MiniScience Inc. is a New Jersey corporation located at 1059 Main Avenue, Clifton, New Jersey 07011. 

MiniScience values and respects the privacy of its customers and visitors. The purpose of this Privacy and Security Statement is to provide you with information about how MiniScience collects, uses, and shares the information we collect from our customers and visitors. It also describes the choices you can make about our use of your information. Our collection efforts are designed to improve the shopping experience of our customers and to provide customers relevant information about our products, services, and promotions.

ABOUT THIS POLICY
This Privacy and Security Statement describes the privacy practices of MiniScience, Inc. and its subsidiaries, divisions, affiliates, brands and other MiniScience companies (“MiniScience”, “our”, or “we”). It applies to our interactions with our customers and visitors, including, but not limited to:

• Use of our websites, including mobile websites
• Visits to our stores or attendance at one of our events
• Use of our applications for mobile phones, tablets or other smart devices
• Phone and email communications
• Social media interactions on our websites and other third party websites like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter
• Viewing our online advertisements or emails

This Privacy and Security Statement does not apply to the practices of The MiniScience companies or affiliates outside the United States of America. Also, this policy does not apply to third-party websites accessible through our websites.

INFORMATION WE COLLECT
Contact information
We may collect the names and user names of our customers and other visitors. Additionally, we may collect your purchase history, billing and shipping addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, and other digital contact information. We may also collect information that you provide us about others.

Payment information
When you make a purchase we collect your payment information, including information from your credit or debit card, check, PayPal account or gift card. If you apply for a MiniScience credit line, we might collect information related to your application.

Returns information
When you return a product to our stores or request a refund or exchange, we may collect information from you and ask you to provide your government issued ID. We use the information we collect from you and capture off of your government issued ID to help prevent fraud. To learn more about our Returns Policy, click here.

Demographic information
We may collect information about products or services you like, reviews you submit, or where you shop. We might also collect information like your age or gender.

Location information
If you use our mobile websites or applications, we may collect location data obtained from your mobile device’s GPS. If you use our websites, we may collect location data obtained from your IP address. 

Other information
If you use our websites, we may collect information about the browser you are using. We might track the pages you visit, look at what website you came from, or what website you visit when you leave us. We collect this information using the tracking tools described here. To control those tools, please read the Your Privacy Preferences section.

HOW INFORMATION IS COLLECTED
We collect information directly from you. The following are a few examples of when we collect information from you:

  • During website or survey registration
  • In connection with an online or in-store purchase
  • If you use an online forum, submit a question or answer to our Product Q & A or provide us with comments or reviews
  • If you upload a photo or other digital content through one of our websites or applications
  • If you register for a loyalty program or apply for a MiniScience credit line or loan
  • If you participate in a sweepstakes, contest, clinic or workshop
  • If you rent equipment or vehicles or request warranty or other information
  • If you return a product or use a rebate
  • If you request a copy of invoice or receipt
  • In connection with your interactions with us as a registered user of our websites. For example, when you use the features of our My Account tool like Express Checkout, Address Book, My Lists, My Project Guides, etc.

We collect information from you passively.
We may use tracking tools like browser cookies, flash cookies, and web beacons.

We collect information from other sources.
We may get information about you from third party business partners, like an updated address from a shipping vendor. We may collect information about you from a friend. For example, if your friend purchases something from us to send to you.

We collect information from affiliates of MiniScience.
We may get information about you from a company controlled by, or under common control with, MiniScience (our “Affiliates”).

HOW WE USE INFORMATION
We use the information we collect for our business purposes, including:

To respond to your questions and requests. Examples include:

  • Fulfilling orders or providing services
  • Entering you into a sweepstakes or sending you prizes you might have won
  • Registering you for a particular website, loyalty program, or extended warranty service or providing you with information regarding such programs or services
  • Processing a return (to learn more about our Returns Policy, click here)
  • Responding to a product or service review

To improve our products and services.
We may use your information to make website or product and service improvements.

To look at website trends and customer interests.
We might use your information to customize your experience with us. We may also combine information we get from you with information about you we have received from third parties to assess trends and interests.

For security purposes.
We may use your information to protect our company, our customers, or our websites. For example, we might use cameras in our stores to track store traffic or our stock.

For our marketing.
In certain circumstances, we may send you communications about special MiniScience promotions or offers. For example, if you have registered on a website and indicated you want to receive this information or if you gave us your information in one of our stores. We may also notify you of new website features or product and service offerings. If permitted, we may also send information about offers from our Affiliates and other companies we think you might find interesting. To manage our communications with you, follow the instructions in the Your Privacy Preferences section below.

To communicate with you about your account or our relationship.
We may contact you to tell you about changes to this Privacy and Security Statement, the Terms of Use of our websites or mobile applications, or changes to any of our programs in which you might be enrolled. We may also tell you about issues with your orders or if there is a product recall.

For other uses we may disclose to you.

INFORMATION SHARING
We may share your information for our business purposes and as legally required or permitted, including:

With third parties who perform services on our behalf.
We share information with our service providers, such as our delivery service providers who ship and deliver your online orders. We might also authorize our service providers to collect information on our behalf. Some service providers may be located outside of the United States. We might also share information with the vendors and manufacturers of our products and services to respond to your reviews and questions.

To offer financial products.
We use service providers to offer financial products, such as MiniScience credit line. We may share personal information about our consumers with these service providers in order to provide you with tailored information about products and services and special offers. These service providers also have their own privacy statements that set out the manner in which they will collect, use and disclose personal information. We encourage you to review each service provider’s privacy statement at the time you submit your application for such financial products.

To provide extended warranty services.
If you purchase a MiniScience Extended Warranty Service you will be required to provide information such as your name and address to our warranty service providers. While these service providers are limited by contract in the way they may use your information to provide The MiniScience Extended Warranty Services, we encourage you to review each service provider’s privacy statement at the time you submit your personal information for such services.

Data Sharing for Catalog Mailings.
We may share your name, address and purchase history with our affiliate companies so that you may receive future catalog offerings about products and services that may be of interest to you. 

With any successor to all or part of our business.
For example, if all or part of our business is sold we may sell our customer list as part of that transaction.

If we think we have to in order to comply with the law.
For example, we will disclose information to respond to a court order or subpoena. We may also disclose information if a government agency or investigatory body requests it.

With our business partners.
For example, we might share information with one of our Affiliates or a business partner who is running a joint promotion with us or who provides a product or service in partnership with us.

To protect us.
For example, we will disclose information if we suspect fraud. We will also share information as part of an investigation.

At your direction.
For example, if you ask us to provide your information to a third-party to facilitate the resolution of a dispute.

YOUR PRIVACY PREFERENCES
You can register or change your preferences to receive or not receive marketing communications from us by visiting our Manage Privacy Preferences page or emailing us. Please allow sufficient time for your preferences to be processed. Even if you opt out of receiving marketing messages, we may still contact you for transactional purposes like confirming or following up on an order or service request, asking you to review a product or service you have ordered, or notifying you of product recalls. If you later opt back into getting marketing communications from us, we will remove your information from our opt-out databases.

Registered website users can update their information at the Your Account section of our website. If you are not a registered website user, you can contact us by email.

OUR SITES AND CHILDREN
Our websites and mobile applications are not created for children. To our knowledge we do not collect information online from children under 18. If you are a parent or guardian and think we have information about your child, please email customercare@homedepot.com. To learn more about how to protect your child online, visit the FTC’s www.OnGuardOnline.gov. 

YOUR CALIFORNIA PRIVACY RIGHTS
If you live in California and have an established business relationship with us, you can request a list of the personal information we have shared with third parties for their marketing purposes. We will also give you a list of the third parties that have received your information. You can make a request one time each year.

To exercise your rights, you can email us or write to us at the address below. Mention in your letter that you are making a “California Shine the Light” inquiry. We will respond within 30 days.

SECURITY
When you place orders on our websites, all of your order information, including your credit card number and delivery address, is transmitted through the Internet using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology. SSL technology causes your browser to encrypt your order information before transmitting it to our secure server. SSL technology, an industry standard, is designed to prevent someone other than operators of our websites from capturing and viewing your personal information.

While we use industry standard means to protect our websites and your information, the Internet is not 100% secure. The measures we use are appropriate for the type of information we collect. We cannot promise that your use of our websites or mobile applications will be completely safe. We encourage you to use caution when using the Internet. Online access to your personal information is protected with a password you select. We strongly recommend that you do not share your password.

LINKS
Our websites contain links to third party websites. If you click on one of those links, you will be taken to websites we do not control. This Privacy and Security Statement does not apply to the information practices of those websites. You should read the privacy policies of other websites carefully. We are not responsible for third party websites.

MORE QUESTIONS?
If you have additional questions you can call us during business hours to speak with a manager, or reach us by email at info@MiniScience.com. You can write to us at:

MiniScience, Inc.
Attention: Privacy Official Customer Care
1059 Main Avenue,
Clifton, NJ 07011

Changes to this Privacy and Security Statement

Effective Date: January 1, 2000
Date of last revision: 

From time to time we may change our privacy policies. We will notify you of any material changes to our Privacy and Security Statement by posting an updated copy on our website. Please check our website periodically for updates.

OUR TRACKING TECHNIQUES
Tracking Tools We Use

We collect personal and other information about users over time and across different websites when you use this website or service. We also have third parties that collect personal information this way. We or our vendors use several common online tracking tools to collect this information. These may include browser and flash cookies. We may also use web beacons and similar technologies. We use these tools:

  • To track new visitors to our websites.
  • To recognize returning customers.
  • To store your password if you are registered on our website.
  • To provide you with advertising content in which we think you will be interested.

As part of this customization, we may observe your behaviors on this website or on other websites. We may also get information about your browsing history from our trusted business partners and vendors.

  • So we can better understand our audience, our customers, our website visitors, and their respective interests.

Controlling Our Tracking Tools

Your browser may give you the ability to control cookies. How you do so depends on the type of cookie. Certain browsers can be set to reject browser cookies. 

If you configure your computer to block cookies, you will limit the functionality we can provide when you visit our websites. If you block or delete cookies, not all of the tracking that we have described in this policy will stop. Some browsers have a “Do Not Track” feature that lets you tell websites that you do not want to have your online activities tracked. These browser features are not uniform, so we are not currently set up to respond to those signals.

Controlling Online Interest-Based Ads

We sometimes work with online advertising vendors to provide you with relevant and useful ads. This may include ads served on our websites or mobile applications. This may also include ads served on other companies’ websites. These ads may be based on information collected by us or third parties. For example, information a third party collects when you register for a website, like your zip code. This might be used to target an ad for people in your area. These ads may also be based on your activities on our websites or on third party websites.

To opt out of having your online behavior collected for advertising purposes, click here.

MY ACCOUNT REGISTRATION AND USE
My Account registration is an optional service provided by some of our websites. You do not have to register to browse or shop online. When you register, you are asked for personal information such as your name, address, phone number, email address, and a username and password that you select. You may also optionally or register your credit cards. This information may be used to help make your online shopping quicker and easier, by pre-filling certain parts of your shopping information.

Click here to read more about the terms and conditions that govern your registration and use of our My Account service.