We Value Your Privacy

We value the privacy of our customers, and we understand that your privacy is important to you. This Privacy Policy explains what information is collected, transferred, used, processed, stored, and/or disclosed when you use our website. By using the website, you expressly consent to that collection, transfer, use, processing, and storage of your information (including personal information) as described in this Privacy Policy. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE WITH OUR PRACTICES REGARDING YOUR INFORMATION, OR IF YOU DO NOT WANT YOUR INFORMATION ACCESSED, STORED, OR USED AS DESCRIBED IN THIS PRIVACY POLICY, DO NOT USE THIS WEBSITE.

IMPORTANT: THIS PRIVACY POLICY REQUIRES YOU TO RESOLVE DISPUTES WITH US THROUGH FINAL AND BINDING ARBITRATION ON AN INDIVIDUAL BASIS, RATHER THAN THROUGH JURY TRIALS OR CLASS ACTIONS, AND ALSO LIMITS THE REMEDIES AVAILABLE TO YOU IN THE EVENT OF A DISPUTE. YOU EXPRESSLY ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU HAVE READ AND UNDERSTAND ALL THE TERMS OF THIS PRIVACY POLICY.

Personal Information That We Collect and How We Collect It

When you use the website, you are not required to provide us with any personal information about yourself. But if you purchase a product, create an account, register a product on our website, or make a customer service request or warranty claim, we do collect personal information from you. In addition to that which you volunteer to us, the personal information that we collect from you includes:

your first and last name
your address
your telephone number
your email address
your date of birth
your credit/debit card information
the Koss product you purchased
the coupon code you used to purchase your product, if any
the store you purchased it from
the date you purchased it

We may also collect personal information about you when you contact us with a question or concern, when you register for a sweepstakes or special contest, or when you submit a warranty claim through our website. This information is all called “Personal Information” or “PI.” We are responsible for the collection and use of your PI and act as controller under the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”).

We Collect Other Information In Addition to PI

We use certain commonly-used Internet technologies to collect information about users of this website. In general, this automatically collected information is about the use of the website by the user and does not directly identify you. The type of information that is collected may include your diagnostic log information, IP address, browser type and language, referring/exit pages and URLs, other browser history, platform type, number of clicks, landing pages, cookie information, the pages you requested and viewed, the amount of time spent on particular pages, and the date and time; however, it does not include your personal identification and is not connected with your PI. This Privacy Policy may address other reasons why we collect that information, but generally, we collect this information to better understand our customer base and to improve the quality of our website and the services we provide. It is only used to facilitate and improve your access to and the usage of the Website, which is our legitimate interest pursuant to Sec. 6 para. 1 lit. f) GDPR.

One of the methods we use to collect this information is through the use of "cookies" (small pieces of information that are transferred by a website and stored on your computer) to determine how you reached this website and to track your usage patterns during your visit. We use the information we collect from cookies to improve the function, content, appearance, and capability of this website. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can turn that feature off by changing your browser preferences to refuse cookies, or to prompt you to accept each cookie. Please note that rejecting cookies will limit the features available to you on the website. We do not store any PI in cookies.

We also collect information from your web browser every time you request a page during a visit to our website. This includes your IP address, operating system, web browser software, screen resolution, and referring website. Some of our third-party service providers and partners may use pixels (aka web beacons/web bugs/java script) to facilitate this. Pixels are tiny graphics with a unique identifier that are used to track a user’s movement online, but unlike with cookies, pixels are not stored on your computer. Although we cannot control whether these third parties actually use pixels or not, the information described in this paragraph will only be used to help us improve our business and the functionality of our website.

Finally, we also collect aggregated information (that contains no PI) from all of your users.

How We Use the Information that We Collect

If the information we collect is not PI, then we may use that information for any lawful purpose. For example, we may use it to analyze trends, conduct research, administer services, track users’ movements around the website, and to improve our business, the website, and our products and services. We also use aggregated information (that contains no PI) to provide anonymous statistical information to suppliers, advertisers, affiliates, and other current and potential business partners.

But if the information we collect is PI, then we will only use that PI for the following purposes: (a) to operate, administer, maintain, and improve the website and services that we provide (including providing you a more personal experience and also including for accounting, billing, and audit purposes); (b) to communicate with you (including contacting you about the website, products, or other services we provide to you, for promotional purposes, surveys, contests, sweepstakes, and similar opportunities, and in response to your orders, inquiries, or requests); (c) to market; (d) to conduct research and for analytical purpose; (e) to resolve disputes; (f) to detect and protect against errors, fraud, and criminal activity; (g) to assist law enforcement; (h) to enforce this Privacy Policy and any of the terms related to the website, our products, or our services; and (i) to fulfill any other purpose described in this Privacy Policy or that we describe to you at the time of collection. This information processing serves our legitimate interest of enhancing the performance of the website and the services, eliminating errors, and being able to offer you a better customer experience, pursuant to Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f) GDPR.

How We Secure and Retain Your Information

The security of your information is important to us; however, no data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be completely secure. We have implemented security measures, including data encryption and firewall technology, to secure the information we collect. We will use reasonable efforts to protect your PI, although we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to us. As a result, your information may be unlawfully intercepted or accessed.

In general, we will retain your information indefinitely, or as long as legally required or allowed. If you cancel your account or your account is otherwise terminated, we may, but are not obligated to, delete information we have collected or obtained from third parties and we may continue to use and disclose it in accordance with this Privacy Policy. If we no longer need your information for any of the purposes described in this Privacy Policy, and if we are required to do so pursuant to GDPR or any other applicable law, we will delete that information once it is no longer needed.

Information Sharing and Third Parties

We do not rent or sell any of your PI to third parties for their or another company’s marketing purposes, but we may share your PI with our affiliates or disclose it to third parties to the extent necessary to fulfill your request or to help us operate and improve our website and our services. These third parties include warranty service providers, credit card service companies and other payment processors, companies who assist us with our own internal marketing, companies who assist us with our own internal data analytics, distributors, third-party shipping services, and companies who help us with all of the above as well as our back-end processing. These companies may contact you directly. Unless otherwise specified in this Privacy Policy, when we share your PI with third parties, it will be governed by this Privacy Policy (or another agreement that includes protections similar to this Privacy Policy) and may only be used by those third parties for the limited purposes stated above. However, these third parties may themselves also collect information from you or about your use of the website. We do not control the information that is collected by those third parties and we are not responsible for their use of that information. Their practices and policies regarding that information they collect from you will be governed by their own privacy policies, so you should review those as well.

Although how we may disclose your PI is limited as described above, we may share information about you or from you that is not PI with third parties for any lawful purpose, including to analyze trends, conduct research, help us administer our services, track users’ movements around the website, and to improve our business, products, services, and the website.

We reserve the right to disclose your PI (or any other information) when we believe it is necessary to protect our rights or to identify, contact, or bring legal action against persons or entities who may be causing injury to you, us, or others. We may also disclose your PI (or any other information) when we believe the law requires it (including to regulators and law enforcement authorities).

We reserve the right to share your PI to effect a corporate transaction, in connection with the sale, merger, or reorganization of our company where the information is provided in the normal course of business, or in connection with any bankruptcy that we may file for.

Facebook

Please note that we also use social plug-ins from and operated by Facebook, Inc. (“Facebook”). These plug-ins are accessed by clicking on an icon with a Facebook logo or other designation.

When you access our website, your browser establishes a direct connection with the Facebook servers. The content of the plug-in is transferred by Facebook directly to your browser, which then integrates it into our website. As a result of this integration, Facebook receives information that you have accessed the corresponding page of our website. If you are logged into your Facebook account when you visit our website, Facebook will be able to assign your visit to our website to your Facebook account. Please note that the transfer of this information to Facebook occurs automatically if you are logged into your Facebook account when you visit our website, even if you have not actually activated a plug-in by clicking on an icon with a Facebook logo. If you activate a plug-in, such as by clicking the “Like” or “Send” icon, the corresponding information is sent directly to Facebook by your browser and saved there.

If you do not want Facebook to gather data about you through our website, you must log out of your Facebook account before you visit our website. You can find information on Facebook’s privacy policy at http://www.facebook.com/policy.php.

Google Analytics

We use Google, a third-party analytics provider, to collect information about the users of the website, including demographic and interest-level information. Google uses cookies and pixels in order to collect demographic, interest-level, and other usage information from users that visit the website, including information about the pages where users enter and exit the website and what pages users view on the website, as well as time spent, browser, operating system, and IP address. Cookies and pixels allow Google to recognize a user when a user visits the website and when the user visits other websites. Google uses the information it collects from the website and other websites to share with us and other website operators information about users, including age range, gender, geographic regions, general interests, and details about the devices used to visit websites and purchase items. We do not link information we receive from Google with any of your PI. For more information regarding Google’s use of cookies, pixels, and collection and use of information, see the Google Privacy Policy. If you would like to opt out of Google Analytics tracking, please visit the following link: Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.

Payment Methods

Credit card payments can be made via phone, mail or through our online e-commerce site. For security purposes and to be PCI compliant, we are unable to accept orders with credit card numbers via fax or e-mail. Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express are the only credit cards accepted for payment.

Online Tracking and Your Choices

As discussed above, because we and our third-party service providers automatically collect website usage information through the use of cookies, pixels, and other tracking technologies, your selection of the “Do Not Track” option provided by your browser may not have any effect on our collection of automatically collected information. One way to attempt to “opt out” of the collection of any information through cookies and some (but not all) other tracking technology is to actively manage the settings on your browser to delete and disable cookies and other tracking or recording tools. However, getting a “Do Not Track” signal to work as you might want is difficult and may not be possible. Using browsers as an example, not all tracking technologies can be controlled by browsers; unique aspects of your browser might be recognizable even if you disable a tracking technology; not all settings will necessarily last or be effective; even if a setting is effective for one purpose data still may be collected for another; and even if one website observes a “Do Not Track” signal, that website usually will not be able to control other websites.

Children

We do not intentionally collect PI from children under the age of 13. If you are under the age of 13, please do not submit any information through this website. Have a responsible adult submit the information instead. If we learn that we have collected information from a child under the age of 13, we will remove that information immediately and delete it from our servers (subject to applicable law and this Privacy Policy). If you believe content from a child under the age of 13 has been posted to the website, please contact us using the contact information in the “Contacting Us” section below.

If you are a California resident who is under age 18 and you are unable to remove publicly available content that you have submitted to us, you may request removal by contacting us using the contact information in the “Contacting Us” section below. When requesting removal, you must be specific about the information you want removed and provide us with specific information, such as the URL for each page where the information is located, so that we can find it. We are not required to remove any content or information that: (a) federal or state law requires us or a third party to maintain; (b) was not posted by you; (c) is anonymized so that you cannot be identified; (d) you don’t follow our instructions for removing or requesting removal; or (e) you received compensation or other consideration for providing the content or information. REMOVAL OF YOUR CONTENT OR INFORMATION FROM THE WEBSITE DOES NOT ENSURE COMPLETE OR COMPREHENSIVE REMOVAL OF THAT CONTENT OR INFORMATION FROM OUR SYSTEMS OR THE SYSTEMS OF OUR SERVICE PROVIDERS. We are not required to delete the content or information you posted. Our obligations under California law are satisfied so long as we anonymize the content or information or render it invisible to other users and the public.

California Shine the Light Law

California Civil Code Section 1798.83 permits California residents to request and obtain from us once a year, free of charge, a list of the third parties to whom we have disclosed personal information (as defined under that statute) of that California resident, for direct marketing purposes in the preceding calendar year and the categories of that kind of personal information that was disclosed to them. If you are a California resident and you wish to make such a request, you may contact us by using the contact information in the “Contacting Us” section below.

European Privacy Law

If you are afforded protection under the GDPR, you are entitled to a number of other rights, which are summarized below. We may require you to verify your identity before we respond to your requests to exercise your rights. If you are entitled to these rights, you may exercise any of these rights with respect to your PI that we collect and store. We will only retain your PI for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purpose of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements. To determine the appropriate retention period for personal information, we consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal information, the potential risk of harm from unauthorized use or disclosure of your PI, the purposes for which we process your PI and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements.

Your rights under the GDPR:

• You have the right to withdraw consent at any time where we are relying on your consent to process your PI. However, this will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before you withdrew your consent. If you withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide certain products or services to you. We will advise you if this is the case at the time you withdraw your consent.
• You have the right to request access to your PI (commonly known as a “data subject access request”). This enables you to receive a copy of the PI we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it.
• You have the right to request correction of the PI that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate information we hold about you corrected, though we may need to verify the accuracy of the new information you provide to us.
• You have the right to request erasure of your PI. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove PI where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your PI where you have successfully exercised your right to object to processing, where we may have processed your PI unlawfully, or where we are required to erase your PI to comply with applicable law. Note, however, that we may not always be able to comply with your request of erasure for specific legal reasons, which will be notified to you, if applicable, at the time of your request.
• You have the right to request the transfer of your PI to you or to a third party. We will provide to you, or a third party you have chosen, your PI in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format. Note that this right only applies to automated PI that you initially provided consent for us to use or where we used the PI to perform a contract with you.
• You have the right to request restriction of processing of your PI. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of your PI in the following scenarios: (a) if you want us to establish the accuracy of the PI; (b) where our use of the PI is unlawful but you do not want us to erase it; (c) where you need us to hold the PI even if we no longer require it as you need it to establish, exercise, or defend legal claims; or (d) you have objected to our use of your PI but we need to verify whether we have overriding legitimate grounds to use it.
• You have the right to object to our processing of your PI where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation that makes you want to object to processing on this ground as you feel it impacts your fundamental rights and freedoms. You also have the right to object where we are processing your PI for direct marketing purposes. In some cases, we may demonstrate that we have compelling legitimate grounds to process your PI which override your rights and freedoms.

You may exercise these rights free of charge. These rights will be exercisable subject to limitations as provided for by GDPR. Any requests to exercise the above-listed rights may be made by contacting us at contact information in the “Contacting Us” section below.

Notice to Users Outside of the United States

We are headquartered in the United States. Your use of the website, your ordering of any products, and any services provided to you though the website, including warranty claims, are governed by United States law. If you are using the website from outside of the United States, your information may be transferred to, stored, and processed in the United States where our servers are located. In accordance with and as permitted by applicable law and regulations, we reserve the right to transfer your information, process, and store it outside your country of residence to wherever we or our third-party service providers operate.

Dispute Resolution

All matters relating to your access to and use of this website, including purchases made on this website, and all disputes, claims, and causes of action (whether in contract, tort, or statute) that may be based upon, arise out of, or relate to this Privacy Policy, are governed in all respects by the laws of the State of Wisconsin as such laws are applied to agreements entered into and to be performed entirely within Wisconsin between Wisconsin residents. You agree that any action at law or in equity arising out of or relating to this Privacy Policy or arising out of your use of this website will be resolved individually through binding arbitration in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin using the then-current rules of the American Arbitration Association, and the resulting decisions may be entered in any court with proper jurisdiction. This means that if you have a grievance with us, you cannot take us to court, and you may not join your action with any other party. You can address such grievances through arbitration only, and you are hereby consenting to do it in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin using Wisconsin laws (without regard to Wisconsin rules on conflict of laws). TO THE FULLEST EXTENT ALLOWED BY LAW, ANY SUCH CONTROVERSY OR CLAIM MUST BE ARBITRATED ON AN INDIVIDUAL BASIS, AND WILL NOT BE CONSOLIDATED IN ANY ARBITRATION WITH ANY CLAIM OR CONTROVERSY OF ANY OTHER PARTY. Notwithstanding the foregoing, either party may seek any interim or preliminary relief from a court of competent jurisdiction in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin as necessary to protect the party’s rights or property pending the completion of arbitration. By using this website, you consent and submit to the exclusive jurisdiction and venue of the state and federal courts located in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin.

Contacting Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, or if you are concerned that we have not followed the principles set forth herein, please send an e-mail to us at customersupport@koss.com or write to us at Koss Stereophones, 4129 North Port Washington Ave, Milwaukee, WI 53212.

Additional Information

This website may contain links to websites operated by third parties. Please note that when you click on one of these links you are leaving the Koss website and entering a website operated by the third-party. The information you submit to them is not covered by this Privacy Policy.

This Privacy Policy was last revised on December 18, 2018. We may, at our sole discretion, revise this Privacy Policy at any time. If we make material changes to the way we collect, use, or process your PI, we will provide advance notice to you by email or by posting a message on the website. Your continued use of the website after the date indicated in those changes indicates your express acceptance of the new version of this Privacy Policy. If we make immaterial changes or changes that do not affect your PI, those changes shall be effective when posted, so please check this Privacy Policy regularly for any updates.

Amazon Affiliate

Koss Corporation is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.