Privacy Policy

Houston Wine Merchant respects each individual user's right to privacy. Houston Wine Merchant does not collect personal identifying information unless such information is specifically and knowingly provided from users during contests, surveys, sweepstakes, site registration, or use of public areas, such as a forum. From time to time, we share aggregated site traffic information with our partners and advertisers. As part of our affiliate program, we track individual user movement that is not personally identifiable. We do this to track the effectiveness of our affiliate program. This data is not linked to any personally identifiable information.

Registration

No registration is required in order to use this website, though a user must create an account for the personalized aspects of the site, such as tracking one's personal cellar. Users are required to provide their name, email address, and a password of 5-16 characters in length. This information is necessary in order for us to contact users about services on our site for which they have expressed interest.

Security

Houston Wine Merchant uses reasonable precautions to keep the personal information disclosed to us secure. However, Houston Wine Merchant is not responsible for any breach of security. If a Houston Wine Merchant user knowingly provides personal information, such as a name or email address, in a forum or other public service, that user should be aware that the information provided can be collected and used by third parties. Such activities are beyond the control of Houston Wine Merchant. However, at registration a user can choose whether an email is disclosed in the profile/post of the forum user.

If a user elects to use our referral service for informing a friend about our site, we ask them for the friend's name and email address. Houston Wine Merchant will automatically send the friend a one-time email inviting them to visit the site. Houston Wine Merchant stores this information for the sole purpose of sending this one-time email and tracking the success of our referral program.

Cookies

Non-personal information and data may be automatically collected through the standard operation of Houston Wine Merchant Internet servers (i.e. log file information like IP address) or through the use of "cookies." Cookies are small text files that our site places on your computer's hard drive to recognize repeat users and facilitate the user's use of the site. Also, our cookies allow a site to track usage behavior and compile aggregate data for content improvement, targeted advertising, and marketing and promotional purposes.

ATTENTION KIDS

No information should be submitted to Houston Wine Merchant by children under 21 years of age without their parent's or guardian's consent. Houston Wine Merchant does not monitor the age of its user audience.

Right to Change at Any Time

Houston Wine Merchant reserves the right to change this policy at any time by posting notice of the existence of a new privacy statement. If we decide to change our privacy policy, we will post those changes to this privacy statement, the homepage, and other places we deem appropriate so our users are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances, if any, we disclose it. We will use information in accordance with the privacy policy under which the information was collected.

This statement and the policies outlined herein are not intended to and do not create any contractual or other legal rights in or on behalf of any party.

Sale of Our Company

As a natural consequence of the development of our company, we could be sold to another company. In the event that another company acquires us or a significant portion of our assets is sold to another company, all customer data including financial records and consumer information collected on Houston Wine Merchant may be transferred to the new company. You will be notified via of any such change in ownership or control of your personal information.