Member terms and conditions and privacy policy
Terms and conditions
We look forward to serving you as a Costco member. Your membership and the privileges and conditions of membership are described below.
Membership
- Membership is available to all qualifying* individuals 18 years of age and over.
- Costco reserves the right to refuse membership to any applicant and membership is revocable on notice to the member without cause. Your membership fee will be returned in full if your membership is revoked.
- Membership is subject to any and all rules adopted by Costco including our privacy policies and practices, and they may be amended from time to time. Any changes to these Privileges and Conditions of Membership will be posted online and at the membership counter. If you are not happy with any of the changes we make, you may cancel your membership and receive a full refund in accordance with our returns policy.
Membership Cards and Fees
- Membership fee is for a period of twelve (12) months from the date of enrolment of the primary cardholder and entitles you to acquire products and services at any Costco location worldwide.
- Your card is valid at any Costco warehouse worldwide.
- You will be requested to show your card when entering Costco warehouses and when checking out at the register.
- Your membership card must have a card number and your photo to be valid. If your photo is not on your card, stop by the membership counter to have your photo taken and added to your card. If your card is ever lost or stolen, your picture prevents unauthorised use.
- Report lost or stolen cards to any Costco membership counter immediately, or email membership@costco.co.nz.
- Memberships may be terminated at Costco's discretion. Cards remain the property of Costco and must be returned upon request. Your membership fee will be returned in full if your membership is terminated.
- Cards are not transferable.
- A free household Card is available to a primary cardholder's spouse, domestic partner, or immediate family member over the age of 18 and living at the same address. Household Cardholders will be asked to present proof that they live at the same address as the primary cardholder.
- You may bring up to two guests into the warehouse each time you shop. Though only Costco Members may purchase items. This includes electronic and cash payments.
- You will be required to show your membership card when entering any Costco warehouse and when checking out at a payment register. Photographs of membership cards cannot be used in warehouses in lieu of an actual membership card.
- Gold Star Members may purchase items in one transaction.
- Business Members may purchase items in two transactions.
Renewing your Membership
- When you enroll as a member on our website, you will be registered for annual auto-renewal of your membership. You can choose to ‘opt-out’ of the annual auto-renewal when you enroll and you can ‘turn off’ your annual auto-renewal at any time through your online membership account on our website.
* To qualify for membership, you must satisfy the following criteria:
- (1) you must provide a valid photo ID and proof of current address in New Zealand;
- (2) you must not have had your Costco membership revoked by Costco previously; and
- (3) if you are applying for a business membership, you must provide an NZBN.
- If you are the primary cardholder and are registered for auto-renewal:
- the payment method you use when you initially become a member (e.g., credit or debit card details) will be saved in your online membership account (this information is held by our payment services provider and not by Costco);
- your auto-renewal date will be each anniversary of the last day of the calendar month of your enrolment;
- we will send you a reminder before your auto-renewal date (to give you time to opt-out of renewal if you would prefer to do so);
- your membership will auto-renew on the auto-renewal date and we will process Costco’s then-current annual membership fee using your saved payment method;
- your membership will auto-renew for all cardholders on your membership at that time; and
- the primary cardholder must authorise any changes to your selected auto-renewal option.
- If you are not registered for annual auto-renewal of your membership (for example, if you register at a Costco warehouse or if you have chosen to ‘opt out’ of auto-renewal on our website):
- we will send you a renewal notice at 60 days before expiry of your membership;
- renewal fees are due no later than the last day of the month your membership expires;
- you may remit your renewal fee online at www.costco.co.nz or at any New Zealand Costco warehouse;
- you will need to complete membership renewal for all cardholders on your membership when the renewal is processed; and
- if your membership is renewed within 2 months after expiration of the current membership year, it will be extended for 12 months from the expiration date. If your memberships is renewed more than 2 months after such expiration it will be extended for 12 months from the renewal date.
- You will not receive new membership cards each year.
Cardholder changes
- The primary cardholder must authorise any cardholder changes, including additions or deletions, and is responsible for the membership.
Product and Membership Guarantee
On Membership: We will refund your membership fee in full at any time if you are dissatisfied.
On Merchandise: We guarantee your satisfaction on every product we sell, and will refund your purchase price, with the following exceptions:
- Certain Electronic goods: For electronic goods, Costco Wholesale’s return policy for change of mind only applies for 90 days from the date the member receives the following goods: televisions, projectors, major household appliances (including refrigerators, freezers, rangehoods, cooktops, microwaves, dishwashers, washers and dryers), computers, touchscreen tablets, smart watches, cameras, aerial cameras (including drones) security cameras, camcorders, MP3 players, cellular phones and portable air conditioners.
- Gift Cards: Gift Cards cannot be refunded or returned, unless otherwise required by law (including ACL)
- Diamonds: 1.00ct or larger: Members returning a diamond over 1.00ct must also present all original paperwork (IGI and/or GIA certificates) at which time they will receive a Jewelry Credit Memo. Refunds will be approved upon positive verification. This process may require 2-5 business days.
- Watches: Refunds on all watches will be approved upon positive verification. This process may require 2-5 business days.
- Bullion: Our return policy for change of mind does not apply to bullion purchases due to the price and market volatility. The purchase of bullion is instead covered by the terms of the purchase agreement signed at the time of purchase.
- Special Order Kiosk and Custom Installed Programs: Custom product(s) manufactured to our member’s personal and unique specifications cannot be returned or refunded, except for warranty repair/replacement due to failure to meet specifications.
- Costco may in future restrict its return policy regarding other products. Restrictions will be shown at time of purchase.
Nothing in this Guarantee, or any other restrictions at the time of purchase, limits any rights or remedies that you may have under the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993.
General Policies
- Members are welcome to bring their children and up to two guests into the warehouse, however, only Costco members may purchase and pay for items.
- Parents are responsible for their children and should not leave them unattended.
- Members are responsible for their guests and other family members Costco reserves the right to inspect any container, backpack, briefcase, etc., upon entering or leaving the warehouse.
- To ensure that all members are correctly charged for the merchandise purchased, all receipts and merchandise will be checked as you leave the warehouse.
- Shirts and shoes are required.
- Liquor and tobacco sales cannot be made to minors.
- For information on our return's policy, see www.costco.co.nz/return-refund-policy
Privacy
- We respect your right to privacy and our Privacy Policy outlines our policies and practices in detail (including in relation to your payment information). Please obtain a copy from our membership counter, or view/ read the privacy policy at www.costco.co.nz/privacy-policy.
Enquiries
Privacy Policy
Last updated: June, 2022
This Privacy Policy explains how Costco Wholesale New Zealand Limited (“Costco”, “we” or “us”) processes personal information about you when you visit our warehouse stores, purchase products or services from us, use our website (located at www.costco.co.nz), contact customer service, or otherwise interact with us. We encourage you to review our Privacy Policy from time to time to make sure you understand how we process personal information about you and the choices you have with respect to such processing.
By providing us with personal information, or using our websites or other services, you authorise us to collect, use and disclose your personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.
Please note that we may provide additional or different privacy notices in connection with certain products, services or programs. This privacy policy does not apply to any third party services or websites that display or reference a different privacy policy. In addition, personal information that you provide when you visit Costco’s warehouses or websites outside of New Zealand are governed by the privacy policies of the Costco entities in those other countries.
We may change this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we make changes we will notify you by revising the date at the top of this policy (see further detail in Section 12 below).
Your ability to make informed choices about how we process personal information is important to us. This Privacy Policy describes how you can make choices about how we use or otherwise process your personal information.
1. WHAT IS PERSONAL INFORMATION?
Personal information is information related to an identified or identifiable individual.
2. WHAT PERSONAL INFORMATION IS COLLECTED BY COSTCO?
We collect information, including personal information, when you sign up for or renew your Costco membership, visit a warehouse, place an order, sign up for membership or shop online, make a purchase, return or exchange, sign up for certain products and services such as rebates, a Costco cash card or credit card, and other business and consumer services, access and use our website or kiosks, sign up to receive new notifications or other communications from us including marketing and promotional materials from us, participate in a survey or promotion, enter into a contest or sweepstakes, fill out a form, communicate with us via email or phone, or otherwise interact with us. We automatically collect information about you when you access or use our services or do business with us.
For the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy, this may include the following personal information:
- Identification information, such as your name, title, marital status, photograph (for your membership card or certain regulated purchases), date of birth, identity document (national identification card, drivers’ license or other proof of age, foreigner identification number, passport or residence permit, and/or tax identification number, NZBN (New Zealand Business Number), and of course your Costco membership number.
- Contact data, such as your address, email address, home phone number, and mobile phone or other phone number for contact purposes.
- Transactional data, which includes information about individual purchases and returns, payment information, product details, date and locations of the purchase, account notes recorded in connection with your transactions with us or other questions or issues and other information you provide to us in connection with a transaction.
- Electronic data, which includes the IP address used to access our website, mobile device ID, type of browser, and browsing and usage activity on our website. We automatically collect electronic data when you access and use our website using cookies, pixels and local storage. We collect information about the computer or mobile device you use to access our Services. This may include the hardware model, operating system and version, unique device identifiers, and mobile network information. We may use this information to facilitate your online purchases or personalize your shopping experience.
- CCTV data. We use cameras in and around warehouses to capture video and images. We may use these videos and images for security, fraud, loss prevention, law enforcement or incident reporting, or other operational purposes, such as analyzing traffic patterns.
- Location information, about your general location when you access or use the Services, visit our warehouses, or turn on your Bluetooth, Wi-Fi or other geolocation functionality on your device. If you enable location services on your device, we collect more precise geolocation information. This lets us serve you location-based ads, notify you of products and services available in your area, and provide location-based services or functions. You can opt-out of the collection of precise geolocation information at any time.
You are not required to provide any personal information to us but if you choose not to it might affect our ability to grant you membership or provide other goods and services to you. We’ll let you know if that is the case.
3. WHAT PERSONAL INFORMATION DOES COSTCO RECEIVE FROM OTHER SOURCES?
We may receive information about you from other sources that we may combine or link with information we have about you. For example, we may receive information from:
- Primary Accountholders. When a Costco member adds additional household members to his or her membership account, we collect names, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses from the member about these individuals. In addition, we collect information that the primary account member has access to, such as transaction history on the membership including purchases by household members. If you provide us with, or authorise us to collect, personal information about another person (such as an additional household member), you confirm that they have authorised you to provide us, or authorise us to collect, their personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy and that you have informed them of their rights to access and request correction of their personal information, as set out in Section 10 below.
- Other Companies You Engage With. In some cases, we also receive personal information, such as contact information, from third parties that support us with specific processes, such as records correction, fraud prevention, delivery services and the offering of special promotions or products. We combine this data with the other personal information we collect directly about you to operate our business, including administer your membership, provide you with and deliver products and services, prevent fraud, provide special offers and promotions and ensure our records are accurate and up-to-date.
- Vendors, Product Suppliers and Service Providers. We receive various types of information, including identification, contact and transactional information from our vendors, product suppliers and service providers.
We use this information to help us operate our business, including correcting or updating our records, preventing fraud, delivering products and services and providing special offers and promotions.
4. HOW DOES COSTCO USE PERSONAL INFORMATION?
In general, we use personal information to operate our business, process your requests and transactions, provide you with high-quality service, tell you about opportunities we think will be of interest and administer your membership account. The specific purposes for which we process your personal information are set out below:
- To create, maintain and renew your membership;
- To provide products and services to you, which includes processing payments and rebates, process, fulfil, ship and deliver your orders, sending notifications (via email or SMS/text message) related to your purchases, and processing exchanges and returns;
- To respond to queries or complaints from you, including if you contact our customer service team;
- To tell you about our membership programs and benefits and provide you with membership benefits, news, product recommendations, promotional information, contests, sweepstakes, coupons, offers and other marketing communications about Costco and third-party products and services via email, direct mail and phone calls (and other electronic means). The marketing communications we send you may be tailored based on your membership account details and purchase history so we can provide you with information and offers we think will be of particular interest to you. For more information about opting out of promotional communications from us, see “Direct marketing opt-out” in Section 11);
- To communicate with you (including by electronic means) about your experience with us and the products and services you purchase, which includes sending you information about your orders (e.g., email and SMS notifications related to status, shipping, delivery and pick-up), cash card balance, security alerts, support and administrative messages, surveys and information about product quality issues;
- To communicate with you about product recalls and provide other health, safety and consumer protection notices;
- To comply with our legal obligations, including our tax obligations, those related to the prevention of fraud and money laundering, and those required for you to benefit from rights recognised by law;
- To analyse your use of our website, including to monitor and analyse trends, usage and activities in connection with our services and warehouses and to personalize your online experience based on your preferences, interests and browsing and purchasing history;
- For internal management purposes, including planning, resource allocation, policy development, quality improvement, monitoring, audit, evaluation and reporting, claims and risk management, improving your experience, determining your satisfaction and for any other purpose permitted by law;
- For legal, security and safety reasons. This may include protecting our rights and the rights of our customers and members. To detect, investigate and prevent fraudulent transactions and other illegal activities and protect against harm to the rights, property or safety of Costco and our members, customers, employees or the public, including by using video surveillance systems, addressing legal and regulatory compliance obligations; and
- For any other purpose described to you at the time the information is collected, authorised by you or permitted by law.
5. HOW DOES COSTCO SHARE PERSONAL INFORMATION WITH THIRD PARTIES?
We share personal information about you including with third parties as follows:
- Our Service Providers. We share personal information with companies that perform services for us (web hosting, information technology, payment processing, product fulfilment, product delivery and shipment, installation and warranty services, claims processing, direct mail and email distribution, marketing, and the provision of data analytics, claims management, loss adjustment, security, insurance, audit, accountancy, legal and advisory services). We share personal information to provide customer service and resolve complaints, identify, investigate and prevent fraudulent transactions, communicate with you, provide recall or emergency notices, analyse member activity, design and execute our marketing campaigns, administer our promotions and provide advertising services. Please note that since some of these service providers are located abroad, certain disclosures imply a transfer of your personal data outside New Zealand as described in Section 6.
- Third-Party Suppliers. We share personal information with companies that we partner with to provide you with certain products and services, such as optical and hearing aid suppliers and manufacturers or distributors who ship products directly to you. If you purchase, apply for or request certain products or services provided by a third party, we will share your name, membership number and other personal information as is necessary for the third party to deliver the product or service to you. We are not responsible for any additional information you provide directly to these third parties and encourage you to become familiar with their privacy and security practices and policies before disclosing any additional personal information to them. To the extent we offer a co-branded credit card, we may share your contact information and the aggregate amount of your Costco purchases with the relevant credit card provider.
- Primary Costco Account Holder. If you are a Costco member, each membership account has an individual primary account holder who is authorised to designate and remove add-on members and make other account management decisions. Please be aware that information about all activities occurring under the account, including transactions completed by add-on members, will be available to the primary account holder. Similarly each online subscription account has a primary subscriber; information relating to all activities occurring under the online account is available to the subscriber of record. If you designate an administrator for your account, we share contact information for account members with that administrator. If your employer purchased your membership, we may share your name, address and membership level with your employer.
- Third Party Services. We may offer you products and services provided by third parties, such as financial, travel and other business and consumer services ("Third Party Services"). If you purchase, apply for or request Third Party Services, information you provide will be shared with the third party providing the Third Party Service. See Section 9 for more details about Third Party Services.
- Our Affiliates and Entities that Belong to Costco's Corporate Group. We share personal information with our corporate affiliates. Since our affiliates are located abroad, please note that disclosures to certain affiliates require the transfer of your personal information outside New Zealand as described in Section 6.
- Fraud Control. Costco works with services providers and belongs to associations that share a limited amount of personal information for fraud control purposes, such as all or part of a payment card number, an IP address or a device ID.
- Compliance with Law. We also disclose personal information when we are permitted by law or where we are legally authorised or required to do so to comply with applicable law, regulations or legal process (including requests from authorities and courts), to respond to claims (including inquiries by you in connection with your purchases at Costco), or to protect the rights, property or personal safety of the Costco companies, our shoppers, members, our employees or the public.
- Corporate Transactions. Personal information may be disclosed or transferred as part of, or during negotiations of, any merger or sale of company assets or acquisition to third parties involved in such transactions.
- Business Customer Insights. There may be instances when we provide information relating to our business customers to various suppliers such as tobacco companies, so they can conduct market studies and other promotional activities. In the case of tobacco products, the information we provide is the business customer’s name, address, the brand name of the tobacco products purchased and the amount of tobacco products purchased.
- Consent. We also share personal information with third parties, other than those described above, when we have your consent to do so.
6. DOES COSTCO TRANSFER PERSONAL INFORMATION OUTSIDE NEW ZEALAND?
Your personal information will be transferred to countries outside of New Zealand. For example, we transfer personal information to our corporate affiliates, located in Australia, the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Mexico, for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy. We also transfer personal information to service providers that process and store personal information for us in the United States, Canada and other locations (as an example, Google and Microsoft process personal information for us in various data centre locations, including those listed at http://www.google.com/about/datacenters/inside/locations/ and https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/global-infrastructure/regions/, respectively).
If we do send personal information overseas either directly or via a third party, we will ensure that any such transfer of personal information will only be undertaken in compliance with applicable laws, including the Privacy Act.
7. HOW DOES COSTCO PROTECT PERSONAL INFORMATION?
We take reasonable steps to protect personal information from misuse, interference and loss, and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. However, we are unable to guarantee the security of your personal information. If you have reason to believe that your interaction with us is no longer secure, please let us know.
With regard to credit card information, we are required to process and maintain payment card information in accordance with the information security rules adopted by credit card companies such as Visa, MasterCard and American Express. If you make a payment on our website, our payment provider will process your payment. Our current provider is Cybersource (a Visa payment gateway). Cybersource will process your payment information, in accordance with its Privacy Statement available at https://usa.visa.com/legal/privacy-policy.html . Your payment card number is not held by Costco and is never revealed to us.
8. HOW LONG DOES COSTCO RETAIN PERSONAL INFORMATION?
Costco will retain your personal information for as long as necessary to achieve the purposes for which such data was collected, unless a longer retention period is required under applicable law. For example, we need to keep records about our members’ purchase histories in order to honour our returns policy. If you want to return an item you bought from us several years ago, we need to be able to confirm when and where you bought it.
9. THIRD PARTY SERVICES
If you purchase, apply for or request Third Party Services, information you provide will be shared with the third party offering the Third Party Service. In turn, information you provide to these third parties may in turn be shared with us along with information about your use of the particular Third Party Service. We are not responsible for any additional information you provide directly to these third parties, and we encourage you to become familiar with their privacy and security practices and policies before disclosing information to them.
10. WHAT PERSONAL INFORMATION RIGHTS DO YOU HAVE?
Subject to certain limitations and exceptions, you have a number of legal rights in relation to the processing of your personal information, including:
- A right of access: You have the right to request access to, or a copy of, the personal information we process about you.
- A right of rectification: You have the right to request that we correct or supplement inaccurate or incomplete personal information we process about you.
To exercise these rights, please use the contact details in Section 13 below.
11. DIRECT MARKETING OPT-OUT
We give you the opportunity to opt-out of receiving certain information or to request that certain information not be shared with third parties. Your choice to opt-out will not apply to other people, including those on your membership.
If you do not want to receive promotional information or information about member services, you can: (a) visit us at our Membership desk at any Costco warehouse location; or (b) contact us at the details set out in section 13 below.
For emails, you also have the option of utilising the unsubscribe facility.
Please note, even if you opt-out of communication with Costco, Costco may use your contact details, including your e-mail address, to alert you about product recalls or safety issues.
12. CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY
We reserve the right to change this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we make changes, we will notify you by revising the date at the top of this policy. The updated version of this Privacy Policy will take effect immediately upon such notice. We may also take additional steps to bring the changes to your attention, including by notifying you directly. We will update you of any material changes as required by law.
13. QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS
If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy or would like to contact us for any reason, including inquiries or complaints about the handling of your personal information, please contact us at:
Costco Wholesale New Zealand Limited
2 Gunton Drive
Westgate
Auckland 0814
New Zealand
membership@costco.co.nz
+64 9 870 4700
