Privacy Policy

We understand that when accessing our website or interacting with us online, the privacy and confidentiality of personal information is important to our customers. That's why we are committed to safeguarding the personal and financial details you provide us.

The following explains what information we gather from you when you go to our website, how we use that information and how you can contact us for more information.

What personal information does RS Online collect from me?

The following information is gathered when you register:

Username
Password
Security Password
Your name
Telephone number
Fax number
Email address
Company name
Address
Company's area of business
Job technology
Job function
Purchasing influence
Number of employees in your company
Your primary product interest
and how you heard about the site

We may also record phone calls that you make to us.

You may choose not to provide any of this information, but in that case we may not be able to provide the goods and/or services that you have requested from us.

We may also record some details of how you use the site, such as adverts you click on or products you search for.In addition, we keep copies of information you submit when you send email feedback to the site, ask a technical question, or report a problem. If you contact RS in writing we may keep a record of that correspondence. RS also occasionally asks users to complete surveys that we use for research purposes. The data is captured so that we can accurately evaluate the quality of our content and make improvements for you.

How does RS Online use my information?

RS Online uses your information (including from recorded calls) for the purposes of order fulfilment and occasional direct marketing activities (see What are my choices regarding collection, use and distribution of my information?), and may use it for internal purposes such as training and verification. RS Online also collects your personal information to provide you with customised and relevant information on your home page when you visit the site.RS Online also does research on our users' demographics, interests, and behaviour based on the information provided to us through registration, during a promotion, from our server log files or from surveys. We do this to better understand and serve our users. This research is compiled and analysed on an aggregated and anonymous basis.

What does RS do to securing information online?

In order to ensure the security and protection of your personal details whenever you submit any sensitive information such as credit card number and account details, we use 128 bit Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption - the latest technology to encode and protect your data - which is your guarantee for a safe and secure transaction. The RS VeriSign Security Guarantee pops up whenever you submit sensitive information as an indication that the current information will be encrypted. This means that your information is protected and safe to submit.Note: If you rely upon the graphical indication on your browser screen (such as the padlock icon in Internet Explorer) this may not always indicate that a secure communication is taking place. This is because RS Online uses frames to display certain information and the security icon may not always detect that a secure connection has been established in another frame.

What are cookies and how does RS Online use them?

If you use the Data Library on the site to locate and download data sheets, your browser may alert you to the fact that a cookie is being sent to your PC. Unlike most cookies this will not be stored on your hard drive. The purpose of the cookie is merely to identify you to the data sheet server for the time you are using it. Once you have finished using the library, the cookie will be deleted.

What security precautions are in place to protect the loss, misuse, or alteration of my information?

Your RS Online Account Information and RS Online Personal Profile are password-protected so that you and only you have access to this personal information. We recommend that you do not divulge your password to anyone. RS Online will never ask you for your password in an unsolicited phone call or in an unsolicited email. Also remember to close your browser window when you have finished your work. This is to ensure that others cannot access your personal or business information if you share a computer or are using a computer in a public place.

Who is collecting information?

The personal information you provide to this site is collected by RS Components Pty Ltd. Please be aware that RS Online has links to other sites that may collect personally identifiable information about you. This privacy statement does not cover the information practices of those web sites linked to RS Online.

With whom does RS share my information?

RS is a member of a world-wide Group of companies of which Electrocomponents plc is the parent company. RS may share and/or store information collected about you via the RS Online web site with other members of this Group. RS may need to disclose your information to organisations working on our behalf anywhere in the world (for example, credit reference agencies, mailing houses and call centres). The members of this Group never sell, rent, or give away information that personally identifies customers to third parties. From time to time, we may release aggregated and anonymised marketing statistics to business partners, or may use these in press releases, advertising, or published reports. We would only personally identify you or any other customer in such press releases, advertising, or reports with your prior consent. RS may also disclose user information in special cases when we believe that disclosing this information is necessary to identify, contact or bring legal action against someone who may be causing injury to or interference with RS's rights or property, other RS Online users, or anyone else that could be harmed by such activities. In addition, RS may disclose user information when the law requires it.

Permission to contact you

RS Online may, from time to time, send you emails regarding our products and updating you on RS services. In addition, we may occasionally send you direct mail about products and RS services that we feel may be of interest to you. Only RS Online or its agents will send you these direct mailings. If you do not want to receive email messages from us, simply select to be removed from our email list when registering. Or, at any time, you can easily edit your RS Online Personal Profile to no longer receive such mailings. If you do not wish to receive other forms of direct mail promotions from us, then please contact the RS Online.

What is RS Online's policy on allowing me to update, correct, or delete my personally identifiable information?

You may edit your Personal Profile information at any time by clicking on the Update My Details button on your home page navigation bar. If you have forgotten your password, or have any other problems accessing the site, please contact the RS Online Helpdesk on [0800 888 780].

Contact us

If you feel that we have not lived up to our online privacy commitments, would like to access personal information we hold about you, would like to correct personal information we hold about you, or you have any queries relating to our policies, please email us at [marketing.aunz@rs-components.com]. Our objective is to respond within our service standard of five working days.

The Electrocomponents Group

Electrocomponents plc is the publicly quoted parent company which owns RS Components Pty Ltd. For full details of the Electrocomponents Group of companies, including addresses, please click on the link.As we plan to keep our statement on privacy current, this information can be subject to change. Please return periodically to review the latest on Internet privacy.