Cookie Policy

Effective August 27, 2026

Cookies are small files a site stores in your browser. Hardware Ranked keeps its own use of them deliberately small: a couple of first-party cookies that make sign-in and the cart work, plus analytics cookies controlled by your privacy settings — in regions where the law requires consent, they are only set if you say yes in the consent banner. There are no third-party ad trackers on this site.

Cookies we set ourselves

__session — essential. Holds your signed-in session, including the Customer Account tokens that keep you logged in. It is marked HTTP-only and secure, so scripts on the page can never read it and it only travels over encrypted connections. Without it, sign-in does not work.

cart — functional. Remembers the identifier of your cart so the things you add are still there when you come back. It contains a cart ID, nothing else.

Because these two cookies are required for the site to function, they are set for everyone and are not part of the consent banner.

Cookies Shopify sets — controlled by your privacy settings

Hardware Ranked runs on Shopify, and the site uses Shopify’s Customer Privacy system and consent banner. Shopify’s analytics and marketing cookies (they start with _shopify_) are set only when those privacy settings allow it for your region — where the law requires consent (for example the EEA and UK), that means only after you say yes in the banner; elsewhere they may run until you decline. They help us understand how the site is used — things like which pages are visited and whether a visit is new or returning.

Site analytics through Google Analytics is gated behind the same privacy settings: its script is not loaded while they disallow analytics, and it runs with IP anonymization turned on.

What we do not use

  • No third-party advertising networks or ad trackers.
  • No cross-site behavioral profiling.
  • No selling of data collected through cookies.

Managing your consent

The consent banner appears the first time you visit and whenever a consent decision is needed, and your choice applies immediately. To change your mind later, clear this site’s cookies in your browser — the banner will ask again on your next visit — or use your browser’s own cookie controls.

If you decline in the banner, analytics stays off: Shopify analytics cookies are not set and Google Analytics is not loaded.

You can also block or delete cookies in your browser settings. Blocking the essential cookies described above will break sign-in and the cart, but everything you can browse signed-out will keep working.

Changes and contact

If our use of cookies changes, this page and its effective date will be updated. Questions about cookies or privacy are covered in the Privacy Policy or can go to the addresses on the Contact page.