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The Internet by its very nature is distributed and unregulated.  While this is undeniably its greatest asset, it also eliminates many of the tangible cues to a merchant's credibility, which are normally quite obvious in the real world.  In the hope of replacing these lost "consumer comfort factors", and preferably without the need for government intervention, Elliott Sound Products (ESP) voluntarily commits to follow a Universal Standard of Ethics when transacting business on the Internet.

In connection with the material presented on the ESP website(s), I suggest that you also read the Copyright article.  There are countless people on the Net who don't appear to give a toss about who's material they steal (and that applies to a great many ESP articles and projects), and blatantly copy entire articles and/ or diagrams that are are copyright © material owned by ESP.  I don't copy anyone's material without authorisation, but I appear to be in the minority.  It's an important part of ESP's ethics policy that I never knowingly infringe anyone else's copyright.  There will be occasions where text and/ or diagrams are substantially similar to other material, but that is the nature of electronics, where much of the information is available from a multiplicity of different sources.

Where material from other sources is used (e.g. definitions of technical terms, 'unusual' words, etc.) it will always be in accordance with the copyright provisions, and no 'substantial' amount of material will ever be used.  The 'Fair Use' copyright of some material may occur in some places, where a product or 'service' is reviewed or forms the basis for discrediting fraudulent practices.

All ESP Articles and projects are copyright, with the date (or year) of publication displayed in the copyright notice at the bottom of each page.

As a reputable member of the global Internet commerce community, ESP hereby agrees to ...

Ethics

• Deliver what we promise and promise only what we can deliver.
• Deal honestly and fairly with customers.
• Accurately represent who we are and what we do.
• Fulfill any warranty claim within a reasonable period of time.

Credit Cards/ PayPal *

• Charge only the amount required for the goods ordered and appropriate postage, in accordance with the published prices.
• Never apply any undisclosed charge, repeat charge, or other charge unless specifically requested by the purchaser to do so (for example, add additional items to an order unless provided free).
• Not apply any surcharge for use of a credit card unless otherwise advised.
• Abide by all rules as required by credit card providers and/ or PayPal, and promptly advise customers of any issues with an order.

*  ESP reserves the right to correct errors in orders, where the total cost has been incorrectly calculated by the purchaser, the incorrect price list was used, or other errors as may occur from time to time.  You will always be advised of any changes and the reasons for those changes prior to the order being processed.

Complaints

• Promptly respond to all customer complaints
• Employ our best efforts to fairly resolve all legitimate complaints in a timely fashion

Advertising

• Ensure to the best of our ability that no documents containing false statements are distributed on-line
• Promptly substantiate any statements or advertised claims upon request
• Not undertake any unsolicited electronic advertising or bulk e-mailing of any kind

Disclosure

• Disclose basic features and benefits of products in language that is easily understood by the consumer - bearing in mind that such descriptions are commonly of a technical nature because of the products I sell
• Disclose all terms, conditions, financial and contractual obligations applicable to the transaction including warranties, returns and refunds
• Disclose the price, type of currency and all fees, surcharges, and shipping costs associated with any transaction
• Disclose availability of goods and services, timing of billing, and realistic shipping expectations

Adherence to Laws & Regulations

• Abide by all laws of the Australian Federal and State Governments regarding credit card transactions
• Abide by the rules and regulations pertaining to the Merchant Credit Card Facilities provided by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia or other financial institution as may be used in the future.

This is one thing that terrifies many potential Internet purchasers, since they are never sure what the merchant will do with their personal information.  I know that you are concerned about your privacy and so is ESP.  If you provide information about yourself or your business, such as name, postal or e-mail address or other data, this information will be added to internal data records.  Any information received from you (either by mail, fax or in any electronic format) is used internally by ESP alone, and is not shared with anyone *.

*   The only exception is to provide details as requested by an appropriate financial institution, the Australian Taxation Office, law enforcement agencies or other statutory bodies that have a legal right to such details, where fraud, deception or other financial malfeasance is suspected or alleged.  ESP will cooperate with all such requests where there is reasonable evidence that the appropriate agencies are lawfully entitled to the information.

Privacy

• ESP's privacy policy is absolute.  Your name, details of purchases and address are absolutely confidential, and will not be disclosed to anyone who does not need this information other than for the authorisation of a credit card purchase, unless I am lawfully obliged to provide such details to a government agency or other statutory body (as detailed above).
• Your credit card details shall not be stored or archived on any computer (unless fully encrypted), and will be kept safely and securely only in the original purchase form and credit card receipt.  All card details are destroyed by shredding after the statutory holding period has expired (as established by my bank's policies).
• Used facsimile (fax) developer rolls (were) cut into small sections and heated to melt the 'ink' before disposal - these otherwise contain a perfect negative image of all pages printed by the fax machine.  Fax orders are no longer accepted.  PDF files are deleted after the order is processed.
• ESP will never send unsolicited e-mail, nor provide your name and/ or e-mail address to any other party for any reason whatsoever without your explicit approval.
• Where your information is supplied in relation to an order for purchases or for consultation purposes, the information will be used solely for that purpose.  ESP will not share personally identifiable information with any third party without your express consent.

On the subject of privacy - because ESP is operated from my home address, I do not advertise or publish the street address or telephone number of the business.  This is sometimes seen as evidence of a business that has something to hide - this is not my intention - I am entitled to some privacy as well, and that is the sole reason for this omission.  If you have a reason for needing this information, all you have to do is ask.  No request for this information has ever been refused.

ESP has been trading on-line since 1999, and I have not had one unresolved complaint from a customer, supplier or other website, nor from my credit card handling facility or PayPal.  I am determined to keep my reputation - honesty and integrity are the only tools at my disposal to achieve this.

Consulting

• Any and all proprietary information that you may provide to ESP remains strictly confidential, and will never be disclosed to a third party or published on the ESP website without your explicit approval, subject to the following ...
• Any final schematic and/ or explanatory text (in any form) will not be disclosed unless a prior agreement between you and ESP permits publication.  However, ESP reserves the right to publish modifications and/or detailed changes where an existing project is modified to your requirements, and where ESP has provided such consultation without charge.
• If you do not accept publication of otherwise freely offered changes, then the consultation cannot proceed unless it is paid for at current rates.
• ESP will sign and honour NDAs (non-disclosure agreements) only if the terms therein are not onerous, and explicit exemptions are applied to published projects or articles (or projects/ articles in preparation) that may contain or be similar to material in the project being developed for reward.  This will generally be negotiated at the time that consultation is requested.

Any consultation usually entails (sometimes lengthy) discussions beforehand, and the points above are intended as initial guidance only.  Explicit requirements will be negotiated to ensure mutual satisfaction and protection of pre-existing proprietary intellectual property rights of both parties.

As part of Google policy, readers need to be aware that some sections of the ESP website will use cookies, either to track site usage or to facilitate the small advertisements placed on some pages by Google.  In accordance with regulations within the EU and/ or the UK, it's now a requirement to ask your permission, allowing you to accept or reject cookies.  Note that there may be unexpected consequences if you reject cookies, particularly if you use the PayPal shopping cart.

The primary source of cookies from the ESP site is from Google itself (strange but true), but one of the ramifications of not having a 'compliant' consent manager is that Google will downgrade the ESP website in search results.  Personally I think it's gross overkill, but as the Web evolves we see many new things, few of which seem to be as worthwhile as some may claim.  The ESP site will continue to be coded in basic HTML, without all of the fancy add-ons that might look 'pretty', but do nothing to make the pages readable.

ESP has integrated the consent management tool "consentmanager" (www.consentmanager.net) from consentmanager AB (Håltgelvågen 1b, 72348 Västerås, Sweden, mail@consentmanager.net) on our website to obtain consent for data processing and use of cookies or comparable functions.  With the help of "consentmanager" you have the possibility to give your consent for certain functionalities of the website, e.g. for the purpose of integrating external elements, integrating streaming content, statistical analysis, measurement and personalised advertising.  With the help of "consentmanager" you can grant or reject your consent for all functions or give your consent for individual purposes or individual functions.  The settings you have made can also be changed afterwards.  The purpose of integrating "consentmanager" is to let the users of the ESP website decide about the above-mentioned things and, as part of the further use of our website, to offer the option of changing settings that have already been made.  By using "consentmanager", personal data and information from the end devices used, such as the IP address, are processed by consentmanager.  In addition, the processed information may also be stored on your device.

The legal basis for processing is Art. 6 Para. 1 S. 1 lit. c) in conjunction with Art. 6 para. 3 sentence 1 lit. a) in conjunction with Art. 7 para. 1 GDPR and, in the alternative, lit. f).  By processing the data, consentmanager helps us (according to GDPR this is the responsible party) to fulfill our legal obligations (e.g. obligation to provide evidence).  Our legitimate interests in processing lie in the storage of user settings and preferences with regard to the use of cookies and other functionalities.  "Consentmanager" stores your data as long as your user settings are active.  After two years after making the user settings, the consent will be asked again.  The user settings made are then saved again for this period.

You can object to the processing.  You have the right to object to reasons arising from your particular situation. To object, please send an email to mail@consentmanager.net.

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