This Privacy Policy explains how Halstead Research Group LLC ("we", "us", "our"), which operates the Shopper Panel USA consumer research panel and the website at shopperpanelusa.com (the "Site"), collects, uses, discloses and retains personal information about applicants to the panel, panel members, and visitors to the Site.
We are a market research operation. Our purpose in holding your information is research and panel administration. If you have questions about anything below, write to us at support@shopperpanelusa.com.
1. Who this policy covers
This policy applies to anyone who submits a panel application through the Site, anyone who is accepted as a panel member, and anyone who contacts us by email. It does not apply to third-party websites that we may link to. If a specific study is governed by its own privacy notice, that notice is presented to you before the study begins and controls for that study.
2. Information we collect
2.1 Information you give us
When you apply to the panel, we ask you for:
- Contact details: first name, last name, and email address.
- Screening answers: your age range, the number of people in your household, how often you shop online, the product categories you buy most often, and whether you currently write product reviews.
If you are accepted onto the panel and take part in a study, we also collect the responses you give in that study: survey answers, ratings, written comments, purchase diary entries, and any other feedback you choose to provide.
If you email us, we collect the content of your message and the address you sent it from.
2.2 Information collected automatically
Our hosting provider records standard server request data, such as IP address, browser type, referring page and the date and time of the request. This data is used to keep the Site available and secure, and to detect automated abuse. We do not run advertising trackers, analytics pixels, or third-party marketing scripts on the pages of this Site.
2.3 Information we do not want
Do not send us payment card numbers, bank account details, Social Security numbers, driver's license numbers, passwords, or health records. We do not need them and we do not ask panelists for them. If you send sensitive information of this kind, we will delete it.
3. How we use information
| What we use | Why |
|---|---|
| Name and email address | To identify your application, to reply to you, and to send study invitations and panel notices. |
| Screening answers | To decide whether your household profile matches an open study, and to build anonymous quota groups. |
| Study responses | To produce research findings and reports for the client that commissioned the study. |
| Correspondence | To handle support requests, privacy requests and complaints. |
| Server request data | To operate, secure and troubleshoot the Site, and to prevent duplicate or automated applications. |
We do not use your information to make automated decisions that produce legal effects about you. A person on our panel team reviews applications and study invitations.
4. Why we are permitted to use it
We process your information because you asked to join the panel and gave it to us for that purpose, because we have a legitimate interest in operating a research panel and keeping it secure, and, where applicable, because we are required to keep certain records to comply with the law. Where the law requires your consent, we ask for it before processing and you may take that consent back at any time.
5. When we share information
We share personal information only in the following situations:
- Research clients. Study findings are delivered to the client who commissioned the study in aggregated or de-identified form. Where a study genuinely requires identified responses, we tell you before you take part and you can decline.
- Service providers. Vendors who host our infrastructure, deliver our email, or provide the survey platform used for a study. They act on our written instructions, may use the data only to provide their service to us, and may not use it for their own purposes.
- Legal requirements. Where we are required to disclose information by law, subpoena, court order, or a lawful request from a government authority, or where disclosure is necessary to protect our rights, our members, or the public.
- Business transfer. If our business, or the part of it that runs the panel, is sold or merged, panel records may transfer to the acquirer. That acquirer remains bound by this policy until you are told otherwise.
We do not disclose panel member contact details to research clients as a matter of routine, and we do not supply your details to advertisers or list brokers.
6. Sale and sharing of personal information
We do not sell your personal information for money. We do not share your personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising, and we do not run advertising trackers on this Site. If this ever changes, we will update this policy first and provide the opt-out mechanism the law requires before the change takes effect.
7. How long we keep information
- Applications that are not accepted: kept for up to 12 months from the date of application so that we can match you against later studies, then deleted.
- Active panel members: kept for as long as you remain on the panel, and for 24 months after your last activity, after which the record is deleted or de-identified.
- Study responses: retained in de-identified form for as long as the research record is required by the client, ordinarily up to 5 years.
- Correspondence: kept for up to 24 months after the matter is closed.
- Records of privacy requests: kept for as long as the law requires us to prove that we handled the request correctly.
You can ask us to delete your record sooner. See section 10.
8. Cookies and similar technologies
This Site uses no advertising cookies, no analytics cookies, and no third-party tracking technologies. The application form runs entirely in your browser and stores your answers nowhere but the page you are looking at. Strictly necessary cookies may be set by our hosting provider to route traffic and protect against attack; these do not identify you personally and cannot be used for advertising.
Because we do not track visitors across sites, there is nothing on this Site for a "Do Not Track" or Global Privacy Control signal to switch off. We honor those signals in any case.
Survey platforms used inside a specific study may set their own cookies. Where that happens, the notice for that study explains it.
9. Security
We use access controls, encryption in transit, and restricted internal permissions to protect panel records, and we limit access to the staff who need it to run the panel. No method of transmission or storage is perfectly secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security. If a breach affects your personal information, we will notify you and the relevant authorities as required by applicable state law.
10. Your privacy rights
Wherever you live in the United States, you may ask us to:
- Access the personal information we hold about you and receive a copy of it.
- Correct information that is inaccurate or out of date.
- Delete your application or panel record.
- Stop contacting you and remove you from the panel entirely.
- Limit the use of any information you consider sensitive.
To make a request, email support@shopperpanelusa.com from the address you applied with, or write to 1309 Coffeen Avenue, Suite 1200, Sheridan, WY 82801, and tell us which right you are exercising. We respond within 45 days and may extend once by a further 45 days where the request is complex, in which case we tell you why. We may need to verify your identity by asking you to confirm details already in your record; we will not ask you for new sensitive information in order to verify a request.
You may use an authorized agent to submit a request on your behalf. We will ask the agent for written proof of authority and may contact you directly to confirm it.
We will not deny you panel membership, charge you a different price, or give you a different level of service because you exercised a privacy right.
11. California residents (CCPA and CPRA)
If you are a California resident, the California Consumer Privacy Act, as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act, gives you the rights described in section 10 and the following specific disclosures for the 12 months preceding the date of this policy.
Categories of personal information collected
| Statutory category | Collected | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Identifiers | Yes | Name, email address, IP address |
| Customer records information | Yes | Name and email submitted in the application form |
| Protected classification characteristics | Yes, limited | Age range, household size |
| Commercial information | Yes | Product categories purchased, online shopping frequency, study responses |
| Internet or network activity | Yes, limited | Server request logs for the Site |
| Geolocation data | No precise geolocation | Approximate region inferred from IP address only |
| Inferences | Yes | Whether your profile matches an open study |
| Sensitive personal information | No | We do not collect government IDs, financial accounts, precise location, health, or account credentials |
Sources, purposes and recipients
We collect this information directly from you and from our own server logs. We use it for the business purposes listed in section 3. We disclose it for a business purpose to the categories of recipients listed in section 5, namely hosting, email and survey platform providers, and research clients.
Sale, sharing and sensitive information
In the preceding 12 months we have not sold personal information, have not shared personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising, and have not collected or used sensitive personal information for the purpose of inferring characteristics about you. Because of that, we do not offer a "Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information" link; there is nothing to opt out of.
How to exercise your California rights
Send your request to support@shopperpanelusa.com with "California privacy request" in the subject line, or write to 1309 Coffeen Avenue, Suite 1200, Sheridan, WY 82801. Include the email address you used to apply so that we can locate your record. We will confirm receipt within 10 business days and respond substantively within 45 days. If we deny a request in whole or in part, we will tell you why and how to appeal that decision to us at the same address.
Residents of other states with comparable privacy laws, including Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia, Utah, Texas and Oregon, may use the same address and the same process to exercise the rights their state law grants, including the right to appeal a denial.
12. Children
The panel is for adults. You must be at least 18 years old to apply. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18, and we do not knowingly collect information from children under 13 as defined by the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. If we learn that we hold information about a minor, we delete it promptly. A parent or guardian who believes a minor has submitted information to us should email support@shopperpanelusa.com so that we can remove it.
13. Where information is processed
The panel is operated for the United States market and personal information is stored and processed in the United States. If a vendor processes data outside the United States, we require contractual protections consistent with United States law before that processing begins.
14. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy to reflect changes in our practices or in the law. The "Last updated" date at the top of this page always shows the current version. If a change materially affects how we use information you have already given us, we will notify panel members by email at least 14 days before the change takes effect, and where the law requires it we will ask for your consent. Continuing to use the Site or remaining on the panel after a change takes effect means you accept the updated policy.
15. How to contact us
Halstead Research Group LLC
Attn: Privacy
1309 Coffeen Avenue, Suite 1200, Sheridan, WY 82801
Email: support@shopperpanelusa.com
We answer privacy correspondence within 5 business days and complete requests within the deadlines described above.
See also our Terms of Service and our contact page.