The Biggest Gift List (“TBGL”) would like you to know more about the web technologies that we use to run our web shop. These technologies are meant to provide as many people with the best browse and purchase experience possible, and provide advertising, site-experience, and other benefits to this end. You can read about this in further detail in this policy document.

In this privacy policy, we‘ll refer to thebiggestgiftlist.com and TBGL collectively as the “Site”. We‘ll refer to cookies and related technologies collectively as “Cookie Technologies.”

Types of Cookie Technologies

Cookies

Cookies are small data files sent from a server to your web browser. They are stored in your browser‘s cache and allow a website or a third party to recognize your browser. There are three primary types of cookies:

• Session cookies are specific to a particular visit and carry information as you view different pages so you don‘t have to re-enter information every time you change pages or attempt to checkout. Session cookies expire and delete themselves automatically in a short period of time like after you leave the Site or when you close your web browser.
• Persistent cookies remember certain information about your preferences for viewing the site, and allow TBGL to recognize you each time you return. Persistent cookies are stored on your browser cache or mobile device until you choose to delete them, and otherwise typically delete themselves at expiration.
• Third-party cookies are placed by a party other than TBGL, and may gather browsing activity across multiple websites and across multiple sessions. They are usually a type of persistent cookie and are stored until you delete them or they expire based on the time period set in each third-party cookie. Most notably, third-party cookies allow third-party server to show you items that you‘ve shown interest in, either directly or indirectly.

Cookies store data about your use, but they are helpful because they allow us to help TBGL function and customize your experience.

Other Technologies

In addition to cookies, there are other similar technologies used by TBGL and elsewhere on the web or in mobile ecosystems.

• Web pixels: These are tiny graphics (sometimes called “clear GIFs” or “web beacons”) with a unique identifier that are used to understand browsing activity. In contrast to cookies, which are stored on a user’s computer hard drive, web beacons are rendered invisibly on web pages when you open a page.
• Social widgets: These are buttons or icons provided by third-party social media providers that allow you to interact with those social media services when you view a web page or a mobile app screen. These social widgets may collect browsing data, which may be received by the third party
• UTM codes: These are strings that can appear in a URL (the “Uniform Resource Locator,” which is typically the http or https address entered to go to a web page) when a user moves from one web page or website to another, where the string can represent information about browsing, such as which advertisement, page, or publisher sent the user to the receiving website.

Purposes

TBGL uses Cookie Technologies to recognize your logged-in state on thebiggestgiftlist.com, to understand what purchases members and visitors are interested in, to make TBGL Sites function for you, and to help your browsing experience and use of the Site feel more customized. More generally, TBGL uses Cookie Technologies for the following.

Security and Authentication (Strictly Necessary)

Some cookie and similar technology functions are necessary and vital to ensuring that TBGL works properly for visitors and members, such as maintaining the security, safety, and integrity of the Site, authentication and logging into TBGL (including remembering permissions and consents you have granted), and ensuring the ability to securely complete transactions.

Account and User Preferences

Some technologies are used to remember your account and preferences over time, such as remembering your account or keeping yourself logged in when returning to TBGL, maintaining your choices on TBGL features and how you want TBGL to appear and customizing content based on how you use TBGL.

Social Networks

Some technologies help you to interact with social networks you are signed into while using the Services, such as sharing content with the social network and other features you employ with the social network, or that are allowed in the social network‘s privacy policy. These may be set and controlled by the social networks, and your preferences with those social networks.

Social networks may also work with TBGL or with you for analytics or for marketing purposes, as discussed below. You may be able to manage your privacy preferences for these social networks and their tools and widgets via your account with the social network.

Performance and Analytics

Some technologies help provide performance data on how the Services are functioning in order to improve TBGL and the Services, including, for example, data on site and app functionality and speed to help us optimize TBGL, how the Services are used to help us improve your experience on TBGL, and detecting and gathering reporting on bugs to help make TBGL work better.

The Site also employs Google Analytics to help understand how TBGL is used by its community. For some of the advertising features listed below, like retargeting, data from Google Analytics may be combined with TBGL first-party data and third-party cookies (like Google‘s advertising cookies). To see how to opt-out of Google Analytics Advertising Features, see the Opt-Out section at the bottom of this policy.

You can find more information on how Google Analytics works in this Google guide.

Marketing Services

TBGL partners with third-party service providers that may use various Cookie Technologies to permit us and them to learn about what ads you see and click when you visit TBGL, the Apps, and affiliated sites or to show you ads on and off TBGL. These may include things such as:

• Frequency capping, which limits the number of times a user‘s browser or mobile device displays the same ad;
• Attribution tracking, which estimates what advertising or marketing source brought someone to TBGL, or determines what marketing source led to actions like a visit or a purchase;
• Remarketing, which shows relevant ads to an audience based on prior shopping and browsing patterns on TBGL;
• Audience targeting, which refers to targeting advertisements to a large audience based on the audience‘s known or inferred demographics;
• Cross-device recognition, which recognizes actions across multiple devices or browsers.

Some third-party service providers may provide information like demographics, cross-device information, or interest categories from a combination of sources that, while not identifying you personally, permit us to provide you with more relevant and useful advertising. In some cases, this information may have non-marketing performance analytics uses as well.

TBGL may collect your email address via cookies and pixels on the website through the use of trusted third party partners. These partners may also combine your email information with other information they have access to such as mailing address so that TBGLs may serve relevant marketing offers to you via email and direct mail. If you do not want TBGL to collect information about you, please contact TBGL to opt out.

These technologies allow a partner to recognize your computer or mobile device each time you visit TBGL or other websites and mobile applications based on data like a cookie, your IP address, or device ID, but do not allow access to other personal information from TBGL. However, these technologies may allow us or a third party to recognize you, either from a single device or across devices, over time. These third parties are required to follow applicable laws, self-regulatory programs, and TBGL data protection rules where applicable. However, TBGL does not have control over these third parties, who each have their own privacy policies and privacy practices.

Consent, Contract, and Legitimate Interests in Processing

Certain Cookie Technologies are employed to make the Site function for its intended purpose, and are provided based on contractual necessity based on your agreement with TBGL to perform the services you have requested.

By choosing to use our Services after having been notified of our use of Cookie Technologies in the ways described in this Policy, and, in applicable jurisdictions, through notice and unambiguous acknowledgement of your consent, you agree to such use.

Opt-in and Opt-out on Browsers

In addition, when you use TBGL via a browser, you can change your web browser‘s settings to reflect your cookie preferences for cookies directly from the site you are on or for third-party cookies. Each browser is a little different, but usually these settings are under the “options” or “preferences” menu. The links below provide information about cookie settings for the browsers supported by TBGL:

• Microsoft Edge
• Internet Explorer
• Firefox
• Chrome
• Safari

Opt-out of Third-Party Networks

If you do not wish to have this information used for the purpose of serving you interest-based advertisements, you may decline to receive interest based ads through if you are located in the European Union by clicking here. Please note this does not stop you from being served advertisements. You will continue to receive generic advertisements. Please note that if you reject or block all cookies in your browser settings, you will not be able to take advantage of TBGL Services as some cookies are necessary for the Site to function properly.

You can learn more about managing your preferences for ads online, particularly for many third-party advertising networks, through resources made available by the Digital Advertising Alliance at https://www.aboutads.info or the Network Advertising Initiative at https://optout.networkadvertising.org.

Google Analytics Opt-out

For Google Analytics Advertising Features, you can opt-out through Google Ads Settings, Ad Settings for mobile apps, or any other available means (for example, the NAI’s consumer opt-out listed above). Google also provides a Google Analytics opt-out plug-in for the web.

Criteo Opt-out

For Criteo, which primarily serves ads based on products you‘ve interacted with, you can opt out here at any time. The opt-out page also contains detailed information on how this works and how to ensure your Criteo settings persist.

Third-Party Tools

Various third parties provide browser plug-ins and apps that can help provide you information on, and limit or block, third-party cookies, web beacons, and some Javascript-based technologies. TBGL cannot vouch for the efficacy of a particular third-party product, but popular products that provide these privacy enhancements include Ghostery and AdBlock Plus.

Contact Us

If you have questions about the use of Cookie Technologies at TBGL, or if you would like to make changes to the way your data is being used, please email TBGL here: https://thebiggestgiftlist.com/contact-us/