Privacy policy

Update Dates:

V1 22 April, 2021: V2 29 April 2021; V3 14th January 2022;
V4 1st February 2022
V5 29 September 2022
V6 19 June 2024 (editing for Flow Hive Inc & associated changes)

The policies on this page are a summary of our Terms of Service:

We care about all our website users and our customers and know that your privacy is important to you. We fully respect the confidentiality of your information and, in all regards, take your privacy very seriously.

Flow complies with all applicable and current data privacy legislation across the territories we operate in. For territories without consistent or comprehensive Privacy Laws, our compliance with Australian Privacy Legislation (Federal Privacy Act) and the Australian Privacy Principles (AAP’s) ensures your personal information and data receives the same high level of commitment to protection.

ThisPrivacy Policy describes what personal data we may collect, how andwhere we collect it, and how we may use it. You can also find out how to manage your personal data preferences, including how to stop receiving marketing information if you prefer.

Please see ourCookies Policy below to learn more about what cookies we use, their nature, purpose and related usage of your personal data, as well as how to change your cookie preferences if you prefer.

Flow is committed to protecting your personal information and this Policy explains how we achieve this. It’s your information, and we respect that, no matter where you live.

This Privacy Policy forms part of ourTerms & Conditionsand only applies to personal information obtained by us.

Who is Flow?

“Flow”,”Flow Hive”, ‘Flow Hive Inc”, "we ","our'' and “us” refers to BeeInventive Pty Ltd and affiliated companies; with registered offices 120 Jonson St, Byron Bay, NSW 2481, Australia. (ACN 161 952 941).We are the exclusive international licensee of all Flow® technology and intellectual property. We engage in the design, development, manufacturing, distribution, and marketing of Flow Hives® and other beekeeping equipment and accessories internationally. You can contact us in any of the following ways:

Phone: EU+3 18 5208 4111
UK+44 20 4538 4017
AU+61 2 88 800 774
USA+1 646 8768 880
CA+11 612 88 800 774
Email:[email protected]
In writing P.O. Box 303, Bangalow, NSW 2478, Australia.

It’s likely that we will update this Privacy Policy from time to time to take account of new regulations, new technology and changes to our operational requirements, so please come back and check it regularly. We hope the following will answer any questions you have but if not, please get in touch with us.

What is ‘Data’?

Data is a general term used to describe information that is used by or stored on a computer. The vast majority of digital data is anonymous and has no identifiable or personal details attached to it.

What do we mean by‘Personal Data’?

Personal data is data that includes sufficient personal information that enables the data to be related to an identifiable individual. Our Privacy Policy gives you details on when and why we collect your personal information (“personal data”), how we use it and how we keep it secure. This Policy also sets out your rights around requests that we delete, update, change or provide you with access to your personal information, as per applicable to legislation within your territory. Refer below for territory specific Privacy Policy information.

The amount and type of Personal data that we hold depends entirely on the nature of your interactions with us and the information you have shared with us. For example: if you made a purchase from us it will include your; name, email, address, phone number, payment type (but not details) and any support queries we have received from you.

Why and how do we use your personal data?

We use your data for the following reasons:

To operate the websites as your personal data is required in order for you to place an order with us;
To fulfil your order; that is to deliver the products you purchased on our website to you, and to provide you with any services you have requested;
To communicate with you, by providing information you requested or information we are required to send, or marketing and research feedback and to tell you about changes to our website or services;
To support you, by providing customer service and support and responding to general inquiries about our products and services;
To market to you, by keeping you informed about the latest product releases and special offers related to our products or beekeeping related activities and beekeeping educational resources. You can opt out of receiving direct marketing information from us at any time by contacting customer service or use the opt out link within any emails you receive;
To enhance our websites and range of services and assist us to develop new ones, for example by tracking and monitoring your use of websites and services so we can keep improving, or by carrying out technical analysis of our websites and services so that we can optimise your user experience and provide you with more efficient tools.
To protect, so that we can detect and prevent any fraudulent or malicious activity, and make sure that everyone is using our websites and services fairly and in accordance with our terms of use.
To analyse, aggregate and report, we may use anonymous data we collect from your activities and other users of our websites and services (whether obtained directly or from third parties) to produce anonymous analytics and reports, which we may share publicly or with third parties.
We also collect your personal information to create a vibrant beekeeping community through our community forum and social media platforms.

Where we have collected your personal data as part of your Flow purchase, whether or not that purchase is completed, your email address will receive our marketing updates details unless you choose to ‘opt out’ at the time of the purchase, or you can opt out by following the instructions included in any subsequent marketing emails sent by us, at any time.

SMS Marketing

Where you have checked the ‘Opt-In’ box at a Flow website checkout or via a pop up on our website, or otherwise actively ‘Opted-In’ in order to receive Flow SMS marketing and Flow offers (that is you have agreed to receive text messages on your mobile device) and included your mobile phone number, whether or not your purchase was completed, your details will be collected. This information will be held securely and the requested communications sent to you until such time as you choose to ‘Opt-Out’ via clicking the link on the same SMS communications and following the information supplied.
At the time of your Opt-Out, your identifiable personal data will be deleted.
Please note that should any Flow purchase have taken place, either before, during or after the ‘Opt-In’ period, only the personal data relevant to that purchase will be maintained and you will cease receiving the SMS marketing communications.

We will only ever send you marketing from us and never any other party.

Flow’s Data Protection Principles

We will only collect personal information if it is for a lawful purpose that is directly related to one of our functions, and it is reasonably necessary for us to have the information. Flow adheres to the following principles regarding your personal data:

Lawfulness and Fairness:We will not collect personal information by unlawful means. Your personal data will always be processed in a lawful and fair manner.
Transparency:When collecting personal information, as and when required by regional legislation, we will take reasonable steps to inform you what it will be used for, what other organisations (if any) routinely receive this type of personal information from us, how you can access your personal information held by us, whether the collection is required by law, and what the consequences will be for you if you do not provide the information to us. We will enable anyone to know, upon request, whether we are likely to hold their personal information, and if so:

- what type of information we hold about them
- the purposes for which it will be used, and
- how they can access their own personal information.

Collection for a Purpose:Your personal data is only collected for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes and not further processed in a manner that is incompatible with those purposes. We will not collect personal information that is intrusive or excessive. Your personal data will only be collected in a way that is appropriate, relevant and limited to what is necessary in relation to the purposes for which they are processed. We do not sellpersonal data in any territory.
Accuracy:We take all reasonable steps to ensure that the personal information we collect is relevant, accurate, up-to-date and complete. We will take every reasonable step to ensure that personal data that is inaccurate, having regard to the purposes for which they are processed, is erased or rectified without delay.

Legal basis on which we may collect personal data

Different territories have slightly different laws relating to data protection, however typically they set out a number of reasons for which we may collect and process your personal data, including:

Consent: In specific situations, we can collect and process your data with your consent. When collecting your personal data, we’ll make clear to you which data is necessary in connection with a particular service.

For example, when you tick a box to receive email newsletters.

Contractual Obligations: In certain circumstances, we need your personal data to comply with our contractual obligations.

For example, when you purchase Goods from us, we need to collect your address details and pass them to the third party freight company contracted to deliver your order.

Legal Compliance: If the law requires us to, we may need to collect, process and retain your data.

For example, to give effect to your warranty rights, or support our work with law enforcement relating to fraud or criminal activity.

Legitimate interests: In specific situations, we refer to your data to pursue our legitimate interests in a way which might reasonably be expected as part of running our business and which does not materially impact your rights, freedom or interests.

For example, we use your purchase history to send you information on new product releases or special offers that you may be interested in, or make available personalised offers. We will also send you direct marketing emails when you shop with us and do not choose to opt out - this is often called a 'soft opt in'. We also combine the shopping history of many customers to identify consumer trends and ensure we can keep up with demand, or that we develop the right new products.

How we collect your data

When you visit our website or use our services, we collect personal data. The ways we collect it can be broadly categorised into direct, automatic and third-party information.

Direct information:

When you visit our website or use our services we might ask you to provide personal data. For example, we ask for contact details when you place an order with us, participate in community forums, join us on social media, take part in events or competitions, contact us with questions or request support. If you don’t want to provide us with personal data, you don’t have to, but it might mean you can’t use some parts of our websites or services. We also collect personal data when you subscribe to our newsletter mailing list. Our newsletters are mailed to our subscribers and other contacts on our behalf by Autopilot. Our subscribers and other contacts can ‘opt out’ of receiving further Flow newsletters at any time.

Automatic information:

We collect some information about you automatically when you visit our website or use our services, like your IP address and device type. We also collect information when you navigate through our website and services, including what pages you look at and what links you click on. This information is useful for us as it helps us get a better understanding of how you’re using our website and services so that we can continue to provide the best experience possible (e.g. by personalising the content you see). Some of this information is collected using cookies and similar tracking technologies. You can find out more in our Cookies Policy.

Third party information:

The majority of information we collect, we collect directly from you. Sometimes we might collect personal data about you from other sources, such as publicly available materials or trusted third parties like our marketing and research partners. This helps us to better inform and improve our services and to validate the personal data you provide. Where we collect personal data in this way we’ll only process it to perform a contract with you, for example fulfilling an order or where we have your consent.

If we don’t collect your personal data then the information we provide you and the functions of the website are often severely constrained. So, in many cases, it will be impracticable or even illegal for us to assist you if you wish to remain anonymous or use a pseudonym. For example, we cannot validate a credit card payment or verify a product warranty if you wish to remain anonymous, nor will we be able to deliver your products to you if you do not provide us with your correct address details.

When may we need to share your data?

There will be times when we need to share your personal data with trusted third parties, some of whom may be located or have operations in other countries. For example: our warehouses in the USA, Canada or the Netherlands. Any organisation we share information with must comply, as a minimum, with Australian Privacy Legislation. We will only disclose your personal data to:

third party service providers and partners who assist and enable us to deliver services, for example, our shipping partners or those who use personal data to support our website functionality; and
regulators, law enforcement bodies, government agencies, courts or other third parties where we think it’s necessary to comply with applicable laws or regulations or to exercise, establish or defend our legal rights. Where possible and appropriate, we will notify you of this type of disclosure; and
other people where we have your consent.

Security

We’re absolutely committed to protecting your personal data from loss, misuse, unauthorised access, use modification or unauthorised disclosure and have appropriate technical and organisational security measures in place to make sure that your personal information is stored securely, not kept longer than necessary, and disposed of appropriately.

Retention

The length of time we keep your personal data depends on what it is and whether we have an ongoing business need to retain it (for example, to provide you with a service you’ve requested, a product warranty or to comply with applicable legal, tax or accounting requirements).

We’ll retain your personal data for as long as we have a relationship with you and for a period of time afterward where we have an ongoing business need to retain it, in accordance with our data retention policies and practices. Following that period, we’ll make sure it’s deleted or anonymised.

Your rights

It’s your personal data and you have rights relating to it. When it comes to marketing communications and newsletters you can ask us not to send you these at any time – just follow the unsubscribe instructions contained in the marketing communication or send your request to [email protected].

You also have rights to:

know what personal data we hold about you, and to make sure it’s correct and up to date;
request a copy of your personal data, or ask us to restrict processing your personal data or delete it;
change your previously stated preferences in relation to your personal data;
object to our continued processing of your personal data;
lodge a complaint with the relevant supervisory authority.

You can exercise these rights at any time by sending an email to[email protected]

We are sincerely committed to answering your queries and resolving any concerns about your privacy and our collection or use of your personal information. If you’re not happy with how we are processing your personal data, please let us know by sending an email to [email protected]. We will review and investigate your complaint, and try to get back to you within a reasonable time frame.

You can also contact us in one of the following ways:

Phone: EU+3 18 5208 4111
UK+44 20 4538 4017
AU+61 2 88 800 774
USA+1 646 8768 880
CA+11 612 88 800 774
Email:[email protected]
In writingP.O. Box 303, Bangalow, NSW 2478, Australia.

In a limited number of situations we are required or permitted to refuse access to personal information. Examples include where:

giving access would have an unreasonable impact on the privacy of another individual;
giving access would be unlawful;
required by the relevant territories appropriate Legal office or by Court Order;
we have reason to suspect that unlawful activity, or misconduct of a serious nature, that relates to our functions or activities has been, is being or may be engaged in and or giving access would be likely to prejudice the taking of appropriate action in relation to the matter.

Should any cost be related to the retrieving, or other actions required, of personal information, we will give you an estimate prior to actioning the request.

EUROPE (EU) Specific Privacy Policy Information

All elements of Flow's management of any website activity or personal or private data ("your data") takes place on a legal basis and - where required - on the basis of your consent. The most important legal bases are the EU General Data Protection Regulation (EU GDPR) and all applicable country specific data protection laws, for example; the French Data Protection Act 2 and the German Federal Data Protection Act (BDSG) and so on.

If you’re not happy with how we are processing your personal data, you can also complain to your local data protection authority. They will be able to advise you on how to submit a complaint. You can find out more about the European Data Protection Supervisor, including how to lodge a complaint, on their website.

UNITED KINGDOM (UK) Specific Privacy Policy Information

All elements of Flow's management of any website activity or personal or private data("your data") takes place on a legal basis and - where required - on the basis of your consent. Applicable laws for the purpose of this Policy means: (a) the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2013; (b) General Data Protection Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2016/679) (“GDPR”) until such time as it might cease to apply in the UK; and (c) to the extent applicable, any legislation ratifying or otherwise adopting theGDPR in the UK, and any applicable associated or supplementary data protection laws or regulations.

If you have a concern about any aspect of our privacy practices, including the way we’ve handled your personal information, you can report it to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). You can find details about how to do this on the ICO website athttps://ico.org.uk/concerns/

UNITED STATES (US) Specific Privacy Policy Information

Currently the US does not have a Federal Privacy Law similar to the EU GDPR, however there are a range of current and pending State specific laws, including, but not limited to; California (CCPA), Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, New York, Hawaii, Maryland, North Dakota. Despite their application to us being mostly limited, Flow remains committed to providing comprehensive protection and rights for all customers' Personal Data no matter what country or what state you live in.

So our commitment to you includes:

we will never sell your personal information; and
you can choose to opt out of any and all marketing at any time; and
you control your own cookies; and
we hold all personal data securely; and
any personal data held complies with the above listed parameters and legal basis; and
use of personal data is transparent and outlined in our Privacy Policy; and
should you have any questions or queries or requests for access that pertain to your Personal Data, we will respond to them promptly and transparently.

CANADA (CA) Specific Privacy Policy Information

Flow’s Privacy Policy is structured to comply with the content as well as the general intent of the Canadian Federal ‘Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act 2020’ (PIPEDA) and the ‘Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation’ as well as the various state specific personal information protection legislations.

Flow is committed to providing legitimate protection and rights for all our customers' Personal Data no matter what country or what state you live in.

AUSTRALIA (AU) Specific Privacy Policy Information

If you are based in Australia, and have concerns about your personal data and privacy that we are unable to satisfy, further assistance may be available from: The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner

Website:www.oaic.gov.au

Email:[email protected]

Rest of the World (ROW) Privacy Policy Information

Please refer to this website's Terms and Conditions page for the full and comprehensive details of the Agreement between all website users and Flow.

Cookie Policy

We care about all our website users and our customers and know that your privacy is important to you. We fully respect the confidentiality of your information and in all regards take your privacy very seriously and fully comply with all applicable privacy regulations and consumer legislation across the territories we operate in.

If you'd like to read how and where we collect or how we use your personal data, please see ourPrivacy Policy, and you can also find out how to stop receiving marketing information if that is your preference.

Please see ourCookies Policy to learn more about what cookies we use, their nature, purpose and related usage of your personal data, as well as how to change your cookie preferences should you want to.

Flow is committed to protecting your personal information and this Policy explains how we achieve this. It’s your information, and we respect that, no matter where you live.

This Policy forms part of ourTerms & Conditions Agreement and only applies to personal information obtained by us.

Who is Flow?

“Flow”,”Flow Hive”, "Flow Hive Inc”, "we ","our'' and “us” refers to BeeInventive Pty Ltd and all affiliated companies and subsidiaries; with registered offices 120 Jonson St, Byron Bay, NSW 2481, Australia. (ACN 161 952 941).We are the exclusive international licensee of all Flow® technology. We engage in the design, development, manufacturing, distribution, and marketing of Flow Hives® and other beekeeping equipment internationally. You can contact us in any of the following ways:

Phone: EU+3 18 5208 4111

UK+44 20 4538 4017

AU+61 2 88 800 774

USA+1 646 8768 880

CA+11 612 88 800 774

Email:[email protected]

In writingP.O. Box 303, Bangalow, NSW 2478, Australia.

“Flow”,“we”, “our'' and “us” refers to BeeInventive Pty Ltd and affiliated companies; with registered offices 120 Jonson St, Byron Bay, NSW 2481, Australia. (ACN 161 952 941).

This Cookie Policy forms part of our Terms & Conditions Agreement and only applies to personal information obtained by us.

Our websites use cookie technology to collect website user information and to facilitate the function of the website. This information includes browsing and purchasing behaviour by website users and information about pages viewed, products purchased and the customer journey around our websites. Detailed information is set out here in our Cookie Policy and applies to all Website users.

Information for all Websites

What are cookies?

Cookies are small text files stored on your browser, device or computer by the websites you visit. They help determine the type settings you are using, where you have been on the website, when you return to the website, where you came from, and to ensure your information is secure.

Why do we use cookies?

The purpose of our cookies is to provide you with a more relevant and effective experience on our website. This technology gives you access to certain pages of our website without having to log in each time you visit and keep track of what you have in your basket, as well as assisting us with fraud prevention.Cookies are essential for the effective operation of our websites and to help you shop with us online.

We may also use external service providers to track the traffic and usage on the website.

Cookies are frequently used on websites on the internet and you can choose if and how a cookie will be accepted by changing your preferences and options in your browser.

You may not be able to access some parts of our website if you choose to disable the cookie acceptance in your browser, particularly the shopping cart and the secure parts of the website. We, therefore, recommend you enable cookie acceptance to benefit from all the services on the website.

What types of cookies do we have?

We have two types of cookies on our Website;

Session cookies: thesehelp websites recognise users when they navigate through a website. Theyare temporary cookies that only remain in the cookie file of your browser until you close the browser.
Analytics cookies: these are used to assist in tracking traffic patterns to and from our website, surveying users of the sites. The system is used to collect such information as the number of unique visitors, how long these visitors spend on the website when they do visit and common entry and exit points into and from the website. This information is collected and aggregated by third-party software and provided to us to assist in our analysis of the website.

Our application of session cookies and analytics cookies regularly changes, so please check back to review this Cookie Policy regularly. Session and analytics cookies predominantly collect anonymous information. Where we collect personal data through the use of cookies, it will be done in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

What are our Cookies Used for?

Strictly Necessary Cookies: These are cookies our website needs to function and are automatically enabled when you use the site.. If they are not accepted by you, parts of the site or various site functions won’t be usable.
Preferences Cookies: These cookies allow us to remember your personalised preferences so that we can provide a more bespoke and personalised online shopping experience. We store this information to understand more about how you prefer to use our website and which filters are important to you.
Statistics Cookies: We use trusted third party services to support our statistics and analytics tools to enable us to study how customers interact with our website and to improve it accordingly – this is known as website analytics. Statistics cookies help us understand how many visitors we have to the website, how many times they visit and how many times they viewed specific web pages within our site. Although statistics cookies allow us to gather specific information about the pages that you visit and whether you visited us multiple times, we cannot use them to acquire details such as your name or address.
Marketing Cookies: Aside from setting cookies ourselves, we also allow carefully selected third parties to set cookies during your visit to our Website. These organisations provide us with information on how you use our Website. We use these cookies to promote our newest products and latest offers to you on other websites, based on your activity on our Website. For example, you may see products that you viewed on our Website presented on other websites as you move around the internet. These cookies collect information about your browsing habits to make advertising more relevant to you and your interests. They are also used to limit the number of times you see an advert and to help measure the effectiveness of an advertising campaign.

Managing your cookies

The following are methods to manage your personal cookie preferences:

Through your computer website browser. Your browser has various options to enable you to closely manage your cookies, including:

Adjust your browser settings so that your computer does not accept cookies.Note, if you choose to switch off all cookies, functionality of our website will be severely limited to the point that it’s not possible to place an Order.
Delete existing cookies. Follow the relevant instructions for your specific browser type as explained on thisexternal website. (This external website is notconnected to us and we are not responsible for its content.)
Adjust your browser to tell you when a website tries to put a cookie on your computer. How you do that depends on the type of internet browser programme your computer uses. Contact your browser provider to find out more.
You can also opt out of some or all third-party cookies as explained on this external website. (This external website is not connected to us and we are not responsible for its content.)

A website's Cookie Notice. Necessary cookies cannot be switched off, however, via the Cookie Notice you can withdraw consent for other types of cookies. This permits you to manage your cookie preferences by website.

If you switch off non-necessary cookies, also be aware that our Website will no longer function as intended. If you are having trouble with any part of our website function, then you may need to check and edit your privacy or cookie settings in your browser.

What happens when you ‘share’ on Social Media platforms?

If you 'share' our Website content on social networks, such as Facebook, you may be sent cookies from these websites. We don't control the setting of these cookies, so please check the third-party websites for more information about how to manage them.

Third Party Cookies

If you would like more information about the third party cookies Flow uses, please contact our Customer Service Team as we are very happy to share that information with you.

To find out more about Cookies, please checkWhat are cookies (opens in a new window; please note that we can’t be responsible for the content of external websites).

EUROPE (EU) Website Users Only

All elements of Flow's management of any website activity or personal or private data("your data") takes place on a legal basis and - where required - on the basis of your consent. The most important legal bases are the EU General Data Protection Regulation (EU GDPR) and all applicable country specific data protection laws, for example; the French Data Protection Act 2 and the German Federal Data Protection Act (BDSG) and so on.

Users based in the European Economic Area (EEA)can opt out of cookies and these third-party cookies as explained above and onthis external website. (This external website is not connected to us and we are not responsible for its content.)

To obtain a detailed list of all the third party cookies Flow uses, please contact our Customer Service Team as we are very happy to share that information.

UNITED KINGDOM (UK) Website Users Only

All elements of Flow's management of any website activity or personal data ("your data") takes place on a legal basis and - where required - on the basis of your consent. The most important legal bases are the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

For further information about cookies, please visit the Information Commissioner’s Office webpage on cookies, here.

Users based in the UK can opt out of cookies and these third-party cookies as explained above and onthis external website. (This external website is not connected to us and we are not responsible for its content.)

UNITED STATES (US) Website Users Only

Currently the US does not have a Federal Privacy Law along the lines of the EU GDPR, however there are a range of current and pending State specific laws, including, but not limited to; California (CCPA), Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, New York, Hawaii, Maryland, North Dakota. Their application to us is limited, however Flow is committed to providing legitimate protection and rights for all our customers' Personal Data no matter what country or what state you live in.

So our commitment to you includes:

we will never sell your personal information; and
you can choose to opt out of any and all marketing at any time; and
you control your own cookies; and
we hold all personal data securely; and
any personal data held complies with the above listed parameters and legal basis; and
use of personal data is transparent and outlined in our Privacy Policy; and
should you have any questions or queries or requests for access that pertain to your Personal Data, we will respond to them promptly and transparently.

CANADA (CA) Website Users Only

All elements of Flow's management of any website activity or personal data ("your data") takes place on a legal basis and - where required - on the basis of your consent. The most important legal base is the Canadian Federal‘Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act’, and the Consumer Privacy Protection Act (CCPA) when enacted.

AUSTRALIA (AU) and Rest of the World (ROW) Privacy Policy Information

Final word on Cookies

We're giving you this information in part to comply with legislation in some territories, however, aside from that it is important to us that we are honest and transparent about your privacy when using our website. We know you'd expect nothing less from us.

Our Contact Details are:

Phone: EU+3 18 5208 4111
UK+44 20 4538 4017
AU+61 2 88 800 774
USA+1 646 8768 880
CA+11 612 88 800 774
Email:[email protected]
In writingP.O. Box 303, Bangalow, NSW 2478, Australia.

Please refer to this website's Terms and Conditions page for the full and comprehensive details of the Agreement between all website users and Flow.

Feedback

We want to ensure that your experience shopping with us is a happy one. We want to know how we can make this experience better for you so, if you have any comments or suggestions, we want to hear about them.