This Privacy Policy describes how Merchant Alternatives (“we,” “us”) collects, uses, and discloses certain personal information obtained through our website: https://merchantalternatives.com/ (the “Site”). By visiting our Site and/or using the features made available to you on the Site, you are agreeing to the terms of this Policy. Please note, our Site are directed at individuals residing in the United States.
What information we collect and maintain about you
Personal Information. You can visit the Site without submitting any personal information. However, we collect your personal information when you provide it to us. For example, if you would like to subscribe to our newsletter, we ask you to provide your email address. In addition, if you contact us through email, Facebook or Twitter you may provide us with additional personal information such as your name or other identifying information. We may also collect, when you provide it, your name, phone number, physical address, and date of birth. “Personal Information” is any information that can be used to identify you or that we can link to you.
When you choose to apply for a credit card or other financial product featured on the Site, you will be directed to a secure page on the financial institution’s website where you will provide the information required to be considered for the financial product or service. Merchant Alternatives does not collect or receive the information you input on that financial institution’s or company’s site.
Other Information. We automatically collect certain “Other Information” that does not directly identify you when you use, access, or interact with our Site. This may include information such as your IP address and domain name, your Internet service provider, the date and time of your visit, your use of the Site during your current session and over time (including the pages you view and the files you download), the URLs from the websites you visit before and after navigating to the Site, your computer’s operating system and browser type, your software and hardware attributes (including device IDs such as IDFA and/or Advertising ID), and your general geographic location (e.g., your city, state, or metropolitan region). We use the following technologies to collect Other Information.
Third-party online tracking and behavioral advertising. We also may partner with certain third parties to collect, analyze, and use some of the Personal and Other Information described in this section. For example, we may allow third parties to set cookies or use web beacons or other tracking mechanisms (such as tags or scripts) on the Site or in email communications from us. This information may be used for a variety of purposes, including online behavioral advertising, as discussed below (see the section entitled “Third-Party Analytics and Advertising”).
How We Use Your Information
Merchant Alternatives uses the information that we collect for a variety of purposes. If we have Personal Information about you, we may use it, for example:
We use the Other Information that we collect for such purposes as:
Merchant Alternatives may link Other Information gathered using cookies and web beacons with Personal Information. But in that event, we will treat the combined information as Personal Information.
How We Share Your Information with Third Parties
We share your Personal Information and Other Information with other parties for a variety of purposes, as described below.
Affiliates. We may share Personal and Other Information with our corporate affiliates for the purposes described in this Policy.
Third-party service providers. Merchant Alternatives uses third-party service providers that perform services on our behalf, including web-hosting companies, emailing vendors, and analytics providers. These service providers may collect and/or use your Personal or Other Information to assist us in achieving the purposes discussed above.
We may also share your Personal or Other Information with other third parties when necessary to fulfill your requests for services; to meet the terms of any agreement that you have with us or our partners; or to manage our business.
Your direct sharing of personal information through the Site or third-party websites and services. The Site may enable you to share Personal Information with other users of the Site or with websites or online services operated by third parties. For example, the Site may permit comments to be submitted on articles and contain links to third-party websites that incorporate comment and social media features. The Site may also contain Facebook “like” buttons and Twitter “follow” buttons and may contain similar features of other third parties. If you choose to use these features, you may disclose your Personal Information not just to the Site and third-party websites and services, but also to their users and the public more generally. Because the third-party websites and services are not operated by Merchant Alternatives , we are not responsible for the content or practices of those websites or services. The collection, use, and disclosure of your Personal and Other Information on third-party websites and services will be subject to the privacy policies of the third party websites or services, and not this Policy.
Surveys. We may ask you to participate in surveys (processed by us or third parties) that help us understand your use of the Site and improve our advertising. Any Personal or Other information provided to us (or supplied by you or us to such third-party survey providers) in connection with these surveys will only be used in relation to that survey and as stated in this Policy. Participation in surveys is voluntary.
Third-party plugins. The Site may integrate certain third-party plug-ins (such as a Facebook “like” button). Even if you do not click on these plug-ins, they may collect information about you, such as your IP address and the pages that you view. They also may set and/or access a cookie. These plugins are governed by the privacy policy of the company providing them.
Facebook Custom Audiences and Similar Programs. We may partner with Facebook and other social media partners to deliver advertisements to our users via the Facebook Custom Audiences program or similar third-party programs. In order to identify and reach our users on Facebook or another third-party service, we may share information such as an email address with Facebook or another third-party service. For more information about custom audience targeting and how to adjust your social media advertising preferences, please review the privacy policy of your social media provider.
Legal purposes. We also may use or share your Personal or Other information with third parties when we believe, in our sole discretion, that doing so is necessary:
Aggregated information. From time to time, Merchant Alternatives may also share aggregated information about Site users, such as by publishing reports on trends in the usage of the Site or interest in the types of products or services featured on the Site.
Third-Party Analytics and Advertising
Analytics. We partner with certain third parties to collect the Other Information discussed above and to engage in analysis, auditing, research, and reporting. These third parties may use web logs or web beacons, and they may set and access cookies on your computer or other device. In particular, the Site use Google Analytics to help collect and analyze certain information for the purposes discussed above. You may opt out of the use of cookies by Google Analytics here.
Advertising. The Site also enable third-party tracking mechanisms to collect your Other information for use in online interest-based advertising. For example, third parties may use the fact that you visited our Site to target online ads to you. In addition, our third-party advertising networks might use information about your use of our Site to help target advertisements based on your online activity in general. For information about interest-based advertising practices, including privacy and confidentiality, visit the Network Advertising Initiative website or the Digital Advertising Alliance website.
The use of online tracking mechanisms by third parties is subject to those third parties’ own privacy policies, and not this privacy policy. If you prefer to prevent third parties from setting and accessing cookies on your computer or other device, you may set your browser to block cookies. Additionally, you may remove yourself from the targeted advertising of companies within the Network Advertising Initiative by opting out, or of companies participating in the Digital Advertising Alliance by opting out. Please note that opting out of targeted advertising does not opt you out of seeing advertisements. The advertisements may, however, be less relevant to you. Our Site currently do not respond to “do not track” browser headers, however you can limit tracking by these third parties by taking the steps discussed above.
External links
The Site contain links to third-party websites. If you follow a link to any of these websites, please note that these websites, and any services that may be accessible through them, have their own privacy policies. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of other websites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave the Site and to read the privacy policies applicable to such third-party websites. This Privacy Policy applies solely to information collected in connection with the Site.
Choice
To opt-out of receiving marketing communications or newsletters from us by following the instructions in those emails or by emailing us at legal(at)merchantalternatives.com.
If you want to learn more about the Personal Information that we have about you, or you would like to update or change that information, please contact us by email at legal(at)merchantalternatives.com.
Data Retention and Deletion
We retain information for as long as reasonably necessary to deliver our Site to you, to fulfill the purposes described in this Policy, or as required by law. To request the deletion of your Personal Information, please send us an email at legal(at)merchantalternatives.com. We will make our best effort to delete all Personal Information about you. However, please note that certain information, including Other Information, may be retained in backup databases.
Data Security
To prevent unauthorized access, maintain data accuracy, and ensure the correct use of information, we employ commercially reasonable physical, technical and administrative procedures to safeguard the personal information we collect online. However, we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to the Site or to us, and you transmit such information at your own risk.
International Users
The Personal and Other information that we collect through or in connection with the Site is transferred to and processed in the United States for the purposes described above. Merchant Alternatives also may subcontract the processing of your data to, or otherwise share your data with, affiliates or third parties in the United States or countries other than your country of residence. The data-protection laws in these countries may be different from, and less stringent than, those in your country of residence. By using the Site or by providing any Personal or Other Information to us, you expressly consent to such transfer and processing.
California Residents
If you are a California resident under 18 years of age you may request that we remove content and information that you post on our Site that identifies you. To obtain removal of such content and information, please send us an email at legal (at) merchantalternatives.com with a short description of the content or information you would like to have removed. Please note that such a request does not necessarily ensure complete or comprehensive removal of content posted by you, since the content and information may remain in our databases, may remain visible in a manner that does not identify you, or may have been re-posted by another user.
Children
Content on this Site is directed at individuals over the age of 18 and is not directed at children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from children under the age of 13.
Changes to This Policy
Merchant Alternatives may make changes to the Site in the future and as a consequence will need to revise this Policy to reflect those changes. We will post all such changes on the Site, so you should review this page periodically. If we make a material change to the Policy, you will be provided with appropriate notice.
How to Contact Us
Should you have any questions or concerns about our privacy policy you can contact us at legal(at)merchantalternatives.com