Privacy Policy
We at Schaeffer’s Investment Research, Inc. (the “SIR,” “we,” “our,” or “us”) recognize the importance of protecting the privacy of personally identifiable information (“Personal Information” or “PII”). To that end, this privacy policy has been compiled to better serve those who are concerned with how their PII is being used by us. PII, as described in US privacy law and information security, is any information that is linked or reasonably linkable to an identified or identifiable natural person. Please read our privacy policy carefully to get a clear understanding of how we collect, use, protect or otherwise handle your Personally Identifiable Information in accordance with our website (“Website”). By visiting our Website and/or using our Services, you are accepting the practices described in this Privacy Policy.
What personal information do we collect from the people that visit our Website or use our Services?
- Information You Provide: We collect information from you when you register on our Website, place an order, subscribe to a newsletter, sign up for a free report, fill out a form, submit a Service inquiry, or enter information on our Website. You can choose not to provide certain information, but then you might not be able to take advantage of many of our available features. We use the information that you provide for such purposes as responding to your inquiries, customizing your experience for you, improving our Website and Services, and optimizing our communication with you.
- Information collected may include: name (if provided), email address (if provided), phone number (if provided), securely-hashed password (if provided), IP address, user agent string, zip code (based on IP address), pages visited, ads clicked on, user preferences and settings (if provided).
- Information collected in log files: Like many other Websites, we make use of log files. The information inside the log files includes internet protocol ( IP ) addresses, type of browser, Internet Service Provider ( ISP ), date/time stamp, referring/exit pages, and number of clicks to analyze trends, administer the site, track user’s movement around the site, and gather demographic information. IP addresses, and other such information are not linked to any information that is personally identifiable.
- Information from Other Sources: For reasons such as improving personalization of our service (for example, providing better product recommendations or special offers that we think will interest you), we might receive information about you from other sources and add it to our account information. We also sometimes receive updated delivery and address information from our shippers or other sources so that we can correct our records and deliver your next purchase or communication more easily.
Each time you request information, or register for free or paid Services, you are agreeing to receive communications from us about Schaeffer’s services, products, offers and promotions. If you do not want to receive such offers, please notify us by sending an email to service @ sir-inc.com.
Does SIR Use ‘Cookies’?
Yes. Cookies are small files that a site or its service provider transfers to your computer's hard drive through your Web browser (if you allow) that enables the site's or service provider's systems to recognize your browser and capture and remember certain information. For instance, we use cookies so you can have features like "Remember Me" for accessing Services at login. They are also used to help us understand your preferences based on previous or current site activity, which enables us to provide you with improved services. We also use cookies to help us compile aggregate data about site traffic and site interaction so that we can offer better site experiences and tools in the future. Cookies are also utilized during the ordering process to help insure your order is handled correctly.
The "help" portion of the toolbar on most browsers will tell you how to prevent your browser from accepting new cookies, how to have your browser notify you when you receive a new cookie, or how to disable cookies altogether. If you turn cookies off, some of the features that make your site experience more efficient may not function properly.
How Does SIR Use ‘Cookies’?
- Help remember and process the items in the shopping cart.
- Understand and save user's preferences for future visits.
- Keep track of advertisements.
- Compile aggregate data about site traffic and site interactions in order to offer better site experiences and tools in the future. We may also use trusted third-party services that track this information on our behalf.
How Does SIR Use the Information It Receives?
We may use your information for any of the following purposes:
- To personalize your experience and to allow us to deliver the type of content and product offerings in which you are most interested.
- To improve our Website in order to better serve you.
- To allow us to better service you in responding to your service inquiries.
- To quickly process your transactions.
- To ask for ratings and reviews of services or products
- To follow up with you after correspondence (live chat, email or phone inquiries)
- Sometimes we send offers to selected groups of SIR customers on behalf advertising partners. When SIR does this, we do not give that business your personal information. If you do not want to receive such offers, please notify SIR by sending an email to service @ sir-inc.com.
- To promote the safety and security of the Service, our users, and other parties. For example, we may use the information to authenticate users, facilitate secure payments, protect against fraud and abuse, respond to a legal request or claim, conduct audits, and enforce our terms and policies
- We release relevant personal information when we believe release is appropriate to comply with law; enforce the terms of the Legal Notices that accompany this Policy; or protect the rights, property, or safety of SIR, our users, or others.
How Does SIR Protect Your Information?
- Your personal information is contained behind secured networks and is only accessible by a limited number of people who have special access rights to such systems, and are required to keep the information confidential. In addition, all sensitive/credit information you supply is encrypted via Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology.
- Our website is scanned on a regular basis for security holes and known vulnerabilities in order to make your visit to our site as safe as possible. We also use regular Malware Scanning.
- We reveal only the last four digits of your credit card numbers when confirming an order. Of course, we transmit the entire credit card number to the appropriate credit card company during order processing, which immediately tokenizes your information for security.
- It is important for you to protect against unauthorized access to your password and to your computer. Be sure to sign out when using a shared computer.
- We implement a variety of security measures when a user places an order, enters, submits, or accesses their information to maintain the safety of your personal information.
How Can You Update Your Information?
- You can contact our Customer Service department about other changes to your information by calling 1-800-440-2080 or by emailing service @ sir-inc.com.
Third-Party Disclosures
We may disclose Users’ PII to certain third parties for a business purpose as described below. Otherwise, we do not sell, trade, or otherwise transfer to outside parties your Personally Identifiable Information unless we provide users without your permission. This does not include website hosting partners and other parties who assist us in operating our website, conducting our business, or serving our users. We may also release information when it's release is appropriate to comply with the law, enforce our site policies, or protect ours or others' rights, property or safety.
If we become involved in a transaction involving the sale of our assets, such as a merger or acquisition, or if we are transferred to another company, we may disclose and/or transfer your Personal Identifiable Information as part of the transaction. If the surviving entity in that transaction is not us, the surviving company may use your Personal Identifiable Information pursuant to its own privacy policies, and those policies may be different from this Policy.
We may disclose your Personal Identifiable Information for any other purpose disclosed by us at the time you provide that Personal Identifiable Information, or otherwise with your consent.
Third-party links: Occasionally, at our discretion, we may include or offer third-party products or services on our Website. These third-party sites have separate and independent privacy policies. We therefore have no responsibility or liability for the content and activities of these linked sites. Nonetheless, we seek to protect the integrity of our site and welcome any feedback about these links.
Google Ads: Google's advertising requirements can be summed up by Google's Advertising Principles. They are put in place to provide a positive experience for users and can be reviewed here: https://support.google.com/adwordspolicy/answer/1316548?hl=en . You may also want to review Google’s Privacy & Terms here: https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites.
Google Analytics: We use analytics tracking code to support display advertising online, including remarketing. You can opt-out of Google Analytics for display advertising and customize Google Display Network ads using the Ads Preferences Manager. We use analytics tools, such as remarketing, and other third-party technologies, such as Google Analytics and DoubleClick Cookies, to collect non-personal information in the form of various usage and user metrics when you use our online sites and/or services. These tools and technologies collect and analyze certain types of information, including cookies, IP addresses, device and software identifiers, referring and exit URLs, onsite behavior and usage information, feature use metrics and statistics, usage and purchase history, MAC Address, and other similar information. Third-party vendors, including Google, show our ads on sites across the Internet. SchaeffersResearch and third-party vendors, including Google, use first-party cookies (such as the Google Analytics cookie) and third-party cookies (such as the DoubleClick cookie) together to inform, optimize, and serve ads based on past visits to our website. You may opt out of the DoubleClick cookie by visiting the Google advertising opt-out page or you may opt out of Google Analytics by visiting the Google Analytics opt-out page. Google has additional information available about their Policies and Restrictions.
COPPA (Children Online Privacy Protection Act)
The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) require us to inform parents and legal guardians about our practices for collecting, using, and disclosing personal information from children under the age of 13. It also requires us to obtain verifiable consent from a child's parent for certain collection, use, and disclosure of the child's personal information.
We do not specifically market to children under the age of 13 years old.
We do not offer our Services or promote the Website or our Services to, nor do we intentionally collect or retain Personal Identifiable Information from, children who are younger than 18 years of age. . If you are under 18, you may use our Website and/or Services only with oversight and involvement of a parent or guardian.
Fair Information Practices
The Fair Information Practices Principles form the backbone of privacy law in the United States and the concepts they include have played a significant role in the development of data protection laws around the globe. Understanding the Fair Information Practice Principles and how they should be implemented is critical to comply with the various privacy laws that protect personal information. In order to be in line with Fair Information Practices we will take the following responsive action, should we become aware of a data breach occur, we will use reasonable efforts to notify you.
E.U. General Data Protection Rules (GDPR)
SIR aims to be fully compliant with the European Union's General Data Protection Rules (GDPR). Any individual subscriber in the European Union may request an export of their data at any time or may exercise the "right to be forgotten" and have any information related to their account removed from SIR database at any time. Please send any GDPR related requests via email to service@sir-inc.com.
U.S. CAN-SPAM Act
The CAN-SPAM Act is a law that sets the rules for commercial email, establishes requirements for commercial messages, gives recipients the right to have emails stopped from being sent to them, and spells out tough penalties for violations.
We collect your email address in order to:
- Send information, respond to inquiries, and/or other requests or questions
- Process orders and to send information and updates pertaining to orders.
- Send you additional information related to your product and/or service
- Market to our mailing list or continue to send emails to our clients after the original transaction has occurred.
To be in accordance with CAN-SPAM, we agree to the following:
- Not use false or misleading subjects or email addresses.
- Identify the message as an advertisement in some reasonable way.
- Include the physical address of our business or site headquarters.
- Monitor third-party email marketing services for compliance, if one is used.
- Honor opt-out/unsubscribe requests quickly.
- Allow users to unsubscribe by using the link at the bottom of each email.
If at any time you would like to unsubscribe from receiving future emails, you can click the unsubscribe button at the bottom of each email and we will promptly remove you from all correspondence.
Your Privacy Choices
We strive to provide you with choices regarding the PII you provide to us. We have created mechanisms to provide you with the following control over your PII:
Tracking Technologies and Advertising: You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when cookies are being sent. If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts or functions of our Services may then be inaccessible or not function properly.
Promotional Communications: If you do not wish to receive promotional emails, text messages and/or other direct marketing communications from us, you may opt-out at any time by (i) following any instructions included in the communication or (ii) contacting us at service @ sir-inc.com.
With your consent, we may also send promotional and non-promotional push notifications or alerts to your browser. You can deactivate these messages at any time by changing the notification settings on your browser. Please be aware that although you may opt-out of promotional emails, text messages and/or other direct marketing communications, we reserve the right to email you administrative notices regarding our Services and other non-promotional messages, as permitted under the CAN-SPAM Act.
Sharing of Your Information for Third-Party Advertising: If you do not want us to share your PII with unaffiliated or non-agent third parties for promotional purposes, you can opt-out by sending us an email with your request to service @ sir-inc.com.
Account Information: If you ever wish to access, update, change, delete, correct, or otherwise control your PII, you may do so by sending us an email with your request to service@sir-inc.com. To help us process your request, please provide sufficient information to allow us to identify you in our records. We reserve the right to ask for additional information verifying your identity prior to disclosing any PII to you. Should we ask for verification, the information you provide will be used only for verification purposes, and all copies of the information will be destroyed when the process is complete.
Other State Privacy Rights: Residents of certain states may have additional personal information rights and choices, including rights related to advertising and analytics activities that may be considered “sales” or “sharing” of your PII or “targeted advertising” under the laws and/or regulations that apply to you. Depending on where you reside, you may have the right to opt out of targeted advertising, sharing, and sales of your PII, in addition to other applicable privacy rights. If you believe you have such additional rights and wish to exercise them, please send us an email with your request, including the specific rights you wish to exercise, to service @ sir-inc.com. Please be aware that your rights are limited to the extent permitted by applicable law.
We will make commercially reasonable efforts to respond to opt-out requests and handle requests to access, update, change, delete, or otherwise control your PII as quickly as possible.
Data Retention
We will retain Users’ PII while they maintain an account with us or to the extent necessary to provide our Services. Thereafter, we will keep PII for as long as necessary: (i) to respond to any queries from Users; (ii) to demonstrate we treated Users fairly; (iii) for ordinary business continuity procedures; or (iv) to comply with any applicable laws. We delete PII within a reasonable period after we no longer need the information for the purposes set out in this Policy.
Conditions of Use, Notices, and Revisions
If you choose to visit SchaeffersResearch.com, your visit and any dispute over privacy is subject to this Privacy Policy and our Terms of Service (https://www.schaeffersresearch.com/legal-notice), including limitations on damages, arbitration of disputes, and application of the law of the state of Ohio. If you have any concern about privacy at SIR, please send us a thorough description to service @ sir-inc.com, and we will try to resolve it. SIR does not control and is not responsible for privacy policies for any sites linked to or from our Website. Our business changes constantly. We reserve the right to update this Policy from time-to-time in our sole discretion. This Policy and the Legal Notices will change also, and use of information that we gather now is subject to the Privacy Policy in effect at the time of use. We may e-mail periodic reminders of our notices and conditions, unless you have instructed us not to, but you should check our Website frequently to see recent changes.
When you submit an order (free or paid), you complete a digital signature in which you are agreeing to receive text messages, email messages, and phone calls from Schaeffer's Investment Research. You have provided digital signature expressly consenting to recurring contact from SIR at the number provided regarding products or services via telephone call, text message, or email. You were informed that your telephone company may impose charges on them for these contacts, and customer is not required to enter into this agreement as a condition of purchasing this subscription. Customer may revoke this consent at any time by emailing service @ sir-inc.com.
How to Contact SIR
Schaeffer’s Investment Research, Inc.
5151 Pfeiffer Road, Suite 450, Cincinnati, OH 45242
service @ sir-inc.com (Customer Support Team)
513-589-3800 or 800-448-2080