This Privacy Policy explains what information Vortex Research ("we," "us," or "our") collects when you visit vortexresearch.net or purchase a Product, how we use it, who we share it with, and the choices you have. It's incorporated by reference into our Terms of Service.

Information We Collect

Information you provide directly: name, email address, phone number, shipping and billing address, and any information you submit through account registration, checkout, our contact form, or live chat.

Age and researcher verification: when you confirm the researcher/age gate on our site, we log that confirmation — including a timestamp and, where applicable, your account identifier — and tie it to any order you place, so we can demonstrate compliance with our research-use-only sales policy if ever required to.

Order and payment information: your order history, products purchased, and transaction details. Payment card information is collected and processed directly by our third-party payment processors — we do not store your full card number.

Communications: if you contact us by email, our contact form, or live chat, we retain that correspondence to respond to you and maintain a record of support interactions.

Automatically collected information: standard technical data such as IP address, browser type, device information, and pages visited, collected via cookies and similar technologies (see below).

Cookies & Similar Technologies

We use cookies for core site functionality, including:

• Remembering that you've confirmed our researcher/age verification gate (stored for 60 days)
• Keeping items in your cart and maintaining your logged-in session
• Basic analytics to understand site usage and improve performance

You can disable cookies through your browser settings, but doing so may prevent parts of the site — including checkout — from working correctly.

SMS & Email Marketing

If you opt in to receive marketing texts or emails, we use that contact information to send order updates, promotional messages, and cart reminders. Consent to marketing messages is never a condition of purchase. You can unsubscribe from marketing emails at any time via the link in any email, and from SMS by replying STOP. Message and data rates may apply.

How We Use Your Information

• To process and fulfill your orders, including shipping and payment confirmation
• To verify researcher/age eligibility as required by our sales policy
• To communicate with you about your order, account, or support requests
• To send marketing communications, if you've opted in
• To detect and prevent fraud, abuse, and unauthorized transactions
• To comply with legal obligations and enforce our Terms of Service
• To improve our site, products, and customer experience

Who We Share Information With

We do not sell your personal information. We share information with service providers who help us operate the business, including:

• Payment processing — our payment processors, to complete and verify transactions
• Shipping carriers — to deliver your order and provide tracking
• Live chat & support — we use tawk.to to provide live chat support; conversations you have through that widget are stored by tawk.to on our behalf
• SMS verification — we use Twilio to send one-time verification codes for account login
• Affiliate & referral program — if you use a referral or affiliate code, limited order information is shared with our affiliate platform (GoAffPro) to attribute and pay commissions
• Identity/checkout verification — we use third-party verification services at checkout to reduce fraud
• Legal & safety — if required by law, subpoena, or to protect our rights, safety, or property

Each of these providers only receives the information necessary to perform their function and is contractually or by policy restricted from using it for unrelated purposes.

Data Retention

We retain order and account information for as long as needed to fulfill the purposes described in this policy, including recordkeeping for tax, fraud-prevention, and researcher-verification purposes, and to comply with legal obligations. Verification and attestation logs tied to orders are retained as part of our compliance recordkeeping.

Your Rights & Choices

Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, or receive a copy of your personal information, and to opt out of certain data sharing. To exercise any of these rights, contact us at Vortex@vortexresearch.net. We will verify your request and respond within the timeframe required by applicable law.

California residents and residents of other states with comprehensive privacy laws may have additional rights under laws such as the CCPA/CPRA. We do not sell or share personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising as those terms are defined under such laws.

Children's Privacy

Our site and Products are intended for purchasers who are at least 21 years of age, consistent with our researcher/age verification gate. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 21. If we learn we've collected information from a minor, we will delete it.

Security

We use reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to protect your information. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we'll post the updated version here with a new "Last updated" date. Material changes may also be communicated via email or a notice on the Site.