International Privacy Policy

Last Updated: May 29, 2013.

Ballard Designs respects the privacy of our customers and has developed this Privacy Policy to demonstrate our commitment to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy is intended to describe for you, as an individual who is a user of the Ballard Designs website or who otherwise provides us with information through various means such as phone, fax, mail, or at a retail store, the information we collect, how that information may be used, with whom it may be shared, and your choices about such uses and disclosures.

We encourage you to read this Privacy Policy carefully when using our website or services or transacting business with us. By using our website or otherwise doing business with us, you are accepting the practices described in this Privacy Policy. Ballard Designs is a part of the HSN, Inc. ("HSNi") family of businesses. HSNi is a retailing powerhouse that spans the full retail spectrum including television (HSN), ecommerce (hsn.com and catalogue websites), catalogues (Cornerstone Brands), and brick & mortar retail (Frontgate, Ballard Designs, The Territory Ahead). For a complete list of all of HSNi's businesses, please visit www.hsni.com.

If you have any questions about our privacy practices, please refer to the end of this Privacy Policy for information on how to contact us.

Information we collect about you

In General. We may collect personal information that can identify you such as your name, phone number, mailing address, email address and other information that does not identify you. When you provide personal information through our website, the information may be sent to servers located in the United States and other countries around the world.

• Information you provide. We may collect and store any personal information you enter on our website or provide to us by phone or in some other manner. This includes identifying information, such as your name, address, email address, and telephone number, and, if you transact business with us, financial information such as your payment method (valid credit card number, type, expiration date or other financial information), in addition to transactional data that we may retain. We also may request information about your interests and activities, your gender and age, your opinion about products and services we offer, and other demographic information.
• Information from other sources. We may also periodically obtain both personal and non-personal information about you from other HSNi businesses, business partners, contractors and other third parties and add it to our account information or other information we have collected. Examples of information that we may receive include: updated delivery and address information, purchase history, and additional demographic information.
• Information about others. We may also collect and store personal information about other people that you provide to us. If you use our website to send others (friends, relatives, colleagues, etc.) a product as a gift, information that may interest them or messages (such as invitations) through our system, we may store your personal information, and the personal information of each such recipient.

Use of cookies and other technologies to collect information. We use various technologies to collect information from your computer and about your activities on our site.

• Information collected automatically. We automatically collect information from your browser when you visit our website. This information may include your IP address, your browser type and language, access times, the content of any undeleted cookies that your browser previously accepted from us (see "Cookies" below), and the referring website address.
• Cookies. When you visit our website, we may assign your computer one or more cookies, to facilitate access to our site and to personalize your online experience. Through the use of a cookie, we also may automatically collect information about your online activity on our site, such as the web pages you visit, the links you click, and the searches you conduct on our site. Most browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies. If you choose to decline cookies, please note that you may not be able to sign in or use some of the interactive features offered on our website.
• Other technologies. We may use standard Internet technology, such as web beacons and other similar technologies, to track your use of our site. We also may include web beacons in promotional email messages or newsletters to determine whether messages have been opened and acted upon. The information we obtain in this manner enables us to customize the services we offer our website visitors to deliver targeted advertisements and to measure the overall effectiveness of our online advertising, content, programming or other activities.
• Information collected by third-parties. We may allow third parties, including our authorized service providers, HSNi companies, advertising companies, and ad networks, to display advertisements on our site. These companies may use tracking technologies, such as cookies, to collect information about users who view or interact with their advertisements. Our website does not provide any personal information to these third parties. This information allows them to deliver targeted advertisements and gauge their effectiveness. Some of these third-party advertising companies may be advertising networks that are members of the Network Advertising Initiative, which offers a single location to opt out of ad targeting from member companies (www.networkadvertising.org).

How we use the information we collect

In general. We may use information that we collect about you to:

• deliver the products and services that you have requested;
• manage your account and provide you with customer support;
• perform research and analysis about your use of, or interest in, our products, services, or content, or products, services or content offered by others;
• communicate with you by e-mail, postal mail, telephone and/or mobile devices about products or services that may be of interest to you either from us, our sister HSNi companies or other third parties;
• develop and display content and advertising tailored to your interests on our site and other sites;
• verify your eligibility and deliver prizes in connection with contests and sweepstakes;
• enforce our terms and conditions;
• manage our business and
• perform functions as otherwise described to you at the time of collection.

Financial information. We may use financial information or payment method to process payment for any purchases made on our website, or by phone, fax or mail, to enroll you in the discount, rebate, and other programs in which you elect to participate, to pre-qualify you for credit card and other offers that you might find of interest, to protect against or identify possible fraudulent transactions, and otherwise as needed to manage our business.

Job applicants. If you submit personal information to us when applying for a position with our company, the information will be used solely in connection with considering and acting upon your application. We may retain your personal information for a period of time, but only for the purpose of considering your application for current or future available positions. This information may be shared with our sister HSNi companies for the purpose of evaluating your qualifications for the particular position or other available positions, as well as with third-party service providers retained by us to collect, maintain and analyze candidate submissions for job postings.

Please review "Your choices about collection and use of your information" below.

With whom we share your information

We want you to understand when and with whom we may share personal or other information we have collected about you or your activities on our website or while using our services.

Personal information. We do not share your personal information with others except as indicated below or when we inform you and give you an opportunity to opt out of having your personal information shared. We may share personal information with:

• Authorized service providers. We may share your personal information with our authorized service providers that perform certain services on our behalf. These services may include fulfilling orders, processing credit card payments, delivering packages, providing customer service and marketing assistance, performing business and sales analysis, supporting our website functionality, and supporting contests, sweepstakes, surveys and other features offered through our website, catalogs, by phone or mail. These service providers may have access to personal information needed to perform their functions but are not permitted to share or use such information for any other purposes.
• Business partners. When you make purchases or engage in promotions offered through our website, catalogs or through our other services, we may share personal information with the businesses with which we partner to offer you those products, services, promotions, contests and/or sweepstakes. When you elect to engage in a particular merchant's offer or program, you authorize us to provide your e-mail address and other information to that merchant.
• Direct mail partners. From time to time we may share our postal mailing list with selected providers of goods and services that may be of interest to you. If you prefer not to receive mailings from these providers, you can notify us at any time by contacting us by telephone, 800.870.3513; e-mail, privacyrights@ballarddesigns.com; or by writing us at Ballard Designs, Attn: Customer Service, 231 Main Street, Franconia, NH 03580. Ballard Designs is a member of the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) and follows DMA privacy guidelines. The DMA's Mail Preference Service reduces the availability of your name and address to many other direct marketing customers. To learn more, click on www.dmachoice.org.
• Other HSNi businesses. We are part of the HSNi family of businesses (go to www.HSNi.com for a listing of these businesses). We may share information we collect, including personal information, with the HSNi companies. Sharing information with our HSNi companies enables us to provide you with information about a variety of products and services that might interest you. All HSNi companies comply with the HSNi Consumer Privacy. Our HSNi companies also will comply with applicable privacy and security laws and, at a minimum, in any commercial e-mail they send to you, will give you the opportunity to choose not to receive such e-mail messages in the future.
• Other situations. We also may disclose your information:
  • In response to a subpoena or similar investigative demand, a court order, or a request for cooperation from a law enforcement or other government agency; to establish or exercise our legal rights; to defend against legal claims; or as otherwise required by law. In such cases, we may raise or waive any legal objection or right available to us.
  • When we believe disclosure is appropriate in connection with efforts to investigate, prevent, or take other action regarding illegal activity, suspected fraud or other wrongdoing; to protect and defend the rights, property or safety of our company, our users, our employees, or others; to comply with applicable law or cooperate with law enforcement; or to enforce our website terms and conditions or other agreements or policies.
  • In connection with a substantial corporate transaction, such as the sale of our business, a divestiture, merger, consolidation, or asset sale, or in the unlikely event of bankruptcy.

Any third parties to whom we may disclose personal information may have their own privacy policies which describe how they use and disclose personal information. Those policies will govern use, handling, and disclosure of your personal information once we have shared it with those third parties as described in this Privacy Policy. If you want to learn more about their privacy practices, we encourage you to visit the websites of those third parties. Those entities or their servers may be located either inside or outside the United States.

Aggregated and non-personal information. We may share aggregated and non-personal information we collect under any of the above circumstances. This aggregated data does not contain any personal information. We may also share it with third parties and our HSNi sister companies to develop and deliver targeted advertising on our websites, on websites of third parties, or by other means. We may combine non-personal information we collect with additional non-personal information collected from other sources. We also may share aggregated information with third parties, including advisors, advertisers and investors, for the purpose of conducting general business analysis. For example, we may tell our advertisers the number of visitors to our website and the most popular features or services accessed. This information does not contain any personal information and may be used to develop website content and services that we hope you and other users will find of interest and to target content and advertising.

Third-party websites

There are a number of places on our website where you may click on a link to access other websites that do not operate under this Privacy Policy. For example, if you click on an advertisement or a link on our website, you may be taken to a website that we do not control. These third-party websites may independently solicit and collect information, including personal information, from you and, in some instances, provide us with information about your activities on those websites. We recommend that you consult the privacy statements of all third-party websites you visit by clicking on the "privacy" link typically located at the bottom of the web page you are visiting.

Your choices about collection and use of your information

• You can choose not to provide us with certain information, but that may result in you being unable to use certain features of our website because such information may be required in order for you to register as a member; purchase products or services through our website or by phone or fax; participate in a contest, promotion, survey, or sweepstakes; ask a question; or initiate other transactions on our website.
• At any time you can choose to no longer receive commercial or promotional e-mails or newsletters from us. When you register or provide your e-mail address on our website, you will be given a choice as to whether you want to receive e-mail messages about special offers. You may modify your choice at any time. You also will be given the opportunity, in any commercial e-mail that we send to you, to opt out of receiving such messages in the future. It may take up to 10 days for us to process an opt-out request. We may send you other types of transactional and relationship e-mail communications, such as service announcements, administrative notices, and surveys, without offering you the opportunity to opt out of receiving them. Please note that changing information in your account, or otherwise opting out of receipt of promotional e-mail communications will only affect future activities or communications from us. If we have already provided your information to a third party before you have changed your preferences or updated your information, you may have to change your preferences directly with that third party.
• Opt-out. If you do not wish to receive mailings from other companies or to have personal information shared with other companies, including other HSNi businesses, please contact us by phone, email or mail.
• Under our Do Not Call policy you may instruct us not to call you for marketing purposes by contacting Ballard Designs customer service. We will implement your instructions within 30 days. We have policies and procedures in place and train our employees to honor your request. Please note that we may still need to call you for servicing or other non-marketing purposes.
• We may share your name and mailing address with carefully selected businesses for purposes of sending you relevant catalog, magazine or fundraising offers in the mail. Ballard Designs is a member of the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) and follows DMA privacy guidelines. The DMA's Mail Preference Service reduces the availability of your name and address to many other direct marketing companies. To learn more, click on www.dmachoice.org.
  
  Our company contact points:
  Toll Free: 800.870.3513
  Email: customerservice@ballarddesigns.net
  Mail: Ballard Designs
  Attn: Customer Service
  5568 West Chester Road
  West Chester, OH 45069

How we protect your personal information

We take appropriate security measures (including physical, electronic and procedural measures) to help safeguard your personal information from unauthorized access and disclosure. For example, only authorized employees are permitted to access personal information, and they may do so only for permitted business functions. In addition, we use encryption in the transmission of your sensitive personal information between your system and ours, and we use firewalls to help prevent unauthorized persons from gaining access to your personal information.

We want you to feel confident using our website to transact business. However, no system can be completely secure. Therefore, although we take steps to secure your information, we do not promise, and you should not expect, that your personal information, searches, or other communications will always remain secure. Users should also take care with how they handle and disclose their personal information and should avoid sending personal information through insecure e-mail. Please refer to the Federal Trade Commission's website at www.ftc.gov/bcp/menus/consumer/data.shtm for information about how to protect yourself against identity theft.

Product reviews

We may provide areas on our website where you can post reviews of products. Such postings are governed by our Terms of Use. In addition, such postings may appear on other websites or when searches are executed on the subject of your posting. We cannot control who reads your posting or what other users may do with the information you voluntarily post, so we encourage you to exercise discretion and caution with respect to your personal information. Once you have posted information, you will not be able to edit or delete such information.

Children's privacy

Our website is a general audience site, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under the age of 13.

Visiting our websites from outside the United States

This Privacy Policy is intended to cover collection of information on our website from residents of the United States. If you are visiting our website from outside the United States, please be aware that your information may be transferred to, stored, and processed in the United States where our servers are located and our central database is operated. The data protection and other laws of the United States and other countries might not be as comprehensive as those in your country. Please be assured that we seek to take reasonable steps to ensure that your privacy is protected. By using our services, you understand that your information may be transferred to our facilities and those third parties with whom we share it as described in this Privacy Policy.

No rights of third parties

This Privacy Policy does not create rights enforceable by third parties or require disclosure of any personal information relating to users of the website.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

We will occasionally update this Privacy Policy to reflect changes in our practices and services. When we post changes to this Privacy Policy, we will revise the "last updated" date at the top of this Privacy Policy. If we make any material changes in the way we collect, use, and/or share your personal information, we will notify you by sending an e-mail to the e-mail address you most recently provided us in your account, profile or registration (unless we do not have such an e-mail address), and/or by prominently posting notice of the changes on our website. We recommend that you check our website from time to time to inform yourself of any changes in this Privacy Policy or any of our other policies.

Cookies & Web Beacons

Cookies
A cookie is a small text file that is stored on a user's computer for record keeping purposes. Cookies can be either session cookies or persistent cookies. A session cookie expires when you close your browser and is used to make it easier for you to navigate our website. A persistent cookie remains on your hard drive for an extended period of time.

Through the use of a cookie, we also may automatically collect information about your online activity on our site, such as the web pages you visit, the links you click, and the searches you conduct on our site.

You may delete or decline cookies by changing your browser settings. (Click 'Help' in the toolbar of most browsers for instructions.) If you do so, some of the features and services of our website may not function properly.

We may allow third-parties, including HSNi companies, advertising companies, and ad networks, to display advertisements on our site. These companies may use tracking technologies, such as cookies, to collect information about users who view or interact with their advertisements. Our website does not provide any personal information to these third parties, but they may collect information about where you, or others who are using your computer, saw and/or clicked on the advertisements they deliver, and possibly associate this information with your subsequent visits to the advertised websites. They also may combine this information with personal information they collect from you. The collection and use of that information is subject to the third-party's privacy policy. This information allows them to deliver targeted advertisements and gauge their effectiveness. Some of these third-party advertising companies may be advertising networks that are members of the Network Advertising Initiative, which offers a single location to opt out of ad targeting from member companies (www.networkadvertising.org).

Web Beacons
Web beacons (also known as clear gifs, pixel tags or web bugs) are tiny graphics with a unique identifier, similar in function to cookies, and are used to track the online movements of web users or to access cookies. Unlike cookies which are stored on the user's computer hard drive, web beacons are embedded invisibly on the web pages (or in email) and are about the size of the period at the end of this sentence.

Web beacons may be used to deliver or communicate with cookies, to count users who have visited certain pages and to understand usage patterns. We also may include web beacons in promotional e-mail messages or newsletters to determine whether messages have been opened and acted upon. We also may receive an anonymous identification number if you come to our site from an online advertisement displayed on a third-party website.

How to contact us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or our information-handling practices, or if you would like to request information about our disclosure of personal information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes, please contact us by e-mail or postal mail as follows:

Privacy Contact:
privacyrights@ballarddesigns.com

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