This privacy statement discloses the privacy practices for Berning & Affiliates.com, a Berning & Affiliates, Inc. website. Information Collection and Use Berning & Affiliates, Inc. is the sole owner of the information collected on this site. We will not sell, share, or rent this information to others in ways different from what is disclosed in this statement. Berning & Affiliates, Inc. collects information from our users at several different points on our website. Registration In order to use this website, a user need not but may opt to complete the registration form. If a user opts to complete the registration form then, during registration a user is required to give their contact information (such as name and e-mail address). This information is used to contact the user about the services on our site for which they have expressed interest. Order We request information from the user on our order form. Here a user must provide contact information (like name and shipping address) and may be asked for financial information, although generally we conduct all financial transactions without electronic commerce over the web. This information is used for billing purposes and to fill customer's orders. If we have trouble processing an order, this contact information is used to get in touch with the user. Cookies A cookie is a piece of data stored on the user's hard drive containing information about the user. Usage of a cookie is in no way linked to any personally identifiable information while on our site. Once the user closes their browser, the cookie simply terminates. For instance, by setting a cookie on our site, the user would not have to log in a password more than once, thereby saving time while on our site. If a user rejects the cookie, they may still use our site. The only drawback to this is that the user will be limited in some areas of our site. Some of our business partners use cookies on our site (for example, advertisers). However, we have no access to or control over these cookies. Log Files We use IP addresses to analyze trends, administer the site, track user's movement, and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use. IP addresses are not linked to personally identifiable information. Sharing We will share aggregated demographic information with our partners and advertisers. This is not linked to any personal information that can identify any individual person. We use an outside shipping company to ship orders, and a credit card processing company to bill users for goods and services. These companies do not retain, share, store or use personally identifiable information for any secondary purposes. We partner with affiliated firms to provide specific services. When the user signs up for these services, we will share names, or other contact information that is necessary for the third party to provide these services. These parties are not allowed to use personally identifiable information except for the purpose of providing these services. Links This web site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that we BERNING & AFFILIATES, INC. is not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every web site that collects personally identifiable information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this Web site. Newsletter If a user wishes to subscribe to our newsletter, we ask for contact information such as name and e-mail address. Surveys & Contests From time-to-time our site requests information from users via surveys or contests. Participation in these surveys or contests is completely voluntary and the user therefore has a choice whether or not to disclose this information. Information requested may include contact information (such as name and shipping address), and demographic information (such as zip code, age level). Contact information will be used to notify the winners and award prizes. Survey information will be used for purposes of monitoring or improving the use and satisfaction of this site. Tell-A-Friend If a user elects to use our referral service for informing a friend about our site, we ask them for the friend's name and e-mail address. BERNING & AFFILIATES, INC. will automatically send the friend a one-time e-mail inviting them to visit the site. BERNING & AFFILIATES, INC. stores this information for the sole purpose of sending this one-time e-mail. The friend may contact BERNING & AFFILIATES, INC. at list@berning-affiliates.com to request the removal of this information from their database. Security Any communication or material you send to Berning & Affiliates, Inc. by electronic mail or otherwise is, and will be treated as, non-confidential and nonproprietary, however with any financial information we take every precaution we reasonably can to protect our users' information, however we do not encrypt your sensitive information online. We do everything in our power to protect user-information off-line. All of our users' information, not just the sensitive information mentioned above, is restricted in our offices. Only employees who need the information to perform a specific job (for example, our billing clerk or a customer service representative) are granted access to personally identifiable information.  Furthermore, ALL employees are kept up-to-date on our security and privacy practices.  If you have any questions about the security at our website, you can send an e-mail to privacy@berningaffiliates.com. Special Offers We send all new members a welcoming e-mail to verify user name. Established members will occasionally receive information on products, services, special deals, and a newsletter. Out of respect for the privacy of our users we present the option to not receive these types of communications. Please see our choice and opt-out below. Correction/Updating Personal Information: If a user's personally identifiable information changes (such as your zip code), or if a user no longer desires our service, we will endeavor to provide a way to correct, update or remove that user's personal data provided to us. This can usually be done at the member information page or by emailing our Customer Support at support@berningaffiliates.com. Choice/Opt-out Our users are given the opportunity to 'opt-out' of having their information used for purposes not directly related to our site at the point where we ask for the information. Users who no longer wish to receive our newsletter or promotional materials from us or our partners may opt-out of receiving these communications by replying to unsubscribe in the subject line in the e-mail or e-mail us at list@berningaffiliates.com  Notification of Changes If we decide to change our privacy policy, we will post those changes on our Homepage so our users are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under circumstances, if any, we disclose it. You should periodically visit this page to determine the current changes, if any, to the privacy policy of Berning & Affiliates, Inc.