Privacy

This site is managed by PointShop, Inc. (www.pointshop.com) in cooperation with the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services which administers the Virginia’s Finest Trademark Program. Web site and technology hosting are provided by PointShop, Inc. The following information explains the privacy practices of shopvafinest.com and is effective as of October 1, 2004. If any updates to this policy are necessary in the future to ensure protection, they will be posted in this section.

Merchant Agreement

In order for Virginia's Finest companies to become merchants and have their Web sites featured on shopvafinest.com, they are required by the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to complete and sign a “Customer Services Standards” document. In this document, each Virginia’s Finest company agrees to provide not only a high standard of customer service, but also to observe the following privacy policy: “Customers’ names and addresses on orders that you receive from shopvafinest.com may be used by your company for mailed product solicitation purposes; however, you must give customers the choice to opt out of receiving additional literature about your products. Telephone numbers, fax numbers and e-mail addresses provided on order forms may not be used for product solicitation without prior permission of the customer. Further, customers’ names, addresses, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail addresses that you have access to from orders are not to be released or sold under any circumstances to third parties.” In addition, both PointShop, Inc. and the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services will observe the policy as detailed below.

Information We Gather

When you answer an on-line survey, enter a contest or correspond with either PointShop, Inc. or the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, we may ask you to provide personal information, such as your city and state. Providing such information is completely voluntary, and you are under no obligation to provide it to shopvafinest.com, but doing so would assist us in managing the Web site and evaluating its effectiveness, responding to inquiries, and offering the best possible on-line shopping experience. To ensure your privacy, credit card numbers are not retained by the shopvafinest.com Web site. The individual Virginia’s Finest merchants have responsibility for processing credit card transactions on secure sites and may have information posted on their Web sites regarding this.

How We Use the Information We Gather and Track

When you provide personal information on the shopvafinest.com Web site for a contest or other purposes, the information is retained by PointShop, Inc. in a database in order to disseminate the newsletter, select a contest winner, etc. PointShop, Inc. and the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services may review and analyze the data to assess what types of shoppers (for example, males and females, business owners, etc.) that enjoy using shopvafinest.com and determine in what states and/or countries they reside. The data also will be used to respond to inquiries if needed. The data are the exclusive property of PointShop, Inc. and the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and will not be sold, rented, or used for third party marketing.

PointShop, Inc. uses state-of-the-art security measures to protect your personal information, including technical and procedural steps to protect your data from misuse, unauthorized access or disclosure, loss, alteration or destruction.

Web Site Traffic

As a matter of routine to gather Web site usage statistics for shopvafinest.com, we may track domain names, IP addresses, e-mail addresses and browser types from people who visit the site. Such information is tracked routinely by Web servers to compile usage data and is not correlated with any personal information.

Cookies

A cookie is a small amount of data stored on the hard drive of an individual's computer that permits Web tracking software to identify the individual’s computer with his or her corresponding data residing in databases. We may use cookies to track your visit to shopvafinest.com in order to compile usage statistics through Web Trends. PointShop’s Web servers may automatically log your IP address, but your Internet traffic statistics will not be tied back to personal information. If you activate the cookie block feature on your computer, you will still be able to log onto and use www.shopvafinest.com; however, your visit will not be included in our site usage statistics. (You may read more about cookies at http://cookiecentral.com.)

Additional Information

If you have questions about the privacy policy for shopvafinest.com, you may contact PointShop, Inc. If you have questions about the privacy policy of any Virginia’s Finest merchant on shopvafinest.com, please contact that company directly.

Security

For your protection, this Web site does not retain credit card numbers; rather, credit card purchase transactions are processed by the individual Virginia's Finest companies that are merchants on shopvafinest.com. This Web site is tested and certified daily to pass the FBI/SANS Internet Security Test. PointShop Inc, the technology partner who hosts this Web site, utilizes ScanAlert's Hacker Safe scanning technology and Square Trade's monitoring service. This security auditing technology allows the HACKER SAFE and Square Trade marks to appear only when a Web site's current security status meets the highest published government standards.

Vulnerability knowledge base

ScanAlert's up-to-date knowledge base powers PointShop's comprehensive network security audits and vulnerability management technology. We update the knowledge base every 15 minutes with tests for newly discovered vulnerabilities and validated fixes from hundreds of sources worldwide. These continuous updates ensure ScanAlert customers are always alerted about the latest vulnerabilities.

What is Virginia's Finest?
The Virginia's Finest trademark signifies that agricultural and food products have met quality standards established by industries and approved by the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

How did you learn about shopvafinest.com?