Privacy Policy

Who we are

Our website address is: https://realtybidders.com.

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In this digital world where personal information can be collected, used and shared with ease, Canadians are becoming increasingly concerned about their privacy. And more and more, they are choosing to do business with organizations that are sensitive to those concerns and that can demonstrate they will handle personal information with the appropriate level of care.

Welcome!

Realty BIdders (“RB”) is committed to clearly explaining to you what it does with your Personal Information. On this webpage you’ll find information about the types of Personal Information we gather, how we use it, and whether we provide some of that information to anyone else.

For starters, you’ll see that we refer to “privacy policy” and “privacy policies” throughout this webpage. Don’t get confused! The simplest way to wrap your head around this is to think of RB’s “privacy policy” as the combined total of all of RB’s “privacy policies”, which are specific portions of our overall policy.

When we say “Personal Information” what we mean is any information about an identifiable individual or any information that allows an individual to be identified. In general, Personal Information does not include:

  1. The name, title, business email, business address or telephone number of an individual when collected, used and disclosed solely for the purpose of communicating or facilitating communication with the individual in relation to their employment, business or profession;
  2. Aggregated or anonymized information that cannot be associated with a specific individual.

It’s also important to note that RB interacts with people falling into several different categories. This includes:

  • Individuals using the website or mobile application versions of RealtyBidders.com in order to find out information on properties they are interested in.
  • Individuals browsing other websites like our REALTOR.ca and Brokerage website that list real estate in Ontario.
  • Our users are defined as, Unrepresented, Represented, and Agent or REALTORS®, who have access to a suite of membership services.
  • Buyers and sellers, who may have provided listing information to their REALTOR® and now see that their property is on RealtyBidders.com

The Personal Information we may gather about REALTORS®, Buyers, and Sellers varies differently. For this reason, we’ve broken down RB’s privacy policy into discrete chunks organized under key headings:

The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) sets out the ground rules for how businesses subject to the law must handle personal information in the course of commercial activities.

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) oversees compliance with PIPEDA, which includes investigating privacy complaints, and helping businesses improve their personal information handling practices.

There are several laws in Canada that relate to privacy rights. Enforcement of these laws is handled by various government organizations and agencies.

Several factors determine which laws apply and who oversees them. Among them:

  • The nature of the organization handling the personal information o Is it a federal government institution?
  • o   Is it a provincial or territorial government institution?
  • o   Is it private sector?
  • o   Is it engaged in commercial activities?
  • Is it a federally regulated business?
  • Where is the organization based?
  • What type of information is involved?
  • Does the information cross provincial or national borders?

 

On this page

  • What is personal information?
  • Federal privacy laws and what they cover o The Privacy Act
    • The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA)
      • What does PIPEDA apply to?
      • What does PIPEDA not apply to?
    • Provincial privacy laws
      • Health related o Employment related
    • Sector-specific privacy laws

 

What is personal information?

Personal information is data about an “identifiable individual”. It is information that on its own or combined with other pieces of data, can identify you as an individual.

The definition of personal information differs somewhat under PIPEDA or the Privacy Act but generally, it can mean information about your:

  • race, national or ethnic origin,
  • religion,
  • age, marital status,
  • medical, education or employment history,
  • financial information,
  • DNA,
  • identifying numbers such as your social insurance number, or driver’s licence,
  • views or opinions about you as an employee.

 

What is generally not considered personal information can include:

  • Information that is not about an individual, because the connection with a person is too weak or far-removed (for example, a postal code on its own which covers a wide area with many homes)
  • Information about an organization such as a business.
  • Information that has been rendered anonymous, as long as it is not possible to link that data back to an identifiable person
  • Certain information about public servants such as their name, position and title
  • A person’s business contact information that an organization collects, uses or discloses for the sole purpose of communicating with that person in relation to their employment, business or profession.
  • Government information. Occasionally people contact us for access to government information. This is different from personal information. For access to government information, contact the Information Commissioner of Canada.

 

Federal privacy laws and what they cover

Canada has two federal privacy laws that are enforced by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada:

 

The Privacy Act

The Privacy Act relates to a person’s right to access and correct personal information that the Government of Canada holds about them. The Act also applies to the Government’s collection, use and disclosure of personal information in the course of providing services such as:

  • old age security pensions
  • employment insurance
  • border security
  • federal policing and public safety
  • tax collection and refunds.

 

The Privacy Act only applies to federal government institutions listed in the Privacy Act Schedule of Institutions. It applies to all of the personal information that the federal government collects, uses, and discloses. This includes personal information about federal employees. The Privacy Act does not apply to political parties and political representatives.

 

What is personal information under Privacy Act?

The Privacy Act offers protections for personal information, which it defines as any recorded information “about an identifiable individual.”

 

The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA)

PIPEDA sets the ground rules for how private-sector organizations collect, use, and disclose personal information in the course of for-profit, commercial activities across Canada. It also applies to the personal information of employees of federally-regulated businesses such as:

  • banks
  • airlines
  • telecommunications companies.

 

What does PIPEDA apply to?

PIPEDA generally applies to personal information held by private sector organizations that are not federally-regulated, and conduct business in:

  • Manitoba
  • New Brunswick
  • Newfoundland and Labrador
  • Northwest Territories
  • Nova Scotia
  • Nunavut
  • Ontario
  • Prince Edward Island
  • Saskatchewan
  •  

Federally-regulated organizations that conduct business in Canada are always subject to PIPEDA and must also apply the act to their employees’ personal information.

 

What does PIPEDA not apply to?

PIPEDA does not apply to organizations that do not engage in commercial, for-profit activities.

Unless they are engaging in commercial activities that are not central to their mandate and involve personal information, PIPEDA does not generally apply to:

  • not-for-profit and charity groups
  • political parties and associations.

Municipalities, universities, schools, and hospitals are generally covered by provincial laws. PIPEDA may only apply in certain situations. For example, if the organization is engaged in a commercial activity which is outside of its core activity such as, a university selling an alumni list.

Unless the personal information crosses provincial or national borders, PIPEDA does not apply to organizations that operate entirely within:

  • Alberta

 

British Columbia

  •  

These three provinces have general private-sector laws that have been deemed substantially similar to PIPEDA.

All businesses that operate in Canada and handle personal information that crosses provincial or national borders are subject to PIPEDA regardless of which province or territory they are based in. Federally-regulated businesses operating in Canada are subject to PIPEDA.

Organizations in the Northwest Territories, Yukon and Nunavut are considered federally-regulated and therefore are covered by PIPEDA.

 

What is personal information under PIPEDA?

Under PIPEDA, personal information means information about an identifiable individual.

 

Provincial privacy laws

Every province and territory has its own laws that apply to provincial government agencies and their handling of personal information. Some provinces have private-sector privacy laws that may apply instead of PIPEDA. This means that those laws apply instead of PIPEDA in some cases. These provinces are:

 

Employment related

Some provinces have passed privacy laws that apply to employee information. Examples include:

Each province and territory in Canada has a commissioner or ombudsman responsible for overseeing provincial and territorial privacy legislation.

 

Sector-specific privacy laws

Several federal and provincial sector-specific laws include provisions dealing with the protection of personal information.

The federal Bank Act, for example, contains provisions regulating the use and disclosure of personal financial information by federally regulated financial institutions.

Provincial laws governing credit unions typically have provisions dealing with the confidentiality of information relating to members’ transactions.

Most provinces have laws dealing with consumer credit reporting. These acts typically impose an obligation on credit reporting agencies to:

  • ensure the accuracy of the information
  • place limits on the disclosure of the information
  • give consumers the right to have access to, and challenge the accuracy of, the information.

There are many provincial laws that contain confidentiality provisions concerning personal information collected by professionals.

The presence of other privacy-related legislation does not always mean that PIPEDA does not apply.

 

Listing Data DDF:

REALTOR.ca DDF® is a managed service for REALTORS® and broker owners who are looking to share listings with multiple third-party websites, while providing access to more listings for your own website.

REALTOR.ca Data Distribution Facility® (DDF®) enables CREA’s members to syndicate listing content to selected websites. DDF® ensures that listing content displayed on these websites is accurate, up to date, and in compliance with trademark and program rules. Share your listings with Franchisors and approved Real Estate Advertising Websites (REAW).

 

DDF® Policy and Rules Last updated December 2024

The updated policies and rules regarding the use of REALTOR.ca DDF® data have been included below. These guidelines are crucial for ensuring proper handling and presentation of the data. The following details are covered in the documentation.

Access Expectations

  • The documents outline the expectations for accessing DDF® data.
  • Users must adhere to the specified protocols when retrieving or querying DDF® data, and the presentation of the information retrieved.

Presentation Requirements

  • Clear guidelines are provided on how DDF® data must be presented.

Ensure that the data is accurately represented, and any necessary disclaimers or disclosures are displayed. Image Reference Specifications

  • The policies cover image references. These specifications include details on image size and how to link or attribute images correctly.
  • Properly referencing images and compliance with copyright and licensing requirements.

Necessary Attributions

  • The documents emphasize the importance of attribution. When using DDF® data, user must reference the source and include necessary Lead API references.

Remember to review the documents thoroughly and follow the guidelines to maintain compliance and uphold the integrity of the data. If you have any specific questions or require clarification, please contact [email protected]

© The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) 2025. The trademarks MLS®, Multiple Listing Service® and the associated logos are owned by CREA and identify the quality of services provided by real estate professionals who are members of CREA. The trademarks REALTOR®, REALTORS® and the REALTOR® logo are controlled by CREA and identify real estate professionals who are members of CREA. The trademark DDF® is owned by CREA and identifies CREA’s Data Distribution Facility 

 

Cookies

If you register or engage on our site you opt-in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.

If you visit our login page, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.

When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me”, your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.

If you bid on a property, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the bidding ID for the property and the bid you just offered. The Data is stored in your My Account.

Embedded content from other websites

Bidding Properties and DDF listings on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.

These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

Who we share your data with

If you request a password reset, your IP address will be included in the reset email.

How long we retain your data

If you register and or make a bid, the metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognize and approve any follow-up bids automatically and access the bidding history for each property.

For users that register on our website, we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see that information.

What rights you have over your data

If you have an account on this site, or have made bids, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.

Where your data is sent

Non registered users may be checked through an automated spam detection service.

 

This privacy policy has been compiled to better serve those who are concerned with how their ‘Personally Identifiable Information’ (“PII”) is being used online. PII, as used in US privacy law and information security, is information that can be used on its own or with other information to identify, contact, or locate a single person, or to identify an individual in context. Please read our privacy policy carefully to get a clear understanding of how we collect, use, protect or otherwise handle your Personally Identifiable Information in accordance with our website.

  1. What personal information do we collect from the people that visit our website?

When purchasing or registering on our site, as appropriate, you may be asked to enter your name, email address, mailing address, phone number, credit card information, or other details to help you with your experience.

  1. When do we collect information?

We collect information from you when you register on our site or enter information on our site.

  1. How do we use your information?

We may use the information we collect from you when you register, make a purchase, sign up for our newsletter, respond to a survey or marketing communication, surf the website, or use certain other site features in the following ways:

To personalize user’s experience and to allow us to deliver the type of content and product offerings in which you are most interested.

  • To improve our website in order to better serve you.
  • To allow us to better service you in responding to your customer service requests.
  • To quickly process your transactions.
  • To send periodic emails regarding your purchases or other products and services.
  • To follow up with them after correspondence (live chat, email or phone inquiries)
  1. How do we protect visitor information?

Our website is scanned on a regular basis for security holes and known vulnerabilities in order to make your visit to our site as safe as possible. Your personal information is contained behind secured networks and is only accessible by a limited number of persons who have special access rights to such systems, and are required to keep the information confidential. In addition, all sensitive/credit information you supply is encrypted via Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology.

We implement a variety of security measures when a user places a bid, purchases enters, submits, or accesses their information to maintain the safety of your personal information.

All transactions are processed through a third-party financial institution and gateway provider and are not stored or processed on our servers.

  1. Do we use ‘cookies’?

Yes. Cookies are small files that a site or its service provider transfers to your computer’s hard drive through your Web browser (if you allow) that enables the site’s or service provider’s systems to recognize your browser and capture and remember certain information. For instance, we use cookies to help us remember and process your purchases. They are also used to help us understand your preferences based on previous or current site activity, which enables us to provide you with improved services. We also use cookies to help us compile aggregate data about site traffic and site interaction so that we can offer better site experiences and tools in the future.

We use cookies to:

  • Help remember and process your purchases.
  • Understand and save user’s preferences for future visits.
  • Compile aggregate data about site traffic and site interactions in order to offer better site experiences and tools in the future. We may also use trusted third-party services that track this information on our behalf.

You can choose to have your computer warn you each time a cookie is being sent, or you can choose to turn off all cookies. You do this through your browser settings. Each browser is a little different, so look at your browser’s Help menu to learn the correct way to modify your cookies.

If you disable cookies, some features will be disabled. It may affect your experience including tools that make our site experience more efficient and some of our services will not function properly.

6. Third-party disclosure or transfer

We do not sell, trade, or otherwise transfer to outside parties your personally identifiable information unless we provide users with advance notice. This does not include website hosting partners and other parties who assist us in operating our website, conducting our business, or serving our users, so long as those parties agree to keep this information confidential. We may also release information when its release is appropriate to comply with the law, enforce our site policies, or protect our or others’ rights, property, or safety.

However, non-personally identifiable visitor information may be provided to other parties for marketing, advertising, or other uses.

7. Third-party links

Occasionally, at our discretion, we may include or offer third-party products or services on our website. These third-party sites have separate and independent privacy policies. We, therefore, have no responsibility or liability for the content and activities of these linked sites. Nonetheless, we seek to protect the integrity of our site and welcome any feedback about these sites.

8. Behavioral Remarketing

We use remarketing services to advertise on third-party websites to you after you visited our site. We and our third-party vendors use cookies to inform, optimize and serve ads based on your past visits to our site.

  • Google Ads (AdWords) o Google Ads (AdWords) remarketing service is provided by Google Inc. o    You can opt-out of Google Analytics for Display Advertising and customize the

Google Display Network ads by visiting the Google Ads Settings page: http://www.google.com/settings/ads

  • Google also recommends installing the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on

– https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout – for your web browser. Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on provides visitors with the ability to prevent their data from being collected and used by Google Analytics.

        •      Facebook

 

Advertising established by the Digital Advertising Alliance. You can also opt-out from Facebook and other participating companies through the Digital Advertising Alliance in the USA http://www.aboutads.info/choices/, the Digital Advertising Alliance of Canada in Canada http://youradchoices.ca/ or the European Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance in Europe http://www.youronlinechoices.eu/, or opt-out using your mobile device settings.

9. Payments

We use third-party services for payment processing (e.g. payment processors).

We will not store or collect your payment card details. That information is provided directly to our third-party payment processors whose use of your personal information is governed by their Privacy

Policy. These payment processors adhere to the standards set by PCI-DSS as managed by the PCI

Security Standards Council, which is a joint effort of brands like Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover. PCI-DSS requirements help ensure the secure handling of payment information.

  1. California Online Privacy Protection Act (CalOPPA) According to CalOPPA we agree to the following:
  • Users can visit our site anonymously.
  • Once this privacy policy is created, we will add a link to it on our home page or as a minimum on the first significant page after entering our website.
  • Our Privacy Policy link includes the word ‘Privacy’ and can be easily be found on the page specified above.
  • Users will be notified of any privacy policy changes: o On our Privacy Policy Page
  • Users are able to change their personal information:

o    By logging in to their account and accessing their personal information through their customer profile

11. Children Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)

When it comes to the collection of personal information from children under 13, the Children’s

Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) puts parents in control. The Federal Trade Commission, the nation’s consumer protection agency, enforces the COPPA Rule, which spells out what operators of websites and online services must do to protect children’s privacy and safety online.

We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from anyone under the age of 18. If you are a parent or guardian and you are aware that your child has provided us with Personally Identifiable Information, please contact us. If we become aware that we have collected Personally Identifiable Information from children without verification of parental consent, we take steps to remove that information from our servers.

12. California Shine the Light Law

Subject to certain limitations, users may ask us to provide them with (1) a list of certain categories of personal information that we have disclosed to third parties for their direct marketing purposes during the immediately preceding year, and (2) the identity of those third parties. To make this request, userss may contact us through the Contacting Us section below. For such requests, indicate “California Shine the Light Request” in the communication with our office.

13. California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA), California Consumer Privacy Action Notice (CCPA Notice)

We are providing this CCPA Notice. This CCPA Notice is subject to certain limitations, effective

January 1, 2025. Terms used but not defined shall have the same meaning ascribed to them in the CCPA. This CCPA Notice does not apply to personal information that we collect from job applicants, contractors, or employees.

  • You have the Right to Know. You may request that we disclose to you what personal information we have collected, used, shared, or sold about you, and why we collected, used, shared, or sold that information. Other than noted in this privacy policy, we do not otherwise collect, use, share, or sell information about you. You may specifically request this disclosure by contacting us by the methods at the bottom of this privacy policy. We will provide this information to you free of charge within 45 calendar days of your request.
  • You have the Right to Delete. You may request that we delete personal information from you and to tell our service providers to do the same. In some situations, we are not able to delete your personal information if we need that information to complete your transaction, provide a reasonably anticipated product or service, for certain reasonable consumer expectations, to comply with legal obligations, or certain CCPA provided exceptions. You may specifically request this deletion by contacting us by the methods at the bottom of this privacy policy. We will honor this request within 45 calendar days.
  • You have the Right to Opt-Out. We do not sell personal information. We do share information with service providers as provided in this privacy policy for transactional and marketing purposes.
  • You have the Right to Non-Discrimination. We do not and will not deny goods or services, charge you a different price, or provide a different level or quality of goods or services because you exercised your rights under the CCPA. If you refuse to provide your personal information to us or ask us to delete it, and that personal information is necessary for us to provide you with goods or services, we may not be able to complete the transaction.

14. Fair Information Practices

The Fair Information Practices Principles form the backbone of privacy law in the United States and the concepts they include have played a significant role in the development of data protection laws around the globe. Understanding the Fair Information Practice Principles and how they should be implemented is critical to comply with the various privacy laws that protect personal information.

In order to be in line with Fair Information Practices we will take the following responsive action, should a data breach occur:

  • We will notify the users via email o Within 1 business day of confirmation of receipt
  • We will notify the users via in-site notification o Within 1 business day of confirmation of receipt

We also agree to the Individual Redress Principle, which requires that individuals have a right to pursue legally enforceable rights against data collectors and processors who fail to adhere to the law. This principle requires not only that individuals have enforceable rights against data users, but also that individuals have recourse to courts or government agencies to investigate and/or prosecute non-compliance by data processors.

15. CAN-SPAM Act

The CAN-SPAM Act is a law that sets the rules for commercial email, establishes requirements for commercial messages, gives recipients the right to have emails stopped from being sent to them, and spells out tough penalties for violations.

We collect your email address in order to:

  • Send information, respond to inquiries, and/or other requests or questions.
  • Process purchases and to send information and updates pertaining to purchases.
  • We may also send you additional information related to your purchases and/or our services.
  • Market to our mailing list or continue to send emails to our clients after the original transaction has occurred.

To be in accordance with CAN-SPAM we agree to the following:

  • NOT use false or misleading subjects or email addresses.
  • Identify the message as an advertisement in some reasonable way.
  • Include the physical address of our business or site headquarters.
  • Monitor third-party email marketing services for compliance, if one is used.
  • Honor opt-out/unsubscribe requests quickly.
  • Allow users to unsubscribe by using the link at the bottom of each email.

If at any time you would like to unsubscribe from receiving future emails, you can follow the instructions at the bottom of each email and we will promptly remove you from ALL correspondence. 16. Legal Disclosure of Data

        •       Disclosure for Law Enforcement

o    Under certain circumstances, The Swicegood Group, Inc Auctions & Real Estate may be required to disclose your Personal Data if required to do so by law or in response to valid requests by public authorities (e.g. a court or a government agency).

        •       Legal Requirements

o    The Swicegood Group, Inc Auctions & Real Estate may disclose your Personal Data in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to:

  • To comply with a legal obligation
  • To protect and defend the rights or property of The Swicegood Group, Inc Auctions & Real Estate
  • To prevent or investigate possible wrongdoing in connection with the Service
  • To protect the personal safety of users of the Service or the public
  • To protect against legal liability

17. Contacting Us

If there are any questions regarding this privacy policy, you may contact us using the information below.

Realty Bidders.

PO BOX 581 Station Main Stittsville, Ontario

[email protected]