Understanding Power Tool Maintenance: Tips for Longevity

October 7, 2023

Understanding Power Tool Maintenance: Tips for Longevity

Power tools will naturally get worn and damaged over time with every use. For this reason, every professional needs to look after their tools in the best way to keep them effective. In this article, we look at some of the top maintenance tips that ensure your power tools last longer and are more efficient.

Why Power Tool Maintenance Is Important

Power tools are built to withstand harsh environments, grueling tasks, and long hours. Naturally, this will put some wear and tear on any tool. Whether it’s for business or home improvements of your own, the tools you use need to stay in shape.

Tools don’t exactly grow on trees which means having to replace worn-out equipment will put a dent in your wallet. Apart from expenses, needing to buy and replace tools constantly is also a strain on the environment itself.

Power tool manufacturing requires a large number of resources – from energy and raw materials to manpower and factory infrastructure. These all directly contribute to a detrimental impact on the environment. By maintaining your tools, you reduce the need to replace them which reduces the impact of tool manufacturing.

Common Mistakes Made Maintaining Tools

When it comes to tool maintenance, most people – even professionals – can get it wrong. While it may seem simple enough, there are a few common mistakes that can lead to serious tool damage or personal injury.

• Using the Wrong Tools

While everyone thinks that they know what they’re doing when it comes to using tools, it’s very easy to simply overstate your knowledge and use the wrong tool. The incorrect bits, blades, or accessories can lead to tool damage, property destruction, and injury. Do proper research into what tool your specific task needs to ensure the tool’s longevity and durability.

• Neglecting Specific Tool Maintenance

Tools all come with specific needs and maintenance requirements. This means that each tool will need distinct care and attention. Treating all your tools in the same way when it comes to maintenance can have adverse results where unique attention is needed. Ensure that you read the manual for each tool to know how to take care of its maintenance needs.

• Skimping on Replacement Parts

When a tool falters, most contractors will try to save money and time by ordering cheaper replacement parts. This leads to low-quality parts reducing the lifespan and performance of the tool itself and can risk further damage to the entire device. In the long run, you’ll be paying much more if you rely on cheap, low-grade replacements.

• Neglecting Routine Maintenance

For tools and equipment, preventative maintenance is the most ideal choice rather than corrective maintenance. Preventative maintenance is done while the tool is still functional and allows you to identify issues regularly. Routine maintenance is a form of this proactive approach and will help to catch any faulty parts, functions, or mechanics before any damage can be done.

• Rushing the Repair Process

While every job site is eager to get going after needing to repair a tool, cutting corners can cost you more than it can save you. Rushing your maintenance and ignoring protocols to quicken the process can lead to incomplete or ineffective repairs – causing tool failure and even more interruptions.

• Incorrect Storage

Once the job is done, you might be in a rush to get some rest at home. However, storing your tools incorrectly can cause more trouble for you the next day. Leaving tools out in the open can lead to a buildup of dust and moisture which can affect circuits in power tools and clog up gears. Loosely dumping all your tools together can also lead to damage, misplaced parts, and unintended wear.

Keep your tools stored in a cool, dry area away from moisture, dust, or direct sunlight. Use a secure toolbox with designated sections for each tool and ensure that the tools are out of reach from small children to prevent accidents or injury. This will also keep your tools neat, clean, and lasting longer.

How to Maintain Your Tools the Right Way

We’ve rounded up some of the tricks and tips on how to maintain your tools in the correct way to extend their lifespan and performance.

1. Follow the Manufacturer’s Instructions

Naturally, the manufacturer will know more about maintaining the tool than you do. Read all manuals and instructions and follow them exactly to maintain the tool properly. User manuals also give you tips on storage, cleaning, replacement centers, and warranty information.

2. Tighten Power Tool Bolts and Screws

Over time and with regular use of power tools, the screws and bolts that hold the tool together can come loose. Try to regularly tighten all the exposed screws to keep the device running smoothly.

3. Keep the Bits and Blades Sharp

A blunt blade can cause a power tool extreme stress and overwork the motor. Dull bits and blades also lead to operator fatigue and a generally shoddy job being done. Most manufacturers will recommend certified blade sharpening services of their own in the user manual but if they don’t you can always ask a local hardware or construction store for recommendations.

4. Cooling Down Heated Tools

Tools can overheat when they’re used for long periods or do extra strenuous work. This puts a lot of pressure on the tool and can cause performance issues, burnt-out motors, and damage to parts. Ensure that your tools have enough time to cool down between tasks to prevent overheating and extend their lifespan.

5. Cleaning Tools After Each Use

While you might think a quick blow to the blade is enough of a cleanup, most tools suffer buildup that affects performance and lifespan. Ensure that your tool is cleaned as directed by the user manual after every use to prevent dust, grime, and moisture buildup. Wipe the tool clean with a soft cloth – or a damp cloth depending on manufacturer instructions – to prevent damage. Do not use any harsh or corrosive chemicals such as bleach, chlorine, or paint thinners on the plastic parts of tools as this will damage them.

6. Lubricate Tools as Instructed

The moving parts of a tool need to be properly lubricated regularly. Some tools might require specific lubrication – remember to always follow the specific tool’s instructions. This prevents corrosion, overheating, and chafing.

7. Calibrate

Power tools rely on precision to be fully effective. This means that the tool needs to remain perfectly aligned at all times. In the tool’s user manual, there will be an outline of the time and recalibration method.

8. Power Tool Battery Care

While you can simply replace a battery, that can be expensive and damaging to the environment. Lithium-ion batteries are the usual choice for most power tools on the market. Ensure that the battery lasts longer by storing the tool at optimum temperatures as heat spikes and direct sunlight can damage batteries. Never let the battery die completely before recharging the tool and regularly clean the tool to prevent filtering issues.

Choosing the Right Brand for Longevity

DongCheng Tools has a long history of providing high-powered and great-quality tools that can keep up with any project’s demands. With powerful motors and advanced designs, the DongCheng power tool range is the ideal companion for endurance and reliability.

Choose a power tool brand that understands going the extra mile for precision, power, and passion. Visit www.DongCheng-Tools.com/eu today to find the perfect tool for the job.

Privacy Policy

Jiangsu Dongcheng Global Privacy Policy

LAST UPDATED: July 1, 2023

Scope. This Privacy Policy applies to information collected, used and disclosed by Jiangsu Dongcheng Import and Export Trade co.,Ltd. and its affiliates (collectively referred to as “DongCheng”) in connection with information that we collect: ● Through our websites, microsites, mobile sites operated by us from which you are accessing this Privacy Policy (the “Sites”), ● Through our social media pages and apps that we control from which you are accessing this Privacy Policy (collectively referred to as our “Social Media Pages”), ● Through HTML-formatted email messages that we send to you that link to this Privacy Policy (the “Email”), ● Offline such as when you visit our stores or retail kiosks, attend a tradeshow, or place an order or request for support over the phone.(the “Offline”) Collectively we consider the Sites, Social Media Pages, Email and Offline the “Services”. Please note that this Privacy Policy does not apply to any information processed by DongCheng in its capacity as a service provider on behalf of a business partner or customer, for example, when such a party provides us with information concerning their own customers or employees. DongCheng will process that information in accordance with that business partner or customer’s instructions and applicable law. This Privacy Policy answers the following questions: 1. What Personal Information does DongCheng collect about you? 2. How do we use the Personal Information we collect about you? 3. Does DongCheng share your Personal Information with third parties? 4. What Other Information about you does DongCheng collect? 5. How are our advertisements served on other websites and devices and what choices do you have? 6. What choices do you have over how we use and disclose your Personal Information? 7. How does DongCheng secure your Personal Information? 8. How can you access, change, or delete your Personal Information? 9. Third party services 10. Cross-border transfer 11. Retention period 12. Use of services by minors 13. Sensitive information 14. Third party payment services 15. Will this Privacy Policy change? 16. How can you contact DongCheng? 1. What Personal Information does DongCheng collect about you? “Personal Information” is information that identifies you as an individual or relates to an identifiable individual. We and our service providers may collect and combine Personal Information about you from a variety of sources, including: ● Through the Services, for example, when you sign up for a newsletter, marketing emails and other commercial electronic messages (e.g., on upcoming promotions, new products, etc.), register an account to access the Services (e.g. to register your products, to ask for support, to participate in our contests or competitions, to make inquiries regarding product warranties), or make a purchase, or through our Social Media Pages. ● From Other Sources. We receive your Personal Information from other sources, for example: o Publicly available databases, such as LinkedIn or local Trade or Industrial Associations’ registries. o Joint marketing partners, when they share the information with us, including: privately held marketing or survey / enquiry databases. o If you connect your social media account to your Services account, you will share certain Personal Information from your social media account with us, for example, your name, email address, photo, list of social media contacts, and any other information that may be or you make accessible to us when you connect your social media account to your Services account, depending on the preferences / choices you have selected within your social media account’s setting, or the opinions expressed (e.g., “Likes”) you have provided within our Social Media pages. We may generally collect the following types of Personal Information: ● Your Name ● Mailing address ● Email address ● Birthdate ● Telephone number ● Mobile phone number ● Postal/zip code, state/province, and country ● Username and password (related to your account) ● Purchase, order information and payment details ● Trade or profession ● Work or trade skill levels and experience ● Demographic information (for example number of household members, country of residence, age and gender) ● Information related to customer satisfaction surveys, customer requests or queries ● Purchasing habits and other information, including registration of products purchased ● Interests and hobbies ● Information on products you want, like or own ● Bank information (e.g. for special offers – reimbursement, warranty extension, prizes or contests) On certain Sites, we allow you to use your personal social media account, on social media sites (“Personal Social Media Account”), to provide Personal Information to us when you participate in certain features on our Sites. This Personal Information may include the following: ● Your name and/or nickname ● Profile picture ● Gender ● Networks ● User id ● List of friends and related contact details ● Language ● Video and photographs ● Birthdate ● Education ● Work history/Profession ● Address ● Interests/Hobbies ● “Likes” or online group membership ● Country ● Opinions expressed (e.g. when replying around the satisfaction about one of our products) It is also possible that we will be able to continue collecting this information from your Personal Social Media Accounts should the information be revised by you later. We need to collect Personal Information in order to provide the requested Services to you. You may choose not to provide us with certain requested information, but then you might not be able to take advantage of some of our Service features or we may not be able to provide you with the Services. If you disclose any Personal Information relating to other people to us or to our service providers in connection with the Services, you represent that you have the authority to do so and to permit us to use the information in accordance with this Privacy Policy and indemnify us if there are any claims arising from such disclosure. 2. How do we use the Personal Information we collect about you? The Personal Information we collect from you helps us personalize your experience with us and our communications to you, and helps us continually improve your experience with our Services. We and our service providers use the Personal Information collected above for the following purposes including: ● Providing the functionality of the Services and fulfilling your requests, including: o Opening and arranging access to your registered account. o Responding to your inquiries and fulfilling your requests for example when you contact us via one of our online contact forms or chat lines. o Processing your order or other transactions, including warranty and product registration, claim, or request, and providing related customer service. o To send administrative information to you, such as changes to our terms, conditions and policies. o To allow you to send messages to another person if you choose to do so. We will engage in these activities to manage our contractual relationship with you, and/or to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract, and/or to comply with a legal obligation. ● Providing you with our newsletter and/or other marketing materials and facilitating social sharing. o To send you advertising and marketing related emails, text messages, and postal mail with information about our services, new products and other news about our company. o To facilitate social sharing functionality that you choose to use. o To send wish lists or other emails on your behalf at your option. We will engage in this activity with your consent. ● Analysis of Personal Information for business reporting and providing personalized services. o To better understand you, so that we can personalize your experiences when using our Services, and provide you with information and/or offers tailored to your interests. o To better understand your preferences so that we can deliver content via our Services that we believe will be relevant and interesting to you. o To analyze or predict our users’ preferences in order to prepare aggregated trend reports on how our digital content is used and perform market research, so we can improve our Services. We will provide the above personalized services either with your consent or because we have a legitimate interest. ● Allowing you to participate in promotions. o We may offer you the opportunity to participate in a sweepstakes, contest or other promotion. o Some of these promotions have additional rules containing information about how we will use and disclose your Personal Information. We use this information to manage our contractual relationship with you. ● Aggregating and/or anonymizing Personal Information. o We may aggregate and/or anonymize Personal Information so that it will no longer be considered Personal Information. We do so to generate other data for our use, which we may use and disclose for any purpose. ● Accomplishing our business purposes. o For data analysis, for example, to improve the efficiency of our Services. o For audits, to verify that our internal processes function as intended and are compliant with legal, regulatory or contractual requirements. o For fraud and security monitoring purposes, for example, to detect and prevent cyberattacks or attempts to commit identity theft. o For improving and developing our products and services. o For enhancing, improving, or modifying our current products and services. o For identifying usage trends, for example, understanding which parts of our Services are of most interest to users. o For facilitating recalls. o For processing job applications. o For determining the effectiveness of our promotional campaigns, so that we can adapt our campaigns to the needs and interests of our users. o For operating and expanding our business activities, for example, understanding which parts of our Services are of most interest to our users so we can focus our energies on meeting our users’ interests. We engage in these activities to manage our contractual relationship with you, to comply with a legal obligation, and/or because we have a legitimate interest. If you sign-up for our email list, we may use services provided by third-party platforms (such as social networking and other websites) to serve targeted advertisements on such platforms to you or others, and we may provide a hashed version of your email address or other information to the platform provider for such purposes. To opt-out of the use of your information for such purposes, please contact us as detailed at “16. How can you contact DongCheng?” below. 3. Does DongCheng share your Personal Information with third parties? We may share your personal information with the following: ● Our third party service providers, including distributors and sales representatives, in order to perform tasks on our behalf, such as: o Facilitating your purchase, order fulfillment, and payment processing o Assisting in servicing our products o Product registrations o Responding to requests and providing product information o Helping you exchange products and other customer service tasks o Providing and improving our communications with you o Responding to requests to our investor relations o Providing website hosting, data analysis, information technology and related infrastructure provision o Advertising and analytic services o Email delivery o Auditing o Conducting a survey or a customer satisfaction enquiry o Responding to complaints or product claims requests (for warranties extension, injuries, damages, etc.) o Other services For additional information about the way in which our third party service providers treat your personal information, contact us as set out below. ● To our licensees and franchisees for their use in relation to the marketing, distribution, advertising sale and servicing of products sold under license from us. ● To third party business partners, who may contact you about their own products or services that may interest you, consistent with your choices. ● By using the Services, you may elect to disclose Personal Information: o On message boards, public chat rooms, profile pages, blogs, research panels and communities, surveys, and other services to which you are able to post information and content (including, without limitation, our Social Media Pages). Please note that any information you post or disclose through these services will become public and may be available to other users and the general public. o Through your social sharing activity. When you connect your Services account with your social media account, you will share information with your friends associated with your social media account, with other users, and with your social media account provider. By doing so, you authorize us to facilitate this sharing of information, and you understand that the use of shared information will be governed by the social media provider’s privacy policy. Other Uses and Disclosures of Personal Information We also use and disclose your Personal Information as necessary or appropriate, especially when we have a legal obligation or legitimate interest to do so: ● To comply with applicable law. o This can include laws outside your country of residence. ● To respond to requests form public and government authorities. o This can include laws and authorities outside your country of residence. ● To cooperate with law enforcement. o For example, when we respond to law enforcement requests or orders. ● For other legal reasons, including: o To protect our rights, property or safety, and/or that of our users, you, our or others. 4. What Other Information about you does DongCheng collect? “Other Information” is any information that does not reveal your specific identity or does not directly relate to an identifiable individual. Other Information includes: ● Browser type and version ● Operating system ● IP Address (see below for further information) ● The Internet service provider used to access our Services ● Use of links to arrive at our Services and the IP address from which you arrived ● Web pages requested and viewed ● Time spent on our Services ● For our mobile websites and apps, technical information about the device used, such as screen size, cookie support by the device and how images may appear ● App usage data ● Other information collected through cookies, pixel tags, and other technologies described below ● Demographic information and other information provided by you that does not reveal your specific identity ● Information that has been aggregated in a manner such that it no longer reveals your specific identity Your IP address is automatically assigned to your computer by your Internet Service Provider. An IP address may be identified and logged automatically in our server log files whenever a user accesses the Services, along with the time of the visit and the page(s) that were visited. Collecting IP addresses is standard practice and is done automatically by many websites, applications and other services. We use IP addresses for purposes such as calculating usage levels, diagnosing server problems and administering the Services. We may also derive your approximate location from your IP address (see “Location” below). We may use and disclose Other Information for any purpose, except where we are required to do otherwise under applicable law. If we are required to treat Other Information as Personal Information under applicable law, then we may use and disclose it for the purposes for which we use and disclose Personal Information as detailed in this Policy. We and our service providers collect Other Information in a variety of ways, including: ● Through your browser or device: o Certain information is collected by most browsers or automatically through your device, such as your Media Access Control (MAC) address, computer type (Windows or Mac), screen resolution, operating system name and version, device manufacturer and model, language, Internet browser type and version and the name and version of the Services (such as the Apps) you are using. We use this information to ensure that the Services function properly. ● Physical Location Information o Our Services and HTML-formatted emails include features that may require collecting different types of location information (such as IP Address, GPS coordinates or postal code) that we then use for the specific feature you have selected, such as: ● Where to Buy and Store Locator. Some of our Services allow you to search for the nearest store that offers the DongCheng product that you want and whether such nearby stores have certain of our items in stock. If you access one of our Sites through a mobile device and you have enabled location-based services, location information may be collected for these features, by, for example, using satellite, cell phone tower or WiFi signals. If you access these features through a desktop device, you can choose to have your browser provide us your location information based on your IP Address to respond to your request, or you may be asked to provide us with your location information. The specificity of the desktop device location information can vary depending on the browser you are using and how you are connected to the internet. Your mobile device settings may allow you to disable location-based services, which will prevent our Sites and Apps from accessing your precise mobile device location information. We recommend you review the help or user manual provided with your device for instructions. ● Email. Our emails use your IP Address to determine the postal code where you are located when you open the email. This allows us to tailor content to you, such as a map of nearby stores carrying our products. The specificity of the location can vary depending on the device used to open our emails. Your email program may allow you to prevent the pixel tags or images in the emails you receive from us from downloading, which will also prevent our service provider from accessing your location information. You can also unsubscribe from receiving our emails, as described in Section 6 below. ● We may also share your device’s physical location, combined with information about what advertisements you viewed and other information we collect, with our marketing partners to enable them to provide you with more personalized content and to study the effectiveness of advertising campaigns. ● If you do not consent to provide location information or you disable location-based services on your mobile device, we may ask you to manually select the region where you are located, or to enter your zip or postal code. Your desktop or mobile device settings may allow you to disable or block location-based services, which will prevent our Services from accessing your location information. We recommend you review the help information or user manual provided with your device or browser for instructions. If you chose not to provide this information you may not be provided with content specific to your location and we and/or our marketing partners may not be able to provide you with the applicable personalized services and content. ● Cookies o We and our third party service providers use “cookies”. Cookies assign a unique identification to your device and are typically stored directly on your device by your web browser. o The information we and our third party service providers collect through cookies, pixel tags and similar technology includes the following: ● Your interactions with our Services and with our advertisements ● The time of your visit to our Services ● Items and products browsed, items put into your shopping cart, and whether you purchase any or all of those items ● Confirmation when you open email from us, including the time you open the email and whether you click on any links in the email ● Sites you visit after visiting one of our Sites ● Language preferences ● Other traffic data o We and our service providers use cookies for: security purposes, to facilitate navigation, to display information more effectively, and to personalize your experience, to tailor email marketing to you based on your use of the Services, determine return visitors, keep track of items in your cart, and serving tailored ads on other sites, as described below. o We also gather statistical information about use of the Services in order to continually improve their design and functionality, to improve and better transact business, to understand how Services are used, measure which parts of our Sites are most visited or used, monitoring the number of visitors to our Sites, and assist us with resolving questions regarding the Services. o Cookies further allow us to select which of our advertisements or offers are most likely to appeal to you and display them while you are on the Services and on other sites. We may also use cookies or other technologies in online advertising to track responses to our ads, and measure the effectiveness of our advertising. For additional information on the use of cookies, pixel tags, and other similar technologies for advertising, see “5. How are our advertisements served on other websites and devices and what choices do you have?”). o Our systems may not recognize “Do Not Track” headers from some or all browsers. If you do not want information collected through the use of cookies, most browsers allow you to automatically decline cookies or be given the choice of declining or accepting a particular cookie (or cookies) from a particular website. You may also wish to refer to http://www.allaboutcookies.org/manage-cookies/index.html. If, however, you do not accept cookies, you may experience some inconvenience in your use of the Services. You also may not receive advertising or other offers from us that are relevant to your interests and needs. ● Pixel tags and other similar technologies o We may also use pixel tags (also known as web beacons, web bugs, and clear GIFs) in providing the Services. A pixel tag is a nearly invisible pixel-sized graphic image on a webpage or in an email message. We use these technologies to, among other things, track the actions of users of the Services (including email recipients), measure the success of our marketing campaigns, measure which parts of our Sites are most visited or used, and compile statistics about usage of the Services and response rates. ● Third-party analytics o We use third-party analytics providers, such as Google® Analytics, which uses cookies and similar technologies to measure traffic and usage trends, and to help us better understand your use of and interaction with our Services. This service may also collect information regarding the use of other websites, apps and online resources. For more information on how Google uses data when you use our Services, click here, and opt out of Google’s practices by downloading the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on, available here. https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout. ● Other Information from Social Media Pages o Similar to the navigational information described above, the social media sites where we have our Social Media Pages may provide aggregate information and analysis to us about visitors to our Social Media Pages. This allows us to better understand and analyze our user growth, general demographic information about the users of, and interaction with content on, our Social Media Pages. ● We additionally use Other Information gathered through technology for identifying and addressing difficulties visitors may experience in accessing our Services. 5. How are our advertisements served on other websites and devices and what choices do you have? We contract with third party advertising companies to tailor online advertising to be directed to you on other websites and online services. These third party advertising companies place, use, or rely on technology, such as cookies and pixel tags, to obtain information about your interactions with our Services. This information, in addition to information the companies receive from your access to and use of other websites or online services on any of your devices, and information received from third parties, helps us select advertising to serve to you and where to serve it based on your experience on our Services and other sites that you visit. They also use these technologies, along with information they collect about your online use, to recognize you across the devices you use, such as a mobile phone and a laptop. Note that by clicking these websites, you will then leave our Site for another online site where you may specify your preferences under that opt-out program. You can also click the preference icon that may appear on some of our advertising served through these technologies. 6. What choices do you have over how we use and disclose your Personal Information? We give you choices about the information we collect and how we communicate with you, and use and disclose your information. a. Email: You may opt-out of our marketing emails by following the instructions listed in the email that you received. However, even if you opt-out you may still receive non-marketing emails, such as order/shipping confirmations, changes to service, product registrations, product recalls or customer service communications. b. Text messaging/IM: You may opt out of mobile text messages (e.g., SMS, MMS) and other instant messages (e.g., WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger) from us, by following the opt-out instructions accompanying such messages, if applicable, or by contacting us as detailed at “16. How can you contact DongCheng?” below. c. Postal Marketing: If you no longer want to receive marketing materials from us via regular postal mail, please contact us as detailed at “16. How can you contact DongCheng?” below, and tell us that you want to be removed from the DongCheng postal mailing list, including the postal address you wish to have removed. d. Cookies: You may set your web browser to notify you when you receive a cookie or to not accept certain cookies. However, if you decide not to accept cookies from our Services, you may not be able to take advantage of all of the features of our Services. For information on how to opt-out of the use of cookies for online behavioral advertising, see “5. How are our advertisements served on other websites and devices and what choices do you have?”). e. Our sharing of your Personal Information with affiliates for their direct marketing purposes: If you would prefer that we discontinue sharing your Personal Information on a going-forward basis with our affiliates for their direct marketing purposes, you may opt-out of this sharing by contacting us as detailed at “16. How can you contact DongCheng?” below. We will try to comply with your request(s) as soon as reasonably practicable. Please note that if you opt-out of receiving marketing-related emails from us, we may still send you important administrative messages, from which you cannot opt-out. 7. How does DongCheng secure your Personal Information? We have implemented reasonable technical, administrative and physical measures designed to protect the personal information in our custody or control from unauthorized access, use, modification and disclosure. If you are using one of our Services with an online store, we designed our online store to accept orders only from Web browsers that permit communication through Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology, which encrypts your information while it is being transmitted to us. Browsers that do not meet this requirement will be prevented from navigating the online store section of our Services. You should be aware that 100% security of data transmission or storage is not always possible. If you have reason to believe that your interaction with us is no longer secure, please immediately notify us in accordance with the “16. How can you contact DongCheng?” section below. 8. How can you access, change, or delete your Personal Information? If you would like to request to access, update, correct, suppress, restrict, or delete Personal Information previously provided to us, object to the processing of Personal Information, or if you would like to request to receive an electronic copy of your Personal Information for purposes of transmitting it to another company (to the extent this right to data portability is provided to you by applicable law), you can do this by emailing or writing to us as detailed in the Section “16. How can you contact DongCheng?” below. We will respond to your request consistent with applicable law. In your request, please make clear what Personal Information you would like to have changed, whether you would like to have your Personal Information suppressed from our database or otherwise let us know what limitations you would like to put on our use of your Personal Information. For your protection, we may only implement requests with respect to the Personal Information associated with the particular email address that you use to send us your request, and we may request certain Personal Information for the purposes of verifying the identity of the individual seeking access to their Personal Information records. We will try to comply with your request as soon as reasonably practicable. Please note that we may need to retain certain information for recordkeeping purposes and/or to complete any transactions that you began prior to requesting a change or deletion (e.g., when you make a purchase or enter a promotion, you may not be able to change or delete the Personal Information provided until after the completion of such purchase or promotion). If you are a resident of California, under 18 and a registered user of the Services, you may ask us to remove content or information that you have posted to the Services by writing to us at the contact information set out below. Please note that your request does not ensure complete or comprehensive removal of the content or information, as, for example, some of your content may have been reposted by another user. 9. Third party services DongCheng licenses the use of its trademarks to unrelated third parties which operate websites independently from DongCheng. This Privacy Policy does not cover the privacy, information, or other practices of any third parties, including any third party operating any website or service to which the Services link, including any third party website or service on which DongCheng maintains its Social Media Pages. These third parties have separate and independent privacy policies which we recommend you read carefully. The inclusion of a link on the Services does not imply endorsement of the linked site or service by us or by our affiliates. In addition, we are not responsible for the information collection, use, disclosure or security policies or practices of other organizations, such as Facebook, Twitter, Google, or any other app developer, app provider, social media platform provider, operating system provider, wireless service provider or device manufacturer, including with respect to any Personal Information you disclose to other organizations through or in connection with our Social Media Pages. 10. Cross-border transfer Your Personal Information may be stored and processed in any country where we have facilities or in which we engage service providers, and by using the Services you understand that your information will be transferred to countries outside of your country of residence, including Europe, the United States, China, which may have data protection rules that are different from those of your country. In certain circumstances, courts, law enforcement agencies, regulatory agencies or security authorities in those other countries may be entitled to access your Personal Information. If you are located in the EEA: Some of the non-EEA countries are recognized by the European Commission as providing an adequate level of data protection according to EEA standards (the full list of these countries is available here). For transfers from the EEA to countries not considered adequate by the European Commission, we have put in place adequate measures, such as standard contractual clauses adopted by the European Commission to protect your Personal Information. You may obtain a copy of these standard contractual clauses here. 11. Retention period We retain Personal Information for as long as needed or permitted in light of the purpose(s) for which it was obtained and consistent with applicable law. The criteria used to determine our retention periods include: ● The length of time we have an ongoing relationship with you and provide the Services to you (for example, for as long as you have an account with us or keep using the Services); ● Whether there is a legal obligation to which we are subject (for example, certain laws require us to keep records of your transactions for a certain period of time before we can delete them); or ● Whether retention is advisable in light of our legal position (such as in regard to applicable statutes of limitations, litigation or regulatory investigations). Please note that where you unsubscribe from our marketing communications, we will keep a record of your e-mail address to ensure we do not send you marketing e-mails in the future. 12. Use of services by minors The Services are not directed to individuals under the age of eighteen (18), and we do not knowingly collect Personal Information from individuals under 18. 13. Sensitive information We ask that as a general matter you not send us, and you not disclose, any sensitive Personal Information (e.g., social security numbers, information related to racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religion or other beliefs, health, biometrics or genetic characteristics, criminal background or trade union membership) on or through the services or otherwise to us. In the event you choose to submit such information to us, or are requested to do so by us in the course of investigating a complaint or dispute involving the Services, we shall collect and process such information in compliance with applicable law. 14. Third party payment services We may use a third-party payment service to process payments made through the Services. If you wish to make a payment through the Services, your Personal Information will be collected by such third party and not by us, and will be subject to the third party’s privacy policy, rather than this Privacy Policy. We have no control over, and are not responsible for, this third party’s collection, use and disclosure of your Personal Information. 15. Will this Privacy Policy change? We may make changes to this Privacy Policy at any time, so please review it periodically. We will update the effective date of the Privacy Policy at the time a change is made. Your use of the Services following these changes means that you accept the revised Privacy Policy. 16. How can you contact DongCheng? If you have questions or concerns with respect to our Privacy Policy, please contact us by email: compliance@dongcheng-tools.com Please include your question or request in your letter to us, including the DongCheng brand and Services relevant to your request. Ultimately, what we want is the best for all our users. Should you have any concerns with our data handling practice as summarized in this Privacy Policy, please contact our Data Protection Officer: compliance@dongcheng-tools.com Additional information for the EEA In the EEA, you also may: ● Lodge a complaint with a data protection authority for your country or region, or where an alleged infringement of applicable data protection law occurs. A list of EEA data protection authorities is available here. Effective as of: July 1, 2023