Privacy Policy

We collect the data you provide when you decide to join our Panel and/or fill out Task applications as defined in the Mystery Shopper Contract.

When you register through a Mystery Shopper Platform, Ipsos may collect data that can specifically identify you such as your name, address, telephone number and e-mail address, as well as the country and language preferences you have selected.

Other data are collected using our Mystery Shopper Platforms when you fill out your Mystery Shopper profile, complete any Task you participate in, or provide feedback, comments, or other data to us.

For the full list of data items that might be collected about you as well as the categories of personal data collected, please consult Annex A below.

The primary purpose of collecting data from you is to make sure that we can fulfil our agreement with you under the Mystery Shopper contract (the “Mystery Shopper Contract”) and to match you to appropriate Tasks based on the data provided. Our interaction with you is subject to this Privacy Policy, whether on entering into the Mystery Shopper Contract or in relation to any Task.

To assess your suitability for Tasks, we need to collect and process appropriate data about you during the recruitment process and thereafter. You may subsequently add, adjust or correct data in your profile in the relevant Mystery Shopper Platform. These data are also necessary for us to send your fees and to contact you regarding any new Tasks. For these reasons the data might be processed using automated means.

Finally, we also collect data in relation to your participation in Tasks.

Where required by law, we will contact you to obtain your further consent in relation to processing of your data for other purposes.

We will use the data you provide to:

• fulfil our Mystery Shopper Contract or any Task specific agreement with you (Contract)
• keep a record of all Mystery Shoppers (Consent)
• to contact you when appropriate Tasks are available or if we need to validate any of your responses; and to give you feedback on the Tasks you have undertaken for us. We will use your postal address, date of birth, gender and other responses to ensure that you match the profile requirements for a Task (Contract)
• analyze responses from you and other Mystery Shoppers and determine whether any trends emerge among certain profiles (legitimate interest of Ipsos to create the information to be provided to its customers)
• send you invitations to participate in Tasks that are relevant to you based on your Mystery Shopper profile, or by answering e-mail questions or surveys (Contract/Consent)
• send you an e-mail or SMS containing a verification code, to verify your application and activate your Mystery Shopper profile (legitimate interest of Ipsos to preserve the security and integrity of the Mystery Shopper panel)
• append personal data about you to your responses under Tasks which you have participated in, such as geographical location, occupational categories, etc., to analyze Task responses and produce anonymous, statistical research results (legitimate interest of Ipsos to ensure the validity of responses)
• administer any prize draws you entered into (Contract)
• in limited circumstances and subject to the further safeguards set out here, transmit your individual Task responses together with your personal data to the client who commissioned the Task. This only occurs where the relevant Task requires such transmission and always subject to obtaining your explicit consent. The client will use this data only for research purposes as explained in the Task. The client may also use this data to contact you to invite you to participate in any further research or training they conduct, again only with your further consent (Consent)
• create anonymous, statistical profiles of the Panel membership based on the data provided by Mystery Shoppers (legitimate interest of Ipsos to understand activity patterns on the panel for data collection efficiency)
• with your consent, share your data with other Ipsos Group companies so that they are able to invite you to participate in research studies that they are carrying out which may be relevant to you (Consent)
• send you electronic newsletters, announcements, and other communications (legitimate interest of Ipsos to retain awareness and promote the Panel to its members)
• strengthen quality and fight fraud at panel level including sharing your personal data with our sub-contractors and/or client(s) (only to the extent a Task relates to such client) where we reasonably suspect any fraudulent activity by you and/or to confirm your identity as their customer/prospect (legitimate interest of Ipsos and our client(s) to preserve the integrity of the Mystery Shopper panel and to prevent fraudulent activities)
• use the PayPal email address you shared with us to make payments to your account

We take all reasonable steps to ensure that any personal data we process are accurate, adequate, relevant and not excessive in relation to the purpose for which they were obtained. We will only process personal data obtained for the purpose(s) identified to you or as you would otherwise reasonably expect.

Other than in relation to informing you about new Task opportunities, we will not try to sell you anything or use your data for marketing purposes. We will never share your data with third parties for marketing or advertising purposes.

We use subcontractors, applications, third party owned analysis tools (which may incorporate artificial intelligence capabilities), or affiliated companies to carry out some work on our behalf and under our control and responsibility, for data hosting, making payments to you, translation, communication, reviewing questionnaires and validating the same, and map creation based on movement while performing specific Tasks or as described above. Some of these subcontractors may be based outside of Canada; however, they are required to abide by the same data privacy legal requirements and security arrangements as ourselves and will be subject to appropriate safeguards.

To see the list of third parties we use, please consult the Annex B below.

When you are using any social medial channels to communicate with us, this will be subject to the relevant social media platform’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

As already mentioned above, with your express consent, we might in specific cases provide your data to our clients.

We will not invite any children for any Tasks without the parent’s or a legal guardian’s consent. 

By joining the Panel and taking part in Tasks, you agree to our use of cookies and similar technologies and the collection of data from your PC/Laptop or other Devices (as defined in the Mystery Shopper Contract) you may use while taking part in Tasks or other research activities as outlined below.

What are cookies?

Cookies are small data files that enable the visited website to remember your actions and preferences for some time, so you don't have to keep re-entering them whenever you return to the site. Cookies are not dangerous; however, they are significant for privacy protection. Cookies cannot be used to identify individual visitors to the website, nor for fraudulent use of login credentials.

Our Mystery Shopper Platforms collect data using cookies and functionally similar technologies. With specific regard to cookies, further details about what they are can be found at www.aboutcookies.org.

Cookies we use 

We use cookies in order to maintain the view between the Mystery Shopper Platforms and in order to remember your preferences when you browse the Mystery Shopper Platforms.

The complete list of cookies and similar technology that may be used in connection with the website version of the Mystery Shopper Platforms can be found on Cookies.

However, you can restrict or block cookies using your browser settings. If you do prevent our Mystery Shopper Platforms from using cookies, the online platform for the Panel will not work properly and you might not be able to participate in Tasks. For more information about cookie settings select your web browser from those listed below:

• Internet Explorer: windows.microsoft.com 
• Google Chrome: support.google.com 
• Mozilla Firefox: support.mozilla.org 
• Opera: help.opera.com 
• Safari: support.apple.com 

We will keep the data you provided when you joined the Panel, together with any data you provided in response to Tasks for as long as you remain a Mystery Shopper of the Panel.

When your membership in the Panel ends, we will delete your personal data, apart from:

• When you terminate your membership as set out in Section 9 under “Unsubscription and deletion request”, subject to any legal requirements;
• if you were removed from the Panel, the data required to identify you to prevent you from re-joining the Panel for up to 6 years; and
• as legally required, in particular for tax or litigation purposes. For example, we will retain your full name, payroll amounts, details of any taxes deducted, and copies of relevant tax and other financial reports for up to 6 years from your membership ending.

We take our responsibility to keep your personal data secure very seriously. We take every reasonable precaution to ensure your data is protected from loss, theft, or misuse. These precautions include appropriate physical security of our offices, controlled access to computer systems, and use of secure, encrypted internet connections when collecting personal data.

As part of our commitment to the security of your data, Ipsos has regular internal and external audits of its data security and is certified to be compliant with the requirements of the International Standard for Data Security ISO 27001, Market, Opinion and Social Research ISO 20252 and Quality Management ISO 9001.

Privacy-related requests and data corrections

To submit any privacy-related request, consult, and/or modify the data you provided, you need to connect to the Mystery Shopper Platform and submit a request under the ‘MY PRIVACY’ section.

If for any reason you are unable to make your required changes, please contact our Ipsos Shopper support team by email on: canada@ishopforipsos.com.

Please note that our team may need some time to process your privacy request. Your request will be processed within 30 days of its submission or receipt of your proof of identification (where this is needed).

Our team can be contacted as set out in section 10 below.

Unsubscription and deletion request

In order to leave the Panel, you need to connect to the Platform and submit a request under the ‘MY PRIVACY’ section.

Please note that your request to leave the panel can be processed only once all Tasks assigned to you are validated and payment for the Task has been made to you.

Subject to the retention rules in section 7 above, once your unsubscription request is processed, your data will be deleted, and your account will be deactivated. This process is irreversible. Therefore, we won’t be able to recover your account.

Your Rights

You have the right to request a copy of all the data we hold about you. You also have the right to request the rectification of any personal data we hold about you. Furthermore, you have the right for all personal data that you have provided to us to be transferred to another party. In various circumstances you also have the right to request us to delete the personal data we hold about you subject to the limitations set out above in section 7 above. You also have the right to restrict or object to certain processing, and to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority.

We do not make decisions about you based solely on automated processing which may produce legal or other significant effects on you. Only the invitation of Panel members for Tasks and the processing of the collected information is automated.

For more information about the Panel or data related to your membership of one of our Panels, please submit a request on the Mystery Shopper Platform or contact our support team. They can be contacted:

Queries by E-mail: canada@ishopforipsos.com

Complaints by E-mail: canada@ishopforipsos.com

Queries by letter: 
Ipsos Mystery Shopping 
160 Bloor Street East, Suite 300 
Toronto, ON M4W 1B9 

Ipsos DPO: dpo.canada@ipsos.com

If you have any complaints, we would appreciate it if you gave us an opportunity to resolve any issues first by contacting us as set out above. You are, however, always entitled to contact your provincial or federal regulatory authority.

We keep our privacy policy under regular review (including but not limited for the purposes of implementing any changes required by local laws which apply to us), and we will publish any updates on this webpage. We will also inform you of any changes via the news section of the Mystery Shopper Platform, by e-mail, or when you first log in after any change has occurred. Our privacy policy was last updated in November 2024.

Ipsos Group: www.ipsos.com 
World organisation for market research - ESOMAR: www.esomar.org 
Mystery Shopping Providers Agency – MSPA: www.mspa-global.org 
Canadian Research Insights Council: https://www.canadianresearchinsightscouncil.ca

Below is the list of data items collected in order for you to be able to conduct Tasks. Please note that not all the data below are mandatory.

Data Collected

Advertisement for Mystery Shopper Positions:

Operations:

Payment: