Cookie & Tracking Technologies Policy

Effective Date: October 3, 2026

This Cookie & Tracking Technologies Policy explains how Ruby Thrift uses cookies, analytics tools, tags, pixels, local storage, and similar technologies when you visit or interact with our website.

This policy should be read together with the Ruby Thrift Privacy Policy.

If you have questions about this policy, contact us at support@rubythrift.com.

1. What Are Cookies and Similar Technologies?

Cookies are small files that websites or service providers may store on your browser or device.

Websites may also use similar technologies such as:

1. local storage;
2. pixels;
3. tags;
4. scripts;
5. device identifiers;
6. web beacons;
7. server-side measurement technologies.

These technologies can help websites operate correctly, remember preferences, measure traffic, understand visitor behavior, protect against abuse, and measure advertising performance.

2. How Ruby Thrift Uses These Technologies

Ruby Thrift may use cookies and similar technologies for purposes including:

1. operating website features;
2. maintaining security;
3. preventing spam, fraud, and abuse;
4. understanding website traffic;
5. measuring engagement with website content;
6. understanding how visitors reach Ruby Thrift;
7. measuring newsletter and marketing activity;
8. analyzing website searches;
9. measuring advertising campaigns;
10. creating and measuring advertising audiences where permitted;
11. improving website usability and performance.

3. Necessary Technologies

Some technologies are used because they are necessary for the website to operate securely or correctly.

These may support functions such as:

1. website security;
2. fraud and abuse prevention;
3. form protection;
4. technical session management;
5. infrastructure and hosting functions.

Blocking necessary technologies may cause certain website features to function incorrectly.

4. Analytics Technologies

Ruby Thrift uses analytics technologies to understand how visitors use our website.

We currently use Google Analytics 4 for website measurement.

Analytics information may help Ruby Thrift understand:

1. which pages visitors view;
2. how visitors navigate the website;
3. how visitors found Ruby Thrift;
4. which traffic sources and campaigns are effective;
5. which website features visitors use;
6. how visitors interact with content;
7. general device, browser, and session information.

Ruby Thrift uses this information to improve website performance, understand visitor interests, and evaluate marketing effectiveness.

Ruby Thrift does not intentionally send names, email addresses, telephone numbers, or similar directly identifying information to Google Analytics through our custom analytics events.

5. Advertising Technologies

Ruby Thrift may use advertising technologies from third-party advertising platforms.

These may include services such as:

1. Google Ads;
2. Meta platforms, including Facebook and Instagram;
3. TikTok;
4. other advertising services that Ruby Thrift may use in the future.

Advertising technologies may be used for purposes such as:

1. measuring whether an advertisement resulted in a website visit or other action;
2. understanding which advertising campaigns perform effectively;
3. attributing activity to a marketing campaign;
4. creating, building, or measuring advertising audiences where permitted;
5. remarketing to people who previously interacted with Ruby Thrift;
6. excluding people from advertising campaigns when appropriate;
7. limiting repeated advertising;
8. providing more relevant advertising where applicable.

These technologies may use cookies, pixels, tags, browser information, device identifiers, advertising identifiers, or similar technologies.

For qualifying conversions, Ruby Thrift may also use first-party information that a visitor provides directly, such as an email address submitted during newsletter signup, to improve advertising measurement through features such as Google Ads Enhanced Conversions and Meta Advanced Matching.

The specific advertising services used by Ruby Thrift may change over time.

6. Google Technologies

Ruby Thrift currently uses Google Analytics and Google Ads advertising and measurement technologies.

Google may receive information about interactions with Ruby Thrift's website through Google technologies used on the site.

Ruby Thrift has enabled Google Ads Enhanced Conversions for qualifying website conversions. For example, when a visitor successfully subscribes to the Ruby Thrift newsletter, the email address provided by the visitor may be used as first-party data to improve measurement of that conversion.

Ruby Thrift uses Google's supported Google tag implementation to provide this information for Enhanced Conversions. User-provided data used for this feature is normalized and hashed through Google's supported implementation before or as part of Google's processing for matching.

Enhanced Conversion data is used to help Google associate qualifying website conversions with advertising interactions and improve conversion attribution and measurement.

Ruby Thrift currently uses email address data for the newsletter-signup Enhanced Conversion flow. Ruby Thrift does not intentionally include newsletter subscriber email addresses in its custom Google Analytics events.

Google processes Enhanced Conversion information subject to its applicable advertising policies, privacy practices, and data-processing terms.

Google also provides users with tools for managing advertising preferences and personalized advertising.

7. Meta Pixel, Advanced Matching, and Conversions API

Ruby Thrift uses the Meta Pixel and related Meta Business Tools to measure activity associated with Facebook and Instagram advertising and to understand how visitors interact with Ruby Thrift after reaching our website.

The Meta Pixel may collect or receive information such as:

1. pages viewed;
2. website URLs;
3. browser and device information;
4. IP address;
5. user-agent information;
6. Meta browser identifiers and cookies;
7. advertising interaction information;
8. events that Ruby Thrift intentionally configures for advertising measurement.

Ruby Thrift configures Meta events deliberately and does not rely on Meta to automatically infer every website action.

For example, Ruby Thrift currently sends a Lead event only after the Ruby Thrift website confirms that a visitor successfully completed a new newsletter subscription. Merely clicking a newsletter button does not constitute a newsletter Lead event.

Meta Advanced Matching

Ruby Thrift uses Meta Advanced Matching in a controlled manner for qualifying events.

When a visitor successfully completes a qualifying newsletter signup, Ruby Thrift may provide the email address submitted by that visitor for matching and advertising measurement.

Ruby Thrift's current implementation does not enable broad automatic website matching. Instead, matching information is provided for specifically configured business events.

Information used for Advanced Matching is processed using Meta's supported matching mechanisms. Customer identifiers such as email may be normalized and hashed for matching before or as part of processing by Meta.

Meta Conversions API

Ruby Thrift also uses the Meta Conversions API to send certain confirmed website events directly from Ruby Thrift's server to Meta.

This server-side measurement supplements browser-based Meta Pixel measurement and may help improve:

1. conversion attribution;
2. measurement reliability;
3. event matching;
4. advertising performance analysis.

For qualifying newsletter Lead events, the server-side event may include information such as:

1. a hashed email identifier;
2. IP address;
3. browser user-agent information;
4. Meta browser identifiers when available;
5. the website URL associated with the event;
6. a unique event identifier used for measurement and deduplication.

Ruby Thrift may report the same confirmed business action through both the Meta Pixel and the Meta Conversions API. When this occurs, Ruby Thrift uses a shared event identifier so Meta can recognize the browser and server reports as the same underlying conversion rather than counting them as two separate conversions.

Meta processes this information subject to its applicable Meta Business Tools Terms, privacy policies, advertising policies, and other applicable terms.

8. Custom Audiences and Remarketing

Ruby Thrift may use website activity collected through advertising technologies to create or use Custom Audiences and similar remarketing audiences where permitted.

These audiences may include, for example:

1. people who visited the Ruby Thrift website;
2. people who visited the Ruby Thrift locations page;
3. people who viewed Ruby Thrift blog content;
4. people who viewed donation information;
5. people who viewed live-shopping information;
6. people who visited specific campaign pages;
7. people who successfully completed a newsletter signup.

These audiences may be used to:

1. show advertising to previous Ruby Thrift visitors;
2. measure advertising performance;
3. tailor campaign messaging based on prior interactions;
4. exclude people from campaigns when they have already completed the requested action.

For example, Ruby Thrift may exclude confirmed newsletter subscribers from a campaign whose purpose is to acquire new newsletter subscribers.

Audience availability, retention periods, eligibility, and advertising use may depend on the advertising platform's rules and minimum audience requirements.

9. Meta Automatic Data Collection Settings

Ruby Thrift has configured its Meta implementation to maintain greater control over the events and customer information shared for advertising measurement.

At this time, Ruby Thrift does not rely on Meta's automatic event inference to determine whether a visitor has completed important Ruby Thrift business actions.

Ruby Thrift also does not currently use Meta's broad automatic advanced-matching feature to scan the website for customer identifiers.

Instead, Ruby Thrift intentionally configures the events and matching information used for advertising measurement.

These settings may change in the future if Ruby Thrift determines that another supported implementation is appropriate and consistent with applicable privacy and advertising requirements.

10. Meta First-Party Cookies and Browser Identifiers

Meta technologies may use first-party cookies or related browser identifiers to help associate website activity with advertising interactions and improve measurement.

These identifiers may include Meta-generated browser identifiers such as those commonly associated with Meta Pixel activity.

Ruby Thrift may also provide these identifiers to Meta through the Conversions API when they are legitimately available from the visitor's browser session.

Ruby Thrift does not create fabricated Meta browser identifiers when they are not available.

11. Other Advertising Platforms

Ruby Thrift may use TikTok, Microsoft, Pinterest, or other advertising platforms in the future to measure campaigns and understand visitor interactions resulting from advertising.

When additional platforms are implemented, their technologies may collect or receive information as described in their applicable privacy policies and terms.

Ruby Thrift seeks to use provider-specific advertising technologies through controlled integrations rather than allowing advertising platforms unrestricted access to unrelated website data.

12. Campaign and Traffic-Source Tracking

Ruby Thrift may use campaign-tracking parameters in links used for:

1. advertising;
2. email marketing;
3. social media;
4. QR codes;
5. promotional campaigns;
6. other marketing activities.

These parameters may identify information such as:

1. campaign source;
2. campaign medium;
3. campaign name;
4. campaign content or creative variation.

This information helps Ruby Thrift understand which campaigns and channels are effective.

13. Referral Information

When you arrive at Ruby Thrift from another website or service, your browser may provide referral information identifying the source of the visit.

Ruby Thrift may use this information for analytics and marketing measurement.

14. Website Search Analytics

Ruby Thrift may measure searches performed through website search features to understand what visitors are looking for.

Search activity may be used for website analytics and improvement.

Ruby Thrift's current website implementation is designed not to intentionally send search entries that appear to contain email addresses or telephone-number-like information to Google Analytics.

Ruby Thrift does not currently use the Meta standard Search advertising event because the website does not yet provide a full on-site search experience.

15. Security Technologies

Ruby Thrift may use security technologies to protect website forms and services from automated abuse, fraud, and malicious activity.

For example, Ruby Thrift uses Cloudflare Turnstile on certain forms.

These security tools may process technical information necessary to determine whether website activity appears legitimate.

16. Managing Cookies and Browser Storage

Most modern browsers provide controls that allow you to:

1. view stored cookies;
2. delete cookies;
3. block cookies;
4. restrict certain types of storage.

The exact controls depend on your browser and device.

Blocking or deleting cookies may affect some website features or cause preferences to be reset.

Blocking advertising technologies may also reduce Ruby Thrift's ability to measure advertising interactions or associate website activity with advertising campaigns.

17. Advertising Preferences

Advertising platforms may provide their own controls that allow users to manage personalized advertising preferences.

For example, Google and Meta provide account and advertising preference tools through their respective services.

Your browser, device, or operating system may also provide privacy controls that affect advertising identifiers or tracking technologies.

18. Do Not Track and Privacy Signals

Some browsers and devices provide privacy signals such as "Do Not Track" or other preference mechanisms.

Standards and legal requirements concerning these signals continue to evolve.

Ruby Thrift will respond to legally required privacy signals where applicable and may update its technology and practices as requirements change.

19. Changes to This Policy

Ruby Thrift may update this Cookie & Tracking Technologies Policy when:

1. website technologies change;
2. analytics services change;
3. advertising platforms are added or removed;
4. advertising measurement methods change;
5. privacy practices change;
6. legal or regulatory requirements change.

The effective date shown at the top of this page indicates the current version.

20. Contact Ruby Thrift

If you have questions regarding cookies, tracking technologies, analytics, advertising measurement, or advertising audiences used by Ruby Thrift, contact:

Ruby Thrift

Email: support@rubythrift.com

Website: rubythrift.com