Privacy Policy

Effective Date: 8/17/2020

Last Revised: 5/30/2023

1. INTRODUCTION

Acker Merrall & Condit Company and its affiliates, including without limitation, Acker Auction DE LLC, Acker Auction, Inc., Acker Merrall & Condit (Asia) Limited, Acker U.K. Ltd., Acker Storage, LLC, and the Wine Workshop LLC (collectively, “Acker”, “we”, “us” or “our”) advertises, promotes, sells, and auctions wines and spirits or other related items (the “Property”). We have physical locations in the United States (California, Delaware, and New York), Hong Kong, and the United Kingdom. We provide this Privacy Policy to inform you how we obtain, utilize, and disclose your personal information for our business operations. This Privacy Policy also describes your rights in relation to this information. This Privacy Policy applies to any Acker services, events, websites, mobile applications or other digital or non-digital services, and any hard copy documents that refer to this Privacy Policy.

For residents of California and Virginia, please see pages 5-8 for further information specific to your residency. For residents of the United Kingdom or the European Economic Area, please see pages 8-10 for further information specific to your residency.

2. INFORMATION WE COLLECT ABOUT YOU

Personal information is information, or a combination of pieces of information, that could reasonably allow you to be identified. As described below, we collect personal information about you from multiple sources, including information we collect from you directly, information we collect indirectly, and information we collect automatically from you.

We compile information directly from you that you submit to us in-person, on the telephone, in writing, by email or online or submit to us via third party websites. The categories of information that we collect directly from you include: personal details (e.g., name, date of birth, nicknames), contact details (e.g., phone number, email address, mailing address), transaction information (e.g., auction bidding or purchase records, shipping information, information about Property you purchase at auction or retail or wish to sell or consign, details about your Property, financial information (e.g., tokenized credit/debit card information you provide for your purchases, wire instructions, bank account/bank transfer information), login credentials, user identity, and identification information.

We depend on the information you submit to us or that we collect or observe from your interactions with us.

We may collect information about you from external sources. The categories of information we collect about you from other sources include your public profile information, results of our verification of your identification checks, or whether you are subject to sanctions. We may work to expand Acker’s network by acquiring names, contact data, and other related information, as legally allowed. Furthermore, we may also generate information based on the information you have provided or that we have obtained from other sources, as legally allowed.

We collect information about you automatically as described below. We may take photographs of our auctions (including for security reasons) and bidding parties (to confirm bidding activity) or other live events.

Live streaming of our auctions and special events is available on our websites. Auctioneers, presenters, and Acker personnel are the focal point of our camera and microphones, but background images may be captured. When we host an event at a third-party venue, that venue may have CCTV.

We may use common data collection technologies as you visit our websites or apps or interact with our emails (“Systems”). For example:

Our logs collect: date and time of your use of our Systems, information about your browser and system or device configuration, information about how you interact with our Systems, and an IP address for all visitors to our sites.
If you have registered with us online, we use data collection technologies to collect information that indicates your individual interests in our websites, online platforms and apps, and your response to our emails and marketing offers.
Cookies and similar technologies on our digital platforms can read and collect data about your browsers as you visit and interact with those platforms. A cookie is a piece of data stored on your hard drive containing information related to your visit to our website. We use cookies on our websites to analyze your journey, customize our services, content and advertising, and measure our marketing efforts.
Cookies track your movement on our website, including what you view and your transactions and purchases. They essentially serve to improve and personalize your experience on our websites.

A few important things you should know about our use of these technologies are that: we offer certain features that are available only through the use of cookies; we use cookies to help identify you, track information about you and maintain your account as signed in; most cookies are “session cookies,” meaning that they are automatically deleted from your hard drive at the end of a session; you are always free to decline our cookies if your browser permits, although doing so may interfere with your use of our website or our services; you may encounter cookies from certain of our service providers that we have allowed on our website and assist us with various aspects of our website operations and services; and you also may encounter cookies from third parties on pages of our website that we do not control and have not authorized (for example, if you view a web page created by another user, there may be a cookie placed by that web page).

We apply these technologies to allow you to use our digital platforms, learn how you and others interact with Acker’s materials, and how to personalize our services to your interests. Our mobile apps provide us with the data you share about yourself with our databases and Systems.

3. HOW WE USE INFORMATION ABOUT YOU

We use data about you for the following purposes, as permitted by applicable law: (a) to provide you with your requested services, (b) to manage and assure the integrity and quality of our services, (c) to set you up as a client, verify your identity and to perform sanctions checks, to fulfill your orders, facilitate sales or consignments, provide the information and materials you request, to manage your account and requests as well as your experience with us, (d) to note where you consign or buy Property, advertise and sell your Property on our U.S., Hong Kong and/or U.K. websites, (e) to send you information about upcoming Acker auctions, offers, and events which may interest you, (f) to personalize our services to you based on your interests, (g) to align online ads to your interests, arrange for Acker’s and other companies’ ads to reach you after you have left our sites, and help show you ads that are more relevant to your interests, (h) to measure the performance of our websites and apps and improve your experience, (i) to carry out risk and transaction screening, (j) to protect and defend our rights, Property, you, and/or the rights of third parties, (k) to keep all individuals and Property on our premises or hosts’ premises safe, (l) to comply with legal obligations and regulations and cooperate with regulators, or other governmental agencies, in all applicable jurisdictions, (m) to develop and improve our services, and (n) to improve your satisfaction.

4. HOW WE DISCLOSE INFORMATION ABOUT YOU

Your personal information will be processed by the Acker entity that initially receives it. We also share information within Acker and its affiliates for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy. Those companies are named at the beginning of this Policy.

Acker may disclose personal information to other companies or entities as follows (a) to business partners and vendors that work on our behalf to provide services to us and our clients such as Property shipments, mailings, secure payment processing, and data and Property storage, (b) to any auction partners with whom we contract for certain auctions, (c) to consignors, sellers, buyers, customs authorities, and others as needed to facilitate a transaction with Acker, (d) to organizations with which we host events and those involved in such events such as the event venues, (e) to law enforcement or other entities that present valid legal authority and process or in our discretion, unless otherwise prohibited by law, to protect our rights, or the rights of others, (f) to meet certain legal compliance requirements, for example customs laws and regulations, (g) to U.S., U.K., EEA, Hong Kong and other domestic and overseas regulators and other appropriate legal agencies or authorities, (h) as part of a sale, merger, liquidation, acquisition, or transfer of our business assets, and (i) we may share information with digital advertising and analytics firms so that they may recognize your devices and deliver interest-based content and advertisements to you. The information we share may include your name, zip code, email, device ID, or other identifier. These firms may collect additional information from you, such as your IP address or other related technical information.

5. YOUR ELECTIONS

You may decide whether we may contact you by email. You may stop email marketing by using the “opt out,” or “unsubscribe” mechanism within our marketing messages. You may decide against allowing cookies to be placed on your device. Additionally, you may modify the personal information that is stored in your Acker Wines “My Account” section on our website.

We will respond to your request as soon as practicable. We may ask you to verify your identity before we can respond to your request. Your request may include providing you with information, correcting any inaccuracies, or removing information.

6. CHILDREN’S DATA

IF YOU ARE UNDER 16 YEARS OF AGE, YOU MAY NOT USE OR ACCESS ACKER’S DIGITAL PLATFORMS AT ANY TIME OR IN ANY MANNER. ACKER’S SERVICES ARE LIMITED TO THOSE OF LEGAL DRINKING AGE: 18 IN HONG KONG AND THE U.K. AND 21 IN THE U.S.

We do not accept underaged individuals as clients or knowingly collect data about individuals under legal drinking age.

7. INFORMATION SAFEKEEPING

Acker conducts business throughout the world. We receive data collected locally in the United States and collect data online directly from individuals in countries around the world. Acker may transfer your personal information internationally to other Acker affiliated locations, individuals affiliated with Acker, and to other organizations who need to process your data in connection with your business with Acker; such data may be processed globally. Your data will be stored on our servers in the United States. We have protections in place for the transfer of data.

We protect your information using a variety of security measures to reduce the risks of loss, misuse, unauthorized access, disclosure, and alteration. However, please note that that no security measures are perfect. You have the responsibility of protecting your online username and password and for the security of information you transmit to us over the Internet.

We will retain your personal information for as long as we have a relationship with you. Once our relationship with you has concluded, we will retain your personal information for a period that enables us to: preserve business records, comply with recordkeeping retention requirements under any applicable legal requirements, defend or bring any appropriate existing or potential legal claims, address any complaints, or preserve historical records of transactions and Property. Once your information is no longer needed for these purposes, we will remove such information.

8. YOUR RIGHTS

You may ask us questions regarding the data we retain about you. If you are located in certain jurisdictions, you may have rights under applicable data protection laws. These may include a right to a copy of your personal information, to correct it, remove it, reduce the ways we use it, or to transfer it to other organizations at your request. Furthermore, you may have the right to object to certain processing and, where we have asked for your consent to process your data, to withdraw this consent. Please contact us at privacy@ackerwines.com. if you wish to exercise any of these rights.

FOR RESIDENTS OF CALIFORNIA AND VIRGINIA

We may collect the following categories of personal information from and about you:

Identifiers: Your name, address, IP address
Internet Activity: Browsing history, search history
Transactions: Your transaction records, Property considered for your purchase, Property offered for sale by you
Payment information: Tokenized payment information or wire instructions
Demographics: Your gender, age
Location Information: Your general location as inferred from your network information
Employment Information: Information provided by you for consignment agreements or shipping
Video and Audio: Video and audio recordings of Acker events
Inferences: Our assessment of certain wines or spirits in which you may be interested

We share your information for the following purposes: (a) to obtain services to best suit your needs; such as item shipments, mailings, customer account and technology support, secure payment processing, fraud prevention, digital marketing management, and data storage, (b) to coordinate auctions and/or events with our partners, (c) to coordinate events, (d) for legal and compliance purposes, (e) to cooperate with law enforcement or other reasonable requests for information, and (f) to support our business needs.

We disclose all of the categories of personal information described above with service providers that process personal information on our behalf (e.g., data storage providers, email services and Internet service providers), business partners (e.g., event coordinators, professional advisors and consultants), government and law enforcement entities, advertising and marketing companies, and our affiliates.

We also may disclose certain personal information in exchange for services or insights or other valuable consideration. California and Virginia law treat these disclosures as “sales” even if no money is exchanged. We may disclose or “sell” the following categories of information to the third parties listed below.

Below is a list of the Categories of Personal Information Disclosed in Exchange for Valuable Consideration as Defined Under California and Virginia Law. Next to each category is a list of Categories of Third Parties to Whom this Information Is or
Was Disclosed in the Past 12 Months.

Identifiers: Digital advertising and analytics companies, marketing partners, social media platforms, auction partners and event co-hosts
Internet Activity: Digital advertising and analytics companies, social media platforms, and marketing partners
Transactions: Digital advertising and analytics companies, auction partners and event co-hosts, and marketing partners
Payment Information: Credit card processors, banks receiving wire transfers as designated by you
Demographics: Digital advertising and analytics companies, marketing partners, social media platforms, auction partners and event co-hosts
Location Information: Digital advertising and analytics companies, auction partners and event co-hosts
Employment Information: Marketing partners, auction partners, and event co-hosts.
Video and Audio Information: Auction partners and event co-hosts
Inferences: Digital advertising and analytics companies, marketing partners, social media platforms, auction partners and event co-hosts

Residents of California and Virginia have the following rights:

Right to Know: You may request that we provide you with information about the categories of your personal information that we collect, the specific pieces of personal information that we hold about you, the categories of sources from which we collected the information, our reasons for collecting and sharing the information, and the types of third parties with which we share the information.
Right to Deletion: You may ask us to delete your personal information, subject to certain exceptions.
Right to be Free from Discrimination: You have the right to not be discriminated against for exercising any of the rights listed herein.
Right to Opt-Out of “Sales” or the Processing of Personal Information for Targeted Advertising: You have the right for your data to not be exchanged for valuable consideration as well as the right for your personal information to not be processed for targeted advertising purposes.
Right to Appeal: You have the right to appeal any decision we make relating to your rights.
Right to Opt-Out of Profiling: For any profiling that may lead to legal or other similar effects, you may opt out of such profiling. However, please note that Acker does not engage in this profiling.

If you are a California or Virginia resident and would like to exercise any of the rights described above, please submit your request to privacy@ackerwines.com. Please note that we may require specific information from you in order to verify your identity. Furthermore, there may be circumstances where we will not be able to honor your request. We will only use personal information once we have verified your identity and authority to make the request.

FOR EEA AND U.K. CUSTOMERS & VISITORS TO ACKER’S SITES AND MOBILE APPS

DATA RESPONSIBILITY

If you transact with Acker from the U.K. or the EEA, then the Acker entity running the auction or retail sale will be the data controller for that data. The name and contact details for this entity will be set out in your consignment agreement, invoice, or ackerwines.com/terms-conditions/ for the auction or retail sale.

LEGAL BASIS OF DATA PROCESSING

Under certain circumstances, Acker processes your data with your permission (e.g., when you agree that we may place cookies, or if you ask us to send you information about upcoming events).

On other occasions, Acker processes your data when we need to do this to complete a transaction with you (e.g., for billing you). If it is required for you to provide data for these purposes, we will make this clear at the time. We will also explain the consequences if you do not provide the necessary data (i.e., we will not be able to fulfill a retail sale).

We also process your data when it is our legitimate interest to do so and when these interests are not overridden by law. For example, Acker has an interest in ensuring the security of our events, in learning about the interests of our current and prospective clients, in developing new business opportunities, in maintaining accurate business records, and in ensuring that our websites and apps operate effectively. In circumstances in which we process your personal information to meet our legitimate interests, safeguards are in place to ensure your privacy is protected.

TRANSFERS OF DATA

Acker transfers personal information to countries outside the EEA and the U.K. including countries with different data protection laws.

AUTOMATIC DECISION-MAKING

We may analyze personal information via profiling meaning that we may process your personal information using software that is able to evaluate your personal preferences. Additionally, we may use information about those preferences to support automated decisions about the content, recommendations, and offers we share with you by email or other communications.

YOUR RIGHTS

You may ask us for a copy of your personal information. Additionally, you may ask us to correct your personal information, delete it, restrict our use of it, or to transfer it to other organizations (subject to local law). You also have the right to object to certain processing and, where we have asked for your permission to process your data, to withdraw this consent so that you may object to direct marketing at any time.

In cases in which we process your data due to our legitimate interest in doing so, you may make an objection. However, these objections may be limited in certain circumstances.

If you have questions regarding your rights, would like to exercise them, or have questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us via the contact details set forth on page 11. We appreciate you contacting us to update or correct your information. In turn, we will contact you if we need additional information.

Acker is committed to working with you to obtain a just resolution of any complaint or concern regarding your privacy. However, if you have additional concerns that are not resolved or believe that we have not assisted with your complaint or concern, you also have the right to file a complaint with the appropriate data protection authorities.

THIRD-PARTY WEBSITES

Our websites may contain links to non-Acker websites. Those websites may collect information about you, and we are not liable for their practices or content they display.

10. CHANGES TO THIS POLICY

We reserve the right to amend or update this Privacy Policy and any of our privacy practices at any time. We will notify users of this website by posting any updated policy on this page and such changes will be effective immediately and without further notice. Where appropriate, we may notify you directly of changes to the Privacy Policy either through email or a prominent notice on our website.

11. QUESTIONS

For questions about this Privacy Policy please email us at privacy@ackerwines.com or contact:

Acker Merrall & Condit Company
Attn: Legal Department
160 West 72nd Street
New York, New York 10023