Privacy Policy

1. What Data We Collect

When you create an account or use EarnStudies, we may collect the following information:

• Account information: name, email address, and password (hashed).
• Profile data: age, gender, location, employment status, interests, and other demographics you choose to provide.
• Usage data: studies you click on, search queries, pages visited, and time spent on the platform.
• Payment data: billing information is collected and processed securely by Stripe. We store only your Stripe customer ID and subscription status.
• Device & browser data: IP address, browser type, operating system, and device identifiers collected automatically via cookies and server logs.

2. How We Use Your Data

• Match you with relevant paid focus groups and research studies based on your demographic profile.
• Send study-alert emails and digest notifications you have opted into.
• Process payments and manage your subscription.
• Improve our platform, fix bugs, and develop new features through anonymized analytics.
• Respond to your support requests and communicate important service updates.

3. Third-Party Services

We use the following third-party services to operate EarnStudies:

• Stripe— payment processing and subscription management. Stripe's privacy policy applies to all payment data.
• Resend — transactional and marketing emails. Your email address is shared with Resend solely for delivery purposes.
• Google OAuth — optional social sign-in. Google shares your name and email when you choose to sign in with Google.

We do not sell your personal data to any third parties.

4. Data Retention

We retain your account and profile data for as long as your account is active. If you delete your account, we permanently remove your personal data within 30 days. Anonymized, aggregated analytics data may be retained indefinitely as it cannot be linked back to you.

5. Your Rights

Under applicable privacy laws (including GDPR and CCPA), you have the right to:

• Access — request a copy of all personal data we hold about you.
• Correction — update or correct inaccurate personal data.
• Deletion — request permanent deletion of your account and associated data.
• Export — download your data in a machine-readable format (JSON).
• Opt-out — unsubscribe from marketing emails at any time using the link in each email.

You can exercise your access, export, and deletion rights from your account settings page, or by contacting us at the address below.

6. Security

We use industry-standard measures to protect your data, including encrypted connections (TLS), hashed passwords, and secure server-side sessions. However, no method of electronic storage is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

7. Cookies

EarnStudies uses cookies for authentication, session management, and remembering your preferences. We do not use third-party advertising cookies. You can manage cookie preferences through your browser settings.

8. Changes to This Policy

We may update this privacy policy from time to time. We will notify you of significant changes via email or an in-app notice. Continued use of the service after updates constitutes acceptance.

9. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this privacy policy or your personal data, contact us at:

Email: privacy@earnstudies.com