Privacy Policy
This document was last updated on 1.30.2020
SME Bookkeeping LLC is committed to protecting your privacy. This privacy policy has been compiled to better serve those who are concerned with how their ‘Personally Identifiable Information’ (PII) is being used online. PII, as described in US privacy law and information security, is information that can be used on its own or with other information to identify, contact, or locate a single person, or to identify an individual in context. Please read our privacy policy carefully to get a clear understanding of how we collect, use, protect or otherwise handle your Personally Identifiable Information in accordance with our website. This Privacy Statement sets forth our current privacy practices with regard to the information we collect when you or your computer interact with our Sites or Apps.
Acknowledgment and acceptance of terms
By accessing thesmeco.com or any thesmeco.com Site or App, you acknowledge and fully understand SME Bookkeeping LLC’s Privacy Statement and freely consent to the information collection and use practices described in this Privacy Policy.
Participating Merchant Policies
Related services and offerings with links from this website, including vendor sites, have their own privacy policies that can be viewed by clicking on the corresponding links within each respective website. Online merchants and others who participate in SME Bookkeeping LLC services are encouraged to participate in industry privacy initiatives and to take a responsible attitude towards consumer privacy. However, since we do not have direct control over the policies or practices of participating merchants and other third parties, we are not responsible for the privacy practices or contents of those sites. We recommend and encourage that you always review the privacy policies of merchants and other third parties before you provide any personal information or complete any transaction with such parties.
What personal information do we collect from the people that visit our Sites, website, blog, or apps?
We collect information from you when you register on our site, place an order, subscribe to a newsletter or mailing list, respond to a survey, fill out a form, use Live Chat, open a Support Ticket or otherwise enter information on our Site. When ordering or registering on our site, as appropriate, you may be asked to enter your name, email address, mailing address, phone number, credit card information, social security number or other details to help you with your experience.
How do we use your information?
We may use the information we collect from you when you register, make a purchase, sign up for our newsletter, respond to a survey or marketing communication, surf the website, or use certain other site features in the following ways:
• To personalize your experience and to allow us to deliver the type of content and product offerings in which you are most interested.
• To improve our website in order to better serve you.
• To allow us to better service you in responding to your customer service requests.
• To administer a contest, promotion, survey or other site feature.
• To quickly process your transactions.
• To ask for ratings and reviews of services or products.
• To follow up after correspondence (live chat, email or phone inquiries).
In addition, visitors to our Site can register to purchase services. When you register, we will request some personal information such as name, address, email, telephone number or facsimile number, account number and other relevant information. We will also request information about your business necessary to provide the services, such as filing corporate documents or obtaining a Federal Tax Identification Number. If you are purchasing a service, we will request financial information. Any financial information we collect is used only to bill you for the services you purchased. If you purchase by credit card, this information may be forwarded to your credit card provider. For other types of registrations, we will ask for the relevant information. We also collect third party personal information such as name, email, title, and address. This data will only be used for the purpose it was intended for. We use the data we process to perform the transactions you ask us to do. You may also be asked to disclose personal information to us so that we can provide assistance and information to you. For example, such data may be warranted in order to provide online technical support and troubleshooting.
We will not disclose personally identifiable information we collect from you to third parties without your permission except to the extent necessary including:
• To fulfill your service requests for services,
• To protect ourselves from liability,
• To respond to legal process or comply with law, court order or legal process served on our Site or
• In connection with a potential merger, acquisition, or liquidation of the company.
We use an email service provider and credit card authorization company to perform services for us. These companies do not retain, share, store or use personal information for any other purposes.
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.
Please be aware that certain personal information will become a matter of public record when your documents are filed with the appropriate government entity, such as the secretary of state or the Internal Revenue Service. For example, the corporate name, business address and name of the registered agent all become public information when a newly-created entity’s articles of incorporation or articles of organization are filed. Other information such as the names of shareholders or corporate officers may also become public information when filing annual reports or documents with the IRS. Sometimes the government entity will provide this information to third parties for a fee. The names and addresses of trademark registrants are also made public by the US Patent and Trademark Office. In some states, fictitious business names, including the name and address of the business owner, must be published multiple times in a newspaper. SME Bookkeeping LLC’s Privacy Policy does not cover actions by these or other third parties.
How do we protect your information?
We do not use vulnerability scanning and/or scanning to PCI standards. An external PCI compliant payment gateway handles all CC transactions.
We use regular Malware Scanning.
Your personal information is contained behind secured networks and is only accessible by a limited number of persons who have special access rights to such systems, and are required to keep the information confidential. In addition, all sensitive/credit information you supply is encrypted via Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology.
We implement a variety of security measures when a user places an order enters, submits, or accesses their information to maintain the safety of your personal information.
All transactions are processed through a gateway provider and are not stored or processed on our servers.
Web Server Logs.
When you visit our Website, we may track information to administer the site and analyze its usage. Examples of information we may track include:
• Your Internet protocol address.
• The kind of browser or computer you use.
• Number of links you click within the site.
• State or country from which you accessed the site.
• Date and time of your visit.
• Name of your Internet service provider.
• Web page you linked to our site from.
• Pages you viewed on the site.
Do we use ‘cookies’?
Yes. Cookies are small files that a site or its service provider transfers to your computer’s hard drive through your Web browser (if you allow) that enables the site’s or service provider’s systems to recognize your browser and capture and remember certain information. For instance, we use cookies to help us remember and process the items in your shopping cart. They are also used to help us understand your preferences based on previous or current site activity, which enables us to provide you with improved services. We also use cookies to help us compile aggregate data about site traffic and site interaction so that we can offer better site experiences and tools in the future.
We use cookies to:
• Help remember and process the items in your order or the shopping cart.
• Understand and save user’s preferences for future visits.
• Keep track of advertisements.
• Compile aggregate data about site traffic and site interactions in order to offer better site experiences and tools in the future. We may also use trusted third-party services that track this information on our behalf.
You can choose to have your computer warn you each time a cookie is being sent, or you can choose to turn off all cookies. You do this through your browser settings. Since browser is a little different, look at your browser’s Help Menu to learn the correct way to modify your cookies.
If users disable cookies in their browser:
If you turn cookies off, some of the features that make your site experience more efficient may not function properly.
Use of Web Beacons or GIF files
Our Web pages may contain electronic images known as Web beacons – sometimes also called single-pixel gifs – that allow SME Bookkeeping LLC to count users who have visited those pages and to deliver co-branded services. SME Bookkeeping LLC may include Web beacons in promotional e-mail messages or newsletters in order to determine whether messages have been opened and acted upon.
Some of these Web beacons may be placed by third party service providers to help determine the effectiveness of our advertising campaigns or email communications. These Web beacons may be used by these service providers to place a persistent cookie on your computer. This allows the service provider to recognize your computer each time you visit certain pages or open/view/receive emails and compile anonymous information in relation to those page views, which in turn enables us and our service providers to learn which advertisements and emails bring you to our Site and how you use the Site. SME Bookkeeping LLC prohibits Web beacons from being used to collect or access your personal information.
Accessing Web Account Information
We will provide you with the means to ensure that personally identifiable information in your web account file is correct and current. You may review (and update or correct) this information by logging into your account via the “My Account” or “Sign In” link displayed prominently at the top of our website or by contacting us by sending an email to our support attendant at sara@thesmeco.com.
Other Features
If you use a bulletin board, directory, blog, or chat room on our Site, you should be aware that any personally identifiable information you submit there can be read, collected, or used by other users of these forums, and could be used to send you unsolicited messages. We are not responsible for the personally identifiable information you choose to submit in these forums.
We also have testimonials on our site and also collected by a third-party testimonials service provider/review site. All individuals who have their personal information posted as a testimonial have given permission to do so.
Third-party disclosure
We do not sell, trade, or otherwise transfer to outside parties your Personally Identifiable Information unless we provide users with advance notice. This does not include website hosting partners and other parties who assist us in operating our website, conducting our business, or serving our users, so long as those parties agree to keep this information confidential. We may also release information when it’s release is appropriate to comply with the law, enforce our site policies, or protect ours or others’ rights, property or safety.
However, non-personally identifiable visitor information may be provided to other parties for marketing, advertising, or other uses.
Third-party links
Occasionally, at our discretion, we may include or offer third-party products or services on our website. These third-party sites have separate and independent privacy policies. We therefore have no responsibility or liability for the content and activities of these linked sites. Nonetheless, we seek to protect the integrity of our site and welcome any feedback about these sites.
Google
Google’s advertising requirements can be summed up by Google’s Advertising Principles. They are put in place to provide a positive experience for users. https://support.google.com/adwordspolicy/answer/1316548?hl=en
We have not enabled Google AdSense on our site but we may do so in the future.
California Online Privacy Protection Act
CalOPPA is the first state law in the nation to require commercial websites and online services to post a privacy policy. The law’s reach stretches well beyond California to require any person or company in the United States (and conceivably the world) that operates websites collecting Personally Identifiable Information from California consumers to post a conspicuous privacy policy on its website stating exactly the information being collected and those individuals or companies with whom it is being shared. – See more at: http://consumercal.org/california-online-privacy-protection-act-caloppa/#sthash.0FdRbT51.dpuf
According to CalOPPA, we agree to the following:
• Users can visit our site anonymously.
• Once this privacy policy is created, we will add a link to it on our home page or at a minimum, on the first significant page after entering our website.
• Our Privacy Policy link includes the word ‘Privacy’ and can easily be found on the page specified above.
You will be notified of any Privacy Policy changes:
• On our Privacy Policy Page
• You can change your personal information:
- By emailing us
- By calling us
- By logging in to your account
- By chatting with us or by sending us a support ticket
How does our site handle Do Not Track signals?
We honor Do Not Track signals and Do Not Track, plant cookies, or use advertising when a Do Not Track (DNT) browser mechanism is in place.
Does our site allow third-party behavioral tracking?
It’s also important to note that we allow third-party behavioral tracking.
COPPA (Children Online Privacy Protection Act)
When it comes to the collection of personal information from children under the age of 13 years old, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) puts parents in control. The Federal Trade Commission, United States’ consumer protection agency, enforces the COPPA Rule, which spells out what operators of websites and online services must do to protect children’s privacy and safety online.
We do not specifically market to children under the age of 13 years old.
Fair Information Practices
The Fair Information Practices Principles form the backbone of privacy law in the United States and the concepts they include have played a significant role in the development of data protection laws around the globe. Understanding the Fair Information Practice Principles and how they should be implemented is critical to comply with the various privacy laws that protect personal information. In order to be in line with
Fair Information Practices we will take the following responsive action, should a data breach occur:
• We will notify you via email: Within 7 business days
• We will notify the users via in-site notification: Within 7 business days
Individual Redress Principle
We also agree to the Individual Redress Principle which requires that individuals have the right to legally pursue enforceable rights against data collectors and processors who fail to adhere to the law. This principle requires not only that individuals have enforceable rights against data users, but also that individuals have recourse to courts or government agencies to investigate and/or prosecute non-compliance by data processors.
CAN SPAM Act
The CAN-SPAM Act is a law that sets the rules for commercial email, establishes requirements for commercial messages, gives recipients the right to have emails stopped from being sent to them, and spells out tough penalties for violations.
We collect your email address in order to:
• Send information, respond to inquiries, and/or other requests or questions
• Process orders and to send information and updates pertaining to orders.
• Send you additional information related to your product and/or service
• Market to our mailing list or continue to send emails to our clients after the original transaction has occurred.
• Communicate with you regarding administrative or billing matters
To be in accordance with CANSPAM, we agree to the following:
• Not use false or misleading subjects or email addresses.
• Identify the message as an advertisement in some reasonable way.
• Include the physical address of our business or site headquarters.
• Monitor third-party email marketing services for compliance, if one is used.
• Honor opt-out/unsubscribe requests quickly.
• Allow users to unsubscribe by using the link at the bottom of each email.
If at any time you would like to unsubscribe from receiving future emails, you can email us at sara@thesmeco.com
Follow the instructions at the bottom of each email and we will promptly remove you from ALL correspondence.
Contacting Us
If there are any questions regarding this privacy policy, you may contact us using the information below.
SME Bookkeeping LLC
2308 Langley Avenue Saint Joseph, MI 49085
Virtual bookkeeping solutions for small business owners.