Cookies are small text files a website asks your browser to store so that it can remember something between pages or between visits. ChairGrade uses as few as possible, and this page lists them: what each one is for, how long it lasts, and whether it is essential or optional.
We keep our use of cookies deliberately light. ChairGrade is a publication, not a data business, and the cookies we set exist to make the site work, to remember the choices you make, and to support the modest analytics and advertising that fund the work. Everything below is described in order of how necessary it is, starting with the cookies we cannot run without.
What cookies are, and the related technologies
A cookie is a small piece of text that a site stores in your browser. Some are deleted when you close the browser (session cookies); others persist for a set period (persistent cookies). We also use a closely related mechanism, browser local storage, to hold a small amount of preference data. For simplicity, this policy refers to all of these as "cookies", and the same rules and choices apply. Cookies set by us are called first-party cookies; those set by other companies whose services we use are third-party cookies.
Essential cookies
These are required for the site to function and for the features you ask for to work. They cannot be switched off through our consent controls without breaking those features, though you can block all cookies in your browser if you accept the consequences.
- Cookie consent — records whether you have accepted or declined optional cookies, so that we do not ask you on every page. Without it, we could not remember your choice.
- Currency preference — remembers the currency you selected so that prices display correctly on subsequent pages and visits. Without it, the site would re-detect your currency each time, ignoring your choice.
- Security and session — short-lived tokens that help protect forms, such as the contact form, against cross-site request forgery and abuse.
Preference cookies
These remember choices that make the site more convenient for you, beyond the strictly essential. They do not track you across other sites, and they hold no personal profile — only the setting itself.
- Display preferences — for example a remembered currency or a dismissed interface notice, so the site behaves consistently between visits.
Analytics cookies
We use privacy-respecting analytics to understand, in aggregate, how many people visit, which pages are read, and how readers move through the site. This helps us decide what to write, what to fix, and where the site is slow or confusing. Analytics data is used in aggregate; it is not used to single you out or to build an advertising profile.
Where analytics cookies are non-essential under the applicable law, they are set only after you consent. Where a jurisdiction permits privacy-configured analytics without consent, we configure our tools to minimise personal data — for example by truncating IP addresses, disabling cross-site tracking, and avoiding the collection of any data we do not need. The identity of our analytics provider, and the specific cookies it sets, will be reflected in the cookie table below as our configuration is finalised.
Advertising and affiliate cookies
ChairGrade is funded in part by advertising and by affiliate commissions, as explained in our affiliate disclosure. Those arrangements can involve cookies, and you should know which.
- Affiliate attribution. When you click a link to a retailer, the retailer's affiliate network may set a short-lived cookie recording that the visit came from ChairGrade, so that a later purchase can be credited to us. This cookie identifies the source of the visit, not you personally; the purchase itself happens between you and the retailer, and we never see your payment or delivery details. These cookies are typically limited to a matter of days and are not used to track you across unrelated sites.
- Advertising. Where we display advertising, the advertising network may set cookies on those placements to measure performance and, depending on the network and your consent, to limit repetition or personalise advertising. These third-party networks act under their own policies. Where the law requires consent for such cookies, we do not set them until you consent, and we offer you a way to change your choice.
We do not permit our advertising or affiliate partners to use data collected through our site to build profiles of you for unrelated purposes, and we do not sell personal information. If you would rather not have advertising or affiliate cookies at all, decline optional cookies in our consent control or block third-party cookies in your browser; the editorial content will remain fully available to you.
What we set, at a glance
| Cookie | Category | Purpose | Typical duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| cg_currency | Essential | Remembers your chosen display currency | Up to 1 year |
| cg_cookie_consent | Essential | Stores your cookie consent choice | Up to 6 months |
| Session token | Essential | Protects forms against abuse | Session |
| Analytics identifiers | Optional | Aggregate measurement of readership | Days to months |
| Affiliate attribution | Optional | Credits a purchase to a ChairGrade link | Days |
| Advertising cookies | Optional | Measures and limits advertising | Varies by network |
Cookie names, providers, and durations may change as our service providers change or as law requires, and we keep this page and our consent control up to date accordingly. If you need the current detail for a specific cookie, contact us and we will provide it.
Pixels, tags, and web beacons
Cookies are not the only technology that can store or transmit information, and a complete cookie policy should mention the rest. A "pixel" or "web beacon" is a tiny, often invisible image embedded in a page or an email that reports when it has been loaded, telling the sender that a page was viewed or a message was opened. A "tag" is a small snippet of code that loads other tools on a page. ChairGrade uses these only to the extent they support the same purposes as the cookies described above — measuring readership in aggregate and attributing affiliate visits — and subject to the same consent rules where the law requires. We do not embed invasive or covert trackers, and we do not use pixels to build personal profiles of readers. If you block third-party requests in your browser or an extension, these technologies are blocked along with the cookies they rely on.
Third parties that may set cookies
Because different services set cookies for different reasons, it helps to know who they are by role. Our hosting provider may set security-related cookies necessary to serve the site and protect it from attack. Our analytics provider sets cookies to measure readership in aggregate. Advertising networks, where advertising is displayed, set cookies to measure and, with consent, personalise or limit advertising. Affiliate networks set short-lived cookies when you click a retailer link, so that any resulting purchase can be credited. Each of these third parties has its own privacy and cookie policies, and we choose providers we consider responsible. We do not permit them to use information gathered through our site for purposes beyond those we have engaged them for, and we do not allow the sale of personal information.
Why we keep cookies to a minimum
A publication can collect a great deal through cookies if it chooses to, and many do. We have decided against it, for reasons that are as much self-interested as principled. Every cookie we set is something we must disclose, secure, justify, and be accountable for if it goes wrong. A site that collects little has little to leak, little to explain, and little to defend, and it earns reader trust by not demanding it in the form of surveillance. ChairGrade is funded, as we describe openly elsewhere, and those arrangements require a small number of cookies to function. Beyond that small number, more tracking would make the site no more useful to you and only slightly more profitable to us — a trade we are not willing to make. This is the reasoning behind the short list above, and it is why the list is short.
How to control cookies
You have several ways to control cookies, and you do not have to rely on us alone. Within ChairGrade, use our consent control (linked in the footer or shown on your first visit) to accept or decline optional cookies, and change your mind at any time. If a jurisdiction requires a Global Privacy Control signal to be honoured, ours is. In your browser, you can view, block, and delete cookies for any site, and set a general preference to reject third-party cookies; every major browser provides this. Blocking essential cookies will break features such as the currency selector, but the core editorial content will still work. For advertising cookies specifically, many networks provide their own opt-out tools, and industry opt-out pages let you express preferences across participating services.
Clearing cookies will reset your consent choice, so you may see the consent banner again on your next visit. That is expected behaviour, not a malfunction — a deleted cookie is a forgotten preference.
What happens if you decline optional cookies
If you decline optional cookies, ChairGrade keeps working. The site will still load, every review, comparison, and buying guide remains fully readable, and the currency selector and other essential preferences continue to function, because those rely on essential cookies rather than optional ones. What changes is that you are not measured by analytics and not included in advertising or affiliate attribution. You may see advertising that is less relevant, and we will have less aggregate information about which content is being read, but nothing about the site becomes unavailable to you. We consider that the correct design: declining optional cookies should cost you nothing, and on ChairGrade it does not.
Cookies and international transfers
Some of the third-party services whose cookies appear on this site are based outside the region in which you live, which means information associated with those cookies may be processed in another country. Where that happens, the provider relies on a lawful transfer mechanism, such as standard contractual clauses or an equivalent safeguard, and the information involved is limited to what the cookie's purpose requires. Our own handling of personal information, including the safeguards we use for cross-border transfers, is described in our privacy policy. In short: cookies from foreign providers can mean data processed abroad, we require appropriate safeguards when that occurs, and the scope stays tied to the cookie's stated purpose rather than expanding into unrelated tracking.
Browser and third-party opt-out tools
Beyond our own consent control, a range of independent tools can give you finer control over cookies and advertising identifiers. Every major browser allows you to view and delete cookies, to block third-party cookies, and to browse in a private mode that discards cookies when the session ends; these settings live in the browser's privacy or security menu. Many advertising networks and industry bodies also operate opt-out pages that let you express a preference across participating services at once, and content-blocking extensions can refuse tracking requests entirely. None of these tools is required to use ChairGrade, and we do not attempt to defeat them — a reader who blocks tracking still gets the full editorial experience, because our content does not depend on being able to follow people around the web.
Regional rules and your consent
Cookie consent requirements differ around the world. In the European Economic Area and the United Kingdom, non-essential cookies require your prior consent, and you can withdraw it at any time. In California, you have the right to opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information for cross-context behavioural advertising, and we do not sell personal information. Other regions set their own expectations, including India under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, Canada under PIPEDA, Australia under the Australian Privacy Principles, and Brazil under the LGPD, and we apply the substance of these protections to all visitors regardless of where they are. Where two rules differ, we apply the stricter one.
Keeping this page accurate
Cookies change when the tools behind a website change, so this page is reviewed whenever we add, remove, or reconfigure a service that sets one. We aim for the list above to be a faithful description of what is actually on your device, not a stale template. If you believe a cookie is being set that this page does not describe, tell us — an undisclosed cookie is a failure of exactly the transparency this policy exists to provide, and we would want to fix both the cookie and the page.
This policy complements our privacy policy, which describes the personal information we handle and your broader rights, and our affiliate disclosure, which explains the funding these cookies support. Together they describe what ChairGrade stores on your device and why — and, just as importantly, what we do not.