we require certain information to help verify your request and prevent fraudulent information and removal requests. Specifically, we ask that you provide the following pieces of information:

1. Username and e-mail address associated with your user account(s)
2. Approximate date of user account registration
3. Information you want to view and/or request removed
4. A statement under penalty of perjury that all information in your request is truthful and that this is your user account or that you have the authorization to make the request on behalf of the owner of the user account

Depending on the circumstances and the information you request, we may require additional methods of verification in our discretion.

MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS

You may instruct us not to use your contact information to contact you by e-mail, postal mail, or phone regarding services, promotions and special events that might appeal to your interests by contacting us using the information below. In commercial e-mail messages, you can also opt out by following the instructions located at the bottom of such e-mails. Please note that, regardless of your request, we may still use and share certain information as permitted by this privacy policy or as required by applicable law. For example, you may not opt out of certain operational e-mails, such as those reflecting our relationship or transactions with you.

JURISDICTION AND CROSS-BORDER TRANSFER

Your personally identifiable information may be stored and processed in any country, including the United States, where we have facilities in which we engage third-party service providers, and by requesting Franchise Flippers services you consent to the transfer of information to countries outside of your country of residence which may have data protection rules that are different from those of your country.  In certain circumstances, courts, law enforcement agencies, regulatory agencies or security authorities in those other countries may be entitled to access your personally identifiable information.

CHILDREN’S PRIVACY

Franchise Flippers is intended for general audiences and not for children under the age of 18. If we become aware that we have inadvertently collected “personal information” (as defined by the United States Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act) from children under the age of 13 without legally-valid parental consent, we will take reasonable steps to delete it as soon as possible. We also comply with other age restrictions and requirements in accordance with applicable local laws.

HOW WE PROTECT YOUR INFORMATION

We consider the confidentiality and security of your information to be of the utmost importance. Franchise Flippers takes a variety of technical, administrative, and physical measures to protect your information from disclosure to or access by third parties. In order to prevent unauthorized access or disclosure, we have put in place suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online. When you enter sensitive information on our registration or order forms, we encrypt that information using SSL protocol. To learn more about SSL protocol, follow this link.

We follow generally accepted industry standards to protect the personal information submitted to us, both during transmission and once we receive it. Please note that we do not guarantee the security of information, as no method of internet transmission or storage is completely secure. Also note that we may retain and store your information in our databases and systems even after your Franchise Flippers account is deactivated as long as we have a legitimate purpose to do so and in accordance with applicable law. We intend to take reasonable and appropriate steps to protect the information that you share with us or third-party service providers from unauthorized access or disclosure. If you have reason to believe that your interaction with us is no longer secure, please immediately notify us by e-mail at [email protected].

CONTROLLING YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

You may choose to restrict the collection or use of your personal information. If you have previously agreed to us using your personal information for direct marketing purposes, you may change your mind at any time by writing to or e-mailing us at [email protected]  

We also send our users site and service announcement updates. Users are not able to un-subscribe from service announcements, which contain important information about service notices and responsibilities. Franchise Flippers occasionally communicates with its users via email and phone to provide information about requested services and regarding issues related to their account. It is important to note that this communication is not used for marketing or promotional purposes. Requesting the deletion of certain types of user information may prevent users from accessing some website features.

We will not sell, distribute or lease your personal information to third parties unless we have your permission or are required by law to do so. We may use your personal information to send you promotional information about third parties which we think you may find interesting.  You will have the choice to opt out from receiving this promotional information.

CHANGING, UPDATING, OR DELETING PERSONAL INFORMATION

If you believe that any information we are holding on you is incorrect or incomplete, please write to or e-mail as soon as possible. We will promptly correct any information found to be incorrect.

If you would like to request to review, correct, update, suppress, restrict, or delete personally identifiable information that you have previously provided to us, or if you would like to request to receive an electronic copy of your personally identifiable information for purposes of transmitting it to another company (to the extent this right to data portability is provided to you by applicable law), you may contact us by e-mail at [email protected]. We will respond to your request consistent with applicable law.

In your request, please make clear what personally identifiable information you would like to have changed, whether you would like to have your personally identifiable information suppressed from our database or otherwise let us know what limitations you would like to put on our use of your personally identifiable information. For your protection, we will only implement requests with respect to the personally identifiable information associated with the particular e-mail address that you use to send us your request, and we may need to verify your identity before implementing your request. We will try to comply with your request as soon as reasonably practicable.

Please note that we may need to retain certain information for record keeping purposes and/or to complete any transactions that you began prior to requesting a change or deletion. There may also be residual information that will remain within our databases and other records, which will not be removed.

CHANGES TO OUR PRIVACY POLICY

Please note that we review our privacy practices from time to time, and that these practices are subject to change. Any change, update, or modification will be effective immediately upon posting on our websites. You can know if the Privacy Policy has changed since the last time you reviewed it by checking the “Effective Date” included at the beginning of the document. If we make a material change to the Policy, you will be provided with appropriate notice in accordance with legal requirements. By continuing to use our services, you are confirming that you have read and understood the latest version of this Privacy Policy. Be sure to return to this page periodically to ensure familiarity with the most current version of this Privacy Policy.

FRANCHISE FLIPPERS CONTACT INFORMATION

If you have any questions, comments or complaints about this Privacy Policy, please contact us:

E-mail: [email protected].

 

Franchise Hawk, LLC

d/b/a Franchise Flippers

19 Old Town Square #238

Fort Collins, CO 80524

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