1. Our Commitment to Privacy
Hills Fasteners respects your privacy and is committed to handling personal information responsibly, transparently, and securely.
This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, hold, use, and disclose personal information, how you may access or correct your information, and how you can raise a privacy concern.
Where applicable, we handle personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles.
In this policy, “Hills Fasteners,” “we,” “us,” and “our” refer to:
Legal entity: Wholesale Fasteners Pty Ltd
Trading name: Hills Fasteners
ABN: 39 670 404 109
Registered or principal address: Unit 5, 10 Anella Avenue Castle Hill NSW 2154
2. What Is Personal Information?
Personal information is information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable.
Depending on your dealings with us, the personal information we collect may include:
- Your name and contact details
- Your residential, business, billing, or delivery address
- Your email address and telephone number
- Your company name, position, and business contact details
- Order, quotation, purchase, delivery, and transaction information
- Customer account details
- Payment and billing information
- Credit application information and trade references
- Communications, enquiries, requests, complaints, and feedback
- Marketing and communication preferences
- Website usage information, device details, and IP address
- Any other information you choose to provide to us
We generally do not need to collect sensitive information. If sensitive information is required, we will collect and handle it only as permitted by law.
Please do not provide personal information about another person unless you are authorised to do so.
3. How We Collect Personal Information
We may collect personal information directly from you when you:
- Contact us by telephone, email, online form, or in person
- Request a quotation or product information
- Place an order or purchase products
- Open or manage a customer account
- Apply for commercial credit
- Submit a delivery or warranty request
- Return goods or make a complaint
- Subscribe to marketing communications
- Interact with our website, social media pages, or online services
- Participate in a promotion, survey, or competition
- Apply for employment or provide services to us
We may also collect personal information from:
- Your employer, authorised representative, or business
- Trade referees you nominate
- Delivery, freight, and logistics providers
- Payment processors and financial institutions
- Credit-reporting bodies or credit-information providers, where permitted
- Publicly available sources
- Suppliers, contractors, and service providers
- Our website, cookies, analytics tools, and related technologies
If we receive personal information that we did not request, we will determine whether we could lawfully have collected it. If not, and where lawful and reasonable, we will securely destroy or de-identify it.
4. Why We Collect, Hold, Use, and Disclose Information
We may use or disclose personal information to:
- Supply hardware, fasteners, tools, and related products
- Prepare quotations and process orders
- Arrange delivery, collection, returns, and warranties
- Establish and administer customer or trade accounts
- Process payments and maintain transaction records
- Assess commercial credit applications, where applicable
- Manage debts and recover overdue amounts
- Communicate with customers, suppliers, and business contacts
- Respond to enquiries, complaints, and support requests
- Verify identity and prevent fraud or misuse
- Improve our products, services, website, and customer experience
- Conduct administration, reporting, auditing, and business planning
- Send marketing communications where permitted by law
- Comply with legal, taxation, accounting, regulatory, and insurance obligations
- Protect our legal rights, property, customers, employees, and business operations
We will generally use or disclose personal information for the purpose for which it was collected, for a related purpose you would reasonably expect, with your consent, or where otherwise permitted or required by law.
5. If You Do Not Provide Personal Information
You may choose not to provide certain personal information. However, this may mean that we cannot:
- Provide an accurate quotation
- Accept or fulfil an order
- Deliver products
- Establish or administer an account
- Assess a credit application
- Process a payment, return, or warranty request
- Respond fully to an enquiry or complaint
- Provide other requested products or services
Where practical, you may interact with us anonymously or using a pseudonym. This may not be possible where identification is required to complete a transaction, arrange delivery, administer an account, extend commercial credit, or comply with the law.
6. Commercial Credit Applications
If you apply for a commercial credit account, we may collect information necessary to assess and administer the application. This may include information about the applicant’s business, directors, authorised representatives, payment history, and trade references.
Where permitted by law, we may verify information with nominated referees or obtain relevant commercial credit information from third parties.
Information collected for credit purposes may be used to:
- Assess an application for commercial credit
- Establish and administer a credit account
- Review of credit limits and payment arrangements
- Manage overdue accounts
- Preventing fraud
- Enforce our contractual and legal rights
If Hills Fasteners participates in the regulated consumer credit-reporting system, additional disclosures and a separate credit-reporting policy may be required. The OAIC notes that entities participating in the credit-reporting system must have a policy addressing their management of credit-related personal information. [oaic.gov.au]
7. Disclosure to Other Parties
We may disclose personal information to third parties where reasonably necessary for our business activities, including:
- Freight, courier, delivery, and logistics providers
- Product manufacturers, wholesalers, and suppliers
- Payment processors, banks, and financial institutions
- Accounting, invoicing, inventory, and business-software providers
- Website-hosting, cloud-storage, email, analytics, and IT-support providers
- Marketing and communication service providers
- Insurers, auditors, accountants, lawyers, and other professional advisers
- Debt-recovery providers and commercial credit-information providers
- Government agencies, regulators, courts, or law-enforcement bodies
- A prospective purchaser or adviser in connection with a proposed sale, restructuring, or transfer of our business
- Other parties authorised by you or permitted or required by law
We do not sell or rent personal information to third parties for their independent marketing purposes.
8. Overseas Disclosure
Some third-party technology, website, cloud, email, analytics, payment, or business-software providers may store or process information outside Australia.
Before publishing this policy, Hills Fasteners should identify whether personal information is likely to be disclosed overseas and, where practicable, list the relevant countries here:
Countries in which information may be stored or processed: [Insert countries, or confirm that Hills Fasteners is not likely to disclose personal information overseas]
Where we disclose personal information to an overseas recipient, we will take reasonable steps required by applicable Australian privacy law in relation to that disclosure.
9. Website, Cookies, and Analytics
When you visit our website, our systems or service providers may automatically collect technical information, such as:
- Your IP address
- Browser and device type
- Operating system
- Pages visited and actions taken
- Referring website
- Date, time, and duration of visits
- General geographic or network information
Our website may use cookies, pixels, analytics tools, or similar technologies to:
- Operate and secure the website
- Remember preferences
- Understand website traffic and usage
- Improve website performance
- Measure marketing effectiveness
- Provide relevant content or advertising, where applicable
You can usually manage cookies through your browser settings. Disabling certain cookies may affect website functionality.
Any third-party analytics, embedded content, social media, payment, or advertising services may have their own privacy practices. Customers should review the policies provided by those third parties.
10. Direct Marketing
Where permitted by law, we may use personal information to communicate with you about products, services, offers, or business updates that may be relevant to you.
You may opt out at any time by:
- Using the unsubscribe link in an electronic communication
- Contact us using the details below
- Asking our team to update your communication preferences
We will act on opt-out requests within the period required by applicable law. Opting out of marketing will not prevent us from sending communications necessary to administer an order, account, delivery, payment, warranty, or business relationship.
APP 7 generally restricts using or disclosing personal information for direct marketing unless an exception applies. Where direct marketing is permitted, an organisation must provide a simple opt-out method and comply with opt-out requests. Electronic commercial messages may also be subject to the Spam Act 2003. [oaic.gov.au]
11. Security of Personal Information
We take reasonable steps to protect personal information from misuse, interference, loss, unauthorised access, modification, and disclosure.
Depending on the nature of the information and our systems, safeguards may include:
- Access controls and user authentication
- Password and account-management practices
- Secure electronic systems
- Physical security for business premises and records
- Restricted access based on business need
- Staff procedures and confidentiality obligations
- Secure disposal or de-identification
- Review of service-provider arrangements
No electronic transmission or storage method is completely secure. If you believe your personal information has been compromised in connection with Hills Fasteners, please contact us promptly.
12. Retention and Disposal
We retain personal information for as long as reasonably necessary to:
- Provide products and services
- Maintain customer and transaction records
- Administer accounts
- Meet taxation, accounting, insurance, and legal requirements
- Resolve disputes
- Establish, exercise, or defend legal claims
When personal information is no longer required and we are not legally required to retain it, we will take reasonable steps to destroy it securely or de-identify it.
13. Data Breaches
If Hills Fasteners becomes aware of a suspected data breach, we will assess and respond to it in accordance with applicable legal requirements.
Where the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme applies and a breach is eligible for notification, we will notify affected individuals and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner as required by law.
14. Accessing Your Personal Information
You may request access to personal information we hold about you.
To protect privacy and security, we may need to verify your identity before processing a request. We will respond within a reasonable period.
In some circumstances, access may be refused or limited where permitted by law. If this occurs, we will generally provide written reasons and information about available options, unless it is unreasonable or unlawful to do so.
We may charge a reasonable administrative fee for providing access where permitted, but we will not charge you for making the request.
15. Correcting Your Personal Information
We take reasonable steps to ensure personal information is accurate, complete, relevant, and up to date.
If you believe information we hold is incorrect, incomplete, misleading, or out of date, please contact us. We will take reasonable steps to correct it where appropriate.
If we do not agree to make the requested correction, we will generally explain why and provide information about available complaint options, where required by law.
16. Privacy Complaints
If you have a question, concern, or complaint about how we have handled your personal information, please contact our Privacy Contact using the details below.
Please provide:
- Your name and contact details
- A description of the concern
- Relevant dates, documents, or communications
- The outcome you are seeking
We will acknowledge the complaint and investigate it within a reasonable period. We may contact you if we need further information.
If you are not satisfied with our response, you may contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner through its official website:
https://www.oaic.gov.au/about-the-OAIC/contact-us
17. Third-Party Websites
Our website may contain links to third-party websites or services. Hills Fasteners is not responsible for the privacy practices or content of those third parties.
We recommend reviewing the privacy policy of each third-party website or service before providing personal information.
18. Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy when our business practices, services, systems, or legal obligations change.
The current version will be published on our website with the date it was last updated. We encourage you to review it periodically.
19. Contact Us
For privacy questions, access or correction requests, complaints, or requests to update your marketing preferences, contact:
Privacy Contact
Hills Fasteners
Legal entity: Wholesale Fasteners T/a Hills Fasteners
ABN: 39 670 404 109
Address: Unit 5, 10 Anella Avenue Castle Hill NSW 2154
Telephone: 1300 632 080
Email: sales@hillsfasteners.com.au