Privacy Policy

Information we collect

You can browse TryCanadian without creating an account or providing personal information.

If you contact us, submit a correction, recommend a business or otherwise voluntarily provide information, we may receive the information you submit, such as your name, email address and message.

The “Submit a Canadian Alternative” form has an optional email address field. If provided, it is used only to let you know if your submission is published, and does not add you to any mailing list.

Our website hosting and technical service providers may also automatically process basic technical information necessary to operate and secure the website, such as IP addresses, browser information, device information and server logs.

How information is used

Information may be used to:

• respond to messages and submissions;
• investigate corrections or suggested businesses;
• maintain and improve TryCanadian;
• prevent abuse and protect the security of the website; and
• comply with applicable legal requirements.

We do not sell your personal information.

My List

The My List feature currently stores saved items locally in your browser using localStorage.

This information is not associated with a TryCanadian account and is not stored in TryCanadian's database as part of the My List feature.

Search statistics

TryCanadian keeps aggregate counts of the terms visitors search for on the homepage, including searches that don't match anything yet, so we can understand what people are looking for and prioritize new research.

Search terms are normalized (for example, “Amazon” and “amazon” are counted together) and stored only as counters against the term itself. This is not linked to your IP address, account, device or any other personal identifier, and is not intended to identify individual visitors.

We also keep a similar day-by-day aggregate count of which brands people are searching for, used to power the “Popular swaps” section on the homepage. Like the counts above, this contains no IP address, account, device, or other personal identifier — only a daily total per brand.

Site usage statistics

TryCanadian records basic, first-party information about page views and how visitors arrived at the site, such as whether a visit came directly or from a search engine, social site, or other referring website. We use this information to understand how TryCanadian is used and to improve the site.

These records contain the page viewed, the referring-site domain where available, and the time of the visit. We do not store your IP address, account information, precise location, or a persistent identifier for this purpose, and the information is not intended to identify individual visitors.

This measurement is separate from the optional Google Analytics described below.

Third-party services

TryCanadian may use third-party providers for services such as website hosting, analytics, email or other technical infrastructure.

Those providers may process limited information according to their own privacy policies and the services they provide to us.

If the website's use of analytics, advertising, cookies or other tracking technologies changes materially, this Privacy Policy will be updated accordingly.

Analytics preferences

TryCanadian uses Google Analytics 4 for optional website analytics, enabled according to your analytics preference. It helps us understand how the website is used and improve TryCanadian.

When enabled, Google may process information such as the pages you interact with, your browser and device information, approximate location and pseudonymous identifiers. Information handled by Google may be processed outside Canada. This is not fully anonymous analytics, and we cannot guarantee that Google receives no IP-related information.

You can decline analytics, and you can change your analytics preference at any time from this page. TryCanadian does not intentionally send names, email addresses or submission contents to Google Analytics.

Newsletter

Signing up for TryCanadian updates is entirely voluntary. Newsletter signup uses double opt-in: after subscribing, you'll receive a confirmation step before you're added to the list, and every email includes an unsubscribe link you can use at any time.

Newsletter emails are collected and managed directly by Cyberimpact, our email service provider, rather than kept as a separate mailing list in TryCanadian's own database.

External websites

TryCanadian contains links to company websites and other third-party resources.

We are not responsible for the privacy practices, security or content of websites operated by third parties.

Security

We use reasonable administrative and technical measures appropriate to the nature of the information we handle.

However, no internet service or method of electronic storage can be guaranteed to be completely secure.

Retention

Personal information is retained only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, to manage submissions or communications, or to meet applicable legal obligations.

We have not adopted a blanket retention period for every category of information.

Access and correction

You may contact us to ask about personal information TryCanadian holds about you or to request correction of information you believe is inaccurate.

Requests may be subject to applicable legal limitations.

Privacy Contact

Questions, access or correction requests, and privacy-related complaints may be directed to:

privacy@trycanadian.ca

Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy as TryCanadian develops or as our use of technology and service providers changes.

The date at the top of this page indicates the most recent revision.