Cookie Policy

The website https://vitamin-shop.com uses cookies. The information below aims to provide users with more details about the placement, use, and management of cookies used by the site https://vitamin-shop.com. If you need more information and it is not found below, you can contact us at contact@vitamin-shop.com.

Please read the following information carefully:

This website can use both its own cookies and those from third parties to provide visitors with a much better browsing experience and services tailored to the needs and interests of each one. Since we respect your right to privacy, you can opt to block certain types of cookies from this site. Cookies play an important role in facilitating access to and delivery of multiple services enjoyed by the user on the internet, such as:

• Personalizing certain settings like the language in which a site is viewed, the currency in which certain prices or rates are expressed, keeping options for various products (measures, other details, etc.) in the shopping cart (and remembering these options), saving certain preferences for future reuse.
• Providing valuable feedback to website owners on how their sites are used by users, so they can make them more efficient and accessible.
• Allowing multimedia applications or other types from other sites to be included in a particular site to create a more valuable, useful, and pleasant browsing experience.
• Improving the efficiency of online advertising.

What is a Cookie?

A cookie is a small file consisting of letters and numbers that will be stored on your computer, mobile terminal, or other equipment from which the Internet is accessed. The cookie is installed through a request issued by a web server to a browser (e.g., Chrome, Firefox) and is completely "passive" (does not contain software programs, viruses, or spyware and cannot access the information on the user's hard drive).

A cookie consists of two parts: its name and content or value. Moreover, the lifespan of a cookie is determined; technically only the webserver that sent the cookie can access it again when a user returns to the website associated with that webserver. Cookies themselves do not request personal information to be used and, in most cases, do not personally identify internet users.

There are two large categories of cookies:

• Session Cookies - these are stored temporarily in the cookie file of the web browser for it to remember until the user closes the browser window or logs out of that site.
• Persistent Cookies - These are stored on the hard drive of a computer or equipment (and generally depend on the predefined lifespan for the cookie). Persistent cookies include those placed by a website other than the one the user is currently visiting - known as 'third-party cookies' - which can be used anonymously to remember a user’s preferences.

What are the advantages of cookies?

A cookie contains information that links a web-browser (the user) to a specific web-server (the website). If a browser accesses that web-server again, it can read the already stored information and respond accordingly. Cookies provide users with a pleasant browsing experience and support many websites’ efforts to offer comfortable services to users: e.g., online privacy preferences, site language options, shopping carts, or relevant advertising.

What is the lifespan of a cookie?

Cookies are managed by web servers. The lifespan of a cookie can vary significantly, depending on the purpose for which it is placed. Some cookies are used exclusively for a single session (session cookies) and are not retained after the user leaves the website, while other cookies are retained and reused each time the user returns to that website (persistent cookies). However, cookies can be deleted by a user at any time via browser settings.

What are third-party cookies?

Certain sections of content on some sites can be provided through third parties/providers (e.g., a video, an ad, a chat application, etc.). These third parties can also place cookies through the site and they are called “third-party cookies” because they are not placed by the site owner. Third-party providers must also comply with the law in force and the site owner’s privacy policies.

How are cookies used by this site?

Cookies ensure users a pleasant browsing experience and support our efforts to offer comfortable services to users through functionalities such as online privacy preferences, the shopping cart, or relevant advertising. They are also used in the preparation of anonymous, aggregated statistics that help us understand how a user benefits from our web pages, allowing us to improve their structure and content, excluding personal user identification.

A visit to this site may place the following types of cookies:

• Essential cookies
• Performance cookies
• Social media and advertising cookies

Certain cookies, such as performance or social media and advertising cookies, may come from third parties.

Essential cookies

These cookies allow the saving of preferences regarding the other types of cookies used as well as accessing the basic functionalities of this site. They retain user preferences on this site so that they do not need to be set each time the site is visited. Registration cookies are generated when a user registers on this site to inform us later if the user is registered or not. Our servers use these cookies to show us the account you are registered with and provide a more comfortable interaction with the site.

Other cookies we place to allow optimal use of the site include shopping cart cookies and Favorites lists (to save information about the products you added to the cart or as Favorites), location cookies (used to determine your location based on IP to pre-fill certain fields required for registration or order placement), session cookies generated upon access and automatically deleted upon closing the browser (necessary for HTTP protocol functioning, filling out certain forms, interacting with certain site elements, etc.), cookies that recognize the type of terminal used - desktop or mobile, chat application cookies that allow real-time discussions with customer service.

Performance cookies

These include cookies from traffic analysis services and cookies placed by certain third-party services that provide complementary functionalities to the site. Traffic analysis cookies allow aggregated measurement of site traffic, identifying traffic sources, providing information on the most visited or least accessed pages, and how users interact with the site. These cookies can come from third parties such as Web Analytics services (e.g., Google Analytics).

Social media and advertising cookies

These can be placed through the site by social media or advertising services we use. This type of cookie can be used by these services to determine a specific profile of visitors and to show you relevant advertising messages on other sites you visit. They can come from third parties such as advertising services (e.g., AdSense, AdWords), social media platforms (e.g., Facebook, Twitter), etc. Due to the way they are used, this site cannot access third-party cookies just as third parties cannot access the cookies held by this site. For example, when you share an article using the social media button on this site, that social network will record your activity.

What type of information is stored and accessed via cookies?

Cookies keep information in a small text file that allows a website to recognize a browser. The web server will recognize the browser until the cookie expires or is deleted. The cookie stores important information that improves the internet browsing experience (e.g., keeping a user logged in to their account, keeping products in the shopping cart, keeping products in the Favorites list).

Why are cookies important for the Internet?

Cookies are central to the efficient functioning of the Internet, helping to generate a friendly browsing experience tailored to each user’s preferences and interests. Refusing or disabling cookies may make some sites difficult to use.

Refusing or disabling cookies does not mean that you will no longer receive online advertising – it just means that it will no longer be able to take into account your preferences and interests reflected by your browsing behavior.

Examples of important uses of cookies (which do not require user authentication via an account):

• Content and services tailored to user preferences - categories of news, weather, sports, maps, public and government services, entertainment, and travel services.
• Offers tailored to user interests - password retention, language preferences (e.g., displaying search results in Romanian).
• Retention of child protection filters regarding internet content (family mode options, safe search functions).
• Limiting the frequency of ad displays - limiting the number of times an ad is shown to a particular user on a site.
• Providing more relevant advertising to the user.
• Measuring, optimizing, and analytics features - such as confirming a certain level of traffic on a website, what type of content is viewed, and how a user arrives on a website (e.g., through search engines, directly from other websites, etc.). Websites conduct these analyses to improve their sites for the benefit of users.

Security and privacy issues related to cookies

Cookies use plain text formats. They are not made up of code snippets, so they cannot be executed or auto-run. Consequently, they cannot duplicate or replicate on other networks to run or replicate again. Cookies can, however, be used for negative purposes. Because they store information about users' preferences and browsing history, both on a particular site and on multiple other sites, cookies can be used as a form of Spyware. Many anti-spyware products are aware of this and constantly mark cookies for deletion during anti-virus/anti-spyware deletion/scanning procedures.

In general, browsers have integrated privacy settings that provide different levels of cookie acceptance, lifespan, and automatic deletion after the user has visited a particular site. Other security aspects related to cookies:

• Since identity protection is very valuable and is the right of every internet user, it is advisable to know what potential problems cookies can create. Because through them, information is constantly transmitted in both directions between the browser and the website, if an attacker or unauthorized person intervenes during data transmission, the information contained in the cookie can be intercepted. Although very rare, this can happen if the browser connects to the server using an unencrypted network (e.g., an unsecured WiFi network).
• Other cookie-based attacks involve incorrect cookie settings on servers. If a website does not require the browser to use only encrypted channels, attackers can use this vulnerability to trick browsers into sending information through unsecured channels. Attackers then use the information to gain unauthorized access to certain sites. It is very important to be careful in choosing the most appropriate method of protecting personal information.

Tips for safe and responsible cookie-based browsing

• Customize your browser settings regarding cookies to reflect a comfortable level of cookie security for you.
• If you do not mind cookies and are the only person using the computer, you can set long expiration dates for storing browsing history and personal access data.
• If you share computer access, you might consider setting the browser to delete individual browsing data every time you close the browser. This is an option to access sites that place cookies and delete any visit information at the end of the browsing session.
• Install and constantly update antispyware applications.

Many spyware detection and prevention applications include detecting attacks on sites. This prevents the browser from accessing websites that could exploit browser vulnerabilities or download dangerous software.

Make sure your browser is always up to date. Many cookie-based attacks are exploited by exploiting the weaknesses of old browser versions.

Cookies are everywhere and cannot be avoided if you want to enjoy access to the best and largest websites on the Internet - local or international. With a clear understanding of how they operate and the benefits they bring, you can take the necessary security measures to confidently browse the Internet.

Disabling and refusing to receive cookies can make some sites impractical or difficult to visit and use. Also, refusing to accept cookies does not mean you will no longer receive/see online advertising.

It is possible to set the browser so that these cookies are no longer accepted, or you can set the browser to accept cookies from a specific site. But, for example, if you are not registered using cookies, you will not be able to leave comments.

All modern browsers offer the possibility to change cookie settings. These settings are usually found in your browser’s "Options" or "Preferences" menu. To understand these settings, the following links may be useful, or you can use the browser’s "Help" option for more details.

Cookie settings in Internet Explorer
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/278835

Cookie settings in Firefox
http://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/Cookies

Cookie settings in Chrome
http://support.google.com/chrome/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=95647

Cookie settings in Safari
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH5042

For third-party cookie settings, you can also visit: http://www.youronlinechoices.com/ro/

For more details on privacy issues, you can also access the following links:

Google Analytics
https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245?hl=en