PRIVACY POLICY

PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING PRIVACY POLICY CAREFULLY BEFORE USING the www.aquatic-gardeners.org, showcase.aquatic-gardeners.org and enter.aquatic-gardeners.org WEB SITES (COLLECTIVELY, THE “SITE”). YOUR ACCESSING, BROWSING, AND USING OF THE SITE IS EXPRESSLY CONDITIONED ON YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF THE FOLLOWING PRIVACY POLICY AND THE TERMS OF USE. YOUR ACCESSING, BROWSING, AND USING OF THIS SITE CONSTITUTES YOUR AGREEMENT TO FOLLOW THE TERMS OF USE AND TO BE BOUND BY THEM. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE WITH THE PRIVACY POLICY OR ANY OF THE TERMS OF USE, THEN YOU ARE NOT PERMITTED TO USE THIS SITE AND YOU SHOULD LEAVE IMMEDIATELY.

This Privacy Policy is incorporated into the Aquatic Gardeners Association, Inc. (“AGA”) Terms of Use. Terms that are defined in the Terms of Use have the same meaning in this Privacy Policy. The Terms of Use are located here.

Information We Collect. To better serve Site visitors and customers, AGA (sometimes referred to as “us” or “we” or “our”) collects two basic types of information from our customers and users of the Site (collectively, “Users”):
1. Personally identifiable information. This is information that personally identifies one individual from another. This information is voluntarily provided to AGA by Users and is used by AGA for the purpose of fulfilling requests, inquiries, Orders and payment for purchases of Products. This information includes, for example, first and last name, email and mailing address, telephone number, answers to your sign-in questions, and other information incidental to offering and selling Products. AGA only requires personally identifiable information from you when it's needed to complete your purchase, fulfill your Order or request, or when you voluntarily decide to register as a User on the Site independent of a transaction. AGA does not rent or sell any of this information to anyone. AGA also logs user’s IP addresses which are transmitted to us when viewing the Site.
2. Aggregate user and tracking information. This information gives us insights on how Users use our Site and Products. This data is anonymous in nature and does not contain any personally identifiable information. We use this information to ensure that our Site, e-mails and marketing efforts continue to appeal to our customers. AGA does not rent or sell any of this information to anyone.
Other Information AGA Collects. When you visit the Site, we automatically collect some information about your visit using cookies, log analysis software and other aggregate tracking technologies.
1. Cookies. Cookies are files that contain small amounts of data. If your browser is configured to accept these files, they are stored on your computer's hard drive. AGA uses these data files when Users login to the Site to identify you. By using cookies, AGA is able to:
  1. Completely support and enhance your visit to our site.
  2. Allow you to access your account information.
  If you wish, you may set your browser to refuse cookies. However, by refusing to accept a cookie, you will not be able to access some pages or purchase certain Products on the Site. Since many websites use some form of cookie technology, setting your browser to refuse cookies may restrict your access to certain information or product offerings on those websites, including the Site. Some AGA cookie files remain on your computer's hard drive unless and until you manually delete the file. AGA cookie files do not contain personally identifiable information or track an individual users' movement through our site.
Log file analysis. AGA also collects information from your computer each time you visit our site.
Information we measure, analyze and collect in this manner may include: your IP address, screen resolution, operating system, platform information, your URL clickstream behavior (from referring URL website, through AGA website, to and including URL of exiting website), date and time of your clickstream behavior, and web browser software.

Though some personally identifiable information may be collected in this process, the information collected is not used to track an individual's use through our website. However, we do collect IP addresses, which are unique to each user and can be used to identify and locate an individual user. IP addresses are used us to prevent fraud and may be turned over to credit card agencies or law enforcement agencies.
Information from Third-Party Sources. AGA may periodically add or update information about you obtained from third-party sources. Examples include updated address, e-mail address information from such sources as business partners or other third parties. This information can help us accurately fulfill Orders or deliver purchase confirmation messages.
Sharing of Information with Third-Party Sources. Except for processing payment transactions through PayPal on PayPal’s site, AGA does not share any information with third-parties.
Securing Payments. When a User places his or her Order on the Site, he or she is on the AGA servers located in Seattle, Washington. When a User starts the payment process for his or her Order, the User is switched to the servers of AGA’s billing partner PayPal. Transactions on the Site are secured by the PayPal payment system (paypal.com). All information exchanged to process the payment is encrypted by PayPal using SSL. To review the privacy policy of PayPal, please visit paypal.com.
Special Cases. It is AGA’s policy not to use or share the personally identifiable information about Users in ways unrelated to the ones described above without also providing you an opportunity to opt out or otherwise prohibit such unrelated uses. However, AGA may disclose personal information about Users, or information regarding your use of the Site or Orders, for any reason if, in our sole discretion, we believe that it is reasonable to do so, including: to satisfy laws, such as the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, regulations, or governmental or legal requests for such information; to disclose information that is necessary to identify, contact, or bring legal action against someone who may be violating our Terms of Use or other User policies; to use the Site, place Orders or to protect AGA and Users. In the event we are required or requested by any governmental authority or credit card company to provide personally identifiable information about Users, we will not notify the affected Users, unless AGA elects in its sole discretion to do so.