Privacy Policy

Pro Auction  (“We” or “Pro Auction “) is committed to protecting your personal data and respecting your privacy.

This policy (“Privacy Policy”) (together with our Cookies Policy, terms of use (whether Bidder Terms or Website Terms as the case may be) and any other documents referred to in them) sets out the basis on which any personal data we collect from or about you, when you use www.bidspotter.co.uk (the “Website”), will be processed by us.

We will be the data controller of your personal data which you provide to us or which is collected by us about you when you use the Website. This means that we are responsible for deciding how we hold and use personal information about you and that we are required to provide you with the information contained in this Privacy Policy. Please read the following carefully to understand our views and practices regarding your personal data and how we will treat it.

Our Data Protection Officer is Mark Flynn, who is contactable at mark@proauction.ltd.uk, +44 (0)1761 414000,Unit 5 Midsomer |Enterprise Park Radstock Road Bath BA3 2BB United Kingdom. You can also contact us using the details provided at the end of this Notice in the “Contacting Us” section.

  1. Legal Basis and Purpose for Processing

We will collect various types of personal information from you. Further details of the personal data we collect and how we use it are set out below.

In the sections below, we have indicated with asterisks whether we need to process your personal data:

  • * to enter into and/or to perform a contract with you;
    • ** to pursue our legitimate interests, provided that your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests;
    • *** to enable us to comply with our legal obligations;
    • **** with your consent.
    •  
  1. Information We May Collect From You And How We Will Use It

Creating an account on the Website

To create an account on the Website, you will need to provide to us your email address and password. We will automatically assign you a unique ID. You can also voluntarily provide your name, company, VAT number and time zone which will be added to your account. We will use this information for the purposes of:

  • allowing you to log in to the Website and use our services*/**;
    • tracking your browsing habits and interests on our Website**;
    • emailing you with suggested lots or auctions that you may be interested in based on your browsing habits and interests and to remind you about lots that you have watch-listed, if you have opted-in to receiving these emails**/****;
    • allowing you to register and bid at auctions listed on the Website **; and
    • general analytics**.

Registering to Participate in an Auction

To register to participate in an auction (Live Auction Webcast, Timed or Tender Auction), you will need to provide to us your name, payment card details, billing address, telephone number, VAT number (if applicable) and time zone (optional).

We will use this information to enable you to take part in the auction*/** and, as set out in the ‘Making a Purchase’ section below, if your bid is successful for the purposes of verifying your identity**, protecting us and our auctioneers from theft and fraud**, validating your purchase of a paid subscription** and allowing the relevant auctioneer to contact you about your purchase**.

Making a Purchase

We will use the details which you provide when you register to participate in an auction:

  • to carry out our obligations arising from any contracts entered into between you and us*. As part of our service, this includes (if delivery is available through one of the third party shippers we work with) providing a quote to you for third party delivery services when you are successful at auction. This third party shipper will use your information which we will share with them in order to provide their quote to us and if that quote is accepted by you, to deliver the goods to you;
    • where agreed, to enable our third party shipper to deliver goods to you and to collect payment from you in relation to these and related services*; and
    • to supply auctioneers with the required information for the purposes of payment and sale reconciliation (including credit card details), the packing, collection and delivery of lots the entering into and enforcement of your contract with the auctioneer, communications with the auctioneer and the conduct of and your participation in the live auction(s) they are conducting**. We are not responsible for the processing of your personal data by auctioneers. This is a matter between you and the auctioneer concerned. We are simply acting as a communication channel for this information.

Other Information

We may also collect from you:

  • Information that you provide by filling in forms on our sites www.antiquestradegazette.com, www.i-bidder.com, www.BidSpotter.co.uk, www.BidSpotter.com, www.BidSpotter.eu and white label auction websites operated by third parties that are powered by our technology to which this Privacy Policy is expressed to apply**;
    • Information you provide when you voluntarily complete surveys that we use for research purposes****;
    • information that you provide when you enter a competition or promotion sponsored by Pro Auction  or a third party**/****; and
    • information that you provide when you report a problem with our Website**.

When you visit our Website, we shall also automatically collect from you:

  • Details of transactions you carry out through our Website and of the bids (successful or otherwise) you may make during any live auction*/**;
    • Details of your visits to our Website including, but not limited to, traffic data, location data, weblogs and other communication data, whether this is required for our own billing purposes or otherwise and the resources that you access**; and
    • Your IP address, operating system and browser type, for systems administration and to report aggregate information internally and to our auctioneer customers**. This is statistical data about our users’ browsing actions and patterns and does not identify any individual.

We may also use your information in the following ways:

  • to allow you to participate in interactive features of our service such as Live Auction Webcasts, when you choose to do so*/**;
    • to notify you about changes to our service**;
    • to ensure that content from our Website is presented in the most effective manner for you and for your computer**;
    • to manage and provide any rewards and offers and administer any promotions, competitions and surveys**/****;
    • to provide you with information about auction events and/or other services that we or third parties offer or which we feel may be of interest to you, where permitted by law**/****;
    • to investigate, detect and prevent fraud and any other crimes**/***; and
    • to create statistics, analyses and profiles to develop and improve our services**.

We share IP address information with specific auctioneer customers in the event that you fail to pay an auctioneer customer for a lot sold on Website.

Our Website allows auctioneers to automatically accept or reject bidders based on some or all of the following criteria:

  • whether the bidder has registered a valid payment card which passes payment security processes (AVS or 3D Secure);
    • whether the bidder has been publicly blocked by another auctioneer using our services;
    • whether the bidder has registered using a valid email and/or telephone number;
    • whether the bidder is located in the UK or is international.

Which of the above criteria (if any) an auctioneer applies is determined by the auctioneer and not by us. Save as described above, we will not carry out any solely automated decision making using your personal data.

Transaction Information

In addition to the information described above, we will also collect and process information regarding your transactions with auctioneers conducted through our Website (the “Transaction Information”) including as set out below:

  • Details of when you registered on our Website.
    • The number of transactions you have entered into with auctioneers.
    • The total value of the transactions you have entered into with auctioneers.
    • Where you have entered into a transaction through our Website (i.e. you have placed a bid on an item and this bid has been accepted by an auctioneer as the ‘winning bid’) and;

i. have failed to conclude the transaction with the auctioneer (for whatever reason); or

ii. have breached your agreement with the Auctioneer in some other way, for example, by late payment.

this will be recorded by us as a transaction “Lot Cancelled”. In addition to recording the number of Lots Cancelled we will also record the value of each reported Lot Cancelled; and

  • Auctioneers may also block you from registering for future auctions they may hold This block can either be public, meaning it is visible to us and any other auctioneer using our service with whom you register to participate in an auction, or private, meaning it is only visible to us and the relevant auctioneer;
    • Feedback from auctioneers in relation to transactions you have been involved with by way of comments which may be positive or negative based on objective criteria, including:

Public feedback option (visible to us and any other auctioneers using our platform with whom you register to participate in an auction):

1. Paid promptly within terms

2. Collected items within terms

3. Frequent buyer

4. Responds promptly

5. Bidder uncontactable

6. Made a chargeback

7. Paid late outside of terms

8. Paid deposit but did not pay final invoice

9. Collected item(s) late

10. Paid but did not collect item(s)

11. Did not complete the transaction (ie pay for and arrange to collect items)

12. Intended to pay but hasn’t yet (ie is outside of payment terms)

Private feedback options (visible to us and the auctioneer who left the feedback only)

13. Auctioneers discretion

14. Dispute with auctioneer

15. Disputed lots (e.g. description or condition)

Your Transaction Information may be shared with our auctioneers on an ongoing basis.

We may use this Transaction Information to:

  • ensure that our services and those of the auctioneers we work with are not negatively impacted by bidders that default on one or more transactions or whose conduct poses a risk to the integrity or reputation of our services or the services of the auctioneers**;
    • ensure those using our services conclude transactions properly and do not abuse our services or the services offered by auctioneers through our platform**;
    • ensure that other potential buyers of an item are not detrimentally impacted by bidders that fail to conclude a purchase and ‘default’**;
    • ensure the integrity and reputation of our services and ensure that we can provide a timely and efficient service to all of our users**; and
    • protect auctioneers and sellers from future default**.

Our auctioneers may use this Transaction Information to decide whether to enter into a transaction with you in the future.

  1. Change of Purpose

We will only use your personal information for the purposes for which we collected it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose. If we need to use your personal information for an unrelated purpose, we will usually notify you and we will explain the legal basis which allows us to do so.

  1. Disclosure of Your Information

We may disclose your personal information to subsidiary companies of Pro Auction who are members of our group.

We may disclose your personal information to the following other third parties:

  • Auctioneers conducting auctions using our Website or our technology:
    • When you register to participate in an auction, we provide the relevant auctioneer with the personal details you provided while registering on our Website and the auctioneer can view any public blocks on bidders placed by other auctioneers using our services; and
    • We provide auctioneer customers with aggregate information about our users and we may also use such aggregate information to help auctioneers using the Website reach the kind of audience they want to target;
    • Our suppliers and partners (including third party shippers) including payment, carrier and delivery companies;
    • In the event that we sell or buy any business or assets, in which case we may disclose your personal data to the prospective seller or buyer of such business or assets;
    • If Pro Auction  or substantially all of its assets are acquired by a third party, in which case personal data held by it about its customers will be one of the transferred assets; and
    • If we are under a duty to disclose or share your personal data in order to comply with any legal obligation, or in order to enforce or apply our terms of use (e.g. Bidder’s Terms, Website Terms) and other agreements; to collect payment, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of Pro Auction , our customers, auctioneers or others.

We will enter into agreements with such third parties to ensure that they respect the security of your data and use it only in accordance with data protection laws.

  1. How Long We Store Your Personal Data For

We will only keep your personal data for as long as we need to in order to fulfil the relevant purpose(s) it was collected, as set out above in this Privacy Policy, and for as long as we are required to keep it for legal purposes. We will keep your personal data for as follows:

Site registrants without auction registrationsAuction registrants
inactiveactiveinactiveactive
Definitionnot logged in for 3 yrs*logged in in last 3 yrsnot logged in for 5 yrs *logged in the last 5 yrs *
Key details (email, address)anonymise 3 yrs post last loginretainanonymise 5 yrs post last loginretain
Other data (bid history, watch list etc)anonymise 3 yrs post last loginanonymise data > 5 yrs on rolling basisanonymise 5 yrs post last loginanonymise data > 5 yrs excl. bid history where user can delete bids > 5 yrs

We will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your personal data is treated securely and in accordance with this Privacy Policy, such as payment transactions being encrypted using SSL technology, use of AWS and Microsoft Azure security protection, best practise anti-malware and patch management, best practise internal security policies, use of Microsoft enterprise tools to ensure personal data cannot be sent to external parties without the sign off of an ATG Director. Although we will do our best to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted to us via our Website or otherwise. Any transmission is at your own risk.

Where we have given you (or where you have chosen) a user ID and password which enables you to access certain parts of our Website, you are responsible for keeping your user ID and password confidential. We ask you not to share your user ID and password with anyone.

  1. Your Rights

Data protection laws provide data subjects with the following rights, (subject to certain exemptions and conditions in some cases) to:

  • request access to their personal information (commonly known as a “data subject access request”). This enables them to receive a copy of the personal information we hold about them and to check that we are lawfully processing it;
    • request correction of the personal information that we hold about them. This enables them to have any incomplete or inaccurate information we hold about them corrected;
    • request erasure of their personal information. This enables them to ask us to delete or remove personal information where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. Data subjects also have the right to ask us to delete or remove their personal information where they have exercised their right to object to processing (see below);
    • request the restriction of processing of their personal information. This enables them to ask us to suspend the processing of personal information about them, for example if they want us to establish its accuracy or the reason for processing it;
    • request a copy of their personal information which they have provided to us, in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and the right to transfer it, or to require us to transfer it directly, to another controller; and
    • complain to the supervisory authority, which in the United Kingdom is the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Data subjects also have the right to object to the processing of their personal information where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about their particular situation which makes them want to object to processing on this ground. They also have the right to object where we are processing their personal information for direct marketing purposes.

Data subjects will not have to pay a fee to access their personal information (or to exercise any of the other rights above). However, we may charge a reasonable fee if their request for access is clearly unfounded or excessive. Alternatively, we may refuse to comply with the request in such circumstances.

We may need to request specific information from the data subject to help us confirm their identity and ensure their right to access the information (or to exercise any of their other rights). This is another appropriate security measure to ensure that personal information is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it.

Our Website may, from time to time, contain links to and from the websites of auctioneers, our partner networks, advertisers and affiliates. If you follow a link to any of these websites, please note that these websites have their own privacy policies and that we do not accept any responsibility or liability for these policies. Please check these policies before you submit any personal data to these websites. In particular where we collect information on behalf of third parties such third parties and not Pro Auction  are responsible for how the information is processed.

  1. Changes to Our Privacy Policy

Any changes we may make to our Privacy Policy in the future will be posted on this page and, where appropriate, notified to you by e-mail.

This Privacy Policy replaces all prior privacy policies or statements.

  1. Contacting Us

If you have any questions, comments or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or you would like to exercise any of your rights as a data subject set out above, you can contact us in the following ways:

  • By email at mark@proauction.ltd.uk  or
    • By post at Mark Flynn Pro Auction Unit 5 Midsomer Enterprise Radstock Road Bath BA3 2BB United Kingdom