Privacy Policy | Seller Direct Real Estate

SELLER DIRECT REAL ESTATE PRIVACY POLICY

Effective May 10. 2023

INTRODUCTION

This is the Privacy Notice (the “Notice“) for www.sellerdirect.com (the “Website “). The Website is operated by Seller Direct Real Estate (“us,” “our,” or ” we“) and provides information on properties in the provinces and territories of Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Ontario, Saskatchewan, and Yukon as well as real estate news and other services .

Your privacy is very important to us. This Notice describes the personal information that we collect from or about you on or through the Website and the mobile version of the Website (collectively, the ” Services“). This Notice also describes how we collect your personal information, how we use it, with whom we may share it, and the choices you have regarding our collection, use and disclosure of your personal information.

We may share the personal information that you provide to us through the Services with our independent Seller Direct franchisees, brokerages, and independent real estate sales agents (collectively, the “Seller Direct Parties” and individually, a “Seller Direct Party“). This Notice does not apply to personal information that you provide directly to any Seller Direct Parties. Please see section 2 of this Notice for further details.

By accessing or using the Services, you signify your acceptance of this Notice and agree to be bound by its terms. If you do not agree to the terms of this Notice, please do not use the Services. You can withdraw your consent at any time to our collection, use and disclosure of your personal information, subject to legal and contractual obligations and reasonable notice to us. If you choose to withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide you with certain of the services and communications that are available through the Services, including the services and communications of the Seller Direct Parties.

This Notice forms part of our Terms of Services (the ” Terms“) and is incorporated into the Terms by reference. Please note that any capitalized terms not otherwise defined in this Notice have the meaning ascribed to them in the Terms.

This Notice does not apply to personal information that we collect from Seller Direct Parties.

1. THIS NOTICE IS EFFECTIVE FOR CANADA

We are subject to the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (Canada) and applicable Canadian provincial privacy legislation. Privacy laws vary by jurisdiction. You acknowledge and agree that access to the Services and the services and communications that are available through the Services are provided via the Internet and that your information, including your personal information, may be transferred across national borders and stored or processed in accordance with the terms and conditions of this Notice.

This Notice has a limited scope and application as the properties listed on the Services are limited to properties available for sale in Canada, excluding Quebec. Consequently, the rights and obligations contained in this Notice may not be consistent with privacy requirements for all jurisdictions. If you are visiting our Services and are not a resident of or located in Canada, you should note that by providing your personal information to us, you are: (i) permitting the collection, use, disclosure, transfer and other processing of your personal information in Canada which may not have the same personal information protection laws as the jurisdiction in which you reside; and (ii) permitting the use of your personal information in accordance with this privacy Notice and the laws of Canada.

2. SELLER DIRECT FRANCHISEES, BROKERAGES, AND REAL ESTATE ASSOCIATES

We provide your personal information to Seller Direct Parties to assist in fulfilling the purposes for which we collect your personal information. For example, when you register on the Services, we provide your contact information to Seller Direct Parties in your local area and/or your area(s) of interest. If you request to be contacted by a Seller Direct Party (including an independent real estate sales agent or brokerage office) or otherwise request information or services that requires the involvement of a Seller Direct Party, we will disclose the personal information you provide to the appropriate Seller Direct Party to satisfy your request. In addition, when you search for a property, we will redirect you to a site independently owned and operated by a Seller Direct Party and provide the appropriate Seller Direct Party with the information you have submitted to us, including the parameters of the search, and if you have registered on the Services, we may also provide your contact information to the Seller Direct Party.

By providing us with your personal information on and through the Services, you acknowledge and agree that we may share such personal information with Seller Direct Parties. If you withdraw your consent to the disclosure of your personal information to Seller Direct Parties, we may not be able to provide you with the Services or any other services that you have requested If you wish to withdraw your consent for the collection, use or disclosure of your personal information by a Seller Direct Party with whom your personal information has already been shared as described in this Notice, please communicate the withdrawal of your consent directly to the Seller Direct Party who you are dealing with. For opting-out of marketing communications by Seller Direct and Seller Direct Parties, please see Section 8 below (“The Ways We and the Seller Direct Parties Communicate with You”).

Please note that if you choose to provide your personal information to any Seller Direct Parties directly (i.e., rather than on or through the Services), the collection, use, and disclosure of such personal information by the Seller Direct Parties is not governed by this Notice and we do not and cannot control how the Seller Direct Parties collect, use, disclose and otherwise process that personal information. You acknowledge and agree that we are not responsible for the collection, use, disclosure or other processing of any personal information other than personal information collected through the Services.

You may also contact our Privacy Officer using the contact information provided in section 19 of this Notice for any additional questions you may have.

3. LINKED WEBSITES AND RESOURCES

You may visit the third party sites through links that are provided on or through our Services, including the websites operated independently by Seller Direct Parties. The links available on the Services are provided for your convenience only and you assume all risk for clicking these links to other websites and for providing your personal information to any third parties, including the Seller Direct Parties. This Notice does not apply to the privacy practices of any third parties. These third parties may collect, use, and disclose your personal information for purposes beyond those that are outlined in this Notice and we cannot assume any responsibility for the privacy practices, policies or actions of the third parties that operate these websites.

4. THE PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT

Personal information is any information about an identifiable individual. We collect and maintain different types of personal information in respect of the individuals with whom we interact. This personal information may include, but is not limited to:

contact and identification information, such as your name, personal mailing address, email address, or phone number;
demographic information, such as your age or gender;
location information, such as the city that you live in;
any personal information that is contained in or on any accounts that you have with third parties that you use in connection with your access to or use of the Services and/or the services that are available on or through the Services (e.g., using your Facebook or Google account to sign-up for an account with us); and
any additional information that you provide in using our Services, including as more particularly described in this Notice.

5. HOW WE COLLECT PERSONAL INFORMATION

Collect Personal Information Directly from You

As a general rule, we collect personal information directly from you. For example, if you contact us or register or create an account on our Services, we may collect personal information from you such as your name, email, address, phone number, and any other personal information required on the registration form. You may also register to receive newsletters, alerts, and communications and to access certain functions available on the Services (e.g., saving your searches, accessing our real estate resources, etc.).

Please note that when you register to receive certain services on or through the Services, you may be referred to one or more Seller Direct Parties in your local area or area(s) of interest for the purposes of providing you with these services or otherwise complying with your requests. For example, you can choose to consult with a real estate agent through the Services and to provide us with your name, email, and address for the purpose of setting up a consultation with an agent. Seller Direct Parties may respond to and assist you with your inquiries, interests, and requests, communicate with you about your account, send you information, news and other communications that you have requested or consented to receive, and otherwise engage with you for the purposes outlined in section 7 of this Notice.

Personal Information We Receive from Third Parties

We also receive personal information about you that is held by third parties, including third party service providers. We will make reasonable efforts to ensure that third parties have obtained your consent before we receive personal information about you from such sources. Please note that your consent may be given directly by you or implied from your actions. For example, if you use an existing Facebook or Google profile to create or sign-in to account with us, Facebook or Google (as applicable) will provide us with certain of your personal information (e.g., name, email address, profile picture) to facilitate account creation or sign-in.

Other Information that is Collected on and through the Services

In addition to the personal information, you may provide to us as described above, we and our third party service providers may automatically collect certain device and statistical information to make the Services work better for you and to improve the Services. For example, we may collect the IP address, network connection, the device domain used to access the Services, the operating system on your device, your device settings, the type and version of your browser, crash data, other unique device identifiers, the mobile application or website you came from to access the Services, the page you entered and exited at, any searches, pages or advertising within the Services that is viewed by that IP address and what country you are from. We use this information to monitor the performance of the Services (such as number of visits, average time spent, page views, age, gender, and location of our users,) and for our business purposes such as working to continually upgrade the Services.

6. COOKIES

The Services use cookies and other technologies that are similar to cookies. A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers that we (or a third party) may set on your device to store and sometimes track information about you and your use of the Services. Similarly, we, our third-party service providers, or advertisers may use “web beacons,” “pixel tags” or other tracking technologies designed for analytic purposes. Cookies and other technologies allow us to distinguish you from other users of the Services and help to provide you with a personalized experience when you use the Services as well as to improve the Services.

First party cookies are cookies set by the website you are visiting. Only that website can read them. In addition, a website might potentially use external services, which also set their own cookies, known as third party cookies. Persistent cookies are cookies saved on your computer and that are not deleted automatically when you quit your browser, unlike a session cookie, which is deleted when you quit your browser. We use the following cookies on the Services:

Strictly necessary cookies. These are cookies that are required for the operation of our website. They include, for example, cookies that enable you to remember information you have typed into an online form.
Analytical/performance cookies. They allow us to recognize and count the number of visitors and to see how visitors move around our website when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way our website works, for example, by ensuring that users are finding what they are looking for easily.
Functionality cookies. These are used to recognize you when you return to the Services. This enables us to remember your preferences.
Targeting Cookies. These cookies record your visit to the Services, the pages you have visited and the links you have followed. We will use this information to make the Services and the advertising displayed on them more relevant to your interests and to track the effectiveness of our marketing efforts as well as those of third parties, including on and through the Services. We may also share this information with third parties for this purpose.

We may also use third party cookies and other tracking technologies from our third party service providers to monitor and manage your use of the Services. For example, we may use Google Analytics and DoubleClick to help analyze the use of the Services and the effectiveness of our advertisements.

You can adjust your privacy preferences regarding the use of cookies and similar technologies through your browser. If you do not want information collected through the use of cookies, you can turn off cookies using your browser’s settings menu; however, this may eliminate our ability to provide a personalized or user-friendly experience. To learn more about, or to opt-out of Google’s analytic and marketing services, visit https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout/?hl=en-GB . To learn more about, or to opt-out of DoubleClick’s use of cookies, please visit the opt-out page here.

Please note that disabling cookies may impair your user experience and disable certain features of the Services, such as the features of our Services that use your location to provide you with a better experience.

7. WHY DO WE COLLECT PERSONAL INFORMATION?

We collect information about you that is necessary to provide you with the services and communications available through the Services, including those of Seller Direct Parties, and which enables us to manage, maintain, and develop our operations. For example, we collect personal information to:

establish, maintain, and manage our relationship with you, including by contacting you, so that we may provide you with any services or communications that you have requested, including the services and communications of Seller Direct Parties;
allow you to participate in, subscribe for, or otherwise receive services and communications from us and Seller Direct Parties, including with respect to our and Seller Direct Parties’ services;
pass to Seller Direct Parties the information necessary to provide the services that you have requested;
enhance and personalize your use of the Services, including by being able to comply with your requests (e.g., if you prefer to be contacted at a business or residential phone number and advise us of your preference, we will use this information to contact you at that number);
understand your preferences and tailor communications and services to you and to send you information about us and the Seller Direct Parties that you have requested or consented to receive products and services;
manage access to and use of the Services as well as the services and communications that are available on and through the Services;
manage and operate any contests, sweepstakes, or other promotions in which you choose to participate;
conduct analysis, research, and evaluations regarding the use of the Services to improve, update, and adapt our Services, communications, operations, marketing efforts as well as the services provided by us and Seller Direct Parties, including on and through the Services;
for advertising, promotional, and marketing purposes, including targeting advertising or content;
respond to and resolve inquiries, complaints, problems, and disputes that arise in connection with your use of the Services or any of the services available on or through the Services, including any services provided by Seller Direct Parties;
enable use to comply with applicable laws or regulatory processes; and
any other reasonable purpose about which we may notify you or to which you consent.

We may also use personal information for additional purposes related to our business or that of Seller Direct Parties as are described in any additional agreement that you enter into with us.

By consenting to our collection, use, and disclosure of your personal information through the Services you allow us to fulfill the purposes for which we collect your personal information.

8. THE WAYS WE AND THE SELLER DIRECT PARTIES COMMUNICATE WITH YOU

We and Seller Direct Parties may send you commercial electronic messages as permitted under Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL). Without limiting the foregoing, if you choose to register with us or give us personal information, you may have an opportunity at the time we collect your information to opt-in to receiving emails from us and third parties, including Seller Direct Parties.

You will have an opportunity to opt-out of receiving commercial electronic messages at any time. In connection with your use of the Services as well as other services that we may provide to you, we may send you transactional and marketing communications as is described in further detail below.

Transactional Communications

We may provide notifications and other similar communications for certain activities relating to your use of the Services. Examples of transactional communications include sending you an email when you register with us, set/change a password, complete or submit an online form, or when we provide you with updates relating to ongoing quotes or services. Please note that you may receive these transactional communications from both us and Seller Direct Parties, as the case may be. For example, if you provide us with your personal information for the purpose of scheduling a consultation with a Seller Direct real estate agent, the agent will contact you in connection with your request. Another example is when you indicate your interest in being contacted regarding a property listed on the Services. Your inquiry will be forwarded to one or more Seller Direct Parties who may contact you in connection with the inquiry.

While you may unsubscribe from marketing communications, as described in further detail below, you will continue to receive service-related transactional messages from us relating to your use of our services. We reserve the right to contact you (including by e-mail or text) where we are legally required or permitted to do so.

Marketing Communications

With your consent or otherwise as permitted pursuant to CASL, we and Seller Direct Parties may send you articles, newsletters, blogs, reports, updates, surveys, reports, offers, marketing and promotional materials, and other commercial electronic messages, including on topics and offers that we or Seller Direct Parties think you may be interested in.

If at any time you would like us to unsubscribe you from receiving future marketing emails, please notify us, and we will promptly remove you from our marketing correspondence list(s). You can also opt-out of receiving marketing communications through the unsubscribe links that are included in our commercial electronic messages.

Please note that if you have signed up for or otherwise consented to receive marketing communications from a third party, including through any website operated independently by any Seller Direct Parties, this Notice does not apply to such communications. You acknowledge and agree we are not responsible for the marketing practices of any third parties that you contact or connect with outside of the Services.

9. HOW WE USE PERSONAL INFORMATION

We may use your personal information:

as permitted or required by applicable law or regulatory requirements;
for the purposes described in this Notice; and
for any additional purposes for which we have obtained your consent to use your personal information.

We may use your personal information without your knowledge or consent where we are permitted or required by applicable law or regulatory requirements to do so.

10. TO WHOM DO WE DISCLOSE PERSON INFORMATION?

The personal information that we collect on and through the Services may be disclosed with a variety of parties, depending upon the purpose for and context in which that information was provided, as is further described in this Notice.

Since we may share your personal information with third parties, as described in this Notice, your personal information may be collected, used, processed, stored, or disclosed outside your jurisdiction of residence, including in Canada and the United States. As such your personal information may potentially be accessible to law enforcement and national security authorities of another jurisdiction where local laws provide for a different level of protection for personal information. In certain circumstances, courts, law enforcement authorities, or governmental, regulatory or administrative agencies in those other countries may be entitled to access your personal information.

If you would like further information about our policies and practices regarding the third parties (including our service providers) with whom we disclose your personal information and how these third parties collect, use, disclose and store personal information, please contact our Privacy Officer using the contact details below. By providing your personal information to us, you consent to our disclosure of this information to our service providers (and other third parties) as described in this Notice, including those that may be located outside of your jurisdiction of residence.

Affiliates, Employees, and Service Providers

We may disclose your personal information to our current or future affiliates, subsidiaries, parent companies, and their respective employees, contractors, consultants, services providers, and other third parties that require such information to assist us with managing our relationship with you, including third parties that provide services to us or on our behalf. For clarity, we may transfer personal information and other data with service providers who provide certain services on our behalf. We may transfer certain personal information we collect to third parties such as providers of data hosting or processing services, payment processors, or other service providers. Examples of the service providers to whom and circumstances in which we may disclose your personal information include:

BrokerFirst, Inc: We store and use your personal information online. in connection with the operation of our internal consumer relationship marketing program (the “CRM“). Personal information that is collected through the Services will be routed into the CRM and our media agency partners, including BrokerFirst, Inc. and Agency Atlas, will be provided access to the personal information in the CRM for the purpose of assisting us with our marketing and targeting efforts.
Hetzner. The email addresses that we collect on and through the Services are stored on servers maintained by Hetzner, which may not be located in Canada.
Contest Sponsors and Service Providers: We sometimes offer promotions, such as sweepstakes or contests, in conjunction with a sponsor, and may share your information with these sponsors.

Business Transactions

In addition, in the event that we go through a business transition, such as a merger, acquisition, liquidation or sale of all or a portion of our assets, personal information will, in most instances, be part of the assets transferred, or may be disclosed (subject to confidentiality restrictions) during the due diligence process. If such a transfer occurs, the acquiring company’s use of your personal information will still be subject to this Notice, and any privacy choices you selected in your online profile on the Services, in accordance with applicable laws.

Other Disclosures of Personal Information

Finally, your personal information may be disclosed:

as permitted or required by applicable law or regulatory requirements;
to comply with valid legal processes such as search warrants, subpoenas, court orders or other requests from governmental, regulatory or administrative agencies or law enforcement authorities;
to respond to any claims, or to prevent, investigate, identify persons or organizations potentially involved in, or take any action regarding suspected fraud, violations of our Terms, or activity that appears to us to be illegal or we believe may expose us to legal liability;
during situations that we believe to be emergencies involving potential threats to the physical safety of any person(s) or property, including if we believe that your information in any way relates to that threat; and
for any additional purposes for which we have obtained your consent to disclose your personal information.

Disclosure of Aggregated and Non-Identifiable Information

We may share non-identifiable information, such as aggregate data and non-personal information (e.g., website usage information), as described in this Notice, with third parties. For example, we may share analyses of our server logs, traffic, or information relating to customer leads, including details regarding usage of the Services and general information about our audience, with current or potential advertisers, marketers, or business partners.

11. RETENTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

We will retain your personal information for as long as your registration on the Services is active or as needed to provide you with our services or is appropriate for the purposes for which it was collected, or as needed to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, enforce our agreements, or otherwise as required or permitted by applicable law. You may cancel your registration on the Services at any time or contact us to request that we delete your account. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if you withdraw consent to our collection, use, and disclosure of your personal information, we nonetheless reserve the right to retain, collect, use, and disclose personal information without your consent where we are required or permitted by law to do so.

12. HOW WE OBTAIN YOUR CONSENT, AND HOW YOU CAN WITHDRAW IT?

By providing personal information to us or registering on the Services, you voluntarily consent to the collection, use, and disclosure of personal information as specified in this Notice. Without limiting the foregoing, we may on occasion ask you to consent when we collect, use, or disclose your personal information in specific circumstances, in which case we may ask for your consent in writing (including by electronic means). In some circumstances we may accept your oral consent. Sometimes your consent will be implied through your conduct with us if the purpose of the collection, use or disclosure is obvious and you voluntarily provide the information. In addition, we may collect, use, and disclose personal information without your consent when we are required or permitted by law to do so. It is possible for you to use most of the functions that are available on the Services without giving us any personal information.

You may change or withdraw your consent at any time, subject to legal or contractual obligations and reasonable notice, by contacting our Privacy Officer using the contact information set out below. All communications with respect to such withdrawal or variation of consent should be in writing and addressed to our Privacy Officer. If you withdraw or vary your consent, we may not be able to provide you with the communications and/or services you request through the Services. For example, if you would like to receive our communications, but are not willing to provide your email address, we will not be able to fulfil your request.

13. HOW CAN I ACCESS OR UPDATE MY PERSONAL INFORMATION?

You may access or update any personal information by logging into your account and updating your profile. If you need more information, you may contact us using our ‘Contact Us’ form or by otherwise contacting our Privacy Officer using the information set forth in section 19. We will respond to reasonable requests for access or revision and will provide access to the extent required or allowed by law. Please note that in some cases we may not be able to allow you to access certain personal information in certain circumstances, for example if it contains personal information of other persons, or for legal reasons. We may require you to verify your identity before you access your personal information.

14. INFORMATION SECURITY

We have implemented reasonable physical, technical, and administrative security measures to safeguard the personal information you provide us.

15. EFFECTIVE DATE; NOTICE CHANGES

We may make changes to this Notice from time to time to reflect changes in our legal or regulatory obligations or in the manner in which we deal with your personal information. We will post any revised version of this Notice on the Services.

Each time you use the Services, the current version of the Notice will apply. Accordingly, when you use the Services, you should check the date of this Notice (which appears at the top of the Notice) and review any changes since the last version. Any such modifications will be effective immediately upon posting on the Services. Your continued use of the Services after an update or amendment to this Notice means that you consent to the collection, use, and disclosure of your personal information, as described in the updated Notice.

16. CHILDREN

The Services are not intended or directed to children under the age of thirteen (13), and we do not knowingly collect personal information relating to children or track their use of the Services. If you are a parent or guardian and you believe that your child under the age of thirteen (13) has provided us with personal information, please contact our Privacy Officer.

17. WHERE WE STORE OR TRANSFER YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

The personal information that we collect from you may be transferred to, stored, and processed at our and our affiliates’ (and our and their service providers’) servers located in Canada and the United States. In addition, if you access links to the global Seller Direct website in order to search for properties in other countries, your information may be transferred to or processed in other countries. While your personal information is stored or processed outside of Canada, including in the United States, the government, courts of law, and national security, enforcement or regulatory agencies of that jurisdiction may be able to obtain disclosure of your personal information through the laws of that jurisdiction.

18. INTERPRETATION OF THIS NOTICE

This Notice includes examples but is not intended to be restricted in its application to such examples; therefore, where the word “including” is used, it shall mean “including without limitation”.

This Notice does not create or confer upon any individual any rights, or impose upon us any rights or obligations outside of, or in addition to, any rights or obligations imposed by Canada’s federal and provincial privacy laws, as applicable. Should there be, in a specific case, any inconsistency between this Notice and Canada’s federal and provincial privacy laws, as applicable, this Notice shall be interpreted, in respect of that case, to give effect to, and comply with, such privacy laws.

19. CONTACT US

You may contact our Privacy Officer with your questions or comments regarding this Notice, or our information collection and dissemination practices and our use of affiliates or service providers outside of Canada, at:

For general questions or comments about Seller Direct contact us at:

By email: admin@sellerdirect.com

By mail: Seller Direct Real Estate, 102, 7370 Sierra Morena Blvd SW, Calgary, AB, Canada, T3H 4H9

For questions or comments about this Notice contact us at:

By email: privacy@sellerdirect.com

By mail: Seller Direct Real Estate, 102, 7370 Sierra Morena Blvd SW, Calgary, AB, Canada, T3H 4H9