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Privacy Policy

Privacy Statement for DesignSpark

We are committed to safeguarding your privacy online. Please read the following privacy statement to understand how your personal information will be treated when you use or register with DesignSpark.com or any of DesignSpark’s applications (“DesignSpark” or the “Platform”).

We want to offer you the best possible online community experience. Additional functions, features, products or services are incorporated into DesignSpark from time to time. As a result, there may be changes to this privacy statement at any time. Please remember to refer back regularly to review any amendments.

DesignSpark is provided by RS Group, who is the data controller of personal information collected via DesignSpark. If you have any questions regarding this policy please e-mail: support@designspark.zendesk.com

What personal information does DesignSpark collect?

DesignSpark collects personal information from you when you provide it to us directly, or through your use of our website, for example:

  • Information you provide when you register for DesignSpark. When you first register, we ask you to provide certain mandatory information, including your name, e-mail address, a Username and Password, country of residence and job title. If you choose, you may provide further personal information such as your company name, address and notification preferences. You may also choose to post a picture of yourself alongside your profile (Personal Profile).
  • Any posts, information or content you upload to or create within DesignSpark, or exchange with another user via the Platform.
  • Records of your interactions with us, e.g. if you send email feedback to our website, ask a technical question, report a problem or otherwise contact us. Please note that if you telephone us, we may record the call for compliance, quality and staff training purposes.
  • If you respond to one of our user surveys or enter into a competition.
  • If accessing the marketplace, as a seller, you may be asked additional information, including location, which can be seen by other users
  • We may also record certain details of how you use our website (including the marketplace), such as the website you came from or are going to, your device's unique ID, your IP addresses and operating system, adverts you click on, products you search for, products you purchase, and information you download. Marketing emails we send you may also automatically detect whether you have received or opened the email or clicked on a link in our marketing materials. We use this information for our own performance measurement, but also so that we can tailor our promotional messages and advertising to you.

How does DesignSpark use my personal information?

RS Group, who operates DesignSpark, will use your personal information for the following purposes:

  • To create and administer your DesignSpark account and homepage.
  • To manage and respond to any queries or complaints.
  • To improve and maintain DesignSpark, and monitor its usage.
  • For market research, e.g. we may contact you for feedback about the Platform.
  • To administer prize draws and competitions, and contact you to invite you to take part in online surveys, focus groups or specialist panels about our products and services (or third party products and services).
  • To send you marketing messages and show you targeted advertising, where we have your consent or are otherwise permitted to do so.
  • To administer DesignSpark incentives and points.
  • To moderate use of DesignSpark and investigate any complaints.
  • To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations.

RS Components Limited also provides RS Online. If you also have an account with RS Online, information collected about you via DesignSpark may be combined with your information from RS Online. We do this in order to better personalise your experience on both websites and promote and advertise products we think may interest you (including as a result of your activity on DesignSpark).

We rely on the following legal bases, under data protection law, to process your personal information:

  • Because we have obtained your consent (e.g. where you register for the Platform, and voluntarily post content, or if you consent to receive marketing from us).
  • Because the processing is necessary to perform a contract with you, or take steps prior to entering into a contract with you (e.g. where you have made a purchase with us, we use your personal data to process the payment and fulfil your order).
  • Because it is in RS’ legitimate interests as an e-commerce provider to maintain and promote our services. We are always seeking to understand more about our community members and customers in order to offer the best products and user experience. We use information about you to tailor our marketing, including where we are marketing products available from RS Online.

Posting content on DesignSpark

Please be aware that any information, content or material you choose to post or upload to DesignSpark will be visible to all other community members of DesignSpark, as well as staff at RS Group. When you post content, other community members will also be able to see some elements of your Personal Profile, including username, country of residence, job title, company name, details of content created, experience level points (XP) & any associated badges.

As any information you post in these areas can be seen by others, you should always be careful when deciding to disclose personal information and ensure you have sought permission before posting personal information about other individuals.

We will automatically notify you each time another community member comments on content or on posts added by you to DesignSpark.

With whom does DesignSpark share my personal information?

As explained in ‘Posting content on DesignSpark’, any content you post on DesignSpark will be available to all community members.

In addition, RS Group needs to share information with certain selected third parties in order to operate our business:

  • RS Group: RS Group is a member of a world-wide group of companies, of which RS Group plc is the parent company. For full details of the RS Group of companies, please visit https://www.rsgroup.com/. RS shares personal information with other members of the RS groupcomponents Group as necessary to support our services and to improve our customer insights.
  • Service Providers: We provide information to our service providers acting on our behalf. On occasion, we also share personal information with our professional and legal advisors.
  • Government Authorities: We may share personal information with law enforcement or other governmental authority, e.g. to report a fraud or in response to a lawful request.
  • Credit & Fraud Checking: We may share information with credit reference agencies and with third parties engaged in fraud prevention and detection.
  • Business or Asset Sale: In the event that we sell any business assets, the personal data of our customers may be disclosed to a potential buyer. In this event, we will make reasonable attempts to ensure the buyer will be bound by the terms of this Privacy Policy.

RS Group may also disclose personal information in cases where we believe the disclosure is necessary to protect the rights, property or personal safety of RS, our customers, employees or the public, or where we are otherwise legally permitted to do so.

The Platform may contain links to websites operated by other third parties. If you click on these links, you will leave DesignSpark, and your personal information will be processed in accordance with the privacy practices of the operators of those websites. You should always read the privacy policies of these websites.

We may, from time to time, supply the owners or operators of third party sites from which it is possible to link to DesignSpark, with information relating to the number of community members linking to DesignSpark from their sites. You cannot be identified from this information.

Where does DesignSpark store my personal information?

The RS Group is a global group of companies, and RS Group also uses service providers based around the world. Consequently, your personal information may be processed in countries outside of Europe, including in countries where you may have fewer legal rights in respect of your information than you do under local law. If we transfer personal data outside the European Economic Area we will, as required by applicable law, ensure that your privacy rights are adequately protected by appropriate safeguards.  Please contact us if you would like more information about these safeguards.

We keep your personal information for as long as we need it for the purposes set out above, and so this period will vary depending on your interactions with us. Where we no longer have a need to keep your information, we will delete it. If you close your DesignSpark account, we will delete your account within maximum 2 years, unless unless we have a compelling reason to retain the information (for example, due to a legal dispute). Please note that where you unsubscribe from our marketing communications, we will keep a record of your email address to ensure we do not send you marketing emails in future.

What does DesignSpark do to protect your personal information?

Your DesignSpark Personal Profile is password-protected so that you and only you have access to this personal information. You may edit your DesignSpark Personal Profile by using your DesignSpark user name and password and by clicking on the Account Details button on your home page navigation bar. We recommend that you do not divulge your password to anyone. We will never ask you for your password in an unsolicited phone call or in an unsolicited email.

How does DesignSpark use my personal information for marketing?

Where we have the appropriate permissions from you, RS Components may send you emails regarding DesignSpark and RS Online. In addition, we may occasionally send you direct mail about products that we feel may be of interest to you.

It is likely that some or all of these marketing messages may be tailored to you, based on what we know about you, for example from your Personal Profile, your previous activity on DesignSpark and/or your use of RS Online.

If you no longer want to hear from us, at any time you can:

  • Edit your preferences in your DesignSpark Personal Profile.
  • Unsubscribe from emails by clicking on the link in each email.
  • Email us at support@designspark.zendesk.com.

How can I access, update, correct or delete my personal information?

You can view and edit your Personal Profile information at any time by clicking on the Account Details button on your home page navigation bar.  You can also download any designs you have created in the Platform in a portable format, so that you can use them outside the Platform if you wish

If you have problems accessing the DesignSpark website, please visit the DesignSpark Support Website.

If you have a query regarding your personal information which you cannot resolve via your Personal Profile, please contact us using the details below. Under UK data protection law, you have the right to access (including in a machine-readable format), correct, and request the erasure of your personal data, and RS Components Limited will comply with any requests to exercise these rights in accordance with applicable law. Please be aware, however, that there are a number of limitations to these rights, and there may be circumstances where we are not able to comply with your request. 

Cookies

DesignSpark uses cookies in accordance with our Cookie Policy. Please read this carefully for more information about why we use such cookies and how to change your cookie settings

Contact us

Please contact us at support@designspark.zendesk.com or the address below if you would like to find out more about any matters relating to this privacy statement. You are also entitled to contact the UK Information Commissioner’s Office if you have any questions or concerns regarding your personal information.

RS Group,
Marketing Department
Birchington Road
Corby
Northants
NN17 9RS

Updates to this Privacy Statement

We may change this privacy statement from time to time in order to reflect changes in the law, regulatory guidance or our data privacy practices in compliance with the law. When this happens and where required by law, we will provide you with a new or an updated notice detailing how the use of your personal information is changing and, if necessary, obtain your consent for the further processing.

This Privacy Statement was last updated in March 2023.