Costco Wholesale New Zealand

Website Terms & Conditions

Last updated 14 October, 2022

These Terms and Conditions apply to the use of Costco’s websites, including www.costco.co.nz (the “websites”), the Costco NZ mobile application (the “app”), and social media sites operated by or for Costco (each a “site”, and collectively the “sites”).

The sites are the property of Costco Wholesale New Zealand Limited (“Costco”, “we” or “us”) and/or other Costco Companies. We provide you access and use of the sites in accordance with these Terms and Conditions, our Privacy Policy and all related policies and terms and conditions that we notify to you from time to time (collectively, the "Site Terms").

It is important that you read the Site Terms carefully. Each time you access the websites and/or download or use the app, you are deemed to confirm that you have read, understood and agree to be bound by the Site Terms.

In the Site Terms, references to “Costco Companies” means the group of companies of which we are part, in New Zealand and overseas, including (without limitation) Costco Wholesale Corporation.

A. Limitations on Usage, Licence and Access

The use of the sites are governed by the laws of New Zealand. The laws of your jurisdiction may be more or less strict than the laws that apply to the sites. If you access the sites from outside New Zealand you do so at your own risk and are responsible for compliance with the laws of your jurisdiction.

To use the sites you must be 18 years of age or over. Please refer to Section G for more information in relation to the use of the sites by minors.

If you meet the above requirements, we grant you a limited licence to make personal use only of the sites. Such grant does not include, without limitation: (a) any resale or commercial use of the sites, or any materials on the sites including, but without limitation to, trademarks, design, product description, HTML text, graphics, other files, photographs, codes, software layout, designs forms and the selection and arrangement thereof (collectively “Site Materials”); (b) modification, adaptation, translation, reverse engineering, de-compilation, disassembly or conversion into human readable form any of the Site Materials not intended to be so read, including use of or directly viewing the underlying HTML or other code from the sites except as interpreted and displayed in a web browser; (c) copying, imitating, mirroring, reproducing, distributing, publishing, downloading, displaying, performing, posting or transmitting any Site Materials (including any trademarks) in any form or by any means, including, but not limited to, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise; (d) the collection and use of any product listings or descriptions; (e) making modifications to or other derivative uses of the sites and any Site Materials; or (f) use of any data mining, bots, spiders, automated tools or similar data gathering and extraction methods, directly or indirectly, on the Site Materials or to collect any information from the sites or any other user of the sites. Except as noted above, you are not granted any right or licence by implication, estoppel, or otherwise in or under a patent, trademark, copyright, database right or other intellectual property right belonging to the Costco Companies or any third party. You may not use any meta-tags or any other ‘hidden text’ utilising any name, trademark, or product name of the Costco Companies without our express written consent. We may terminate this licence and/or your use of or access to the sites at any time if you breach or permit any breach of these Site Terms. Such actions by you may also breach applicable laws, including but without limitation to: copyright laws, trademark laws, communications, regulations and statutes. We reserve the right to enforce our legal rights.

B. Security

We reserve the right to take any and all action as necessary or reasonable to maintain the security of the sites. If you use a password to access the sites you must keep it confidential and secure. If you become aware of any unauthorised use of your password or account, or any other breach of security in relation to a site, you must notify us immediately.

We reserve the right to take any necessary action to maintain the security of the sites and your account, including without limitation terminating your account, locking your account, requiring a reset of your password, or requesting information to authorise or cancel transactions on your account.

While we take prudent steps to protect the sites, we cannot protect your information outside of the sites. For example, if we communicate with you electronically but outside of the sites, you acknowledge that the communication may not be transmitted and/or stored securely, and may be viewed by others. You acknowledge that by requesting information by e-mail, we may transmit it to you and store it in an unencrypted form. Similarly e-mails you send to us may also be unencrypted, and thus may be viewed by others. In no event will we be held liable to you for any liabilities or damages resulting from or arising out of any action or inaction of Costco under this provision.

We have put into place reasonable technical, contractual, administrative and physical security measures in an effort to protect personal information from loss, misuse or alteration while it is under our control. Personal information we collect is stored electronically and may be combined with other information. We also use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) software, which encrypts information you input during online transactions. SSL Certificate details can be found by clicking the padlock icon next to the URL. We may request proof of identity before we disclose personal information to you in conjunction with our security procedures. With regard to credit card data, we are required to process and maintain payment card data in accordance with the data security rules adopted by credit card companies such as Visa and Mastercard. 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.

In some cases, personal information may be transferred outside New Zealand in order to carry out essential processes. Costco ensures that at all times personal information transferred outside New Zealand is maintained with at least the same level of security that is required in New Zealand. By submitting personal information to Costco you consent to the transfer and storage of your personal information outside New Zealand.

Please see our Privacy Policy for more information on how we use, collect, store and disclose personal information.

C. Intellectual Property

• Ownership
  All Site Materials are owned by us or other Costco Companies, and are protected by NZ and international copyright, trademark and other intellectual property laws.
• Trademarks
  COSTCO, COSTCO WHOLESALE, COSTCO.CO.NZ, KIRKLAND SIGNATURE (and other trademarks owned by Costco), and their respective designs and logos are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Costco Companies and may not be copied, imitated or used, in whole or in part, without our prior written permission.
  In addition all page headers, custom graphics, button icons and scripts are trademarks of, or licensed by, Costco and may not be copied, imitated, or used, in whole or in part, without our prior written permission. All other trademarks, registered trademarks, product names and company names or logos mentioned herein or on the website or the app are the property of their respective owners.
• Restrictions on Use
  Except as stated in the Site Terms, none of the materials and intellectual property described in these Site Terms may be copied, reproduced, distributed, republished, downloaded, displayed, posted or transmitted in any form or by any means, including, but not limited to, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without our prior written permission or the respective intellectual property rights owner.

You may electronically copy and print portions of the sites for the sole purpose of using materials it contains for informational and non-commercial, personal use only. Any other use of the materials in the sites, including any commercial use, reproduction for purposes other than described above, modification, distribution, republication, display, or performance without our prior written permission is strictly prohibited.

D. Software

Any software, including any files, images incorporated in or generated by the software, and data accompanying the software (collectively “Software”), that may be made available on this website is licensed to you on a non-exclusive and limited basis. The Costco Companies shall retain full and complete title and all intellectual property rights to Software. You shall not copy, distribute, sell, modify, decompile, reverse engineer, disassemble or create modified copyright works or other derivative works from any Software.

E. Hyperlinks

• Links to the website
  You are granted a limited, non-exclusive right to create a hypertext link to the home page only of this website, provided such link does not portray any of the Costco Companies or any of their products and services in a false, misleading, derogatory, or otherwise defamatory manner. This limited right may be revoked at any time. You may not use, frame or utilise framing techniques to enclose any Costco trademark, logo or other proprietary information of the Costco Companies, including the images found at this website, the content of any text or the layout/design of any page, or form contained on a page without our express written consent. All other linking is prohibited without our prior consent. Except as noted above, you are not conveyed any right or licence by implication, estoppel, or otherwise to any patent, trademark, copyright, design right, database right or other intellectual property right of the Costco Companies or any third party.
• Third Party Links
  We may provide links and access to third party websites who we may allow to offer goods, information and/or services. We do not monitor or assume responsibility for the content of third parties' statements or websites. Accordingly, we do not endorse or adopt these websites or any information they contain. We make no representations or warranties whatsoever regarding such third party websites and accept no responsibility for the quality, content, nature, accuracy or reliability of websites accessible by hyperlink from the website or the app or otherwise linked to the sites.

F. Your Responsibilities; Enforcement; User Content

You agree not to use the sites: (a) engage in or encourage a criminal offence, breach the rights of any party, or otherwise create liability or breach any national, or international law; (b) impersonate any person or entity or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity; or (c) disseminate any harmful content of any kind, including without limitation, viruses, Trojan horses, worms, time bombs, zombies, bots or any other computer programming routines that may damage, spy-on, interfere with, surreptitiously intercept or expropriate any system, programme, data or personal information held by Costco.

All access to and use of the sites are governed by and subject to the Site Terms. We may access at any time and use internally for any lawful purpose information stored on our systems, including the content of any e-mails or other communications. Consistent with our Privacy Policy and data protection legislation, we may disclose such information to any third party including law enforcement agencies to protect our rights, property or staff in response to legal process, or in a good faith belief that such disclosure is justified or required in an emergency situation.

We may investigate any reported breach of our Site Terms or complaints and take any action that we deem appropriate. We have the right, but not the obligation, to carry out this process. We can carry out such actions, including but not limited to: issue a warning, suspend or terminate your access and use of the sites and related services at any time. Costco takes no responsibility and assumes no liability for any content posted or uploaded by any third party, or for any mistakes, defamation, slander, libel, omissions, falsehoods, obscenity, pornography or profanity you may encounter on the sites.

If you apply to be a Costco Member, you confirm that any information you provide to us is current, accurate and complete. You must inform us of any changes to that information.

• Responsibility for your Conduct
  You agree to reimburse Costco and its employees, agents and representatives for amounts paid in compensation to any third party arising out of your misuse of the sites, or your breach of any Site Terms or of any rights of a third party. Indirect or attempted breaches of these Site Terms or any policy, and actual or attempted breaches by a third party on behalf of a user of the sites will be considered breaches of these Site Terms by such user.
• User Content
  A site may allow you and other users to create, post, store and share content, including messages, text, photos, videos, software and other materials (collectively, “User Content”). Except for the license you grant below, you retain all rights in and to your User Content, as between you and Costco.
  You grant Costco a perpetual, irrevocable, nonexclusive, royalty-free, worldwide, fully paid, and sublicensable license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, publicly perform and display your User Content and any name, username or likeness provided in connection with your User Content in all media formats and channels now known or later developed without compensation to you.
  When you post or otherwise share User Content on or through a site, you understand that your User Content and any associated information (such as your username or profile photo) may be visible to others.
  You may not create, post, store or share any User Content that violates these Terms or for which you do not have all the rights necessary to grant us the license described above. You represent and warrant that your User Content, and Costco’s use of such content as permitted by these Terms, will not violate any rights of or cause injury to any person or entity.
  We do not monitor or otherwise supervise the sites or any User Content. Although Costco has no obligation to screen, edit or monitor User Content, we may delete or remove User Content at any time and for any reason with or without notice.
  You must ensure that all User Content you submit to a site complies with all applicable laws, whether local or international, and that you otherwise comply with this clause in relation to all such content. If you have any concerns in relation to any User Content please contact us using the details available on our website.

G. Minors

We do not knowingly permit any person under 18 years of age to use the sites. If you are under 18 years of age, you must not attempt to submit personal information via the sites or otherwise use the sites.

H. Costco Membership Cards

You may use the sites to apply for a Costco membership card and the Costco Member Privileges and Conditions will apply.

If your application is accepted, you can obtain your membership card by visiting the membership counter of your local Costco warehouse.

I. Payment

All prices on this site and app are in New Zealand dollars. Costco accepts payment on the sites only by the following methods: Visa and Mastercard. Some electronic transactions may require extended processing in addition to credit card authorisation. We reserve the right to stop accepting credit cards from one or more issuers. For more information regarding payment types accepted in our warehouses, please click here.

You will be notified by a Costco customer service representative if extended processing is required to complete your transaction request. All card payments are subject to authorisation by your card issuer. All credit cards must be valid, authentic and you must be authorised to use them.

Your credit card will be charged once your transaction has been accepted. If you choose to pay by PayPal, your payment will be taken immediately. If your payment is not authorised, or for any other reason we are not able to take payment when we attempt to do so, your application will be declined. For more information

For further information about the personal information that we collect in order to process payments, please refer to our Privacy Policy.

J. Information on the Sites

We take precautions to ensure that products and services are accurately described on the Sites and are available at the specified prices. However, please note that, subject to applicable law, we:

• reserve the right to change the products and services advertised or offered for sale via a Site without notice, the prices or specifications of such products and services, and any promotional offers and any other Site materials at any time and from time to time without any notice or liability to you or any other person;
• cannot guarantee that products or services advertised or offered for sale on a Site will be available when ordered or thereafter;
• reserve the right to limit quantities sold or made available for sale; and
• reserve the right not to process orders, and to revise orders or recover funds where the price or other material information on a Site, or related to the products or services available on a Site, is inaccurate or when we consider there has been a material error or breach of these Terms (and where we do not process an order under this provision we will notify you and will not charge you for the order).

K. Disclaimers

The sites, and the materials provided on the sites, are provided on an "as is" basis and, to the extent permitted by applicable law, without warranties of any kind, either express or implied. Costco disclaims, to the extent permitted by applicable law, all warranties, conditions and terms express or implied, including, but not limited to, any warranties that might be implied as to the compatibility of the sites with your computer equipment, software or telecommunications links, or as to the fitness for any particular purpose of the sites, or the content on the sites. Costco does not represent or warrant that the sites will be available, that the sites services will meet your requirements or that materials in the sites are accurate, complete, reliable, current, or error-free.

Costco does not represent or warrant that the sites or its server(s) are free of viruses or other harmful components, even if Costco or its authorised representatives have been advised of the possibility of such viruses or other harmful components and you are advised to use up-to-date commercially available virus screening software when accessing or otherwise using the sites. You expressly agree that use of the sites, including all content, data or software, distributed by, downloaded or accessed from or through the sites is at your sole risk.

Reference to any products, services, processes, or other information, by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, supplier, or otherwise does not constitute or imply endorsement, sponsorship or recommendation thereof by Costco.

L. Related Policies and Terms

Additional policies and terms and conditions may apply to use of the sites, including:

• Costco Privacy Policy; and
• For Costco Wholesale Members only, the provisions of the Member Privileges and Conditions.

Certain other, or amended, terms may apply in the case of particular goods or services, where indicated in the Site Terms or in the relevant part of the sites. Please review all relevant additional Site Terms.

M. Modification of Site Terms

We reserve the right to modify these Site Terms at our sole discretion from time to time and only we have the right to do so. You may not alter, exclude or add to the Site Terms, and any attempt to do so shall have no effect. If the Site Terms are changed, we will post the new terms on the website and note the date they were last updated. Any changes or modification will be effective upon posting of the Site Terms as revised. Your use of the website, the app, or other sites (as applicable) following the posting will constitute your acceptance of the new Site Terms.

N. Governing Law and Jurisdiction

These Site Terms shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of New Zealand and any applicable legal proceedings must be heard in the New Zealand courts.

O. Termination

We reserve the right, without notice and in our sole reasonable discretion, to terminate your licence to use the sites, and to block or prevent future access to and use of the sites if you breach any of the Site Terms or applicable law. Upon termination, these Site Terms shall still apply.

P. Severability and Waivers

If any provision of the Site Terms is found to be unlawful, void, or unenforceable, then that provision shall be deemed to be severed from the rest of the Site Terms and shall not affect the validity and enforceability of any and all remaining provisions.

No waiver by us shall be construed as a waiver of any proceeding or succeeding breach of any and all provisions documented within the Site Terms. All waivers shall be made in writing.

Q. Third Party Rights

For the purposes of the Contract and Commercial Law Act 2017, Part 2, Subpart 1 (Contract Privity), references in the Site Terms to Costco Companies are intended to confer a benefit on each Costco Company and may be relied upon and enforced by each Costco Company. However, amendments to the Site Terms do not require their consent. No other person who is not a party to the agreement between us created by the Site Terms shall have any right to enforce any of the Site Terms.

R. Contact Us

If you experience difficulties in using the website or the app or wish to report any matter relating to this website or the app, please contact us using the details available on our website.