1. INTRODUCTION
The Gem Shop (website url address: https://thegemshop.ca) appreciates your business and trust. We are a Canadian based online retailer for jewellery and natural gems.
The Gem Shop will never willfully sell or rent for consideration any personally identifiable information about you or your business, or any information you provide to The Gem Shop through its website TheGemShop.ca, to any third party.
The Gem Shop has created this privacy policy to demonstrate our commitment to privacy and the protection of your information. The following discloses our information gathering and dissemination practices. In this policy, the terms, “you”, “the user”, “customer” and “visitor” are used interchangeably. Each visitor’s privacy is very important to The Gem Shop. If you have any questions about your privacy while browsing theGemShop.ca, please send an email to admin@TheGemShop.ca with your questions and/or suggestions.
The Gem Shop’s privacy policy is regulated by Canadian “anti-spam” legislation (CASL). See https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/E-1.6/index.html
2. DATA COLLECTED
Currently we do not have a members login area. When The Gem Shop develops this area of its website, we will revise this policy to reflect the information we gather.
Our form(s), such as the “Contact Us” form, requires users to give us contact information (such as their name, phone and email address). All information that The Gem Shop collects, including the address contact information collected on the shipping and billing forms in the shopping cart, and the best time to reach you in our contact form(s), is used only for internal purposes to communicate with you.
We do not store any credit card information on our server. The Gem Shop uses third party payment processors that are responsible for securely processing and/or storing credit card data on their own server(s).
Sometimes, we may use third party software to provide a service. Third party software providers have their own privacy policy for the information stored on their server(s). For example, we use software provided by a company called, MailChimp, to manage the Gem Shop’s newsletter signups. MailChimp provides us with newsletter services that enables sign-ups to receive a newsletter by email from The Gem Shop, and to subscribe and unsubscribe. MailChimp also offers The Gem Shop the technology to create and send out email newsletters to their subscribers. MailChimp stores subscriber’s email addresses on its own server. Please visit MailChimp’s privacy policy for more information on how your data is stored when you sign up for The Gem Shop’s email newsletter.
TheGemShop.ca website may contain links to other websites. The Gem Shop is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of other Web sites. Please remember that any information that is disclosed in these areas becomes public information and you should exercise caution when deciding to disclose your personal information.
This website makes every best effort, within its resources, to protect the loss, misuse and alteration of the information under our control.
The Use of Cookies
A web browser does not interpret the content of cookies as code. That means your web browser will not use cookies to execute a virus on your computer. Cookies are used to gather information by allowing a website to remember what ‘state’ your browser is in. The use of cookies on TheGemShop.ca website is further explained below.
Please note, you can turn off cookies in your web browser. If you choose to turn off your cookies, or block cookies from TheGemShop.ca, you can still browse TheGemShop.ca website. If you have problems browsing theGemShop.ca website with your cookies turned off, please contact us at admin@TheGemShop.ca . Also note that turning off your cookies will prevent you from processing a purchase on the website. Click here for more information, and to learn how to coordinate a purchase with your cookies turned off.
The Gem Shop uses cookies for various purposes, which includes gathering statistics. Statistics can provide information to improve the website by answering questions such as, ‘What is the most popular and least popular pages on the website?’ as well as providing information on whether certain pages and products get seen at all. This information helps us improve navigation and content on the website. Knowing the least and most popular pages (or products) also helps to guide buying decisions by better understanding what products or information site visitors are looking for.
Cookies used for statistics also provide the country, state and city of the user by ‘capturing’ the user’s IP. The exact location of a user (precise location or address) can only be determined by the ISP (your Internet Service Provider). TheGemShop.ca does not have access to this information. If you are concerned about your ISP divulging your exact location, consult your ISP and check the privacy policy of your ISP. (Also note that internet users can choose to use a VPN. A VPN can mask the user’s location, in which case the statistics will not provide an accurate result for the user’s location.)
TheGemShop.ca uses location data to better understand where its visitors are shopping from. Are they shopping from Canada? The US? Europe? Asia? Or elsewhere? By understanding where our visitors are located, we can better tailor the user’s shopping experience by offering such things as multiple languages, shipping options, and different products.
Cookies are also used by third party vendors, such as MailChimp, which collects statistics data regarding subscribers. While The Gem Shop cannot control the use of cookies by third party vendors, The Gem Shop will make an effort to the best of its knowledge, to provide links to the privacy policies for third party vendors it uses that collect information about site visitors to TheGemShop.ca website.
The Use of Cookies for Shopping
TheGemShop.ca also uses cookies for scripts such as the “return to shop” button, which allows a user to return to the last page they were browsing before clicking a link to view details. In this example, cookies are placed in the user’s browser to improve the shopping experience.
Another example for the use of cookies on the TheGemShop.ca website is the functionality of the shopping cart (also referred to on the website as the “shopping bag”). When a user adds an item to the shopping cart, a script is added to a cookie in the user’s browser that keeps track of the items that the user is adding. Subsequently, if the user turns cookies “off” in the browser, or blocks cookies on TheGemShop.ca, the user may not be able to shop and process a credit card on the website.
The payment processor that is used to process your credit card on TheGemShop.ca website may also use a cookie to determine your location, and then match it to the location registered to your credit card. Payment processors may use your IP as a precaution to protect the shopper, and ensure your credit card has not been stolen and is not being used by someone in a different country.
While TheGemShop.ca uses SSL technology on its website to encrypt the transfer of your data, if you prefer to purchase an item from TheGemShop.ca website, without using the online shopping cart, or entering your data online, please contact us at admin@TheGemShop.ca to arrange an alternate payment method.
Google Analytics
We use Google Analytics on our site for anonymous reporting of site usage. So, no personalized data is stored. If you would like to opt-out of Google Analytics monitoring your behaviour on our website please use this link: Google Analytics Opt-out.
TheGemShop.ca uses “Google Analytics” to collect information about the use of this site. Google Analytics is one of the few statistics applications available to online boutiques and websites. The Gem Shop is committed to exploring alternative analytics options that may be less intrusive for its site visitors. We welcome suggestions for online applications that offer comparable analytics reports that are less intrusive. If you wish to suggest an alternate online analytics application, please contact us at admin@TheGemShop.ca.
Google Analytics collects information such as how often users visit this site, what pages they visit, when they do so, and what other sites they used prior to coming to this site. We use the information we get from Google Analytics only to improve this site. Google Analytics collects the IP address assigned to you on the date you visit this site. Although Google Analytics plants a permanent cookie on your web browser to identify you as a unique user the next time you visit this site, the cookie cannot be used by anyone but Google.
Google’s ability to use and share information collected by Google Analytics about your visits to this site is restricted by the Google Analytics Terms of Use and the Google Privacy Policy. You can prevent Google Analytics from recognizing you on return visits to this site by disabling cookies on your browser.
Google Analytics employs cookies to define user sessions, which allows for the collection of data about how visitors are using the websites. Google Analytics uses only first-party cookies for data analysis. This means that the cookies are linked to a specific website domain, and Google Analytics will only use that cookie data for statistical analysis related to your browsing behaviour on that specific website. According to Google, the data collected cannot be altered or retrieved by services from other domains.
You can set preferences for how Google advertises to you using the Google Ad Preferences page, and if you want to you can opt out of interest-based advertising entirely by cookie settings or permanently using a browser plugin.
Social Share Buttons
We embed a Facebook widget to allow you to “like/share/recommend” our webpages. If you are logged in to Facebook, this widget may collect your IP address, your web browser User Agent, store and retrieve cookies on your browser, embed additional tracking, and monitor your interaction with the widget, including correlating your Facebook account with whatever action you take within the widget (such as “liking/sharing/recommending” our webpage). We do not collect or store any of this information on our web server. However, the Facebook widget, or share icon, is connected through code to Facebook, in order to enable you to share the page on Facebook. The data collected through the Facebook share icon is then stored and used by Facebook according to Facebook’s privacy policy. For more information about how this data may be used, please see Facebook’s data privacy policy: https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/update
Your privacy is important to us. If you have any questions, complaints or suggestions regarding the privacy policy for TheGemShop.ca, please contact us by email at admin@TheGemShop.ca or through our online contact form.
3. EMBEDDED CONTENT
Pages on this site may include embedded content, like Vimeo and YouTube videos, for example. Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if you visited the other website.
These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged-in to that website. Below you can find a list of some of the services we may use:
The Facebook page plugin is used to display our Facebook timeline on our site. Facebook has its own cookie and privacy policies over which we have no control. There is no installation of cookies from Facebook and your IP is not sent to a Facebook server until you consent to it. See their privacy policy here: Facebook Privacy Policy .
We use the Twitter API to display our tweets timeline on our site. Twitter has its own cookie and privacy policies over which we have no control. Your IP is not sent to a Twitter server until you consent to it. See their privacy policy here: Twitter Privacy Policy .
YOUTUBE
We may use YouTube videos embedded on our site. YouTube has its own cookie and privacy policies over which we have no control. There is no installation of cookies from YouTube and your IP is not sent to a YouTube server until you consent to it. See their privacy policy here: YouTube Privacy Policy.
VIMEO
We may use VIMEO videos embedded on our site. Vimeo has its own cookie and privacy policies over which we have no control. See their privacy policy here: Vimeo Privacy Policy.
4. COOKIES
This site uses cookies – small text files that are placed on your machine to help the site provide a better user experience. In general, cookies are used to retain user preferences, store information for things like shopping carts, and provide anonymized tracking data to third party applications like Google Analytics. Cookies generally exist to make your browsing experience better. However, you may prefer to disable cookies on this site and on others. The most effective way to do this is to disable cookies in your browser.
5. SECURITY MEASURES
We use the SSL/HTTPS protocol throughout our site. This encrypts our user communications with the servers so that personal identifiable information is not captured/hijacked by third parties without authorization.
6. THIRD PARTY WEBSITES
TheGemShop.ca may post links to third party websites on this website. These third party websites are not screened for privacy or security compliance by The Gem Shop, and you release us from any liability for the conduct of these third party websites.
All social media sharing links, either displayed as text links or social media icons do not connect you to any of the associated third parties, unless you explicitly click on them.
Please be aware that this Privacy Policy, and any other policies in place, in addition to any amendments, does not create rights enforceable by third parties or require disclosure of any personal information relating to members of the Service or Site. The Gem Shop bears no responsibility for the information collected or used by any advertiser or third party website. Please review the privacy policy and terms of service for each site you visit through third party links.
7. RELEASE OF YOUR DATA FOR LEGAL PURPOSES
Any passing on of personal data for legal purposes will only be done in compliance with laws of the country you reside in.
8. AMENDMENTS
We may amend this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we amend this Privacy Policy, we will update this page accordingly and require you to accept the amendments in order to be permitted to continue using our services.
Updated December 17, 2020
