Cookie Information

What is a Cookie?

A cookie is small piece of information, like a small file, that is stored in your browser's permanent memory.
Cookies are usually encrypted and usually contain some piece of information that identifies you to the website that set the cookie.
The information in the cookie is very rarely of any use to anyone except the site that set the cookie in the first place.
Some sites put extra information in a cookie that tracks which pages on the site that you have visited. These are called "Tracking Cookies".

You can choose NOT to allow your browser to set any cookies, even if directed to do so by a website like The FCH Sourcing Network, however, some things that enable you to use the site without typing your company information repeatedly won't work.
In general, cookies are used to try to present more relevant information to you, or to simplify your use of a website


How does The FCH Sourcing Network use cookies?

If you are a valid FCH Member with a login, a validated user who has agreed to let us remember you, or a user using FCH to send an information request to one of our members, we set a cookie so that when you return, we can identify you and save you time when entering your contact information.
This cookie contains no personal information about you: just a 10-digit ID that identifies you to our system. Next time you want to login, we can use this ID, to find your login or contact information so that you don't have to type your username and password or contact information again.
We also use the information related to this cookie (not the information in it), to determine if you are a fastener supplier (Distributor) or a fastener user (OEM), and to fill in your contact information if you are placing an RFQ on one of our members.

If you are not an FCH Network Member, but have elected to set up a profile, we set a different cookie, but it still only contains a 10-digit ID that identifies you to us. To get your contact information we still have to access a secure database on one of our servers based on the 10-digit ID.

Why does The FCH Sourcing Network use cookies?

Many FCH Members listing inventory have asked us to pre-qualify the inquiries they receieve from casual FCH users.
Other FCH members have requested that their inventory only be shown to other distributors, or other OEMs.

FCH Members who have logged in to our site already have their search results filtered accordingly. However, without using cookies, we can't filter the search results for casual users using The FCH Network. To provide the most relevant results, it helps to know what type of user is viewing the results. A cookie helps us to do this.

How do I stop my browser from setting cookies?

If you elect not to allow any cookies, you can still use our site, but you will have to re-type your information every time, and if you are a distributor, you will not see information targeted at fastener distributors. If this is your wish then choose one of the links below to learn how to disable cookies, depending on the browser you use.