This privacy policy discloses the procedures and policies guiding how we collect, store, and use your personal information while on the site.
Who we are
Our website address is: https://gradepals.com.
The Data we collect: scope
The Company only collects the information listed below and solely for the stated purposes:
Customer Account
To create and manage your account, the Company collects and processes personal data that you submit upon registration and when updating your account settings.
Upon first using the Website, you must accept our Terms and Conditions, as well as other necessary policies (such as the Privacy Policy and Refund Policy) during the registration process and agree to the processing of your personal data by the Company. To give consent, you must confirm the following declaration by clicking the “ACCEPT” button (if you do not wish to provide consent, please click “REJECT,” and you will be unable to use the Website): “Yes, I understand and agree to the Terms and Conditions, including the Privacy Policy and Refund Policy.”
You are required to provide the following necessary information for registration: your email and password. Any additional information (first and last name, phone number, date of birth, and links to social accounts) is optional and may be added to your Account at any time. You are not obligated to provide any additional information that is not specifically required for registration.
We are not responsible for any consequences resulting from sharing your personal information with the Experts.
Expert Account
To register on the Website, Experts must provide their email and password, passport information (including a scanned copy), CV, education verification documents, payment data, and billing address (in some cases).
Order Details
The website collects and processes all the details you provide when filling out an order form, as well as any information exchanged with the Expert through the Messaging System and assignment instructions.
Information Posting
Personal data submitted freely by you on the Website, such as surveys or feedback, is also processed by us. This includes any information you provide to our customer support team when seeking assistance.
Additionally, we may process any content or messages you post on or through our Website, including personally identifiable information, which will be available to both the Website and the writers. Please note that some of this content may not be deletable as it may be linked to the services you received and used by the Writers.
Unless you opt out, we retain this information to resolve disputes, provide customer support, and troubleshoot problems as allowed by law.
Service Use and Cookies
We monitor and analyze web traffic and your behavior when using our Services, receiving information about your IP address, proxy server, operating system, web browser, or mobile carrier and location based on phone settings. This helps us research the market and improve our service quality. We also use cookies to understand and remember your preferences for future visits.
Reasons for Data Collection
We process the personal data you voluntarily provide to personalize your experience on the Website and offer high-quality Services under the Terms and Conditions.
Service Provision
We process your personal data to grant you access to our Services and fulfill our obligations under the Terms and Conditions for Service provision. When registering, we use your personal data to help Experts find your account or profile to provide Services. Without this information, we cannot offer our Website’s full functionality and connect you with Experts.
Payment Services
To use our Services, you must provide payment (e.g., credit card details) and billing information through our partners, third-party payment providers, who process your personal data through encryption and other security measures. We do not store your payment information on our servers.
We may use your payment card transaction data from third-party service providers to confirm a specific transaction and verify your eligibility for a promotional offer.
Communications
We may contact you via email and other means for Service-related purposes, including security and legal notices, announcements, reminders, and suggestions. We may also use your data to enable communication with the Experts and gather feedback to improve our product’s user experience. The research will be used for internal purposes only, including:
- Feature development and product updates;
- Marketing activities;
- Support updates;
- Other service updates for improving your experience.
After receiving our communications, you have the option to opt-out of them in each message, except for legal notices or changes to user settings on the Website.
Marketing and Promotion
We may use your personal data to analyze, personalize and improve our marketing practices, and send you direct marketing emails and special offers, unless we need your explicit consent. However, you can always opt-out of our marketing messages through the mechanisms described in each message and through user settings.
Analytics and Development
In order to establish new ways to improve the Website, find the points of interest in our Services and for the purposes of analytics, we monitor and analyze the personal data you provide us with, including information you provide upon registration, the web traffic, cookies and usage data, such as the date and duration of your visit, your location, type of the device you used during your visit and other relevant data on the use of the Website.
Support
In case of any disputes on the Website, we may use data (including communications) to resolve such matters, supervise Customer and Expert behavior on the Website, and respond to any complaints or requests.
Compliance with Legal Requirements
We process certain payment information to comply with applicable legal requirements in the field of finances and/or accounting. We also may process the data collected on the platform in connection with legal requests we receive from you or any other competent person and/or body, and we may use this information to exercise, defend and/or establish our legal rights.
Fraud Prevention
Certain information, such as your log information, payment information, and your behavior on the Website are subject to our supervision to prevent fraudulent activities on the Website and assist you with your needs.
For Changes
If the Website decides to change the purposes of processing specified above, we will inform you about such changes prior to the use of your personal data within the newly set purposes. The notification of such changes will be sent to your email, and you will have to provide your consent for the amended purposes unless the additional purpose of processing is compatible with those listed above. In case you do not want to provide us with the requested personal data for the purposes specified above, you may not have access to certain functions of the Services.
For Archival Purposes
We may archive your information in the event of a legal need to prove certain events (e.g., in the establishment, pursuit, or defense of claims), which is our legitimate interest.
To Respond to Contact Initiated by You
When you contact us (e.g., via contact forms, email, or chatbots), you may provide us with your contact info, which we may use to respond to you. Providing information about the Company is our legitimate interest.
Combating Inappropriate Behavior and Promoting Safety
We examine information about the operation and use of our Website to verify Customers and accounts, enhance security and combat inappropriate behavior, spam, or fraud. In doing so, we ensure our Website is used in accordance with our Terms and Conditions and remains free of harmful and inappropriate content. Securing our Website and keeping it a safe place for our users is our legitimate interest.
To Aggregate/De-Identify/Anonymize Data
We may aggregate, de-identify, and/or anonymize any collected information and use it for research and marketing purposes or share it with third parties.
Sharing of your personal data
The Company never shares, sells, or transfers your personal information to outside parties. However, this does not include the third parties we cooperate with to run our Website and provide you with the Services or Products you order online.
Please note that such cooperation is possible only if those parties also agree to never share, sell, or transfer any information about our customers and visitors that they receive from us. For example, we may share your personal data with the following parties:
Subcontractors
We engage subcontractors to help process personal data. These may include hosting service providers, IT specialists and technicians managing our technical infrastructure, service providers that ensure the functionalities of our Website, claims adjusters (including insurers), advertising and marketing companies, accounting and bookkeeping offices, and legal advisors. All subcontractors process data under contracts with the Company and only in accordance with our instructions.
Advertisers, Advertising Agencies, and Intermediaries
Based on the information contained in cookies or other online identifiers (if they contain personal data), advertisers, advertising agencies, and intermediaries participate in the process of selecting the content of advertisements that are displayed to you on our website.
Payment Intermediaries
When you pay for Services, we will provide your payment data to our payment intermediaries.
Legal Compliance parties
We may disclose your information if required to do so by law or on a good faith belief that such disclosure is permitted by this Privacy Policy or reasonably necessary or appropriate for any legal reason.
Providing data is voluntary
Providing any personal data to the Company is entirely voluntary, which means you have no obligation to do it. However, providing personal data is necessary to create a user account and use our Website. If you do not provide the Company with your personal data, you will not be able to use all of the features on our Website.
Updating this policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will post the changes or information about them on our Website, and we will notify you of major modifications by email or through our Website.
Any changes to this Privacy Policy will become effective when the revised Privacy Policy is posted. By continuing to use our Website, you are confirming that you have read and understood the latest version of this Privacy Policy.
Contact us
If you have questions or comments about this Privacy Policy, our data practices, or our compliance with applicable law, please contact us in one of the following ways:
E-mail us at [email protected]
Or write to 409 Cardinal St. Union City, CA 94587