Privacy Policy

The Harness Racing Trading Ring (ACN 668 320 901) is the largest Classifieds Website in Australia for buying and selling Standardbred Racehorses, Broodmares, Yearlings, Weanlings and more.

References to “The Harness Racing Trading Ring”, “we”, “us” and “our” in this Privacy Policy refer to The Harness Racing Trading Ring Classifieds website, Australia  (HRTR-C).

In this Privacy Policy:

The Harness Racing Trading Ring is bound by the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act) as amended, including the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs). The APPs are designed to protect the confidentiality of information and the privacy of individuals by regulating the way personal information is collected, used, disclosed and managed. Personal information is, generally speaking, information or an opinion relating to an identified, or reasonably identifiable, individual, whether the information is true or not and whether the information is recorded in a material form or not.

This policy explains the types of personal information that we may collect and hold, how that information is used and with whom the information is shared. It also sets out how you can contact us if you have any queries or concerns about our collection, use or disclosure of personal information, or if you believe we have not complied with this Privacy Policy or the Privacy Act.

Your consent

By using this Website, service, application and/or site that reference this Privacy Policy, or otherwise providing us directly, or through others, with your personal information, you agree with the terms of this Privacy Policy and consent to the collection, use, and disclosure of that information in accordance with this Privacy Policy, the Privacy Act and other applicable privacy laws.

Why do we collect personal information?

We collect personal information for a number of purposes connected with our activities and operations, including to develop, provide and improve our products and services, for verification purposes, to understand and meet the needs and requests of individuals we engage with and to meet our legal obligations.

What personal information do we collect and how do we collect it?

The type of personal information we collect may include contact information (eg name, email address, postal address, company information, and other profile information), login details, comments, preferences, feedback, device identifiers and user data (cookies, analytics and advertising).

We collect personal information directly from you when you create a User Account with us.

Personal information may also be collected by way of: 

  • emails, 
  • phone conversations (which may be recorded for quality control purposes in accordance with applicable laws),
  • forms filled out by individuals (including via online forms), 
  • feedback, 
  • enquiries, 
  • support requests, 
  • surveys, competitions, 
  • online user-generated content, 
  • market research, 
  • video conferencing, 
  • face-to-face meetings and
  • interviews.

You may in some circumstances have the option of not identifying yourself or using a pseudonym when you deal with us. However, if you choose not to provide the information we need to fulfill your request for a specific product or service, we may not be able to provide you with the requested product or service or we may not be able to allow you to participate in our activities.

Sometimes our activities require us to collect sensitive information. Sensitive information is subject to great restrictions. For more details, see the section below “Sensitive information is subject to greater restrictions”.

The Harness Racing Trading Ring does not collect billing information such as payment card details.  Third-party Payment Gateway providers are used for online payment card transactions and for payment of invoices online. 

When purchasing a product or service from HRTR-C or paying a HRTR-C issued invoice online:

    • Customers will be emailed an Invoice including payment instructions. 
    • Payment card details are submitted to the payment gateway provider and cannot be viewed by HRTR-C. 
    • HRTR-C will receive certain information about Customers from the payment gateway provider (including payment card details in a  masked format and the Customer’s name and IP address) to enable HRTR-C to provide products and services ordered by Customers.

Cookies, Analytics and Advertising

HRTR-C uses cookies and device identifiers to identify visitors to the Website, to improve our services, products and applications, to gather statistical and demographic information, store user preferences, activity, and session information, to improve security, enhance website and application functionality and show any HRTR-C ads across the internet and devices.

HRTR-C also uses web analytics and session recording technology provided by third party service providers such as Google Analytics. These services use cookies to assist us in understanding how visitors access and utilise our Website, Store and applications. 

A ‘cookie’ is a small file which contains a piece of text identifying your browser to our site. 

You can opt-out of HRTR-C’s use of cookies in your browser at any time by setting your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when cookies are being sent. If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of the Website may then be inaccessible or not function properly.

HRTR-C uses the Google AMP Client ID API to consolidate information on each unique visitor to their many interactions with our Website.  This consolidated information provides a more accurate picture of visitor journeys and use of our Website and Store. The Google AMP Client ID API assigns a unique randomly generated identifier to each visitor and uses this identifier to link all activity associated with that particular visitor. 

You can find out more information on how Google uses data when you use HTR’s sites or apps at www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners/.

The unique device identifiers, web and mobile analytics data and cookies do not to collect or contain personally identifiable information such as your name, email address or phone number. However, we may collect information about the devices you use, including, hardware model, operating system, version and internet protocol (IP) address. In some circumstances an IP address could be linked to an individual. Your IP addresses, device identifiers and cookies may be collected or accessed by our third-party service providers. 

You can manage how your browser and mobile device use data by adjusting your privacy and security settings in your browser and mobile device.
 

Advertising

HRTR-C uses third party service providers to run advertising campaigns. This technology uses cookies and/or device identifiers to:

    • track the performance of ads based on visitors’ interaction with HRTR-C’s ads; and 
    • show HRTR-C’s ads across sites, applications and devices based on visitors past visits and behaviour on our Website (including but not limited to the use of retargeting, contact targeting and lead generation forms). When you register as a User on the HRTR-C Website, you may receive future HRTR-C ads on other sites and applications.

Your personal information is not shared with HRTR-C, only aggregated reports about the website and application audience (including non-identifying demographic information) and ad performance (which does not identify you personally) is received by us.

You can opt-out of HRTR-C’s advertising to you by setting your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, by adjusting your mobile device settings or by contacting us.

How might HRTR-C use and disclose your personal information?

HRTR-C a may use and disclose your personal information for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy, or for related purposes which would reasonably be expected by you, or for purposes to which you have consented, and in other circumstances authorised by the Privacy Act or otherwise required or authorised by law.

Generally, HRTR-C may use and disclose your personal information for a range of purposes, including to:

  • provide you and any of your Authorised User(s) with our products or services that you have requested (including watermarking the publications that you have purchased with your name and details for licensing purposes);
  • respond to your queries or feedback or provide customer service support;
  • analyse and improve all aspects of our business including, but not limited to, our products services and applications, our business systems, processes, outcomes, communication, website, engagement, advertising and performance;
  • authenticate users to enable access to HRTR-C systems;
  • consider employment or other engagement applications.

 Your personal information may also be used so we can:

  • provide you with any communications or publications in which we think you might be interested; and
  • let you know about developments in our procedures, products, services, activities and programs that might be useful to you, by way of email. Recipients who no longer wish to receive such communications can request to be removed from the distribution list by following the unsubscribe instructions in the relevant email.
  •  

Landing Pages

Certain promotions and advertising campaigns may be hosted on a landing page controlled by a third party service provider. If you visit these sites and pages, your browser communicates directly with the service provider and user data entered on these pages (such as your email address and name) is stored by our service provider. Your personal information is then disclosed to HRTR-C.

We do not sell or license your personal information to third parties.

What personal information do we collect?

The types of personal information we may collect include: 

  • contact information (such as your name, address, email address, fax and telephone number), 
  • your profile information if you choose to provide this (such as your age, gender, country of birth), 
  • your newsletter preferences, 

Sometimes our activities require us to collect sensitive information. For more details, see the section below “Sensitive information is subject to greater restrictions” below.

Sensitive information is subject to greater restrictions

‘Sensitive information’ is personal information about an individual’s health, racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, membership of a political association, religious beliefs or affiliations, philosophical beliefs, membership of a professional or trade association or membership of a trade union, among other things. 

We will collect, use and disclose your sensitive information only for the primary purpose for which it was collected, or for directly related purposes which would reasonably be expected by you, or for purposes to which you have consented and in other circumstances required or authorised by law.

Security and management of personal information

HRTR-C will take reasonable steps to protect the personal information we hold from misuse and loss and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. The ways we do this include:

  • limiting access to the information we collect about you (for instance, only those of our personnel who need your information to carry out our business activities are allowed access to the contact details of users);
  • using a payment gateway for secure handling of your billing information;
  • putting in place physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards in line with industry standards.

If we no longer require your personal information and are not legally required to retain it, HRTR-C will take reasonable steps to destroy or permanently de-identify the personal information

Links from our website to other websites

Our website may contain links to third party websites. We do not operate these websites and therefore are not responsible for the collection or handling of personal information by the operators of these websites.

Accessing the information we hold about you

Under the APPs, you may be able to obtain a copy of the personal information that we hold about you. The APPs provide some exceptions to your rights in this regard. To make a request to access this information, please contact us in writing at the address listed below. We will require you to verify your identity and specify what information you require. We may charge a fee to cover the cost of verifying the application and locating, retrieving, reviewing and copying any material requested.

Updating your personal information

We endeavour to ensure that the personal information we hold about you is accurate, complete and up-to-date. Please contact HRTR-C at the contact address set out below if you believe that the information we hold about you requires correction or is out-of-date.

Updates to this Policy

This Privacy Policy will be reviewed from time to time to take account of new laws and technology, changes to our operations and practices and the changing business environment.

Complaints

If you are concerned that we have not complied with your legal rights or applicable privacy laws, you may bring a complaint internally through our complaints process or you may decide to make a formal complaint with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (www.oaic.gov.au) (which is the regulator responsible for privacy in Australia).

We will deal with complaints as follows:

Step 1: Let us know

If you would like to make a complaint, you should let us know by contacting HRTR-C (see below for contact details).

Step 2: Investigation of complaint

  • Your complaint will be investigated by our Privacy Officer.
  • A response to your complaint will be provided in writing within a reasonable period.

Step 3: Contact HTR

We expect our procedures will deal fairly and promptly with your complaint. However, if you remain dissatisfied, you can also contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner as follows:

Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC)
Complaints must be made in writing.
1300 363 992
Office of the Australian 
Information Commissioner 
GPO Box 5218 
Sydney NSW 2001
www.oaic.gov.au

Contact us

Any complaints or correspondence in relation to this Privacy Policy should be sent to our Privacy Officer at:

Harness Racing Trading Ring Pty Ltd
PO Box 196
NORTH RICHMOND NSW 2754
Australia
Attention: The Privacy Officer
Email: admin@harnesstradingring.com.au

We will endeavour to respond to all complaints and correspondence promptly.