In plain English: TariffWatch uses one essential cookie (your consent choice), a preference cookie if you dismiss the feedback prompt, and, only if you say yes on the cookie banner, cookies that help us understand which pages people find useful and catch errors. We do not run third-party advertising cookies and do not sell or share cookie data.
1. How your choice works
The first-visit banner offers Accept all, Decline non-essential, or Manage preferences. Essential cookies always run. Analytics/error-tracking only run if you accept. This is the same for every visitor, wherever you are: analytics, error tracking, attribution and A/B-test cookies default to off until you explicitly accept, and declining deletes any already set. Saved for one year in local storage + a first-party cookie.
2. Cookie categories
| Cookie | Category | What it does | Duration | Runs before consent? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
de_session | Essential (admin only) | Site-operator admin sign-in only. Never set for visitors or customers. | 30 days | Only when the site operator signs in. |
de_cookie_consent | Essential | Remembers your banner choice. | 1 year | Yes. |
nps_dismiss_tariffwatch | Preferences | Remembers that you dismissed the one-question feedback prompt so it is not shown again. | 90 days | Only if you dismiss the prompt. |
de_utm_sid | Attribution | First-party visit ID that links a UTM-tagged landing page to a later signup or checkout, so we can credit the source. Never shared with ad networks. | 90 days | No, only after you Accept. Deleted when you Decline. |
de_ab_vid | Experiments | Random A/B-test visitor ID so a headline test shows you the same version on every visit. Before you accept, a one-page-load value is used and never stored. | 1 year | No, only after you Accept. Deleted when you Decline. |
de_exp_assignments | Experiments | Which test variant you were shown (variant names only, no ID). | 1 year | No, only after you Accept. Deleted when you Decline. |
de_ref | Attribution | Partner referral code from a ?ref= link, so the referring partner can be credited. | 7 days | No, only after you Accept. Deleted when you Decline. |
rewardful.referral | Attribution | Rewardful affiliate referral ID, set by Rewardful's script when you arrive through an affiliate link, only if our affiliate program is active. | 60 days | No, the script loads only after you Accept. |
ph_* (PostHog) | Analytics | Anonymous device ID for usage analytics, where enabled on this product surface. | Up to 1 year | No, only after Accept. |
3. Rewardful (affiliate tracking)
If our affiliate program is active, Rewardful's script loads only after you accept and sets its referral cookie (rewardful.referral, 60 days, our program's cookie window) when you arrive through an affiliate link, so the referring affiliate can be credited when you sign up or buy. Until you accept, or if you decline, the Rewardful script does not load and sets no cookie.
4. Third-party cookie policies
5. Your choices
Change your decision any time with the Cookie settings link at the bottom of every page (it re-opens the cookie banner), or by clearing this domain's cookies/site data and reloading, or block cookies in your browser settings; if you block essential cookies, the banner cannot remember your choice and will show on every visit.
6. Legal basis for each category
Essential cookies run under GDPR Art. 6(1)(b) (necessary to perform the contract) and sit outside ePrivacy consent requirements for exactly that reason. Analytics and error-tracking cookies run under GDPR Art. 6(1)(a) -- your freely-given, specific consent via the banner -- which is why they default off for every visitor until accepted, and why declining costs nothing: TariffWatch's core exposure checker and comment-letter drafter works identically either way.
7. Browser-level controls
You can also block or clear cookies at the browser level: Chrome -- Settings → Privacy and security → Cookies; Safari -- Settings → Privacy → Manage Website Data; Firefox -- Settings → Privacy & Security → Cookies and Site Data. Blocking all cookies browser-wide means our banner cannot remember your choice, and it will log you out of many other sites.
8. Why we chose this consent model
A lot of consent banners are designed to wear you down into clicking "Accept all" (dark-pattern-style unequal button weighting, pre-ticked boxes, or a decline button buried three clicks deep). Ours isn't: Accept and Decline are the same visual weight, Decline is one click from the first screen, and declining changes nothing about whether TariffWatch works for you. We built it this way because the honest version of a compliance product should not run a dishonest cookie banner.
9. Enterprise and team accounts
If your organization requires a signed Data Processing Agreement or a specific cookie/analytics configuration as a condition of using TariffWatch (common for larger compliance/logistics teams), email support@tariffwatch.app, we can review analytics defaults for an Enterprise account on a case-by-case basis as part of onboarding.
10. What happens if you never interact with the banner
If you close the tab without clicking Accept, Decline, or Manage preferences, no choice is saved, the banner will show again on your next visit, and analytics, error tracking, attribution and A/B-test cookies stay off, as they do for every visitor until they click Accept. Nothing is "silently accepted" by inaction; a stored decision only exists once you actually click one of the three options.
11. Cookies and the free checker specifically
Running TariffWatch's free checker does not require accepting any cookie category beyond essential, you can decline analytics entirely and still get a full result. The only place a cookie decision has a visible effect is whether we can see aggregate, anonymized usage patterns (which pages people bounce from, which results sections get the most attention) to prioritize what we build next. Declining does not degrade your own result in any way.
12. Related pages
13. Contact
Questions about this policy: support@tariffwatch.app.
Digital Empire Holdings LLC, 30 N Gould St Ste N, Sheridan WY 82801