Privacy Policy

Introduction and Overview

Carat & Ore, Inc. (“Carat & Ore,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) provides an online service for individuals to sell their gold, silver, platinum, and diamond jewelry for a fair price. Our mission is to provide a safe, convenient, and transparent way to sell jewelry online with trust.

Carat & Ore respects the privacy of the visitors to our digital properties and the users of our products and services, and we are committed to maintaining their trust through our compliance with this privacy policy (“Privacy Policy”).

This Privacy Policy describes how Carat & Ore collects, stores, uses, and safeguards your information when you use our website at https://caratandore.com (the “Site”), engage with us in person or over the phone, and interact through any other websites, pages, or content owned and operated by Carat & Ore that direct to this Privacy Policy (collectively, the “Services”).

By using our Services, you understand and agree that collection and use of your personal information will be made in accordance with this Privacy Policy and our Terms of Service. All capitalized terms that are used (but not defined) in this Privacy Policy shall have the same meaning as they do in the Terms. If you do not feel comfortable with any part of this Privacy Policy or our Terms, please discontinue use of the Services or engaging with Carat & Ore immediately.

1. Updates to This Privacy Policy

Please note that we may change the terms of this Privacy Policy from time to time in order to reflect our practices and provide greater protection for your information. Information we collect will be dealt with in accordance with the provisions of our policy which was in effect at the time of collection. If we make material changes, we will post the updated Privacy Policy on this page with a “Last Updated” effective date of the revisions. We encourage you to look for updates and changes to this Privacy Policy by checking this page when you access our Services. If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please reach out to us anytime at [email protected], or as described in the “Contact Us” section below.

2. Information We Collect About You and How We Collect It

Carat & Ore collects personal information when you interact with our Services. Personal information is any information that identifies or makes an individual identifiable. The definition of personal information depends on the applicable law based on your physical location. Only the definition that applies to your physical location will apply to you under this Privacy Policy.

The types of personal information that we may collect about you may include: information that you voluntarily provide to us, information collected automatically about your use of our Services, and information received from third parties.

a. Information You Voluntarily Provide to Us

The personal information that we collect directly from you in order to provide you with our Services includes:

• Account Registration: information relating to the creation of an account as a seller, such as name, email address, mailing address, phone number, and a unique individual password.
• Form Submissions: information that you provide by filling in forms that we make available, such as contact information (name, email, phone number) if you request information or assistance, sign up for a newsletter, or ask to join our mailing list.
• Customer Service: records and copies of the correspondence we receive from you (including email addresses, content of the communications, name, and other information you choose to provide us with), if you contact us by telephone or in writing or via chat.
• Promotions: information relating to your participation in a promotion, or an optional survey or questionnaire that we may ask you to complete for research purposes.
• Verification: as part of the sale procedure, you might be asked to provide your birth date, photo ID, home address, copies of your utility bills (for address verification) and a description of the valuable object you are looking to sell. For Anti-Money Laundering (“AML”) and Know Your Customer (“KYC”) purposes, we may also require government-issued identification that bears a photograph in order to verify your identity in compliance with legal requirements.
• Payment Information: we may also collect your payment information in order to send you your payment, including bank account and routing information (ACH) or wire transfer details.
• User Feedback: you may submit through the Services User Feedback and User Input, as such terms are defined in the Terms of Service. The information included in any such User Feedback and User Input shall be treated by us in accordance with our Terms.

b. Information Collected Automatically

In addition to the voluntary information you may provide us at your discretion, we may also collect additional information from you passively through the use of small text files known as “cookies” that are stored on your web browser or device. For more information, please see the “Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies” section below.

In general, as you navigate through and interact with our Site or Services, we may use automatic data collection technologies to collect certain information about your equipment, browsing actions, and patterns, including:

• Information About Your Use of the Services: your web request, Internet Protocol (“IP”) address, browser type, screen resolution, browser language, domain names, referring and exit pages and URLs, clickstream data, platform type, pages viewed and the order of these page views, the amount of time spent on particular pages, and the date and time of your request.
• Device Information: if you access our Services through a mobile device, we may be able to identify the general location of your mobile device, your mobile device’s brand, model, operating system, resolution, screen size, system version, mobile network information, and your mobile device’s advertising ID.
• Performance Data: information about your preferences to make your use of the Services more productive.

c. Information from Third Parties

When you interact with our Services or accounts on a social media platform, we may collect the personal information that you or the platform make available to us on that page or account, including your social media account ID and/or user name, your profile picture, email address, and any information you have made public in connection with that social media service.

d. Lawful Bases for Processing

The lawful bases we rely on for processing personal information are (if and when applicable):

• You had given consent to the processing of your personal information;
• Processing is necessary for the performance of a contract with you;
• Processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which we are subject; and/or
• Processing is necessary for the purposes of legitimate interest.

3. How We Use Your Information

Other than as specifically set forth in this Privacy Policy and/or in the Terms, we will not use your personal information for any purposes, unless we have your consent. The purposes for which we may use your personal information include:

• To Provide You Our Services: providing any services that you request in connection with our Services, such as to allow you to sell your jewelry, to receive a professional evaluation of the value of your goods, add you to a mailing or newsletter list, or perform verification to prevent fraud;
• To Provide You with Service-Related Communications: contacting you from time to time with critical user or service updates or other information important to support the Services;
• To Provide Customer Support or to Respond to You: providing you with notices about your account and responding to your questions or other requests, including through online chat services or text messaging/SMS;
• To Send You Advertising and Promotions: contacting you with newsletters, tailored advertising or promotional materials and other information that may be of interest to you. By signing up and providing your phone number, you agree to receive text messages from Carat & Ore. Message and data rates may apply. Message frequency may vary. You may choose not to receive marketing SMS of this type by replying “STOP” to an SMS message you received or by contacting us at [email protected]. Except as provided in Section 4 below, we will not share your mobile phone number;
• For Internal Use and Services Improvement: accumulating and reporting aggregate, statistical information in connection with Site user activity, including determining which features and services users like best to help us operate, customize, measure and improve our Services;
• To Enforce Compliance with Our Agreements or Policies: keeping you secure and safe while using our Services, including to combat spam, malware, malicious activities, fraud, or security risks;
• To Maintain Legal and Regulatory Compliance: processing personal information to pay our taxes, fulfill our business obligations, for compliance with Anti-Money Laundering requirements and Know Your Customer regulations, or as necessary to manage risk under applicable law;
• For Customization: saving your user account, registration and profile data or other personal information; tracking your return visits to and use of the Services; tailoring your experience on the Services;
• For Research Purposes: using personal information for audit, research and analysis purposes needed to operate and improve our technologies and Services;
• With Your Consent: for any other purpose disclosed to you prior to you providing us your personal information or which is reasonably necessary to provide the Services or other related products and/or services requested, with your permission or upon your direction.

4. Sharing and Disclosure of Personal Information

We may share or disclose your personal information in the following circumstances:

• Within Our Corporate Organization: we may share your personal information with any subsidiaries and affiliates in order to provide you with the Services and take actions based on your request, as well as for the purpose of management and analysis.
• Service Providers: we may provide your information to external service providers that provide services on our behalf in connection with the Services. These service providers provide us support services including payment processing, payment gateways, website hosting, customer relationship management, order fulfillment and shipping, email and postal delivery, analytics, surveys, marketing and advertising services, identity resolution and data matching services, helpdesk ticketing, videoconferencing, and calculating valuation. The service providers have access to your personal information only to perform these tasks on our behalf and are obligated not to disclose or use it for any other purpose.
• Corporate Transactions: we may disclose personal information to a buyer or other successor in the event of a merger, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution, or sale or transfer of some or all of our assets.
• As Required by Law and to Protect Lawful Interests: we may share your information (i) if we are required to do so by law or when necessary to comply with a current judicial proceeding, a court order or legal process served on Carat & Ore; or (ii) if we believe in good faith that disclosure of information is necessary to prevent imminent physical harm, financial loss or to report suspected illegal activity.

In addition to the above, we may provide aggregate statistics about users, sales, traffic patterns, and other information to third parties, but these statistics will not include any personally identifiable information.

5. Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies

We may use cookies, embedded scripts, web pixels, and other similar technologies (collectively, “Tracking Technologies”) to collect additional personal information automatically as you interact with the Services and to personalize your experience with our Services. We also may use these technologies to collect information about your online activities over time and across third-party websites or other online services.

a. What is a Cookie?

Cookies are small computer files containing limited amounts of information which are downloaded to your computer or mobile device when you visit a website. They are widely used to make websites work efficiently and to provide information to the owners of the website. There are two broad categories of cookies: first-party cookies, served directly by us to your computer or mobile device; and third-party cookies, served by a third party on our behalf. Cookies can also be session cookies (deleted once you close your browser) or persistent cookies (which survive after your browser is closed).

b. Types of Cookies We Use

• Essential Website Cookies: essential to provide you with services available through the Site and to use some of its features, such as access to secure areas.
• Functionality Cookies: record choices you’ve made and allow us to tailor the website to you, including to save your location preference, remember settings, show you when you are logged in, and store accessibility options.
• Performance / Analytics Cookies: allow us to analyze how the website is accessed, used, or performing, and to better understand our website visitors.
• Marketing Cookies: used to deliver targeted digital marketing, improve user experience, and maintain and improve the Site.

c. Other Tracking Technologies

In addition to cookies, we may use web beacons (also called “tracking pixels” or “clear gifs”), conversion beacons, tags, scripts, and pixels, as well as third-party session recording tools that may record mouse movements, clicks, and scrolling behavior on our pages, in order to monitor traffic patterns, measure the success of marketing campaigns, and improve our Services. Third parties may also drop cookies or pixels on your device to serve advertising through our Site.

d. Analytics and Remarketing Services

We use Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google LLC, to monitor and analyze use of our Site. For more information on Google’s privacy practices, please visit https://policies.google.com/privacy. You can opt out via the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on, available at https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout. We may also use remarketing services, including Google Ads, to advertise on third-party websites to you after you have visited our Site.

e. Your Choices and How to Control Cookies

You may control cookies by adjusting your browser settings. You can find more information at http://www.allaboutcookies.org. Many advertising companies that collect information for interest-based advertising are members of the Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA) or the Network Advertising Initiative (NAI):

• DAA opt-out portal: http://optout.aboutads.info/
• NAI opt-out portal: http://optout.networkadvertising.org/?c=1
• U.S. state privacy opt-out tool: https://www.privacyrights.info/

f. GPC Signals

Where required by applicable law, we will recognize and process opt-out preference signals such as the Global Privacy Control (“GPC”). When we detect a GPC signal from your browser, we will treat it as a valid request to opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information linked to that browser. You may learn more about GPC at https://globalprivacycontrol.org/.

6. Retention

Carat & Ore will retain your personal information only for as long as is necessary for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy. We will retain and use your personal information to the extent necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes and enforce our legal agreements and policies. We may store your personal information for longer periods where required to do so in accordance with legal, regulatory, tax, or accounting requirements, or where we reasonably believe there is a prospect of litigation relating to your personal information or dealings. We will retain your marketing contact information until you unsubscribe from our marketing communications.

7. Communications Preferences

In order to provide service to you, we may send you communications related to your transactions, security, or the administration of our Services. From time to time, we may also send you other messages or updates about Carat & Ore, our Site, and our other services and offerings.

Promotional Correspondence: When signing up for a Carat & Ore account, you may choose whether you wish to receive promotional correspondence from us. You may modify such preference at any time by changing your account settings, by opting out through the instructions in the applicable e-mail, by requesting this verbally during a promotional phone call, or by contacting us as described below. Please note that if you opt out of receiving communications from us, we may still send you technical communications such as emails about your account.

8. Access, Correction, Deletion, Data Portability, and Other Rights

Subject to applicable law, you have the following rights with respect to your personal information:

• Access and Correction: You have the right to access and correct your personal information that you shared with us. You may contact us via the information in the “Contact Us” section below.
• Deletion: If you no longer wish to have your personal information processed, you may request us to delete your account, subject to certain limitations, by contacting us as described below, provided that there is no ongoing transaction between us and that such deletion is permitted by law.
• Data Portability: You have the right to receive a copy of the personal information you have provided to us in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format, to the extent technically feasible.
• Withdrawal of Consent: Where we process your personal information based on your consent, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. The withdrawal of consent shall not affect the lawfulness of processing based on consent before its withdrawal.
• Right to Object or Restrict Processing: In certain circumstances, you may have the right to object to, or request restriction of, the processing of your personal information.
• Right to Lodge a Complaint: If you believe that our processing of your personal information infringes applicable data protection laws, you have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection supervisory authority. We ask that you please attempt to resolve any issues with us first by contacting us at [email protected].

9. U.S. State Privacy Rights

Several U.S. states have enacted comprehensive consumer privacy laws that grant residents specific rights regarding their personal information. This section describes those rights and how to exercise them. The rights available to you depend on the state in which you reside. Carat & Ore will honor requests submitted in good faith that are verifiable under applicable law.

a. Rights by State — Overview

The following table summarizes the rights available to residents of states with active comprehensive privacy laws as of the date of this Privacy Policy. “–” indicates the right is not provided under that state’s law (or is limited).

Please note that our inclusion of this table does not imply Carat & Ore is subject to the laws mentioned herein; the applicability of each law as well as your status as a consumer protected by them will be assessed at the time you submit a request based on the then-current facts. This table will be updated as additional state privacy laws come into effect. If your state is not listed, some rights described below may still apply to you under other applicable laws.

b. Description of Rights

Subject to applicable law and certain exceptions, you may have the right to know what personal information we collect about you and how we use it; the right to request that we delete personal information we have collected from you; the right to request that we correct inaccurate personal information; the right to receive a copy of your personal information in a portable format; the right to opt out of the sale of your personal information and/or the sharing of your personal information for purposes of targeted or cross-context behavioral advertising; the right to opt out of certain profiling; and the right not to be discriminated against for exercising any of your privacy rights.

c. How to Exercise Your Rights

To submit a request to exercise any of the rights described above, please contact us:

• Email: [email protected]
• Phone: 1 (888) 703-7592

We will respond to verifiable consumer requests within the timeframe required by applicable law (generally 45 days, with a possible extension of an additional 45 days where reasonably necessary). We will not charge a fee for processing your request unless it is excessive, repetitive, or manifestly unfounded. We may need to verify your identity before processing your request.

d. Sensitive Personal Information

We may collect sensitive personal information (such as government-issued identification numbers and financial account information) solely for the purposes of identity verification and fraud prevention in connection with our Services. We do not use or disclose sensitive personal information for any purpose other than those listed above, and we do not sell or share sensitive personal information.

10. Important Notice for Non-U.S. Residents

The Services and their servers are operated in the United States. Please be aware that your information, including your personal information, may be transferred to, processed, maintained, and used on computers, servers, and systems located in countries where the privacy laws may not be as protective as those in your jurisdiction. To the extent that any law which regulates cross-border transfers of your personal data is applicable, we will implement appropriate safeguards to protect your personal information as required by applicable law.

11. Data Security

Carat & Ore does its utmost to secure your information by putting in place commercially reasonable and appropriate physical, electronic, and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure such information. Such measures include using Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology (or comparable technology) to provide security when transmitting sensitive information via our Site, placing our servers in a secure facility, and only allowing access to those of our employees who require such information in order to provide you the Services.

The safety and security of your information also depends on you. We recommend that you protect yourself from unauthorized access to your account by keeping your password confidential. Any transmission of personal information is at your own risk. In the event of a security breach that compromises your personal information, Carat & Ore will notify affected individuals as required by applicable law.

12. Integration of Third-Party Platforms and Services

The Services may be linked to, rely on and be integrated with websites, applications, interfaces, services and platforms operated by other companies, including third-party services. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of such third parties. Once you leave our Services via a link, access a third-party service or click on an advertisement, you should check the applicable privacy policies to determine how related companies process personal information they may collect about you. This Privacy Policy applies solely to information collected by Carat & Ore.

13. Children’s Privacy

Carat & Ore Services are not directed towards children under the age of 18, and we do not knowingly collect any personal information from individuals under the age of 18. If a child under 18 provided our Services with personal information, we ask that a parent or guardian contact us as described below so that we may promptly delete the child’s information from our records.

14. Contact Us

We welcome your questions, comments, and concerns about privacy. You can contact us anytime:

• Email: [email protected]
• Phone: 1 (888) 703-7592