Privacy Policy
Mercantile Systems Inc. (herein referred to as “MSI”, “we”, or “us”) is a mystery shopping provider located at 3130 Balfour Road, suite D #269, Brentwood, CA 94513. This Privacy Policy explains how MSI collects and uses any personal information from you (“Mystery Shopper”, “you”, or “your”) when you use the MSI website and use the web-based or mobile application supplied by Research Metrics.
Please click here to consult the Privacy Policy for Research Metrics.
Personal Data Collected
During your engagement with MSI, we may collect various categories of personal data, which may include:
- Identification data, such as your name, gender, date of birth, etc.
- Contact data, such as your phone number, email address, etc.
- Data relating to your financial situation, such as your Tax ID, etc.
- Data about your work and education, such as your professional experience, training, etc.
- Electronic connection data, such as your IP address, your login history, etc.
- Sensitive personal data (only collected with your explicit consent; each query will always include a “prefer not to answer” option), such as your race and ethnicity, etc.
- Photos and videos
- Verbatims
We collect the personal data you provide by email and in your Mystery Shopper profile. We also collect the personal data you provide when you voluntarily fill out surveys.
Purpose of Personal Data Collection
When you sign up as a Mystery Shopper, we enter a contract with you, which is subject to this Privacy Policy as well as our Independent Contractor Agreement. To meet our obligations to you under this Agreement, we are required to collect, process and profile the personal data requested during the sign-up process or the personal data you may add to your profile thereafter.
More specifically, we collect personal data to:
- Keep a record of your profile as a Mystery Shopper.
- Collect and maintain historical information about your shops.
- Notify you of available shops (based on your consent to receive such notifications).
- Send you a payment.
MSI will never use your personal data for any purpose other than for mystery shopping or as described in this policy. MSI will never sell, give, provide, or transmit your personal information to any person or any company for marketing purposes. Only MSI staff who needs access will be granted permission to access your personal data.
Third Parties
MSI may use subcontractors, applications, or affiliated companies for data hosting, payments, etc. Some of these subcontractors may be based outside the United States; however, they are required to abide by the same data privacy legal requirements as those located in the United States. We do not authorize service providers to use or disclose any personal data on our behalf.
When we are using Google Translate or Google Maps, such activities will be subject to Google’s Privacy Policy. If you are using our Facebook page, such activities will be subject to Meta’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Here is a list of Third Parties we use:
- Research Metrics
- Meta
- Microsoft (including, but not limited to: Teams, OneDrive, Outlook, etc.)
- Zoho
- Bill.com
- Sonar Technologies, Inc.
Children
We do not knowingly collect any personal data from children under the age of 18. If you are under the age of 18, please do not submit any personal data to MSI.
Personal Data Retention
The duration for which we may retain personal data about you will be determined by the purposes for which the personal data was collected, whether you have requested the deletion of your personal data, and any legal obligations requiring the retention of your personal data.
Security Measures
We take every reasonable precaution to ensure your information is protected from loss, theft, unauthorized access, or misuse. These precautions include appropriate physical security for our offices, password protected access to computers, and the use of secure internet connections. Aside from printing cheques, your personal information is not printed on paper.
User Rights
You are entitled, at any time, to ask us:
- To provide you with access to your personal information (unless access is subject to a legal exception).
- To request the rectification of incorrectly entered data.
- To request the deletion of your personal data.
- To provide you with a copy of the personal data we have.
If you have any complaints, we would appreciate if you gave us an opportunity to resolve any issue first, by contacting us via email at [email protected], or by letter sent at:
Mercantile Systems Inc.
3130 Balfour Road, suite D #269
Brentwood, CA 94513
United States
You are always entitled to contact your state or federal regulatory authority to lodge a complaint.
Updates to the Privacy Policy
We will occasionally review and update this Privacy Policy. Updates will be posted on this page. Our Privacy Policy was last updated on January 27, 2024.