Cookie policy

What are cookies?

A cookie is a small amount of information that is downloaded to your computer or device when you visit certain websites. We use a number of different cookies on the Shopify website: strictly necessary cookies, performance cookies, advertising cookies, social media cookies, content cookies, etc. Cookies improve your browsing experience by enabling the website to remember your actions and preferences (such as username and region selection). This means you don't have to re-enter this information each time you return to the site or navigate from one page to another. Cookies also provide information about how visitors use the website, for example whether this is their first visit or whether they are frequent visitors. To find out more about cookies (and similar tracking technologies) and our use of data collected through these technologies, please see our Privacy Policy.

What cookies do we use and why?

Some cookies are necessary to enable you to browse our website, to use its features and to access its secure areas. The use of these cookies is essential to the operation of the website. For example, we use per-session user input cookies to track user input when completing forms on multiple pages.

We also use functional cookies to remember choices you've made or information you've provided, such as your username, language or location. This allows us to personalize your experience on our website according to your preferences. For example, authentication cookies are functional cookies used for the duration of a session (or persistently, if you agree to use the "Remember me" function) to enable users to identify themselves on subsequent visits or to access authorized content on multiple pages. Here are some of the functional cookies we use:

• User-centric security cookies are used to detect authentication abuse for a limited continuous period, such as unsuccessful login attempts. These cookies are specifically configured to improve service security.

• Multimedia content playback cookies (flash cookies) are used for the duration of a session to record the technical data required to play video or audio content (e.g. image quality, network link speed and buffer memory settings).

• Load balancing cookies are used during a session to identify the same server in the pool, enabling the load balancer to redirect user requests appropriately.

• Persistent user interface personalization cookies are used to record a user's preference for a service on several web pages.

User experience is fundamental to Shopify and we employ many tools to improve our website and commerce platform. To this end, we use reporting and data analysis cookies to collect information about how and how often you use our website or our merchants' online stores. These cookies collect information for statistical purposes only and use only pseudonyms as cookie identifiers, which do not identify you personally. Here are some of the performance cookies we use:

• Proprietary data analysis cookies: we use these cookies to estimate the number of unique visitors, to improve our websites and those of our merchants, and to detect the most searched-for words in search engines leading to a web page. These cookies are not used to target you with online marketing. We use these cookies to learn more about the performance of our websites and those of our merchants, and to make relevant improvements to your browsing experience.

• Third-party data analysis cookies - We also use Google Analytics and other third-party data analysis providers to help us evaluate how users interact with the content of our website. These cookies "remember" our users' actions on previous pages and how they interact with the website. To find out more about Google Analytics, visit the Google information page. See below to find out how to opt out of Google Analytics.

Advertising cookies are used on our website to personalize marketing content according to you and your interests, and then to offer you a more personalized service. These cookies remember your visit to our website and we may share this information with third parties, such as advertisers. Although these cookies can track visits from your device to our website and other sites, they generally cannot identify you personally. Without these cookies, the advertisements you see would be less relevant and interesting to you. To find out more about how companies use cookies to run targeted or retargeted advertising campaigns, click here. We do not personally set advertising cookies via our merchants' online stores, but they are free to make this choice themselves.

Finally, social media and content cookies are set by many social media plug-ins (e.g. Facebook's "Like" button), as well as by other tools used to provide or enrich website content (e.g. services enabling the playback of video files or the creation of comment sections). We integrate these modules into our platform to enhance the browsing experience and interactions with our websites. Please note that some of these third-party services set cookies which are also used for functions such as behavioral advertising, data analysis and/or market research.

Merchant online stores

When merchants use our platform to power their online stores, we set the following cookies for visitors to their stores:

Cookies necessary for the operation of the store:

Reports and data analysis

Shopify websites

When visitors load Shopify websites, we set the following Shopify cookies:

Cookies required for site operation

Reports and data analysis

In addition, we use pixels and beacons from the following third-party suppliers, who may in turn place cookies:

Cookies required for site operation

Reporting and data analysis :

Advertising:

Social media and content :

Oberlo websites

When visitors load Oberlo websites, we set the following Oberlo cookies:

Cookies required for site operation

Reports and data analysis

In addition, we use pixels and beacons from the following third-party suppliers, who may in turn place cookies:

Reporting and data analysis :

Advertising:

Social media and content :

How long will cookies remain on my computer or mobile device?

The length of time a cookie remains on your computer or mobile device depends on whether it is a "persistent" or "session" cookie. Session cookies remain in place until you stop browsing, while persistent cookies last until they expire or are deleted. Most of the cookies we use are persistent and expire between 30 minutes and two years from the date they were downloaded to your device. Please see the section on cookie control below to find out how to delete them before they expire.

How can I control cookies?

You can control and manage cookies in various ways. Keep in mind that deleting or blocking cookies may have negative effects on your user experience and may prevent you from fully accessing certain parts of our website.

Most browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can choose whether or not to accept them through your browser's controls, often found in your browser's "Tools" or "Preferences" menu. To find out more about modifying your browser settings, or to find out how to block, manage or filter cookies, consult your browser's help file or sites such as: www.allaboutcookies.org.

Most of the third-party advertising and other tracking services listed above offer you the ability to opt-out of their tracking systems. To learn more about the information they collect and how to exercise this option, see the privacy policy links listed above.