Cookie Policy

1. What Are Cookies?

A cookie is a small text file placed on your device (computer, phone, tablet, or other browser-enabled device) by a website server. Cookies allow a website to recognize your device across page visits and browser sessions. They may contain information such as:

• A server name that placed it
• A session identifier
• Information about your navigation on the site (e.g., pages visited, an advertising identifier, or a device identifier)

Cookies serve various purposes, including storing your preferences, tracking browsing activity, personalizing content, and enhancing security. For simplicity, the term “cookies” in this Policy refers to all types of tracking technologies, including pixels, web beacons, local storage, and similar technologies.

2. Who Can Place Cookies on Your Device?

• GEMGEM Inc. — our first-party cookies, placed directly by gemgem.com
• GEMGEM’s partners — third-party companies such as analytics providers, advertising platforms, fraud prevention services, and payment processors

Cookies may be placed when you browse our site or interact with ads on GEMGEM or partner websites.

3. Managing Cookies

A. Cookies on the GEMGEM Site

When you first visit our website, a cookie consent banner appears informing you about the types of cookies used and allowing you to accept or decline them by category. You may update your preferences at any time by clicking the “Cookie Settings” link in our website footer.

Categories of cookies you can manage:

• Audience measurement (analytics)
• Content personalization
• Personalized advertising
• Social media sharing

Once you make your selections, a necessary cookie is stored on your device to remember your preferences for six months. To modify these settings later, you must clear your browser cache or visit the cookie management platform.

B. Managing Cookies in Your Browser

You can adjust your browser settings to block or delete cookies. Each browser has different settings, which you can access through its Help menu. Blocking or deleting cookies may affect website functionality. See links below for major browsers:

• Google Chrome: chrome://settings/cookies
• Mozilla Firefox: about:preferences#privacy
• Apple Safari: Safari > Preferences > Privacy
• Microsoft Edge: edge://settings/content/cookies

4. Types of Cookies Used on Our Site

1. Necessary Cookies (Not Configurable)

These cookies are essential for our website’s functionality and security and cannot be disabled without significantly impairing your experience.

Retention period: Session-based; up to 13 months

Blocking consequences: May prevent access to certain features

Purposes of Necessary Cookies:

• Remember your cookie preferences and consent status
• Keep you logged in while navigating between pages
• Track shopping cart contents and manage purchases
• Customize the user interface (e.g., language selection, display settings)
• Ensure authentication security (e.g., limiting robotic login attempts)
• Prevent spam, phishing, and fake account creation
• Detect malware-infected devices and prevent damage
• Implement security measures such as requiring a login after inactivity
• Identify site navigation issues and improve usability
• Secure transactions and prevent fraud (e.g., payment fraud, identity theft)
• Distribute server traffic for optimized performance
• Measure site speed and load time
• Facilitate communication between different parts of the website
• Track audience and site traffic statistics to improve functionality

2. Audience Measurement Cookies (Requires Consent)

These cookies collect anonymous data about site usage to help us understand how visitors interact with our platform. We use PostHog and Google Analytics (via Google Tag Manager) for this purpose.

Retention period: Up to 13 months

Blocking consequences: No effect on site usage, but accepting them helps us improve site performance

Note: To block Google Analytics tracking, you may install the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on at tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

Data collected includes:

• Number of visits and unique visitors
• Pages viewed and time spent on the site
• Entry and exit pages, scroll depth, and click paths
• Device type, browser, and approximate geographic location (country/region level only)
• Error events and performance metrics

3. Content Personalization Cookies (Requires Consent)

These cookies do not store personal data but help customize content based on your behavior and preferences on GEMGEM.

Retention period: Session-based; up to 13 months

Blocking consequences: No effect on site usage, but removing them may result in less relevant content recommendations

Purposes:

• Recommend items and services based on browsing behavior
• Track recently viewed pages and links clicked
• Personalize content and promotional offers
• Optimize advertising emails or push notifications (if subscribed)

4. Personalized Advertising Cookies (Requires Consent)

These cookies may be placed on our site by advertising partners. They are used to create a profile of your interests and deliver relevant personalized ads on other websites. These cookies allow us to display ads that align with your preferences and browsing behavior.

Retention period: Their lifespan is short, typically lasting a session, a few hours, or up to 13 months

Blocking consequences: Blocking these cookies will not affect your ability to use our site. However, removing them will not stop ads from appearing — it will simply result in ads that are not tailored to your interests. By accepting these cookies, you benefit from a personalized advertising experience.

Purposes of Personalized Advertising Cookies:

• Display ads that match your interests based on your preferences and browsing activity
• Track and analyze advertising performance, including:
  • Total number of ads displayed
  • Identification of displayed ads and their respective engagement levels
  • Number of users who clicked on each ad
  • Actions taken by users on the linked pages
• Adapt ad content on GEMGEM’s advertising spaces based on your navigation history on our site and partner sites
• Associate this data with browsing information
• Send targeted emails or promotions (if you have subscribed)
• Display relevant ads within our advertising spaces that are specifically tailored to your preferences

5. Social Network Sharing Cookies (Requires Consent)

We may include third-party applications on our site that allow you to share content with others or express your opinions about our content. These include “Share” and “Like” buttons from social networks such as Facebook and Instagram.

How these cookies work: The social network providing the share button may identify your browser even if you do not click on it while visiting our site. If your social media account is logged in on your device during your browsing session, the social network may track your activity on our site.

Retention period: The retention period of social media sharing cookies is determined by each social network but will not exceed 13 months.

Blocking consequences: Blocking these cookies will not affect your ability to use our site. However, it will prevent interactions with the associated social networks, such as sharing content directly from our platform.

5. Summary of Cookie Categories

The following table summarizes the categories of cookies used on gemgem.com, their purpose, and maximum retention periods. We do not publish an exhaustive named list of every cookie, as the specific cookies in use may change as our technology evolves. You can inspect cookies placed on your device at any time using your browser’s developer tools.

6. California Residents — Your Rights Under CCPA

If you are a California resident, the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA), as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020 (CPRA), grants you specific rights regarding your personal information.

Your Rights

• Right to Know: You have the right to request that we disclose the categories and specific pieces of personal information we have collected about you, the categories of sources, the business purpose for collecting it, and the categories of third parties with whom we share it.
• Right to Delete: You have the right to request that we delete personal information we have collected from you, subject to certain exceptions.
• Right to Correct: You have the right to request that we correct inaccurate personal information we maintain about you.
• Right to Opt-Out of Sale or Sharing: You have the right to opt out of the sale or sharing of your personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising. We do not sell your personal information for monetary consideration. However, we may share personal information with advertising partners. You can opt out by clicking “Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information” in our website footer or by adjusting your cookie preferences.
• Right to Limit Use of Sensitive Personal Information: You have the right to limit our use of sensitive personal information to only that which is necessary to provide the services you request.
• Right to Non-Discrimination: We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of your CCPA rights. Unless permitted by law, we will not deny you goods or services, charge you different prices, provide a different level of quality, or suggest that you may receive a different price or quality of goods or services.

How to Submit a Request

To exercise any of the rights above, please contact us at:

• Email: [email protected]
• Subject line: “CCPA Rights Request”

We will respond to your request within 45 calendar days of receipt. If we need additional time (up to an additional 45 days), we will notify you of the extension and the reason.

We may need to verify your identity before processing your request. We will not use personal information provided in a rights request for any purpose other than verification and fulfillment.

You may designate an authorized agent to make a request on your behalf. The agent must provide written authorization signed by you, and we may require you to verify your identity directly with us.

7. We Have No Control Over Third-Party Data Collection

We do not control how third parties collect and process your browsing data. To understand how they use your data, we encourage you to review their privacy policies. These policies will explain:

• How your browsing information is collected through their application buttons
• How they use your data, particularly for advertising
• How you can manage your privacy settings on each social network

8. Do Not Track (DNT) Signals

Some browsers include a “Do Not Track” (DNT) feature that sends a signal to websites requesting that your browsing not be tracked. Currently, there is no universally agreed-upon standard for how websites should respond to DNT signals. Our site does not currently respond to DNT signals at the browser level. Instead, you can manage your tracking preferences through our cookie consent manager, accessible via the “Cookie Settings” link in our footer.

9. Updates to This Cookie Policy

We may update this Cookie Policy from time to time to reflect changes in technology, legislation, or our data practices. When we make material changes, we will:

• Update the “Last Updated” date at the top of this page
• Display a notice on our website or re-trigger the cookie consent banner where required by law

We encourage you to review this Cookie Policy periodically. Your continued use of gemgem.com after any changes constitutes your acceptance of the updated policy.

10. Contact Us

For any questions regarding this Cookie Policy or our data practices, please contact us at:

Privacy requests: [email protected]

General inquiries: [email protected]

We aim to respond to all privacy inquiries within 5 business days.