Cookie Policy
Cookie & Tracking Technology Policy
A plain-language explanation of every cookie, pixel, and tracking tool mygradstoles.com uses — what each one does, how long it sticks around, and exactly how to turn it off — before you ever click "Accept."
4 Clear Categories
Essential, functional, analytics, and advertising cookies — each explained and controllable on its own.
Real Cookie Controls
Accept all, reject non-essential, or fine-tune each category from the preference panel on this page.
Full Retention Table
Exactly how long every cookie category is stored on your device before it expires.
U.S. & Canada Rights
State-by-state and province-by-province opt-out rights for every customer we ship to.
On This Page
Scope & Who This Policy Applies To
This Cookie Policy explains how HRV Enterprises INC LLC, doing business as MyGradStoles ("MyGradStoles," "we," "us," or "our"), uses cookies, pixels, tags, software development kits (SDKs), and similar tracking technologies (together, "Cookies") on mygradstoles.com when you browse our graduation stoles, religious stoles, custom graduation stoles, and blank graduation stoles, place an order, or contact our team.
This Policy applies to every visitor to mygradstoles.com, regardless of whether you create an account, and to customers located in the United States and Canada, the only two countries we currently ship to. It supplements — and should be read together with — our Privacy Policy, Terms & Conditions, Returns & Refund Policy, and Shipping Policy. Where this Policy addresses cookies and tracking specifically and our Privacy Policy addresses data handling in general terms, this Policy governs for cookie-related questions.
Most cookie policies are copy-pasted boilerplate that names no real tools and gives no real controls. We built this page to name the categories and tools we actually use, show you exactly how long each cookie lasts, and give you a working way to say no to anything beyond what keeps the site and your cart functioning.
What Are Cookies & Similar Technologies?
A cookie is a small text file that a website places on your computer or mobile device when you visit it. Cookies let a site remember things between page loads — like what's in your shopping cart — or between visits entirely, like whether you already agreed to our cookie banner.
HTTP Cookies
The classic small file stored by your browser, sent back to a website (or a third party) on future requests. This is what most people mean by "cookies."
Pixels & Tags
A tiny, often invisible image or snippet of code (like a Meta Pixel or Google tag) that reports back that a page was viewed or an action was taken, without necessarily setting a cookie itself.
Local & Session Storage
Browser-based storage (localStorage/sessionStorage) that our WordPress/WooCommerce platform and embedded tools may use similarly to cookies, to hold cart contents or your consent choice.
For simplicity, this Policy refers to all of these technologies collectively as "Cookies," and specifies where a particular tool works differently.
The 4 Cookie Categories We Use
Every cookie on mygradstoles.com falls into exactly one of four categories. We explain each below, along with what happens if you turn it off.
Always On Essential Cookies
Required for the site and checkout to function at all: keeping items in your cart as you browse stole categories, remembering your session while you complete an order, applying a coupon code, load-balancing our server, and basic security/fraud prevention. These cannot be switched off through our preference panel because the site (and WooCommerce checkout) cannot function without them; you can still block them in your browser at your own risk (see Section 9).
Optional Functional Cookies
Remember choices that make your visit smoother but aren't strictly required — such as remembering that you already dismissed our cookie banner, keeping our live chat widget connected to your conversation, and remembering display preferences. Turning these off means we may ask for the same preference more than once per visit.
Optional Analytics Cookies
Help us understand, in aggregate, how visitors use mygradstoles.com — which stole categories are most viewed, where people drop off before checkout, and how our pages perform — using tools such as Google Analytics. We use this information to improve our product pages and site speed, not to identify you personally.
Optional Advertising Cookies
Used by us and our advertising partners (including Google and Meta) to measure the performance of our graduation-season ad campaigns and to show you more relevant ads for stoles and accessories on other sites, based on pages you viewed on mygradstoles.com. Turning these off means you may still see our ads, just not ones tailored to your browsing.
Manage Your Cookie Preferences
When you first visit mygradstoles.com, a consent banner asks you to accept all cookies, reject everything but the essentials, or open this same panel to choose category-by-category. You can change your mind at any time by returning to this page.
Cookie Preference Center
Choose what mygradstoles.com is allowed to store on your device.
Essential
Cart, checkout, coupon codes, and security. Always active — the site cannot process an order without these.
Functional
Remembers your cookie choice, keeps live chat connected, and stores minor display preferences.
Analytics
Google Analytics measures aggregate traffic and site performance. No advertising use.
Advertising
Google Ads and Meta Pixel remarketing, used to measure and personalize graduation-season ads.
Your preferences have not been saved yet on this device.
Your saved choice is stored on this device only and applies the next time you visit mygradstoles.com from the same browser. If you clear your browser data or switch devices, you'll be asked again. Canadian visitors: functional and analytics cookies are generally set only with implied consent that you can withdraw at any time here; advertising cookies are not set until you actively opt in or accept all, consistent with Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation and applicable provincial law (Section 14).
Cookies We Actually Use
Below is our current, representative list of cookies set on mygradstoles.com, grouped by category. Because we run our store on WordPress with WooCommerce and periodically update our plugins and marketing integrations, exact cookie names can shift slightly over time — this table is reviewed and refreshed to stay accurate.
| Cookie / Technology | Set By | Category | Purpose | Typical Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| woocommerce_cart_hash / woocommerce_items_in_cart | mygradstoles.com (WooCommerce) | Essential | Keeps track of which stoles are in your cart as you browse | Session |
| wp_woocommerce_session_[hash] | mygradstoles.com (WooCommerce) | Essential | Links your browser to your cart and in-progress order | 2 days |
| wordpress_logged_in_[hash] / wordpress_sec_[hash] | mygradstoles.com (WordPress) | Essential | Keeps you signed in to your MyGradStoles account | Session, up to 14 days if "remember me" selected |
| mgs_cookie_consent | mygradstoles.com (first-party) | Functional | Remembers the cookie choice you made in our banner or preference panel | 6 months |
| Live chat session identifier | Our live chat provider | Functional | Keeps your live chat conversation connected to the right agent | Session, up to 30 days |
| _ga / _ga_[container-id] | Google Analytics (Google LLC) | Analytics | Distinguishes unique visitors and measures aggregate site usage | Up to 13 months |
| _gid | Google Analytics (Google LLC) | Analytics | Distinguishes visitors for a single day of traffic reporting | 24 hours |
| _fbp | Meta Platforms, Inc. | Advertising | Meta Pixel — measures and improves the relevance of our Facebook/Instagram ads | 90 days |
| _fbc | Meta Platforms, Inc. | Advertising | Records that a visit followed a Facebook/Instagram ad click | 90 days |
| test_cookie / IDE | Google Ads / DoubleClick | Advertising | Measures ad performance and supports Google Shopping-style remarketing | Up to 13 months |
| VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE / YSC | YouTube (Google LLC) | Advertising | Set only if you play an embedded YouTube video (see Section 8) | Session to 8 months |
This table lists the categories and representative cookies currently used or reasonably expected on mygradstoles.com based on the platform, plugins, and marketing tools we run. It does not list every individual cookie name our third-party providers may use internally — for that level of detail, consult the provider's own cookie disclosure linked in Section 7.
How Long We Keep Cookie Data
Retention periods vary by cookie type and are set to last only as long as they serve their purpose.
Essential
Session – 14 Days
Cleared automatically when your session ends or shortly after, unless you selected "remember me."
Functional
Up to 6 Months
Your consent choice and live chat linkage are kept long enough to avoid repeatedly asking you.
Analytics
24 Hours – 13 Months
Google Analytics identifiers expire on a rolling basis and are automatically refreshed on each new visit.
Advertising
90 Days – 13 Months
Meta and Google advertising identifiers persist to measure campaigns across visits, subject to each provider's own limits.
Some browsers independently shorten these lifespans (for example, Safari's Intelligent Tracking Prevention). The figures above reflect the maximum duration we, or our providers, configure — your browser may clear cookies sooner.
Third-Party Cookies We Use
Some cookies on mygradstoles.com are placed by outside companies whose tools we've chosen to integrate. We don't control what these companies do internally with the data their own cookies collect — their own privacy and cookie policies govern that.
Google (Analytics & Ads)
We use Google Analytics to understand site traffic and Google Ads to run and measure Google Shopping-style campaigns for our stoles. Google's own cookie practices are described in the Google Cookies & Similar Technologies page and Google Privacy Policy.
Meta (Facebook & Instagram)
Our Meta Pixel helps us measure how well our Facebook and Instagram content — including our Facebook and Instagram pages — drives visits and orders. See Meta's Cookies Policy for details on their side.
YouTube
Videos embedded from our YouTube channel on product and about pages may set YouTube/Google cookies once you press play. See Section 8 for how we limit this until you interact.
We share limited, cookie-based signals with Google and Meta (such as "this browser viewed a product page") strictly to measure and improve our own advertising — this is not a sale of your personal information for their independent use, and several U.S. state privacy laws still classify this kind of sharing as "targeted advertising" subject to an opt-out. See Sections 12–13 for how to exercise that opt-out.
Embedded Videos & Social Content
Some of our pages — including product pages for custom graduation stoles and our About Us page — include embedded YouTube videos showing stole styles, sizing, and unboxings, and links to our Facebook and Instagram content.
- A YouTube embed shows a thumbnail and basic player controls without setting YouTube cookies until you actually press play.
- Once you play an embedded video, YouTube (Google) may set cookies to remember playback preferences and measure viewership, governed by Google's own policies linked in Section 7.
- Social share and follow buttons linking to our Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube pages take you to those platforms, where their own cookie practices apply, not ours.
Refusing or Deleting Cookies in Your Browser
Beyond our own preference panel in Section 4, every modern browser lets you block or delete cookies at the browser level — including ones we can't individually toggle for you.
Google Chrome
Settings → Privacy and Security → Cookies and other site data, to block third-party cookies or clear existing ones.
Apple Safari
Settings → Privacy → Manage Website Data, or enable "Prevent Cross-Site Tracking" for automatic blocking.
Mozilla Firefox
Settings → Privacy & Security → Cookies and Site Data, to clear data or set Enhanced Tracking Protection to Strict.
Microsoft Edge
Settings → Cookies and site permissions → Manage and delete cookies and site data.
Mobile browsers and apps have similar settings under your device's browser or app privacy settings. Because the exact menu wording changes between browser versions, we recommend searching "[your browser name] clear cookies" for the most current steps.
"Do Not Track" & Global Privacy Control
Some browsers send a "Do Not Track" (DNT) signal, and a growing number send the newer Global Privacy Control (GPC) signal, which several U.S. state privacy laws now require businesses to honor as a valid opt-out of targeted advertising and the "sale" of personal information.
Do Not Track
There is no single accepted industry standard for how businesses must respond to the legacy DNT signal, and mygradstoles.com does not currently change its cookie behavior based on DNT alone. Use our preference panel in Section 4 for a control we do honor directly.
Global Privacy Control (GPC)
Where a visitor's browser sends a GPC signal and applicable state law requires us to treat it as an opt-out request, we honor it for analytics and advertising cookies on that browser, consistent with our obligations under the state laws referenced in Section 13.
What Happens If You Refuse Cookies
| If You Block/Reject... | What Still Works | What May Not Work |
|---|---|---|
| Essential cookies (browser-level block) | Basic browsing | Adding stoles to cart, applying coupons, and completing checkout may fail |
| Functional cookies | Full shopping and checkout | You may see our cookie banner again on your next visit; live chat may reset between pages |
| Analytics cookies | Full shopping and checkout | None from your perspective — this only affects our internal traffic reporting |
| Advertising cookies | Full shopping and checkout, and you'll still see our ads | Ads you see elsewhere will no longer be tailored to stoles you viewed on our site |
Your Cookie & Tracking Rights — United States
MyGradStoles is a U.S.-registered company. Beyond the FTC's general prohibition on deceptive or unfair tracking practices, a growing number of states give their residents specific rights over cookies used for "targeted advertising" or treated as a "sale" of personal information.
U.S. State-by-State Cookie & Tracking Rights Reference
As of 2026, twenty U.S. states have enacted comprehensive consumer privacy laws that give residents a specific cookie- and tracking-related opt-out right. If your state isn't listed below, general FTC and state UDAP protections against deceptive tracking practices still apply, and our preference panel in Section 4 remains available to everyone regardless of location.
| State | Governing Privacy Law | Cookie/Tracking Opt-Out Right |
|---|
This table is provided for general informational transparency and is not legal advice. Additional states have recently enacted comprehensive privacy laws not yet in effect; consult your state attorney general's office for the current, authoritative text of your state's law.
Your Cookie & Tracking Rights — Canada
Canadian customers are protected by federal privacy and anti-spam law, plus the law of their own province or territory. We honor both.
Canada Province & Territory Cookie Rights Reference
| Province / Territory | Governing Privacy Statute | Cookie/Tracking Note |
|---|---|---|
| Alberta | Personal Information Protection Act (Alberta) + PIPEDA | Meaningful consent required for non-essential tracking cookies |
| British Columbia | Personal Information Protection Act (BC) + PIPEDA | Meaningful consent required for non-essential tracking cookies |
| Manitoba | PIPEDA (no separate private-sector statute) | Federal consent standard applies to cookies |
| New Brunswick | PIPEDA (no separate private-sector statute) | Federal consent standard applies to cookies |
| Newfoundland & Labrador | PIPEDA (no separate private-sector statute) | Federal consent standard applies to cookies |
| Nova Scotia | PIPEDA (no separate private-sector statute) | Federal consent standard applies to cookies |
| Ontario | PIPEDA (no separate private-sector statute) | Federal consent standard applies to cookies |
| Prince Edward Island | PIPEDA (no separate private-sector statute) | Federal consent standard applies to cookies |
| Québec | Law 25 (CQLR c. P-39.1) | Strictest cookie-consent standard in Canada — see Section 14 |
| Saskatchewan | PIPEDA (no separate private-sector statute) | Federal consent standard applies to cookies |
| Northwest Territories | PIPEDA (no separate private-sector statute) | Federal consent standard applies to cookies |
| Nunavut | PIPEDA (no separate private-sector statute) | Federal consent standard applies to cookies |
| Yukon | PIPEDA (no separate private-sector statute) | Federal consent standard applies to cookies |
This table is provided for general informational transparency and is not legal advice. Consult your provincial privacy commissioner's office for the current, authoritative text of your province's law.
Children's Privacy & Cookies
MyGradStoles sells graduation and religious stoles primarily purchased by parents, schools, and adult students, and our site is not directed at children. We do not knowingly use advertising or analytics cookies to build profiles of children under 13, consistent with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) in the U.S. and PIPEDA in Canada.
If you believe a child has interacted with our site in a way that generated cookie data beyond what's essential to display a page, contact contact@mygradstoles.com and we will investigate and remove it promptly.
Security of Cookie & Tracking Data
How We Protect It
Cookies containing session identifiers are transmitted over encrypted HTTPS connections and marked with security flags where our platform supports them, to reduce the risk of interception or misuse.
No System Is Perfect
No method of electronic storage or transmission is 100% secure. We use reasonable administrative and technical safeguards, but cannot guarantee absolute security of cookie-based data, and encourage you to keep your own devices and browsers updated.
Changes to This Cookie Policy
We review this Cookie Policy whenever we add, remove, or change a cookie-setting tool on mygradstoles.com, and at least annually otherwise. The "Last Updated" date at the top of this page reflects the most recent revision. If a change meaningfully expands what we track, we will refresh your consent by prompting the banner again rather than relying on a stale prior choice.
Questions About Cookies or Tracking?
Our team is happy to walk you through what any specific cookie does or help you exercise an opt-out right.
Call or Text
Live Chat
Available on mygradstoles.com
Business Hours
Mon-Fri, 9:00 AM-6:00 PM CST
Orders accepted online 24/7
We aim to respond to every inquiry within 1 business day.
HRV Enterprises INC LLC · 1105 W Cottonwood Ln, Apt 15F, Mount Prospect, IL 60056, United States