Our Policies

Cookie Notice

Last updated: December 16, 2022

This Cookie Notice explains how Winston Brands, Inc. (“Winston Brands”, "we", "us", and "ours") uses cookies and similar technologies to recognize you when you visit our websites at www.collectionsetc.com, www.winstonbrands.com (and any of their sub-domains) or any other site which includes a link to our Privacy Policy ("Sites") as well as in connection with any of our sales or marketing activities or other services available on our Sites ("Services") or otherwise interact with us. It explains what these technologies are and why we use them, and what options you have with regard to these technologies.

What are cookies?

Cookies are small data files that are placed on your computer or mobile device when you visit a website.  Cookies are widely used by website owners in order to make their websites work, or to work more efficiently, as well as to provide reporting information or serve targeted advertising.

Cookies set by the website owner (in this case, Winston Brands) are called "first party cookies".  Cookies set by parties other than the website owner are called "third party cookies".  Third party cookies enable third party features or functionality to be provided on or through the website (e.g. like advertising, interactive content and analytics).  The parties that set these third party cookies can recognise your computer both when it visits the website in question and also when it visits certain other websites.

We use both "session ID cookies" and "persistent cookies". Session ID cookies are used to store information while a user is logged into the Services and expire when the user closes his/her browser. Persistent cookies are used to make tasks like logging into the Services easier for returning users by remembering a user's login information. Persistent cookies stay on a user's hard drive from one session to the next. 

What is "Keep me Signed In"?

When you check the "Keep me signed in" box before signing in, it means you will stay signed in until you sign out manually or cookies stored by the website in your browser are deleted. By checking this box, you are opting to receive “session ID” and “persistent” cookies, which make signing in easier for you by saving your username and password. Please do not use the “Keep me signed in” option when you are using a public computer in an office or other public place, when you share a computer, or where others could easily access your profile or account without your authorization. Because this option allows others to sign-in without entering your password, your personal information could be jeopardized if you use a public computer or a device where others could easily access your profile or account without your authorization. Once selected, you may uncheck this box at any time from the bottom of the Account Info page under My Account.

Why do we use cookies?

We use first party and third party cookies for several reasons. Some cookies are required for technical reasons in order for our Sites to operate, and we refer to these as "essential" or "strictly necessary" cookies. Other cookies also enable us to track and target the interests of our users to enhance the experience on our Sites, collect information for record keeping purposes and to make it easier to navigate the Services. Other Companies serve cookies through our Sites for advertising, analytics and other purposes.  This is described in more detail below.

The specific types of first and third party cookies served through our Sites and the purposes they perform are described in the table below (please note that the specific cookies served may vary depending on the specific Site you visit):

Essential website cookies: These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our Sites and to use some of its features, such as access to secure areas.  We use these for system administration, to prevent fraudulent activity, to improve security or to allow you to make use of our Services.

Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the Sites to you, you cannot refuse them.

Performance and functionality cookies: These cookies are used to enhance the performance and functionality of our Sites but are non-essential to their use.  However, without these cookies, certain functionality may become unavailable.

To refuse these cookies, please click on the relevant opt-out link below:

Analytics and customisation cookies: These cookies collect information that is used either in aggregate form to help us understand how our Sites are being used or how effective are marketing campaigns are, or to help us customise our Sites for you.

We may use these cookies to assess the performance of our Services, including as part of our analytic practices to improve content offered through the services. We also use this information to tell us if you have visited the Sites before or if you are a new visitor and to help us identify the features in which you may have the greatest interest.

To refuse these cookies, please click on the relevant opt-out link below:

Advertising cookies: These cookies are used to make advertising messages more relevant to you.  They perform functions like preventing the same ad from continuously reappearing, ensuring that ads are properly displayed for advertisers, and in some cases selecting advertisements that are based on your interests.

We use these to deliver content, including advertisements relevant to your interests on the Services and third party sites based on how you interact with our advertisements or content, as well as to track the content you access.

To refuse these cookies, please click on the relevant opt-out link below:

What about other tracking technologies, like web beacons?

We use other, similar technologies, like web beacons (sometimes called "tracking pixels" or "clear gifs").  These are tiny graphics files that contain a unique identifier that enable us to recognize when someone has visited our Sites or opened an e-mail that we have sent them.  This allows us, for example, to count visitors, to monitor how users navigate the Services, to count how many emails that were sent were actually opened or to count how many particular articles or links were actually viewed. In many instances, these technologies are reliant on cookies to function properly, and so declining cookies will impair their functioning.

HTML5

We use HTML5 in some of our applications, including in our mobile website for the iPhone or iPad. HTML5 has browser web storage that does not rely on traditional browser cookies. HTML5 cookies are not stored in a browser "cookies" file and can be used to track users across websites. To our knowledge there is currently no way for a user of a mobile device to remove HTML5 tracking and storage.

Embedded Scripts

An embedded script is programming code that is designed to collect information about your interactions with the Services such as the links you click on. The code is temporarily downloaded from our web server or a third party service provider onto your device used to access Services, is active only while you are connected to the Services, and is deactivated or deleted thereafter.

E-tags/cache browsers/web logs

Like most standard website servers, we log IP addresses (a unique number assigned to every computer on the internet) and device identification in order to improve security, analyze trends and administer the Services. We track your movement within the Services, the pages from which you were referred, access times, and browser types. This information includes the browser you are using, the internet address from which you linked to our Services, the operating system of your computer, the unique IP address of the computer or device identifier from the mobile device that you used to access our Services and usage and browsing habits. We use this information to gauge the effectiveness, usage, and popularity of our Services, track information for statistical purposes, help diagnose and troubleshoot server malfunctions, analyze trends, track user movement in the aggregate, and gather broad demographic information. We also use information we collect through web logs to send you targeted offers.

Device Fingerprinting

We use device fingerprinting in some of our Services, which allows us to collect information about a remote computing device for the purpose of identification. It can be used to prevent fraud or collect information about you.

Do you serve targeted advertising?

We use Tracking Technologies to collect information about your use of the Services and other third party Sites in order to serve more targeted advertising to you. To serve our ads, we use a variety of third party advertising service providers, including networks, data exchanges, ad servers, analytics providers and others. These third parties use Tracking Technologies to send directly to your Device the advertisements and links that appear on the Services. They automatically receive your Device identifier when this happens. Their tools may also limit the number of times you see the same advertisement and help measure the effectiveness of our advertising campaigns.

These third parties may also use information gathered from your use of the Services to serve targeted, interest based advertisements to you on third party Sites and applications. Third parties may serve cookies or Tracking Technologies on your computer or mobile device to serve advertising through our Sites. These companies use information about your visits to this and other Sites in order to provide relevant advertisements about goods and services that you may be interested in. They also employ technology that is used to measure the effectiveness of advertisements. This can be accomplished by them using cookies or web beacons to collect information about your visits to this and other sites in order to provide relevant advertisements about goods and services of potential interest to you. The information collected through this process does not enable us or them to identify your name, contact details, or other personally identifying details unless you choose to provide these.

How can I control cookies?

You have the right to decide whether to accept or reject cookies.  You can exercise your cookie preferences by clicking on the appropriate opt-out links provided in the cookie table above or you may update or review your cookies by clicking the Manage Cookies button.

You can set or amend your web browser controls to accept or refuse cookies. If you choose to reject cookies, you may still use our website though your access to some functionality and areas of our website may be restricted.   As the means by which you can refuse cookies through your web browser controls vary from browser-to-browser, you should visit your browser's help menu for more information. Please note as this opt out is cookie based it will only affect the specific browser or Device on which the opt out is applied.

Some of the advertising service providers may be members of the Network Advertising Initiative, which offers a single location to opt-out of ad targeting from member companies. If you opt out of receiving targeted ads in this manner, you will continue to receive advertising messages, but they will not be customized to you based on your use of the Services and third party sites.

If you would like more information about advertisers’ use of tracking technologies and about your option not to accept these cookies, you can go to http://www.networkadvertising.org. If you would like to learn more about how interest-based information is collected and to know your choices about not having information used in this manner, you can go to http://www.aboutads.info. Some newer mobile device operating systems allow you to limit the use of information to deliver interest-based advertising in mobile applications. You can check the settings on your mobile Device for such options in your mobile Devices’ operating system. Alternatively, you may wish to download the TrustE mobile application and/or the Digital Alliance “App Choices” mobile application and follow the instructions provided.

If you would like to find out more information, please visit http://www.aboutads.info/choices/ or http://www.youronlinechoices.com.

Please note that opting out of advertising networks services does not mean that you will not receive advertising while using our Services or on other websites, nor will it prevent the receipt of interest-based advertising from other companies that do not participate in these programs. It will, however, exclude you from interest-based advertising conducted through participating networks, as provided by their policies and choice mechanisms. If you delete your cookies, you may also delete your opt-out preferences.

How often will you update this Cookie Notice?

We will update this Cookie Notice from time to time in order to reflect, for example, changes to the cookies we use or for other operational, legal or regulatory reasons.  Please therefore re-visit this Cookie Notice regularly to stay informed about our use of cookies and related technologies. 

The date at the top of this Cookie Notice indicates when it was last updated. 

Where can I get further information?

If you have any questions about our use of cookies or other technologies, please email us at customerservice@winstonbrands.com, call customer service at (800) 582-5700 or write to us at:

Winston Brands, Inc.
PO Box 7985
Elk Grove Village, IL 60009-7985