Swain's Fine Art Auction House

Privacy Policy

Your privacy is important to us. This policy explains how we collect, use, and protect your personal information when you use our Platform.

Information We Collect

Personal identification information: legal name, date of birth, government-issued identification number, mailing address, email address, and telephone number provided during account registration or bidder verification.
Financial information: credit card numbers, bank account details, wire transfer information, and billing addresses submitted for payment processing or bidder pre-qualification.
Transaction data: records of bids placed, lots purchased, consignment agreements, payment history, shipping addresses, and all correspondence related to auction transactions.
Technical data: IP address, browser type and version, device identifiers, operating system, time zone setting, referring URLs, pages visited, clickstream data, and session duration collected automatically through cookies and similar technologies.
Communications data: records of correspondence with Swain's specialists, advisory consultations, customer service inquiries, and feedback submissions.
Preference data: collection interests, artist preferences, notification settings, marketing opt-in status, and collector DNA profile information provided voluntarily.

To process and fulfill auction transactions, including bid management, invoicing, payment processing, shipping coordination, and post-sale services.
To verify your identity and prevent fraud, money laundering, and other illegal activities in compliance with applicable anti-money laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) regulations.
To communicate with you regarding your account, upcoming auctions, lot notifications, consignment updates, and customer service inquiries.
To personalize your experience through curated recommendations, collector DNA insights, and tailored auction previews based on your stated preferences and transaction history.
To improve and optimize the Platform through analytics, usage pattern analysis, A/B testing, and performance monitoring.
To comply with legal obligations, enforce our Terms of Service, and protect the rights, property, or safety of Swain's, our users, or the public.

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information to third parties for their own marketing purposes.
We may share your information with trusted service providers who perform services on our behalf, including payment processors, shipping carriers, identity verification services, and cloud hosting providers. These providers are contractually obligated to protect your data and use it only for the purposes specified.
We may disclose your information to consignors or buyers as necessary to complete a transaction, limited to the information required to fulfill the sale (e.g., shipping address to the consignor's designated shipper).
We may disclose information when required by law, regulation, legal process, or governmental request, or when we believe disclosure is necessary to protect our rights, the safety of our users, or to investigate potential violations of our Terms.
In the event of a merger, acquisition, or sale of all or a portion of our assets, your information may be transferred as part of that transaction. We will provide notice before your information becomes subject to a different privacy policy.

We implement industry-standard technical and organizational security measures to protect your personal information against unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction.
All financial transactions are processed through PCI-DSS compliant payment processors. Credit card information is encrypted using TLS 1.3 and is never stored on Swain's servers.
Access to personal data is restricted to authorized personnel on a need-to-know basis, and all employees with access to personal data are bound by confidentiality obligations.
We conduct regular security assessments, penetration testing, and vulnerability scanning to identify and remediate potential risks.
While we strive to protect your information, no method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is 100% secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security.

We retain your personal information for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide you services, comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements.
Transaction records, including bid history, purchase records, and consignment documentation, are retained for a minimum of seven (7) years in compliance with applicable tax and financial reporting requirements.
Upon account deletion request, we will remove your personal profile information within 30 days, subject to our legal retention obligations. Anonymized transaction data may be retained indefinitely for analytics purposes.

Access and portability: you have the right to request a copy of the personal information we hold about you in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format.
Correction: you may update or correct inaccurate personal information through your account settings or by contacting our privacy team.
Deletion: you may request deletion of your personal information, subject to our legal retention obligations and legitimate business interests.
Opt-out: you may opt out of marketing communications at any time by clicking the "unsubscribe" link in any marketing email or updating your notification preferences in your account settings.
California residents: under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), you have additional rights including the right to know what personal information is collected, the right to delete, and the right to opt out of the sale of personal information. We do not sell personal information.
EEA residents: under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), you have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.

Swain's is headquartered in the United States. If you access the Platform from outside the United States, your information may be transferred to, stored, and processed in the United States or other countries where our service providers operate.
We ensure that international transfers of personal data are subject to appropriate safeguards, including Standard Contractual Clauses approved by the European Commission where applicable.

The Platform is not directed to individuals under the age of 18. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If we become aware that we have collected personal information from a child under 18, we will take steps to delete such information promptly.

For privacy-related inquiries, data access requests, or complaints, contact our Privacy Officer at privacy@swainsauction.com or by mail at: Swain's Auction, Attn: Privacy Officer, 601 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20004.
We will respond to all legitimate requests within 30 days. In certain circumstances, we may require additional time, in which case we will notify you.