Global Data Protection restrictions (GDPR)

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We have detected that you are visiting us from a country with Global Data Protection restrictions (GDPR). Due to requirements placed upon West Marine as a result of Global Data Protection Regulation, we are not permitting internet traffic to our website from certain countries in order to avoid any violations. No tracking or performance measurement cookies were served with this page."


THIS IS WEST MARINE. FEB 2019. THEIR LOSS IS DEFENDER'S GAIN.



SHORT SIGHTED OR WHAT??

So it would seem that rather than bring their web site into compliance, they are simply blocking access from Countries with GDPR laws. It will be interesting to see if this is temporary, or if they have decided to forfeit those markets.


Do people in the UK buy much from WM?

"USA isolationist measures"? Really? Sounds more like a company that chooses not to comply with an EU directive. Their judgement seems to be that the EU market isn't significant in their business model.

The biggest cost of this Euro provision is that you have to be able to process requests from an individual to purge all data from your system when they ask. Unless your business from a Euro country is material, it isn't worth the trouble or cost to set up that infrastructure. Robin will have to buy his mermaid shaped fenders elsewhere.

I bought more from worst marine when in UK than when in usa, as do many friends, WM even had local contact numbers one time. seems like they just don't care to me. I just wanted to download a manual for my WM HH radio but fortunately found it on my hard drive already.

Can't say that I blame them. I'm not sure what the GDPR laws entail, but if it costs them more to comply with those laws than they would make in profits (not just the sale price, but gross profit) I can't say that I blame them.

It is still the only USA site I have come across with such a policy, marine or whatever site. Weird.

TF DOESN'T discriminate, nor big stores like Wally world or amazon or as previously noted Defender who will gain my business 100% forthwith.

Could be part and parcel of increasing world trade restrictions, limitations, and protections. Quite popular in some countries. Welcome to a trade disrupted tit for tat world.

BruceK said:

Could be part and parcel of increasing world trade restrictions, limitations, and protections. Quite popular in some countries. Welcome to a trade disrupted tit for tat world.

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Well no, but a deft (if a bit weird) dig nonetheless.

It has nothing to do with trade or an insistence on equivalent, or zero tariffs on trade, and everything to do with the usual shotgun application of consumer/patient protection by lovers of the administrative state and ever expanding bureaucratic control of all aspects of people's lives.

Boy, Robin, all these descriptors: isolationist, policy, discriminate. The simple fact is WM, for whatever reason, made a business decision not to comply with a beaurocratic pronouncement from Brussels.

I heard they are up for sale, well good luck new buyers because there is some dumb thinking going on here. You lot do realise there are American boaters outside of the walls (plenty in Europe even) that will also be blocked from Worst Marine. Still they are really only a boaty boutique these days not a proper outfit, so no matter.

It’s a bit old, but interesting article. To me- west marine has looked At the profits generated from EU sales and probably made a business decision that’s good for them. https://econsultancy.com/gdpr-which-websites-are-blocking-visitors-from-the-eu-2/

Robin said:

I heard they are up for sale, well good luck new buyers because there is some dumb thinking going on here. You lot do realise there are American boaters outside of the walls (plenty in Europe even) that will also be blocked from Worst Marine. Still they are really only a boaty boutique these days not a proper outfit, so no matter.

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Ummm, they sold for $338 million to a private equity group two years ago. I guess the new owners don't much care for your business, Robin. Probably not worth the trouble for them.

I have no wish to do business with them, Defender are just fine for anything I cannot better source locally. As already mentioned I only wanted to download a manual for a WM own brand VHF but found it elsewhere regardless. I could always set up a VPN showing me as in the USA or somewhere they will talk to, but life is too short and their offerings not that brilliant anymore.

On the face of it,Data Protection,global or otherwise,sounds very desirable.
Robin`s avatar doesn`t disclose a possibly relevant country of residence.
In point may be the current issues between Europe and the UK.
Fortunately,as in life generally, if A won`t deal with you but B will,all being sufficiently equal,you deal with B. Seems to have worked here.

West for sale AGAIN? They just sold and were finally getting a foot hold on the more serious boater that wanted more than a T shirt.

My business with them and probably gone up 10x because of their price matching and return policy.... never an issue. And with the price matching all I need to do is show them a competitors price on my Iphone...... works for internet sales, too, but a bit more awkward (just did that).

Amazon is still no 1 because of their return policy, Defender is no 2.... great but harder to deal with and hard to get good descriptions without a phone call but has a lot of odd ball stuff that hard to find elsewhere.

And Ive got my few local suppliers that give me a good price with certain OEMs, like Kohler and Merc.

Seevee said:

West for sale AGAIN? They just sold and were finally getting a foot hold on the more serious boater that wanted more than a T shirt.

My business with them and probably gone up 10x because of their price matching and return policy.... never an issue. And with the price matching all I need to do is show them a competitors price on my Iphone...... works for internet sales, too, but a bit more awkward (just did that).

Amazon is still no 1 because of their return policy, Defender is no 2.... great but harder to deal with and hard to get good descriptions without a phone call but has a lot of odd ball stuff that hard to find elsewhere.

And Ive got my few local suppliers that give me a good price with certain OEMs, like Kohler and Merc.

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+1 on West Marine price matching. Their policies are making me appreciate them again.

Montgomery group slashed corporate and let store managers have input to their inventory. & price match. All for the good locally anyway. And they're hiring people who have some boating experience again.

"The simple fact is WM, for whatever reason, made a business decision not to comply with a beaurocratic pronouncement from Brussels."

Sounds like what the voters of GB are attempting to do.

FF said:

"The simple fact is WM, for whatever reason, made a business decision not to comply with a beaurocratic pronouncement from Brussels."

Sounds like what the voters of GB are attempting to do.

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The EU brought in new rules that all EU countries MUST AND DO comply with, including UK which has not left yet and sees sense in the new rules anyway. We are talking about privacy rules here BTW not banning sales. Some of us, me included do not appreciate companies like Google, Facetwat etc tracking our every click for their own nefarious purposes ( like demographics of voters for example, think election tweaking).

Robin said:

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We have detected that you are visiting us from a country with Global Data Protection restrictions (GDPR). Due to requirements placed upon West Marine as a result of Global Data Protection Regulation, we are not permitting internet traffic to our website from certain countries in order to avoid any violations. No tracking or performance measurement cookies were served with this page."


THIS IS WEST MARINE. FEB 2019. THEIR LOSS IS DEFENDER'S GAIN.



SHORT SIGHTED OR WHAT??

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Seems a non event. Business 101 at work in the electronics era. I too like what WM has been doing of recent.

The challenge here is....IS West Marine in compliance or out of Compliance? How do we now other vendors are in compliance with EU regulations as opposed to simply ignoring the country of the web visitor? Not prohibiting access doesn't necessarily mean they are complying. WM may have been operating within an implementation window, which has since closed. For all we know they are working on becoming compliant.

It's really hard to vilify one and praise another without any concrete facts about what is actually going on.

Greetings,
Mr. S. "It's really hard to vilify one and praise another without any concrete facts about what is actually going on." Apparently, to me, at least, this is an all too common aspect of human nature that has become second nature in today's world. Gone, I fear, is critical thinking. This is not a phenomenon in any single country.

Hence the success of "fake news" and the majority of the great mass of the unwashed eagerly following Chicken Little...

Shrew said:

The challenge here is....IS West Marine in compliance or out of Compliance? How do we now other vendors are in compliance with EU regulations as opposed to simply ignoring the country of the web visitor? Not prohibiting access doesn't necessarily mean they are complying. WM may have been operating within an implementation window, which has since closed. For all we know they are working on becoming compliant.

It's really hard to vilify one and praise another without any concrete facts about what is actually going on.

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One could ignore these rules out of the EU, but the penalties are gnarly. From memory, $200k per violation? In any case, having dealt with bringing a web platform into compliance, I can tell you that it can be a close call, cost/benefit wise, whether it is worth the effort to comply. Related to that, if you visit churches in the EU, you'll see a lot burned out lights high up off the ground. The reason is that the safety regulations passed by the EU bureaucrats when you get over six feet or so, require scaffolding, and multiple hands so many Church's can't afford to casually change a light bulb, so don't.

??

First, as to being for sale. Every company acquired by a private equity company is for sale from the date of acquisition. The intent is to one day resell the company.

Now, the fine is actually up to 20 million Euro or 4% of your previous year's sales. We brought over 300 sites into compliance fairly easily but we did have to appoint someone to be our Data Protection Officer and immediately report any breach of user privacy. Obviously, major retailers have encountered breaches and, in the past, almost always waited too long to make it known. Then some sites and software are designed in such a way as to be contrary to the entire restrictions. Boat E-Cards were an example. All the linking of AC with different software was a challenge and took a little work, because you're sharing information with another company. Now, privacy, most major retailers already had good programs in place and sharing of data with third parties had been stopped. Related entities are a challenge for some.

One issue some retailers faced and West could be one was requiring you to register in order to make a purchase. Most work around that by allowing you to purchase as a guest. The other challenge is the ability to print for you all the data gathered on you. Should be easy with any decent e-commerce software.

WM may be better off getting into compliance with GDPR. This law requires companies that collect data of EU citizens to comply. On Jan 1 2020, California puts into effect the CCPA privacy act with some similarities. This law passed last year. What will WM do then?

Mark P said:

WM may be better off getting into compliance with GDPR. This law requires companies that collect data of EU citizens to comply. On Jan 1 2020, California puts into effect the CCPA privacy act with some similarities. This law passed last year. What will WM do then?

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I would imagine they're working on it, some sort of plan. Of course I would have thought they would have had it now. I think back to 2000 and all the panic but everyone made it. It just wasn't optional. Ultimately, neither is this.

BandB said:

One issue some retailers faced and West could be one was requiring you to register in order to make a purchase. Most work around that by allowing you to purchase as a guest. The other challenge is the ability to print for you all the data gathered on you. Should be easy with any decent e-commerce software.

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Registered or not, they still have to know who to ship the stuff to, so if you're going to sell to EU citizens, you're stuck complying.

Delfin said:

Registered or not, they still have to know who to ship the stuff to, so if you're going to sell to EU citizens, you're stuck complying.

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Easy to convert that information so it's not accessible beyond processing that order. Not the route we would choose, but some have. It all then just shows up under customer "Guest". Retrievable by order number but not by name beyond a limited time.