Cookie Policy

A cookie is a small text file that a website stores on your device when you visit it, and that the website can read when you return. Cookies set by the website you are visiting are first-party cookies. Cookies set by another organization, such as a payment provider whose form appears on the page, are third-party cookies.

Session cookies are deleted when you close your browser. Persistent cookies stay on your device for a set period, or until you delete them.

Similar technologies work in comparable ways. They include local storage and session storage, which let a website keep information in your browser, and pixels, which are tiny images in emails or web pages that tell the sender when they have loaded. In this policy, “cookies” covers all of these technologies unless we say otherwise.

We use cookies to: (a) keep you logged in after you open a one-time login link, and keep your Account secure; (b) remember on your device that your Account has Annual Access, so that paid features display without delay; (c) protect the Service, our creators and our customers from fraud, automated scraping and abuse; (d) process payments securely at checkout; (e) remember your choices, and keep information you have entered, such as an unfinished creator application or Brief, so that you do not lose it; (f) understand how the Service is used, so that we can improve it, where you allow analytics; (g) credit an affiliate who referred you, where you allow affiliate attribution; and (h) remember your cookie choices.

We group cookies into four categories: strictly necessary, functional, analytics and affiliate attribution. Sections 3 to 8 explain each category and the third parties involved, and Section 9 lists the cookies we use.

Strictly necessary cookies are essential to provide the Service you ask for. Without them, you could not log in, buy Annual Access or use paid features securely. They include cookies that keep your login session active, remember your access status, protect forms and login links from abuse, detect automated traffic and scraping, balance traffic across our servers and record your cookie choices.

Because these cookies are necessary, we do not ask for your consent to use them, and you cannot switch them off in our cookie settings. You can block them in your browser, but parts of the Service will then not work.

Information from security and fraud prevention cookies may be used, as described in our Privacy Policy, to detect misuse of the Database and to respond to payment disputes.

Functional cookies and local storage remember choices you make and information you enter, so that the Service works the way you expect. For example, the creator application form, the Brief form and the rate checker keep your answers on your device until you submit or clear them, and the Service remembers filters, views and notices you have dismissed.

Most functional storage stays on your device and is not sent to us until you submit a form. If you switch functional cookies off, the Service still works, but it will not remember your answers or preferences between visits.

Analytics cookies help us understand how people use the Service, such as which pages help brands find creators, where people leave a form and which articles are read. We use our own first-party analytics (no third-party service) for this purpose. We use the information in aggregated form to improve the Service, and we do not use it to build advertising profiles.

Where the law requires consent, we set analytics cookies only after you accept them. Elsewhere, we may set them by default. In either case, you can switch them off at any time in Section 11.

When you arrive on the Service through an affiliate’s referral link, the link contains the affiliate’s referral code. With your consent where the law requires it, we store that code in a first-party cookie for thirty (30) days, so that if you buy Annual Access within that period the purchase can be credited to the affiliate under the Affiliate Terms. If you follow links from more than one affiliate, the most recent one before your purchase is credited.

If you refuse affiliate attribution cookies, you can still enter an affiliate’s code at checkout, and a purchase made with the code is credited to that affiliate. The cookie does not give the affiliate access to information about you. Affiliates see only the limited, masked information about referred purchases described in our Privacy Policy.

Our checkout page includes payment fields provided by our payment processor, Stripe. The processor sets its own cookies and similar technologies on the checkout page to process your payment securely and to detect and prevent fraud. These are strictly necessary for payment, and the processor’s use of them is governed by its own privacy and cookie policies.

Some pages show creators’ sample works embedded from social media platforms, such as TikTok, Instagram and YouTube. When embedded content loads or you play it, the platform may set its own cookies or collect information about your device under its own policies, which we do not control. Where available, we use privacy-enhanced embed options, and where the law requires consent, we ask for it before loading embedded content.

Some of our emails, such as newsletters and opportunity emails, may contain a pixel that tells us whether the email was opened, where our email provider supports this. We use this information in aggregated form to understand whether our emails are useful. You can stop pixels from loading by turning off automatic image loading in your email app. Doing so does not affect login links or receipts.

The table below lists the cookies and similar technologies we use, grouped by category. Technical names may change as we update the Service, but we keep this list accurate as to purpose and duration.

We do not currently use advertising cookies, retargeting pixels or other technologies that track you across other websites for advertising, and we do not sell information collected by cookies or share it for cross-context behavioral advertising. If this changes, we will update this policy first and ask for your consent where the law requires it.

You can review and change your choices for optional cookies at any time below. Your choices apply to the browser and device you are using, and are kept in a strictly necessary cookie for twelve (12) months, after which we may ask you again.

Switching a category off stops us from setting new cookies in that category. It may not remove cookies that were set before, which you can delete using your browser settings.

Most browsers let you see which cookies are stored, delete them, and block cookies from some or all websites. These controls are usually in the browser’s settings, under privacy or security. If you block all cookies, including strictly necessary ones, you will not be able to log in or use paid features.

We treat a Global Privacy Control signal from your browser as a request to opt out of any sale or sharing of personal information, as described in our Privacy Policy. There is no common standard for responding to “Do Not Track” signals, so we do not currently respond to them, but you can control cookies as described in this policy.

We may update this policy when we change the cookies we use or when the law changes. We will publish the updated policy with a new “Last updated” date and, where a change requires new consent, ask for it.

If you have questions about our use of cookies, contact us at privacy@ugcstars.com or through our contact form.