Privacy Policy
Last Updated: May 10, 2006

Applied Merchant is a licensee of the TRUSTe Privacy Program. TRUSTe is an independent, non-profit organization whose mission is to build user’s trust and confidence in the Internet by promoting the use of fair information practices. This privacy statement covers the site appliedmerchant.com. Because this Web Site wants to demonstrate its commitment to your privacy, it has agreed to disclose its information practices and have its privacy practices reviewed for compliance by TRUSTe.

If you have questions or concerns regarding this statement, you should first contact Applied Merchant at 737 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 2020, Chicago, Illinois 60611 or privacypolicy @ appliedmerchant.com.

If you do not receive acknowledgement of your inquiry or your inquiry has not been satisfactorily address, you should contact TRUSTe at
http://www.truste.org/consumers/watchdog_complaint.php.

TRUSTe will then serve as a liaison with us to resolve your concerns.

Applied Merchant takes its customers’ privacy seriously. Please read the following to learn more about our privacy policy.

Your Acceptance of These Terms
By using this Web Site, you signify your acceptance of the terms of Applied Merchant’s Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy, please do not use the Web Site and exit the Web Site immediately. Your continued use of Applied Merchant’s Web Site following the posting of changes to these terms will mean that you accept those changes.

What this Privacy Policy Covers
This Privacy Policy covers Applied Merchant's treatment of information that Applied Merchant collects while you are visiting Applied Merchant’s Web Site, when you utilize Applied Merchant’s hosted applications and when you use Applied Merchant’s services. This policy also covers Applied Merchant's treatment of any information that Applied Merchant's business partners share with Applied Merchant. This policy does not apply to the practices of companies that Applied Merchant does not own or control or to people that Applied Merchant does not employ or manage.

Through our service offerings, Applied Merchant acts as a repository for our customers’ data (much like a bank is a cash repository). We realize that the confidential data we house belongs to, and is the sole property of, our customers. As a policy, we will not disclose any customer confidential information, except under the conditions stated in Section 4 of this policy.

Information Collection and Use
Applied Merchant may collect and store your Name, Company Name, Merchant Number, Email and Phone Number when you use certain Applied Merchant products or services, or when you visit Applied Merchant pages. Applied Merchant may also receive information from our business partners.

The Applied Merchant collects and stores information required to conduct business transactions requested by our users. By way of example, we collect product pricing and quantity information to process orders. We also collect information required to properly conduct communication between our customers. By way of example, we collect information from purchasers to properly direct business to the supplier(s) identified by the purchaser.

Applied Merchant automatically receives and records information on our server logs from your browser including your IP address.

Should you have any questions concerning the data we collect or how it is used, please email your question to privacypolicy @ appliedmerchant.com.

Cookies
A cookie is a small text file that is stored on a user’s computer for record-keeping purposes. We use cookies on this site. We do not link the information we store in cookies to any personally identifiable information you submit while on our site.

We use session ID cookies and/or persistent cookies. We use session cookies to make it easier for you to navigate our site. A session ID cookie expires when you close you browser. A persistent cookie remains on your hard drive for an extended period of time. You can remove persistent cookies by following directions provided in your Internet browser’s “help” file. For more information on cookies, please visit http://www.cookiecentral.com.

Service-related Announcements
We will send you strictly service-related announcements on rare occasions when it is necessary to do so. For instance, if our service is temporarily suspended for maintenance, we might send you an email.

You have the option to opt-out of these communications, which are not promotional in nature. If you do not wish to receive them, you have the option to opt-out by contacting Applied Merchant or changing your desired preferences within your account profile.

Information Sharing and Disclosure
Applied Merchant will not sell or rent confidential information to anyone.
Applied Merchant will only disclose confidential information when:

We have your written consent to share the information; We need to share your information, as you have directed, to any trading partner to provide the product or service you have requested; We need to send the information to companies who work on behalf of Applied Merchant to provide a product or service to you (e.g., Applied Merchant’s Internet service provider, Applied Merchant’s data center service provider). (Unless we tell you differently, these companies do not have any right to use information we provide to them beyond what is necessary to assist us.); We respond to subpoenas, court orders or legal process; or When Applied Merchant has reason to believe that disclosing this information is necessary to identify, contact or bring legal action against someone who, intentionally or unintentionally, may be causing injury or harm to Applied Merchant users or other persons or violating the Terms and Conditions of use for this Web Site.

APPLIED MERCHANT IS NOT LIABLE FOR THE LOSS OR MISUSE OF INFORMATION BY THIRD PARTIES. APPLIED MERCHANT’S LIABILITY RELATES ONLY TO APPLIED MERCHANT’S OWN INTENTIONAL MISUSE OF INFORMATION THAT IS NOT OTHERWISE IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN.

Service Providers
We use other third parties to provide merchant services on our site. When you sign up for a Merchant Account we will share your information supplied on the Merchant Application as necessary for the third party to provide that service. These third parties are prohibited from using your personally identifiable information for any other purpose.

Your Ability to Edit and Delete your Account Information and Preferences
Applied Merchant gives you the ability to edit your Applied Merchant Account Information and preferences at any time. If you have any regarding the information you submit, you can reach us at support.group @ appliedmerchant.com.

Security
The security of your personal information is important to us. When you enter sensitive information (such as credit card number and/or social security number) on our registration or order forms, we encrypt that information using secure socket layer technology (SSL). To learn more about SSL, follow this link
http://www.webopedia.com/DidYouKnow/Internet/2005/ssl.asp.

We follow generally accepted industry standards to protect the personal information submitted to us, both during transmission and once we receive it. No method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is 100% secure, however. Therefore, while we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.

If you have any questions about security on our Web site, you can write us at 737 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 2020, Chicago, Illinois 60611 or you can send us an email at support.group @ appliedmerchant.com.

Changes to this Privacy Policy
Applied Merchant may amend this policy from time to time. If we make any substantial changes in the way we use your information we will notify you by posting a prominent announcement on our pages.

Model disclosure: We reserve the right to disclose your personally identifiable information as required by law and when we believe that disclosure is necessary to protect our rights and/or comply with a judicial proceeding, court order, or legal process served on our Web site.