Privacy Policy

At Union Shopper, we would like to assure you that we take your information and privacy very seriously. We want your experience with Union Shopper to be rewarding, enjoyable and as efficient as possible. To enable this to happen during the normal course of business, the personal information we receive from you needs to be current, complete and accurate. The following is a description of what we do and don’t do with your details.

• Union Shopper’s Members Only area
• Collection of personal information
• Use of collected information by third parties
• Cookies
• Collection of credit card details and processing
• Use of information and Union membership verification
• Use of aggregate data
• Access to personal information
• Lost Login and Password details
• Security
• Supplier services
• Promotional/advertising material and online links to third party sites
• Computer viruses
• Monitoring our service
• What else you should know about privacy on the internet
• For further information

Union Shopper’s Members Only area

Union Shopper has implemented a membership system which offers a more rewarding and personalised online shopping experience (“Union Shopper Membership”). To register as a Union member and obtain the full benefits of Union Shopper Membership, you register your details with us and ‘login’ as a member each time you visit the website. (Union Shopper Membership is not necessary to access some of our website functions.) The benefits of Union Shopper Membership include: access to view and update your personal information; your own personalised home page on the website; exclusive access to the entire range of products and services offered by Union Shopper including detailed merchant information and offers, online enquiries, quoting, and specials; electronic newsletters; interactive tools and services; and access to exclusive competitions. Also, to keep you up to date with what’s happening on the website, you have the option to receive member-only offers directly to your (and your partner’s) email address from our selected merchants and regular updates of our products and services.

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Collection of personal information

We collect personal information when we provide our services to you. We usually collect personal information directly from you, the Union member or your authorized spouse/partner, either by telephone or online.

Whenever you visit the website, our servers automatically record information about your usage, such as the time of the visit, its duration and the pages you visit. This is to help us understand what parts of our website all users enjoy the most and to help us ensure that promotions on the website are most directly relevant to your interests. If you have not identified yourself on the website, such as by registering for Union Shopper Membership or logging in as a registered member, the information we collect about you remains anonymous. Refer ‘Use of Aggregrate Data‘. If you log in as a Union Shopper member Once you have become a Union Shopper member, we collect personal information about you in order to provide you with full access to the many benefits available to you by being a member of an associated/affiliated Australian Union. When you first register for Union Shopper Membership, we collect information from you such as your name, address, suburb, telephone contacts, and e-mail, and will continue to add to your member profile as you interact more on the website, for example, if you enter a competition or subscribe to our newsletters.

Union Shopper does not share, disclose, sell, distribute, rent, licence, share or pass onto third parties personally identifiable information collected at our website or which you have provided to us unless we have your consent to do so or in accordance with the ‘Use of Collected Information by Third Parties‘ Condition below. Outside of information that you enter about yourself on the website, we also receive and store certain types of information when you interact with the website. This may be provided through the use of Cookies.

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Use of collected information by third parties

Union Shopper may disclose aggregate member database information to its service providers and contractors to help us to provide and market our goods and services to you. In addition, with the aim of providing exclusive benefits to eligible union members, your personal information may be disclosed to third parties in two ways:

1. Under agreement between Union Shopper and the participating third party for the single purpose of providing you exclusive offers only where you have elected to receive such information/material.
2. Where your personal information is shared with a participating third party who is providing prizes for competitions, surveys or member offers. In such instances the shared information is for the sole purpose of prize procurement, and is strictly not to be used for any other purpose.

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Cookies

Cookies are alphanumeric identifiers that are placed on your computer’s hard drive through your web browser. They record information necessary for certain website functions, such as remembering your preferences or settings. The use of cookies can enhance your enjoyment of what we offer, because they help us personalise your experience of our website by providing us with aggregated information. This information can include: how users interact on our website, track which advertisements and promotions are effective; improve our content and therefore your shopping experience. We also use cookies to operate the Members only area, as they help us identify visitors to the website who have previously registered. Be assured that cookies do not personally identify you, and do not send any information back to us about your computer or any other information on your hard drive.

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Collection of credit card details and processing

Union Shopper does not provide online payment purchasing. Therefore credit card or other payment details are never stored on our website, our server, or our host’s server. Collection of credit card details is conducted purely for transactions made either over-the-counter (in person), by telephone or by mail, to the user’s discretion. All payment card details are used for a single transaction only and are recorded purely for accounting purposes.

Use of information and Union membership verification

Union Shopper will only collect personal information about you in the normal course of performing Union Shopper business activities, e.g. when placing an enquiry. Such personal information may include:

• Member’s full name
• Residential address
• Mailing address
• Contact telephone number/s
• Name of your Union
• Union membership number

This information helps us to keep the service exclusive to genuine Union members and also means that member’s details are accurate, avoiding the delays that can occur if contact phone numbers or addresses are not current. Verification of the member’s eligibility to purchase through Union Shopper will be checked with the member’s Union. Failure to comply with our use of information may result in loss of service. It is important to note that we send periodical communications to people who have “opted in” to receive email updates and other forms of communicative material about products, services and special offers, and we retain the right to inform our customers of changes in our business operations from time to time. We intend to honour our members’ rights to privacy and do not set out to “spam” our members in any way.

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Use of aggregate data

Union Shopper may use personally identifiable information in aggregate form to improve our products and services including the website and make them more responsive to the needs of all members. With the assistance of our web hosting service and/or statistical utilities we do collect aggregated information on how visitors use the website. The following core information on the usage of the Union Shopper website is obtained, and is not limited to:

• The number of page views (or page impressions) that occur on our pages;
• The names or nature of pages viewed by visitors;
• The number of unique visitors to our website;
• How long visitors (on average) spend on our website;
• From where (if anywhere) a visitor has been referred; and
• Common entry and exit points into our website.

This statistical compilation and analysis of information may also be used by Union Shopper or provided to others as a summary report for marketing, advertising or research purposes. Union Shopper may also collect certain non-personal information to optimise our products and services including the website for your computer (e.g., the identity of your Internet browser, the type of operating system you use, your IP address and the domain name of your Internet service provider). We may use such non-personal information for internal purposes, including but not limited to improving the content of the website. [ top ]

Access to personal information

You have a right to access most personal information we hold about you and if we deny access in some circumstances we will tell you why. Personal information provided by you can be viewed and changed by you if information provided is incorrect or out of date. Union Shopper provides you with the following online tools to manage your information, the tools of which will evolve as the website evolves:

• My profile (to manage all personal details)
• Newsletter preferences
• Login information

Should any assistance be required please contact our Member Services team on 1300 368 117 (view our trading hours), or email member@unionshopper.com.au.

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Lost Login and Password details

All information is kept private. Many members often forget details such as their passwords. We do not distribute these either via telephone or email, unless absolutely necessary. The member is provided instructions to reset their password rather than the actual password being given out. Union Shopper will never send private or sensitive details by email. [ top ]

Security

Union Shopper is totally committed to all users and members’ privacy and protects your data and security carefully. We use a variety of physical and electronic security measures including restricting physical access to our offices and firewalls and secure databases to keep personal information secure from misuse, loss or unauthorised use or disclosure. All information submitted through the Union Shopper website is secured using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) software. While Union Shopper undertakes all reasonable steps to protect your personal information, unfortunately, no data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be totally secure. Sending and receiving information over the Internet is at the user’s own risk, however Union Shopper will do everything reasonably possible to ensure your data’s security once we receive it. Only authorised Union Shopper personnel have access to your personal information, which we maintain in a secure environment. It is Union Shopper’s policy to never request payment details in an email. Do not ever submit your credit card or other payment details in an electronic messaging format.

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Supplier services

If you enter into a transaction through Union Shopper to purchase services or tickets/vouchers for those services supplied directly by a third party, Union Shopper is not responsible for the provision of those services or for any misunderstanding between you and the supplier. In all arrangements involving the direct provision of services by third parties, Union Shopper accepts no liability of any kind in connection with or arising from such an arrangement. [ top ]

Promotional/advertising material and online links to third party sites

It is Union Shopper’s policy to maintain a high standard of promotional material for the exclusive use of members. This material can be in the form of general marketing tools (e.g. member kits, pens etc), or joining our mailing list for direct mail and/or electronic mail. We will not communicate with you without first asking you whether you wish to receive promotional information. All members however are encouraged to join our mailing list as it enables Union Shopper to effectively deliver important service information, notice of newly available products and services, website enhancements and to receive feedback. Our electronic communications are fully compliant with the Spam Act 2003 and we do not send unsolicited messages. If you are receiving promotional information about The Union Shopper Inc. or its affiliates and do not wish to receive this information any longer, you may remove your name from our list either by following the instructions on how to withdraw your information provided within the material, or by visiting our website using the mailing list facilities available to update or remove information. Any Union Shopper promotional material forwarded will be sent to you only from Union Shopper. Union Shopper establishes relationships with business partners that allow visitors to our website to link directly to sites operated by these partners. Some of these sites may be “co-branded” with our logo; however, these sites may not be operated or maintained by or on our behalf. These sites may collect personal information from you that may be shared with us. This Privacy Statement will apply to any personal information we obtain in this manner. Union Shopper is not responsible for the content or practices of websites operated by third parties that are linked to our sites. These links are meant for the user’s convenience only. Links to third party sites do not constitute sponsorship, endorsement or approval by Union Shopper of the content, policies or practices of those third party sites. Once you have left our site via such a link, you should check the applicable privacy policy of the third party site. We will not provide any of your personal information to advertisers or any other organisation without your express consent, except as detailed in “Use of collected information by third parties“.

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Computer viruses

All care is taken to ensure that the Union Shopper website and its data transmissions are free from viruses. However, it is your responsibility to scan any such data for viruses. [ top ]

Monitoring our service

Members who consent to receive from time to time Union Shopper material about our products and services may be approached by Union Shopper to assist us in monitoring our service and member satisfaction. Members who do not consent to participate in these activities will be removed from such lists. [ top ]

What else you should know about privacy on the internet

Remember to close your browser when you have finished your user session. This is to ensure that others cannot access your personal information and correspondence if you share a computer with someone else or are using a computer in a public place like a library or Internet cafe. You as an individual are responsible for the security of and access to your own computer. Whenever you voluntarily disclose personal information over the Internet that this information can be collected and used by others. In short, if you post personal information in publicly accessible online forums, you may receive unsolicited messages from other parties in return. Ultimately, you are solely responsible for maintaining the secrecy of your username and passwords and any account information. Please be careful and responsible whenever you are using the internet.

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For further information

Union Shopper takes any issues concerning privacy seriously and will work to address these concerns should we become aware of ongoing problems or concerns with our website and its terms of use. If you would like more information about our terms of use or approach to privacy, or you have a problem or complaint, please contact our Member Services team on 1300 368 117 (view our trading hours), or email member@unionshopper.com.au.