1. What cookies are
Cookies are small text files that a website places on your computer, phone, or tablet when you visit. They are widely used to make sites work, to make them work better, and to give the site owner information about how the site is being used. Similar technologies — pixels, tags, local storage, and software development kits — do comparable jobs, and everything this policy says about cookies applies to them too.
A cookie set by the site you are visiting is called a first-party cookie. One set by another organisation whose content or service appears on the page — a video player, a payment provider, an analytics tool — is a third-party cookie. Cookies that expire when you close your browser are session cookies; those that stay until they expire or you delete them are persistent cookies.
2. Why we use cookies
We use cookies to run Stratum and to understand how it is used. Some cookies are essential: without them you could not sign in, stay signed in, keep items in a marketplace basket, or submit a form safely. Others are optional and help us see which features people actually use, remember your preferences, and measure whether our campaigns reach the right audience.
Some of the information collected through cookies may constitute personal information — for example an identifier tied to your browser or device, or your IP address. Where it does, we collect and use it for the sole purpose of providing, securing, and improving the Stratum website and services, and for the specific purposes described in the category table below. We do not sell it, and we do not use it to build profiles for third-party advertising. Our Privacy Policy explains your rights over that information and how to exercise them.
3. The categories of cookies we use
Every cookie on the site falls into one of four categories. Only the first is set without asking you.
- Necessary — required for the site to function. They keep you signed in, protect forms against cross-site request forgery, balance server load, and remember your cookie choice. The site cannot be provided without them, so they do not require consent.
- Preferences — remember choices that change how the site looks or behaves for you, such as your language or layout settings.
- Statistics — help us understand how visitors use the site by collecting and reporting information anonymously or in aggregate, so we can see what works and fix what does not.
- Marketing — used to measure the effectiveness of our campaigns and, where relevant, to show you content that is more likely to be useful to you.
Preferences, statistics, and marketing cookies are set only if you consent, and you can change or withdraw that consent at any time — see section 6.
4. The cookies currently in use
The table below is generated by Cookiebot, which scans this site regularly and lists every cookie it finds — the name, the provider, what it is for, when it expires, and the category it belongs to. It reflects what is actually running rather than a list we maintain by hand, so it stays accurate as the site changes.
If the table does not appear, a browser extension or content blocker is probably blocking it. You can also see everything stored for this site in your browser’s privacy settings, as described in section 7.
5. Third-party cookies
Some cookies on this site are set by other companies whose services we use. Connecting a streaming or community platform sends you through that platform’s own sign-in, which may set cookies under its domain. Marketplace checkout is handled by our payment provider, which sets cookies needed to process the payment securely and to prevent fraud. Embedded media may set cookies when you play it.
These companies are independent controllers of the data they collect through their own cookies, and their own privacy and cookie policies apply. Each third-party cookie is named, attributed to its provider, and categorised in the table above.
6. Your choices and how to change them
The first time you visit, a consent banner asks which categories you are willing to allow. Nothing outside the necessary category is set until you agree, and declining costs you nothing beyond the features those cookies power. Your choice is recorded so we do not ask again on every page, and it is reconfirmed periodically.
You can change your mind whenever you like. Reopen the consent panel with the button below, adjust the categories, and save — consent you withdraw stops applying immediately, and the corresponding cookies are no longer set.
7. Managing cookies in your browser
Independently of the controls above, every major browser lets you see the cookies stored for a site, delete them, and block new ones — usually under Settings, then Privacy. Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and Edge each publish step-by-step instructions, and most browsers offer a private or incognito window that discards cookies when you close it.
Blocking cookies for this site will sign you out and stop forms from submitting, because the necessary category cannot be switched off without breaking those functions. Clearing your cookies also clears your recorded consent choice, so the banner will ask again on your next visit.
8. Changes to this policy
We update this page whenever the cookies we use change, and we date it at the top. The table in section 4 updates itself as the site is rescanned. If we introduce a cookie that needs your consent, we will ask before setting it.
9. Contact
Questions about cookies or this policy: [PRIVACY EMAIL], or write to us through the contact form.