Privacy Policy
Last updated: October 19, 2026
This policy explains what personal information Erie Coast Analytical LLC (“ECA,” “we,” “us”) collects when you use www.erieanalytical.com and our testing services, how we use it, who we share it with, and the choices you have. If you have questions, email support@erieanalytical.com.
1. Information we collect
Information you give us
- Account details. Your name, email address, password, and, if you choose, your company and phone number. Passwords are stored only as a one-way hash. If you sign in with Google, we receive your name, email address, and Google account ID from Google.
- Order details. Your name, email, company, phone number, order notes, the tests you select, discount codes, and how you chose to pay. We also keep a saved cart for signed-in customers.
- Sample details. The names, labels, and notes you give for the samples you send us, plus the test results we produce. Our staff may photograph sample vials when they arrive.
- Bulk, enterprise, and quote requests. Contact name, email, phone, organization, expected volume, testing needs, messages, and any order spreadsheet (manifest) you upload.
- Affiliate program. Name, legal name, email, phone, organization, website and social links, audience notes, and the payout method and payout details you choose to give us (for example, a PayPal address, bank details, or a crypto wallet address).
- Messages. Anything you write to us by email or in our live chat.
Information collected automatically
- Device and usage data. Pages you visit, the page that referred you, campaign tags in the link you followed, browser type, device type, and general location derived from your IP address. This comes mostly from the analytics tools described in section 6.
- IP address. Our servers see your IP address on every request. We use it to block abuse and limit repeated requests. When our staff make changes to orders, we log the staff member’s IP address for our records.
- Referral data. If you arrive through an affiliate link, we record the affiliate code, the landing page, the referring page, your browser type, a random visitor ID, and a scrambled (hashed) form of your IP address, so we can credit the right affiliate.
Information from others
- Payment providers. Stripe and NOWPayments tell us whether a payment succeeded, the amount, and a payment reference. We never receive or store your full card number. Card details go directly to Stripe.
- Google Sign-In. Your name, email, and account ID, if you use it.
2. How we use it
- To create and run your account, take your order, test your samples, and deliver your Certificates of Analysis.
- To process payments, issue refunds, and keep accounting and tax records.
- To send you emails about your account and orders, such as verification links, password resets, receipts, invoices, and result notices.
- To answer your questions in email and live chat.
- To run the affiliate program, including crediting referrals and paying commissions.
- To understand how the site is used and to improve it.
- To keep the site secure, prevent fraud and spam, and enforce our terms.
- To meet legal duties and protect our rights.
We do not send marketing newsletters. We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it for targeted advertising.
3. Who we share it with
We share personal information only with companies that help us run our business, and only what each one needs to do its job:
| Provider | What they do for us | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Stripe | Card payments | Your email, order items, and amount. Stripe collects your card details directly. |
| NOWPayments | Cryptocurrency payments | Order number, description, and amount |
| Resend | Sending our emails | Your email address and the email content |
| Intuit QuickBooks | Invoicing and accounting | Your name, company, email, phone, and invoice and payment details |
| Google Sign-In and Google Analytics | Sign-in data if you use it; usage data described in section 6 | |
| PostHog | Site analytics | Usage data described in section 6 |
| OpenAI | Powers the automated assistant in our live chat | The messages you type in chat |
| Pushover | Alerts our staff to new chats | Short excerpts of chat messages |
| Cloudflare | Network security and file storage | Network traffic; sample photos and certificate files |
| Our hosting provider | Runs our servers in the United States | The data stored in our systems |
We may also share information:
- With affiliates who referred you, limited to what they need to see their earned commission. We do not give affiliates your contact details or your test results.
- When the law requires it, such as a valid subpoena or court order, or to protect the rights, safety, or property of ECA, our customers, or others.
- In a business transfer, such as a merger or sale of the company, in which case this policy will continue to apply to your information.
- With your permission in any other case.
4. Published test results
Your test results are private by default. If you choose to publish a result to our public results archive, anyone can see that certificate, including the compound name and the vendor name. Anyone who has a certificate’s verification key and order number can also use our verification page to check it. We do not show your name, email, or other contact details on published results. Email us to unpublish a result.
5. Live chat
Our live chat starts with an automated assistant. Your messages are sent to OpenAI to generate replies. A member of our staff may read the conversation and take over. We save the conversation, the page you were on, and any email address you type, so we can follow up. Please do not share sensitive personal information, such as health or payment information, in chat. You can ask us to delete a chat at any time.
6. Cookies and analytics
We use a small number of cookies and similar browser storage:
| Name | Purpose | How long |
|---|---|---|
connect.sid | Keeps you signed in. Required for accounts and checkout. | 24 hours |
Cart and checkout storage (eca_cart and similar) | Remembers your cart and checkout progress in your browser. | Until cleared |
eca_affiliate_referral, eca_affiliate_visitor_id | Credits the affiliate who referred you. | 60 days (referral) |
eca_acquisition | Remembers how you found us during your visit. | Your browsing session |
eca-live-chat | Keeps your chat open while you move between pages. | Your browsing session |
_ga, _ga_* | Google Analytics. Counts visits and measures how the site is used. | Up to 2 years |
ph_* | PostHog analytics. Measures how the site is used. | Up to 1 year |
We set up PostHog to hide the text on the page and to remove names, emails, and phone numbers from what it records. If we record sessions to find problems with the site, typed inputs are hidden and account, checkout, and dashboard pages are not recorded.
Your choices: you can block or delete cookies in your browser settings, though signing in and checkout need the session cookie. You can turn off our analytics by adding ?analytics=off to any page address, or by using Google’s Analytics opt-out add-on. Our site does not currently respond to “Do Not Track” browser signals.
7. How long we keep it
- Account information for as long as your account is open. Email us to close it.
- Orders, invoices, payments, and test results for as long as we need them for tax, accounting, quality, and legal reasons, and so we can verify certificates we have issued.
- Chat conversations until they are deleted. You can ask us to delete yours.
- Affiliate records for as long as you are in the program and as long as needed for payout and tax records after that.
- Analytics data according to the retention settings of Google Analytics and PostHog.
8. Security
We use encrypted connections (HTTPS) across the site, store passwords only as one-way hashes, limit staff access to what each person needs, and never handle full card numbers. No system is perfectly secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security. If we learn of a breach that affects your information, we will notify you as the law requires.
9. Your choices and rights
You can view and update your name, company, and phone number in your account. You can also ask us to:
- Tell you what personal information we hold about you and give you a copy.
- Correct information that is wrong.
- Delete your information, except what we must keep by law or to verify certificates we have issued.
- Unpublish a public test result.
Email support@erieanalytical.com from the address on your account. We may need to confirm your identity first. We will respond within 45 days. We will not treat you differently for using these rights. Depending on where you live, such as California or another US state with a privacy law, you may have additional rights, and you may use an authorized agent to make a request for you.
10. Visitors outside the US
ECA is based in Ohio, and our systems are in the United States. If you use our site from another country, your information will be transferred to and handled in the US, where privacy laws may differ from yours. If you are in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, we rely on these legal grounds: to perform our contract with you (orders and accounts), our legitimate interests (security, improving the site, and running the affiliate program), legal obligations (tax and accounting), and your consent where we ask for it. You may also complain to your local data protection authority.
11. Children
Our site and services are for adults and businesses. They are not meant for anyone under 18, and we do not knowingly collect information from children. If you believe a child has given us information, email us and we will delete it.
12. Changes and contact
We may update this policy as our services change. We will post the new version here and change the date at the top. If a change is significant, we will also tell account holders by email.
Erie Coast Analytical LLC
1131 E Broad St
Elyria, OH 44035
support@erieanalytical.com