Cookie Policy

CHARLESANDCOLVARD.COM - COOKIE POLICY

Cookies and similar technologies

Charles & Colvard, Ltd. and our third-party providers set and use cookies and similar technologies to store and manage user preferences, deliver targeted advertising, enable content, and gather analytic and usage data, for example. The use of cookies and other tracking technologies is standard across websites and apps through which information is collected about your online activities across applications, websites, or other services. More information about how we use cookies and similar technologies and how you can control and manage them is below.

What is a cookie?

A cookie is a small text file that is placed on a computer or other device and is used to identify the user or device and to collect information. Cookies are typically assigned to one of four categories, depending on their function and intended purpose: absolutely necessary cookies, performance cookies, functional cookies, and cookies for marketing purposes.

Types of cookies and why we use them

Absolutely necessary cookies: These cookies are essential to enable you to move around a website and use its features. Without these cookies, services you have asked for, like adding items to an online shopping cart, cannot be provided.

Performance cookies: These cookies collect information about how you use our websites. Information collected includes, for example, the Internet browsers and operating systems used, the domain name of the website previously visited, the number of visits, average duration of visit, and pages viewed. These cookies don’t collect information that personally identifies you and only collect aggregated and anonymous information. Performance cookies are used to improve the user-friendliness of a website and enhance your experience.

Functionality cookies: These cookies allow the website to remember choices you make (such as your username or ID, language preference, or the area or region you are in) and provide enhanced, more personal features. These cookies can also be used to remember changes you have made to text size, fonts, and other customizable parts of web pages. They may also be used to provide services you have asked for, such as watching a video or commenting on a blog. The information these cookies collect may be anonymized, and they cannot track your browsing activity on other websites.

Targeting and advertising cookies: These cookies track browsing habits and are used to deliver targeted (interest-based) advertising. They are also used to limit the number of times you see an ad and to measure the effectiveness of advertising campaigns. They are usually placed by advertising networks with the website operator’s permission. They remember that you have visited a website and this information is shared with other organizations, such as advertisers.

Managing cookies

You can manage website cookies in your browser settings, and you always have the choice to change these settings by accepting, rejecting, or deleting cookies. If you choose to change your settings, you may find that certain functions and features will not work as intended on the Services. All browser settings are slightly different, so to manage cookies, you should refer to the relevant settings within your browser.

We understand that you may want to know more about cookies. Here are some useful resources that provide detailed information about types of cookies, how they are used, and how you can manage your cookie preferences: www.aboutcookies.org or www.allaboutcookies.org.

Local shared objects/Flash cookies: Flash cookies, also known as local shared objects, are designed to support browser content supported by Adobe® Flash. They are usually used to enable ads and video content on websites. Like other cookies, they will store information on your device, some of which will be specific to the Flash-enabled content. Flash cookies can only be deleted within Adobe Flash rather than via your browser. Please refer to the following help page for information on how to manage your privacy settings and deletion of Flash cookies.

Web beacons: Our web pages may contain electronic images known as web beacons (also called single-pixel gifs and transparent graphic images) that we use to help deliver cookies on our sites, count users who have visited those sites, deliver services, and analyze the effectiveness of our promotional campaigns, for example. We may also include web beacons in our marketing email messages or newsletters to determine whether an email is opened or if links are clicked.

Web server & application logs: Our servers automatically collect certain information to help us administer and protect the Services, analyze usage, and improve users’ experience. The information collected includes:

IP address and browser type
Device information including Unique Device Identifier (UDID), MAC address, Identifier For Advertisers (IFA), and similar identifiers we or others may assign
Device operating system and other technical facts
The city, state, and country from which you access our website
Pages visited and content viewed, stored, and purchased
Information or text entered
Links and buttons clicked
URLs visited before and after you use our Services

Interest-based advertising (IBA)

Interest-based advertising (IBA) allows us to deliver targeted advertising to users of our Services. IBA works by showing you advertisements that are based on the type of content you access or read. For example, as you browse our Services, one of the cookies placed on your device will be an advertising cookie so we can better understand what sort of pages or content you are interested in. The information collected about your device enables us to group you with other devices that have shown similar interests. We can then display advertising to categories of users that is based on common interests. For more information about IBA, please visit: http://www.iab.net/public_policy/behavioral-advertisingprinciples.

Opting out of IBA

If you want to opt out of receiving interest-based advertising, it does not mean that you will no longer receive advertising when you are using our Services. It just means that we will not use information collected about you for IBA and that any advertising you see will not be customized or relevant to you. You can exercise your online advertising choices at http://optout.aboutads.info or by clicking the AdChoices icon in an ad and following the instructions. You may also opt out of receiving interest-based ads from many sites through the Network Advertising Initiative's (NAI) Opt Out Tool (http://www.networkadvertising.org/choices) and in the EU at http://www.youronlinechoices.com/. Remember, if you delete cookies, use a different device, or change web browsers, you may need to opt out again.

Advertising on mobile devices

Mobile devices have an identifier that gives companies the ability to serve targeted ads to a specific mobile device. In many cases, you can turn off mobile device ad tracking or you can reset the advertising identifier at any time within your mobile device privacy settings. Another tool you can use to control advertising on your mobile device is the AppChoices App: http://youradchoices.com/appchoices. You may also choose to turn off location tracking on your mobile device. If you turn off ad tracking or location tracking, we will no longer use information collected from your device’s advertising identifier for the purposes of advertising. You may still see the same number of ads but they may be less relevant because they will not be based on your interests.

Do not track

Some browsers transmit Do Not Track (DNT) signals to websites. Due to the lack of a common interpretation of DNT signals throughout the industry, Charles & Colvard, Ltd. does not currently alter, change, or respond to DNT requests or signals from these browsers. We will continue to monitor industry activity in this area and reassess our DNT practices as necessary.

Connecting via social networks

Some of our Services may include social networking features, such as the Facebook® “Like” button and widgets, “Share” buttons, and interactive mini-programs. Additionally, you may choose to use your own social networking logins from, for example, Facebook or LinkedIn®, to log into some of our Services. If you choose to connect using a social networking or similar service, we may receive and store authentication information from that service to enable you to log in and other information that you may choose to share when you connect with these services. These services may collect information such as the web pages you visited and IP addresses, and may set cookies to enable features to function properly. We are not responsible for the security or privacy of any information collected by these third parties. You should review the privacy statements or policies applicable to the third-party services you connect to, use, or access. If you do not want your personal information shared with your social media account provider or other users of the social media service, please do not connect your social media account with your account for the Services and do not participate in social sharing on the Services.

Links and connections to third-party services

Our Services may contain links to and may be used by you in conjunction with third-party apps, services, tools, and websites that are not affiliated with, controlled, or managed by us. Examples include Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter® and, third-party apps like voice software and readers. The privacy practices of these third parties will be governed by the parties’ own Privacy Statements. We are not responsible for the security or privacy of any information collected by these third parties. You should review the privacy statements or policies applicable to these third-party services.

This Cookie Policy was last updated on May 25, 2018.