Privacy Policy

We collect personal information from buyers, artists, and visitors to the Platform in a few ways: information you provide directly, information collected automatically, and information provided by third parties.

Information you provide when creating an account:

• Name
• Email address
• Username and password
• Mailing and/or shipping address
• Phone number

Buyer information:

• Bidding history and auction activity
• Winning-bid records, invoices, and payment confirmations
• Shipping and delivery details
• Reviews, photographs, videos, and other content you submit (which you license to us under our Terms and Conditions)
• Communications you exchange with us regarding auctions, purchases, or support

Artist information:

• Name, biography, and professional information
• Contact and payout details, where applicable
• Information about the original artworks you submit for listing (title, medium, dimensions, year, provenance, and similar details)
• Authentication and verification records
• Payment information used to remit auction proceeds, where applicable

Information collected automatically:

• Device type, browser type, and operating system
• IP address and approximate location
• Pages viewed, links clicked, and time spent on the Platform
• Cookies and similar technologies (see Section 6)
• Log data and usage analytics

We use personal information for the following purposes:

To operate the Platform and fulfill auctions:

• Create and maintain accounts
• Process bids and manage timed auctions
• Notify bidders of outbid status and auction results
• Confirm winning bids and complete sales
• Authenticate and verify artwork with artists
• Arrange shipping, tracking, and delivery of purchased artwork

To process payments and prevent fraud:

• Facilitate payment through our payment providers
• Conduct fraud screening, verification, and risk analysis
• Detect and prevent unauthorized or abusive activity

To communicate with you:

• Send transactional messages, including bid confirmations, outbid notifications, auction reminders, winning-bid notifications, payment reminders, invoices, shipping and tracking updates, and customer-support communications
• Send newsletters and promotional communications, but only where you have chosen to receive them (you may opt out at any time)

To improve and secure the Platform:

• Analyze how users interact with the Platform
• Maintain security, prevent abuse, and resolve technical issues
• Enforce our Terms and Conditions and applicable law
• Support dispute resolution and legal compliance

To showcase artwork and community content:

• Display artwork listings, artist profiles, and provenance information
• Publish reviews, photographs, and videos you submit, consistent with the license granted in our Terms and Conditions

If you are located in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or another jurisdiction with similar data-protection laws, we process personal information on the following legal bases:

• Performance of a contract — to provide the Platform, process bids, and complete purchases
• Legitimate interests — to operate and secure the Platform, prevent fraud, and improve our services, balanced against your rights and interests
• Compliance with legal obligations — where required by law
• Consent — where we rely on your consent (for example, for promotional communications), you may withdraw consent at any time

Payments on the Platform are processed securely through Stripe or another payment provider identified by BLK Art Auction.

We do not store complete payment card information. Card numbers, security codes, and related payment data are collected and processed directly by our payment provider under that provider’s terms and privacy practices. We may receive limited information from the provider — such as the last four digits of a card, payment status, and transaction references — to confirm and record payments.

Payments may be subject to fraud screening, verification, authorization, reversal, or cancellation by the payment provider.

We do not sell your personal information. We share personal information only in the circumstances described below:

Service providers.

We share information with trusted third parties that help us operate the Platform, including:

• Payment processors (such as Stripe)
• Shipping and delivery carriers
• Hosting and cloud-storage providers
• Email and messaging services
• Analytics providers
• Security and fraud-prevention services

These providers receive only the information necessary to perform their services and are expected to protect it appropriately.

Artists and buyers, where needed for a transaction.

We may share buyer information (such as shipping details) with artists or fulfillment parties as necessary to deliver purchased artwork, and we may share artist information (such as name and artwork details) with buyers as part of artwork listings, provenance, authentication, and certificates of authenticity.

Legal and safety purposes.

We may disclose information where required by law, court order, or government request; to enforce our Terms and Conditions; to protect the rights, safety, or property of BLK Art Auction, its users, or the public; or to cooperate with law-enforcement or regulatory authorities.

Business transitions.

If BLK Art Auction is involved in a merger, acquisition, reorganization, sale of assets, or similar transaction, personal information may be transferred as part of that transaction, subject to this Privacy Policy.

With your consent.

We may share information for any other purpose you specifically authorize.

We and our service providers use cookies, pixels, and similar technologies to:

• Keep you signed in and remember your preferences
• Measure how the Platform is used and diagnose technical issues
• Support security and fraud prevention
• Understand the effectiveness of our communications

You can control cookies through your browser settings, but disabling certain cookies may affect how the Platform functions. We respect Do Not Track signals where required by applicable law.

Analytics.

We may use analytics services to understand aggregate usage patterns. These services may collect information such as pages visited, referring pages, and device identifiers, governed by their own privacy policies.

The Platform is intended for adults who are legally capable of entering into binding agreements, as described in our Terms and Conditions. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under the age of 13 (or the applicable age of consent in your jurisdiction). If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, contact us at blkartauction@gmail.com and we will take steps to delete the information.

We use reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards designed to protect personal information against unauthorized access, loss, misuse, or alteration, including encryption in transit, access controls, and secure storage. Because the Platform uses third-party payment providers, complete payment card information is not stored on our systems.

No method of transmission or storage is completely secure. While we work to protect your information, we cannot guarantee absolute security. You are responsible for keeping your account credentials confidential and for notifying us promptly if you believe your account has been accessed without authorization.

We retain personal information for as long as necessary to provide the Platform, complete transactions, and fulfill the purposes described in this Privacy Policy — including periods required to comply with legal, accounting, tax, and record-keeping obligations, to enforce our Terms and Conditions, and to resolve disputes.

When information is no longer needed, we will delete or anonymize it in accordance with applicable law.

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to:

• Access the personal information we hold about you
• Correct inaccurate or incomplete information (you can also update much of this in your account settings)
• Delete your personal information, subject to legal and contractual retention requirements
• Object to or restrict certain processing
• Data portability, where applicable
• Withdraw consent at any time, where processing is based on consent
• Opt out of promotional communications — you can unsubscribe at any time; transactional messages will continue as required to operate your account and auctions
• Lodge a complaint with your local data-protection authority

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at blkartauction@gmail.com or 773-391-7281. We will respond within the timeframes required by applicable law and may need to verify your identity before fulfilling your request.

BLK Art Auction is based 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 we or our service providers operate. Where required, we rely on appropriate safeguards, such as standard contractual clauses or other lawful transfer mechanisms, to protect your information.

The Platform may contain links to third-party websites or use third-party services (payment processing, email delivery, hosting, analytics, and shipping, among others). Those third parties have their own privacy policies, and we are not responsible for their practices. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any third-party service you use.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, the Platform, or legal requirements. Updates will be posted on the Website. Material changes will be communicated through the Platform or by email where appropriate. Your continued use of the Platform after changes are posted means you accept the revised Privacy Policy.

For questions about this Privacy Policy or about how we handle personal information, contact:

BLK Art Auction Website: blkartauction.com Email: blkartauction@gmail.com Phone: 773-391-7281

We aim to respond to privacy inquiries within 24 hours.