Privacy Policy

01 About this policy

Business Brokers Network Australia Pty Ltd (ABN 37 700 400 371) (BBNA, we, us, our) is committed to protecting the privacy of individuals who interact with us. This policy explains how we handle personal information under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the thirteen Australian Privacy Principles (APPs).

It applies to all personal information we collect through the BBNA website, appraisal calculator, broker matching forms, broker application forms, email, telephone, and in-person interactions.

Individual BBNA member brokers are separate legal entities and hold their own privacy obligations. Where you engage a BBNA member broker directly, that broker's privacy policy will apply in addition to (and in some respects instead of) this policy.

02 Information we collect

The kinds of personal information we may collect include:

• Contact information: name, email address, phone number, business name, business address, postcode, state.
• Business context: industry, annual revenue, adjusted profit, headcount, tenure, other operating details you volunteer through the appraisal tool or a broker enquiry form.
• Broker applicant information: if you apply to join the BBNA network — CV, licence details, referee contacts, sales history, geographic and sector preferences.
• Correspondence: the content of emails, form submissions, and calls with our team.
• Technical information: IP address, browser type, device type, pages visited, and referring URL (collected via cookies and analytics — see section 10).

We do not intentionally collect sensitive information (as defined in the Privacy Act — for example, information about health, race, religion, or criminal record). If you provide sensitive information voluntarily, we will only collect it with your consent and only to the extent reasonably necessary.

03 How we collect it

We collect personal information:

• directly from you when you complete a form, subscribe, contact us, or use the appraisal tool;
• from BBNA member brokers when they refer a matter or introduce a prospective seller or buyer;
• from publicly available sources (for example, LinkedIn) when researching a broker applicant or a market;
• automatically through cookies and analytics tools when you use the website.

Where practical we collect information directly from you rather than from a third party.

04 How we use it

We use personal information for the following primary purposes:

• to run the appraisal calculator and email you the indicative range if you request it;
• to match you with a suitable BBNA member broker in your sector and geography;
• to process broker applications and manage the BBNA network;
• to respond to enquiries and provide the services you have requested;
• to publish anonymised, aggregated data about market conditions (never identifying you).

We may also use it for related secondary purposes that you would reasonably expect, including internal record-keeping, service improvement, security monitoring, and compliance with legal obligations.

We will only send you marketing communications if you have consented, or where permitted by the Spam Act 2003 (Cth). Every marketing email includes an unsubscribe link — you can also opt out at any time by emailing support@cim-pro.co.

05 Appraisal tool — how your data flows

In detail:

• Answers & computation: the industry you choose, the revenue and profit figures you enter, and your answers to the eighteen risk questions are used entirely by JavaScript running in your browser to compute the indicative range. They are not transmitted to BBNA servers.
• Optional email capture: if you tick "email me the summary" at the end and submit the form, we receive your name (if provided), email address, business name (if provided), broker-consent choice, and a copy of the appraisal inputs and output. We use this to email you the summary and — only if you tick the broker-consent box — to introduce you to a matched BBNA member broker.
• Session storage: we store a small flag in your browser's session storage so that refreshing the page keeps the "sent" state visible to you. It contains only your email address and a status flag ("sent" or "dismissed") and is cleared when you close the browser tab.
• No profile building: we do not combine your appraisal inputs with other data to build a profile of you.

06 Who we disclose to

We may disclose personal information to:

• BBNA member brokers — where you request to be matched, or opt in via the appraisal tool for a broker call. Once a broker takes on your matter they become the primary data controller for your engagement and their own privacy policy will apply.
• Trusted service providers — website hosting, email delivery (including form-processing platforms such as Formspree), analytics, CRM, and identity providers. We require these providers to handle information only as instructed and to protect it consistently with this policy.
• Professional advisers — our lawyers, accountants, and auditors on a confidential basis where reasonably necessary.
• Law enforcement, regulators, or courts — where required by law, subpoena, or lawful direction, or where necessary to protect our legal rights.
• A successor entity — in the event of a sale, merger, or restructure of BBNA, subject to the same protections as in this policy.

We do not sell, rent, or trade personal information to any third party.

07 Overseas disclosure

Some of our service providers store data outside Australia. Where reasonably known, disclosure locations include:

• United States — for form processing (Formspree), email delivery, website analytics, and hosting infrastructure.
• European Union — for cloud hosting redundancy in some cases.

Before disclosing personal information overseas we take reasonable steps to ensure the recipient is bound by contractual obligations substantially similar to the Australian Privacy Principles.

08 Data security & storage

We take reasonable steps to protect personal information from misuse, interference, loss, and unauthorised access, modification, or disclosure. Measures include:

• HTTPS/TLS encryption for all form submissions and website traffic;
• access controls limiting personal information to team members who need it;
• use of reputable third-party providers with SOC 2 or equivalent controls where practical;
• periodic review of security practices.

No online service is completely secure. If you become aware of a suspected security issue affecting your data, please contact us immediately at support@cim-pro.co.

09 Retention

We retain personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purpose it was collected, or as required by law. Illustrative periods:

• Appraisal enquiries: retained for up to 24 months from your last interaction, then deleted or anonymised.
• Broker matching enquiries: retained for the life of your engagement with the matched broker plus 7 years (to satisfy record-keeping obligations under state real estate licensing regimes).
• Broker applicant records: retained for 24 months after application (successful applicants — for the life of network membership plus 7 years).
• Website analytics: anonymised or pseudonymised; retained no longer than 26 months.

You can request earlier deletion at any time (see section 12), subject to legal and regulatory record-keeping obligations that may require us to keep certain information.

10 Cookies & analytics

The BBNA website uses a small number of cookies and equivalent technologies:

• Strictly necessary — session storage used by the appraisal tool to remember your submission state on refresh. Cannot be disabled without breaking the tool.
• Analytics — we may use privacy-respecting analytics (such as Plausible, Fathom, or pseudonymised Google Analytics) to understand aggregate usage. We do not use these to identify individual visitors.

You can control cookies in your browser settings. Blocking analytics cookies will not affect the tools or listings on the site.

11 Your rights

Under the Privacy Act you have the right to:

• ask us what personal information we hold about you;
• request a copy of that information;
• ask us to correct information that is inaccurate, out of date, incomplete, or misleading;
• opt out of marketing communications at any time;
• withdraw consent for optional processing (subject to any legal record-keeping we must maintain);
• lodge a complaint with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (see section 13).

12 Access & correction

To request access to, or correction of, your personal information — or to request deletion — email support@cim-pro.co with the subject line "Privacy request". We will:

• acknowledge your request within 5 business days;
• ask you to verify your identity;
• respond substantively within 30 calendar days.

There is generally no fee for access or correction. In limited circumstances we may decline a request — for example, where providing access would unreasonably impact another person's privacy or where a legal obligation requires us to retain the record. If we decline, we will tell you why in writing.

13 Complaints

If you believe we have breached the Privacy Act or the Australian Privacy Principles, please raise it with us first at support@cim-pro.co. We take complaints seriously and will investigate and respond within 30 days.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you can lodge a complaint with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC):

• Web: oaic.gov.au
• Phone: 1300 363 992
• Post: GPO Box 5288, Sydney NSW 2001

14 Children

The BBNA website is intended for use by adults engaged in commercial business activity. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under the age of 18. If you believe we have inadvertently done so, please contact us and we will delete the information promptly.

15 Changes to this policy

We may amend this policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technology, legal requirements, or for other operational reasons. The current version is always posted at this URL with an updated "Effective" date. If we make a material change we will use reasonable efforts to notify affected individuals (for example, by email if you are on our list).

16 Contact us