Effective Date: 4th November 2019
This Privacy Statement explains how Groupon
International Limited and our Australian Affiliate collect, control, process,
and use information about you (which we call “personal data”).
When we say “Groupon International”, “us”,
“our”, or “we”, we mean Groupon International Limited. Groupon
International is the operator of the Groupon marketplace. It provides
platforms where our EU Affiliates and other unaffiliated third-party sellers
(collectively “Sellers”) can list offers for vouchers, deals, goods, getaways,
and other offerings.
Our local Australian affiliate (“Australian
Affiliate”) is Groupon
Australia Pty Ltd ACN 147 834 151. Our Australian Affiliate collects, processes, and uses
personal information about you as necessary to facilitate the sale of vouchers,
deals, goods, and getaways. Our
Australian Affiliate as an APP entity also complies with this Privacy Statement
and the Australian Privacy Principles in relation to handling of personal
information about individuals that our Australian Affiliate collects and
controls.
When
we talk about the “Site”, we mean our platforms, which include our websites and
our mobile applications, our communications that we send and services that we
provide, social networking sites, and any other websites
Change
We routinely update this Privacy Statement to
clarify our practices and to reflect new or different privacy practices, such
as when we add new services, functionality, or features to the Site. If we make
any material changes we will notify you, either by email (sent to the email
address specified in your account), by means of notice on the Site or by using
other methods. You can determine when this version of the Privacy Statement was
adopted by us by referring to the “Effective Date” above.
You understand that your continued use of the Site after we send a notice about our changes to the Privacy Statement means that the collection, control, processing, and use of your personal data is subject to the updated Privacy Statement. If you object to any changes, you may modify your account settings or close your account as described below.
1. Personal Data We Collect
We will collect the following personal data
when you interact with the Site:
·
Authentication and
identification information (e.g. your name, email address, and password). This
information is necessary to set up and log you into your account, but you do
have the option to make purchases without creating a password. If you don’t
provide this, we may not be able to provide our full range of account services
to you;
·
Basic personal details (e.g.
your name, date of birth, and nationality);
·
Contact details (e.g. your
postal address, telephone number, and email address). We may need some of this
information to deliver products to you, such as your postal address to deliver
physical products and your email address to send you vouchers, and won’t be
able to carry out these services if you don’t provide it;
·
Payment details (e.g. your
credit card details or payment tokens from third party payment providers like
PayPal). We use these to process your order, and won’t be able to take payment
from you or give refunds if you don’t provide it; and
·
Information about your contacts
with Groupon (e.g. call recordings, instant messages on our site, and user
generated content).
Some information we collect is necessary for us
to provide our services or meet our legal obligations. We will make this clear
when we collect that information from you.
We will also automatically collect personal
data when you interact with the Site through your computer, mobile device, or
other device. This personal data includes the following:
·
Analytics data (e.g.
information about app downloads, app and web page histories), which may include
data collected from cookies and other types of device identifiers;
·
Profile inputs (e.g. page and
deal views on the site, purchase details, click information and information
about the website you clicked to our Site from). This may include data about
your location. With respect to geolocation information collected from your
mobile device, we will only collect this where you have provided consent for us
to do so; and
·
Device details (e.g. IMEI, MAC
address, IP address, bluetooth data and advertising identifiers).
We also receive personal data and other online
and offline information from third parties with whom we conduct business, such as
merchants, co-marketers, distributors, resellers, and other companies or
organizations with whom we enter into agreements to support our business and
operations, including advertising partners and third party data
providers that provide us with supplemental or additional information about our
customers (collectively “Business Partners”).
The personal data we receive from Business
Partners includes basic personal details, contact details, device details,
profile inputs, as well as:
·
Demographic information, (e.g.
details about age brackets and educational background);
·
Location data (e.g. information
about postal or ZIP code); and
·
Purchase information from third
party sites (e.g. information about purchases on other sites).
We will only receive data from our Business
Partners where they are legally permitted to share such data, and we will only
process that data for the purposes described below. We use the data provided to
better understand your preferences, deals that are relevant to you, and how our
merchants are performing. By combining the data we collect directly from you
with that received from third parties, we are able to provide you with a
better, and more personalized, Groupon experience.
We will collect the personal data described
above at various stages in your relationship with us when you:
·
Register, subscribe, authorise
the transfer of, or create an account with us. If you choose not to create a
password for your account, we create an account and link your purchase details
to your email address, which you can set a password for during each purchase;
·
Open or respond to emails or
messages from us;
·
Provide information to enroll
or participate in programs provided on behalf of, or together with Sellers and
Business Partners, with your consent or as necessary to provide services you
have requested;
·
Visit any page online that
displays our ads or content;
·
Purchase products or services
on or through the Site from Sellers;
·
Connect, log-in, or link to the
Site using social networking tools; and
·
Post comments to the online
communities sections of the Site.
We also create profiles about you based on the
personal data you provide to us or that is collected about you, as described
above and including personal data that we receive from Business Partners. We do
this to market offers to you we think you would be interested in buying. The
contents of that profile include:
·
Account details. For example, we create a permanent URL to your account page which
may include your name. We also generate tokens to remember your subscription
and purchase histories, and any loyalty numbers you may have obtained;
·
Marketing segment
information. For example, if you purchase
products or services related to wellness and beauty, we may infer that you are
interested in these types of products, or if you purchase Groupon Getaways
deals we may infer that you are a frequent traveler;
·
Audience information. We create audiences based on parameters such as gender, age, and
location (e.g. males aged 25-35 in your city), and if your personal data
matches those audiences, you’ll be assigned to it. This is to help you receive
relevant offers; and
· Activity information. Based on your interactions with communications, we’ll generate personal data about how many communications you like to receive, so that we don’t send you more than are useful to you.
2. Your Choices
You can manage the types of personal data you
provide to us and can limit how we communicate with you. At the same time, we
think that the more you tell us about yourself and what you like, the more
relevant and valuable your experience with our Site and services will be.
You can manage your email, push notification, location
information and subscription notification preferences by logging into your
account through the Site or by adjusting the settings in our mobile
application:
·
Push notifications and
location information. Your device and the
Groupon mobile app provide you with options to control push notifications and
how and when we collect your geolocation. You can disallow our use of certain
location data through your device or browser settings, for example, by
disabling “Location” services for the Groupon application in Apple’s iOS and
Android privacy settings, or by disabling “Location” services for your device;
· Subscriptions. You can also manage your subscriptions by following subscription management instructions contained in any commercial emails that we send you. You may choose to subscribe to some types of messages, and may choose not to subscribe to, or to unsubscribe from, others. You may update your subscription preferences at any time. Even if you decide not to subscribe to, or to unsubscribe, from promotional email messages, we may still need to contact you with important transactional information related to your account and your purchases from Sellers. For example, even if you have unsubscribed from our promotional email messages or push notifications, we will still send you confirmations when you make purchases on the Site;
· Cookies. You can manage how your browser handles cookies. Privacy and security features and settings of the various browsers differ, so please refer to the instructions for your browser to learn how to best use cookie-related and other privacy and security settings that may be available. You may also manage how your mobile device and mobile browser share information on and about your devices with us, as well as how your mobile browser handles cookies by adjusting the privacy and security settings on your mobile device. Please refer to instructions provided by your mobile service provider and the manufacturer of your device to learn how to adjust your settings.
·
Objecting to uses of data. In
certain circumstances, you have the right to object to the use of your personal
data. In particular, you can object to our use of personal data where we use
such data to meet our own interests in running our business (as described under
‘How We Use Information’ below and including use of your data for marketing
purposes and management of our business needs). If you object to our use of
your data, we will assess the objection and cease processing that data upon
confirmation of a valid request. For more information, see ‘Your Rights’ below;
· Social networking. You may also manage sharing certain personal data with us when you connect with us through social networking platforms or applications. Please refer to Section 8 below and also the privacy policy and settings of the social networking website or application to determine how you may adjust our permissions and manage the interactivity between us and your social networking account or your mobile device.
3. Your Rights
You can access, update, rectify, and delete
your personal data which makes up some of your profile by logging into your
account or contacting us , including via the Groupon Data Privacy Portal found here. Keeping your personal data current helps
ensure that we can respect your preferences and offer you the goods and
services that are most relevant to you.
In accordance with applicable law, you may:
(i)
request access to any personal
data we hold about you;
(ii)
request that it be updated,
rectified, deleted or blocked;
(iii)
request that we delete personal
data we hold about you;
(iv)
request that we restrict our processing
of your personal data;
(v)
request that we provide you or
a third party with a copy of certain personal data about you (that is referred
to as the right of “data portability”);
(vi)
object to any of our uses of
your personal data described in this policy, including our marketing
activities; and
(vii) revoke your consent to the processing of your personal data, to the extent consent was required and provided by you.
4. How We Use Information
We control and process the personal data you
provide to us, which we collect from other sources, and which we generate, to:
·
Create your account when you
sign up and log you in, which is necessary for us to provide our services to
you in accordance with the Terms
of Use. If you make purchases without creating a password, we link
these purchases to your email address and create a secure account in our
systems. If you create a password at a later date, you will be able to see the
past purchases made with a particular email address;
·
Operate, maintain, and improve
the Site by analyzing how you and our other customers use and interact with it.
This is to meet our legitimate business interests in providing the Site and
ensuring that it provides the best experience for our customers;
·
Validate, facilitate, and
prevent fraudulent purchases. This may include processing orders for vouchers
and other goods and services, payment verification, and verifying that vouchers
redeemed by customers are valid. This is necessary to meet our contractual
commitments to you set out in the Terms
of Use;
·
Carry-out marketing, which may
involve:
o Establishing and analyzing individual and group profiles and
customer behavior, in order to determine your or others interest in certain
types of offers, products, and services. We do this by analyzing your
interactions with the Site and your other personal data (including personal
data received from Business Partners) to determine what your interests are, and
what sorts of products and services people with similar interests also buy,
which helps us understand what products and services you may be interested in
viewing. This is to meet our legitimate interests in understanding the types of
products and services our customers are interested in, and to provide the most
relevant products to you and our other customers;
o Showing relevant offers and advertising. We will use the profiles
described above to create advertising for our products that will be displayed
on relevant third-party sites. We do this to meet our legitimate interests in
showing you products which may be relevant to you;
o Sending you relevant direct marketing messages and other
communications via email or push notifications on mobile devices, including,
with your consent, using your location data to notify you of tailored
location-based deals. We will either send these messages on the basis that you
have consented to receiving them or, where permitted by applicable law, to meet
our legitimate interests in showing you which of our products and services are
relevant to you; and
o Analyzing advertising effectiveness, which may involve analyzing the
advertising campaigns our customers choose to interact with most often. This is
to meet our legitimate interests in understanding which types of advertising
campaigns are more or less effective than others.
·
Answer your questions and
respond to your requests, for example in the context of customer service. This
is to meet our contractual commitments to you in the Terms
of Use where these questions or requests are part of the
purchase process or to comply with legal obligations (such as allowing you to
exercise your rights as described above), and in other cases to meet our
legitimate interests in providing a good service to our customers;
·
Send you reminders, technical
notices, updates, security alerts, support and administrative messages, service
bulletins, and requested information, including on behalf of Business Partners,
EU Affiliates, or other Sellers. This is to meet our legitimate interests in
managing our relationship with you effectively;
·
Administer rewards, surveys,
sweepstakes, contests, or other promotional activities or events, in order to
meet our contractual commitments to you set out in the terms and conditions of
those promotional events;
·
Manage our everyday business
needs, such as administration of the Site, forum management, fulfillment,
analytics, fraud prevention, and enforcement of our corporate reporting
obligations and Terms of Use or to comply with the law; and
· Comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements. We do this where necessary to comply with legal obligations to which we are subject, or to meet our legitimate interests in enforcing our legal rights and resolving disputes or verifying payments and preventing fraud.
5. When and Why We Disclose Personal Data
We share your personal data as follows:
·
with your consent;
·
with our Affiliates and other
Groupon entities within and outside of Australia, including, without
limitation, Groupon, Inc. which has its registered offices at 600 West Chicago
Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60610, USA, each of which will process your personal
data only in accordance with our instructions and for the purposes set out in
this Privacy Statement;
·
with unaffiliated third-party
Sellers and Business Partners , so they can sell, deliver, and provide the
products or services purchased to you (e.g. to deliver products to you, or to
provide a Getaways provider with your details so they can confirm
reservations). We share personal data with unaffiliated third-party Sellers and
Business Partners in order to meet our contractual obligations to you, and they
are not permitted to use your personal data in any way other than for selling,
delivering, and/or providing the products or services purchased by you;
·
with third parties that provide
tools and services to help us better understand your deal preferences, so that
we can show you advertisements for Groupon vouchers, goods, or services on
third party websites which are more suited to your interests and tastes. Those
third parties may also use your personal data to match you with their existing
customer base.;
·
to report or collect on debts
owed to Sellers or other Business Partners;
·
as necessary to perform
contractual obligations towards you with Sellers or Business Partners to the
extent you have purchased or redeemed a Groupon voucher, goods, or services
offered by them or participated in an offer, rewards, contest or other activity
or program sponsored or offered through us or the Sellers on behalf of a
Business Partner;
·
to a subsequent owner,
co-owner, or operator of one or more of the Sites or any portion or operation
related to part of one or more of the Sites;
·
in connection with a corporate
merger, consolidation, or restructuring, the sale of substantially all of our
stock and/or assets, or other corporate change, including, without limitation,
during the course of any due diligence process;
·
to comply with legal orders and
government requests, or as needed to support auditing, compliance, and
corporate governance functions, where this is necessary to comply with these
legal obligations;
·
to combat fraud or criminal activity,
and to protect our rights or those of our EU Affiliates, Sellers, or Business
Partners, and users, or as part of legal proceedings affecting us and/or our EU
Affiliates, as it is in our legitimate interests to prevent fraud and protect
these rights; or
·
in response to a subpoena, or other
legal process compelling our assistance, including to law enforcement agencies,
regulators, and courts, to the extent this is necessary to comply with such
legal obligations.
We encourage our unaffiliated third-party
Sellers and Business Partners to adopt and post privacy policies. However,
while we share personal data with Sellers and Business Partners only for the
above-mentioned purposes, their subsequent processing and use of personal data
obtained through us and our Australian Affiliate is governed by their own
privacy policies and practices and is not under our control (except for the use
and processing by Sellers and Business Partners providing services to us, as
described above). Where possible, we contractually restrict how our Sellers and
Business Partners, including merchants, use your personal data and aim to
ensure they do not use it for any purposes which are incompatible with those
set out in this privacy statement.
In a number of the cases set out above, we will transfer your personal data to a country located outside Australia, which may not be considered as providing the same level of protection for personal data under local law. In such cases, we put in place appropriate safeguards to ensure that there is adequate protection for your personal data.
6. Security of Personal Data
We have implemented an information security program that contains administrative, technical and physical controls that are designed to safeguard your personal data, including industry-standard encryption technology. However, no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is 100% secure. Therefore, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.
7. Retention of Personal Data
We will retain your personal data for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide you services. If you close your account, we will retain your personal data for a period where it is necessary to continue operating our business effectively, to maintain a record of your transactions for financial reporting purposes or fraud prevention purposes until these purposes no longer exist, and to retain as necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements.
8. Social Networks
Social Community Areas
You may access the Site through, or the Site
may contain connections to, areas where you may be able to publicly post
information, communicate with others such as discussion boards or blogs, review
products and merchants, and submit media content. Prior to posting in these
areas, please read our Terms
of Use carefully. All of the information you post may be
accessible to anyone with Internet access, and any information you include in
your posting may be read, collected, and used by others. For example, if you
post your email address along with a public restaurant review, you may receive
unsolicited messages from other parties. You should avoid publicly posting
sensitive information about you or others.
Connecting through Social Networks
We offer social networking users the
opportunity to interact with friends and to share on social networks. If you
are logged into both the Site and a social network, when you use the Site’s
social networking connection functions, you will connect your social network
account with your Groupon account (this happens automatically, if the email
addresses match). If the email addresses do not match, we ask you if you want
to link them and you must validate that you control the accounts by logging in
to your social network account. If you are already logged into the Site but not
into your social network site, when you use the Site’s social network
connection functions, you will be prompted to enter your social network website
credentials or to sign up for the social network.
If you are not currently registered as a
Groupon user and you use the Site’s social network connection functions, you
will first be asked to enter your social network credentials and then be given
the option to register and join Groupon. Once you register with us and connect
with the social network, you will be able to automatically post recent Groupon
activity back to your social network. Please refer to the privacy settings in
your social network account to manage the data that is shared through your
account.
When you use the Site’s social network connection function, you will have the opportunity to consent to our accessing all of the elements of your social network profile information that you have made available to be shared (as per the settings chosen by you in your social network profile) and to use it in accordance with the social network’s terms of use and this Privacy Statement. You can withdraw this consent at any time.
9. Privacy Practices of Third Parties
This Privacy Statement in relation to our Site addresses the collection, processing and use (including disclosure) of personal data only by us through your interactions with our Site. Other websites that may be accessible through links from the Site may have their own privacy statements and personal data collection, processing, use, and disclosure practices. Our Business Partners may also have their own privacy statements. We encourage you to familiarise yourself with the privacy statements provided by these other parties prior to providing them with information or taking advantage of a sponsored offer or promotion.
10. Contact Us
If you have any questions or comments about our privacy practices or this Privacy Statement, you can contact us at privacy@groupon.com.au. If you want to make use of any of the above rights, or other rights that you may have in relation to your personal data, please contact us via the form found here.
11. Other Contacts
We are committed to working with you to obtain a fair resolution of any request, complaint, or concern about our use of your personal data. If, however, you believe that we have not been able to assist you, you can submit a complaint to privacy@groupon.com.au or contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) through their website, https://www.oaic.gov.au/.