Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

1.1 About This Policy

Vhathenzheni General Solutions (Pty) Ltd (Registration Number: 2019/014324/07), operating as Thesouthmart.co.za ("Thesouthmart," "we," "us," or "our"), is committed to protecting your privacy and personal information. This Privacy Policy describes:

• What personal information we collect
• How we collect your information
• Why we collect and use your information
• How we share your information
• How we protect your information
• Your rights regarding your personal information

1.2 Responsible Party

Responsible Party: Vhathenzheni General Solutions (Pty) Ltd
Registration Number: 2019/014324/07
Contact Email: [email protected]
Support Email: [email protected]

1.3 Acceptance of This Policy

By accessing or using Thesouthmart, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree with this policy, please do not use our services.

2. Information We Collect

2.1 Information You Provide Directly

We collect personal information that you voluntarily provide to us, including:

2.2 Information Collected Automatically

When you access Thesouthmart, we automatically collect certain information:

• Device Information: Device type, operating system, browser type, unique device identifiers
• Usage Information: Pages viewed, features used, time spent on pages, search queries, click data
• Location Information: IP address, approximate geographic location based on IP address
• Log Information: Access times, error logs, referring URLs
• Activity Status: When you are connected to the website or seller dashboard, so buyers can see whether a seller is online and when they were last active
• Abuse Prevention: Your IP address and account are used to limit how often some features can be used (for example the AI shopping assistant and chat), and Cloudflare Turnstile checks that you are a person
• Cookies and Similar Technologies: See Section 9

2.3 Information From Third Parties

We may receive information about you from third parties, including:

• Payment processors and financial institutions
• Identity verification services
• Social media platforms (if you connect your account)
• Marketing and analytics partners
• Public databases and credit bureaus (where legally permitted)

2.4 Information From Other Users

Other users may provide information about you, such as when they:

• Leave reviews or ratings
• Report issues or concerns
• Refer you to the platform

3. How We Use Your Information

3.1 Primary Uses

We use your personal information for the following purposes:

Account Management:

• Create and manage your account
• Verify your identity
• Authenticate your access
• Maintain account security

Transaction Processing:

• Process purchases and payments
• Generate invoices and receipts
• Handle refunds and disputes

Service Delivery:

• Provide and maintain the Thesouthmart platform
• Coordinate shipping and delivery
• Provide customer support

Platform Improvement:

• Analyze usage patterns and trends
• Improve functionality and user experience
• Develop new features and services
• Test and optimize platform performance

Communication:

• Send transactional notifications (order confirmations, shipping updates)
• Email you about new chat messages when you are not signed in, and remind sellers about questions they have not answered
• Provide customer support responses
• Send service announcements and updates
• Deliver marketing communications (with your consent)

Safety and Security:

• Prevent fraud and abuse
• Detect and investigate suspicious activity
• Enforce our Terms and Conditions
• Protect the rights and safety of users
• Comply with legal obligations

Legal Compliance:

• Comply with applicable laws and regulations
• Respond to legal requests and court orders
• Maintain tax and financial records
• Fulfill regulatory reporting requirements

3.2 Marketing and Promotional Uses

With your consent, we may use your information to:

• Send promotional emails and newsletters
• Display personalized advertisements
• Recommend products
• Conduct surveys and market research

You can opt out of marketing communications at any time by clicking the "unsubscribe" link in emails or adjusting your account preferences.

3.3 Automated Checks and Artificial Intelligence

Chat messages: Before a chat message is delivered, it is checked automatically for contact details, links and arrangements to deal outside Thesouthmart, and our service provider Hugging Face checks it for offensive language. Messages that fail these checks are not delivered and are kept so that our team can review them. Repeated attempts to share contact details pause the conversation until a person on our team reviews it. If you think a message or conversation was stopped by mistake, contact us and a person will review the decision.

AI shopping assistant: When you use the "Ask AI" assistant, your questions and the recent conversation are sent to our service provider Groq, which generates the answer. We do not store the content of your assistant conversations on our servers; the conversation is kept in your browser until you close the tab. We record how much the assistant is used (for example the number of questions) to apply usage limits. Please do not share personal or sensitive information with the assistant.

Listing tools for sellers: If you use our AI tools to help write a listing, the product details you provide are sent to OpenAI or Google (Gemini) to generate suggestions.

4. Legal Basis for Processing (POPIA Compliance)

Under POPIA, we process your personal information based on the following lawful grounds:

• Consent: You have given explicit consent for specific processing purposes (e.g., marketing communications)
• Contractual Necessity: Processing is necessary to fulfill our contract with you (e.g., processing transactions)
• Legal Obligation: Processing is required to comply with legal or regulatory requirements
• Legitimate Interests: Processing is necessary for our legitimate business interests (e.g., fraud prevention, platform improvement), provided these interests do not override your rights

5. How We Share Your Information

5.1 Information Visible on the Platform

When you use Thesouthmart, certain information may be visible:

• Public Profile: Username, profile picture, ratings, reviews
• Order Information: Relevant order details visible to you and our support team
• Seller Activity: Buyers can see whether a seller is online now and roughly when the seller was last active
• Messages: Chat messages are visible to the other person in the conversation, and to our team when reviewing a conversation, a dispute or a report

5.2 Service Providers and Business Partners

We share information with trusted third-party service providers who assist us in operating Thesouthmart:

• Payment Processors: To process payments and handle financial transactions
• Shipping and Logistics: To facilitate delivery of products
• Cloud Hosting Providers: To store data and host our platform
• Communication Services: To send emails and notifications
• Analytics Providers: To analyze platform usage and performance
• Marketing Platforms: To deliver targeted advertising (with your consent)
• Customer Support Tools: To provide assistance and support
• Identity Verification Services: To verify user identities and prevent fraud

The main service providers we currently use are:

These service providers are contractually obligated to protect your information and use it only for the purposes we specify.

5.3 Legal and Regulatory Authorities

We may disclose your information to government authorities, law enforcement, or other third parties when:

• Required by law, regulation, or legal process
• Necessary to respond to lawful requests or court orders
• Needed to protect our rights, property, or safety
• Required to enforce our Terms and Conditions
• Necessary to prevent fraud or illegal activity

5.4 Business Transfers

If Thesouthmart is involved in a merger, acquisition, sale of assets, or bankruptcy, your information may be transferred as part of that transaction. We will notify you of any such change and any choices you may have.

5.5 With Your Consent

We may share your information with other third parties when you explicitly consent to such sharing.

6. International Data Transfers

Thesouthmart operates in South Africa, but our servers and database are hosted by Amazon Web Services in London, United Kingdom, so your personal information is stored outside South Africa. Some of the service providers listed in Section 5.2 also process information in the United States or the European Union. We only transfer personal information outside South Africa where POPIA allows it, for example where:

• The recipient is subject to a law, binding corporate rules or an agreement that gives protection substantially similar to POPIA
• The transfer is necessary to provide our services to you or to perform our contract with you
• You have consented to the transfer

By using Thesouthmart, you consent to the transfer of your information to countries outside South Africa where our service providers operate.

7. Data Security

7.1 Security Measures

We implement appropriate technical and organizational security measures to protect your personal information, including:

• Encrypted connections (HTTPS) between your device and Thesouthmart
• Passwords stored only as secure one-way hashes
• Names, phone numbers and bank details stored encrypted in our database
• Our database and internal services are not reachable from the internet
• Access to our systems limited to authorised people, with authentication
• Automated protection against abuse, such as rate limits and bot checks

7.2 Your Responsibilities

You are responsible for:

• Keeping your password secure and confidential
• Using strong, unique passwords
• Logging out after each session
• Notifying us immediately of any unauthorized access

7.3 Limitations

While we strive to protect your information, no method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is 100% secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security, and you use Thesouthmart at your own risk.

7.4 Data Breach Notification

If we have reasonable grounds to believe that your personal information has been accessed or acquired by an unauthorised person, we will notify you and the Information Regulator as soon as reasonably possible, as POPIA requires.

8. Data Retention

8.1 Retention Periods

We retain your personal information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law.

8.2 Deletion and Anonymization

After the retention period expires, we will:

• Securely delete your personal information, or
• Anonymize the information so it can no longer identify you

9. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

9.1 What Are Cookies?

Cookies are small text files stored on your device when you visit a website. Websites also use similar technologies, such as your browser's local storage. This section lists what Thesouthmart uses.

9.2 Cookies and Storage We Use

Essential (needed for the site to work):

• Sign-in cookies that keep you signed in and secure your account
• Cookies that remember your account type and, for sellers, your store

Preferences and features (stored in your browser):

• Your cart
• Your AI shopping assistant conversation, until you close the tab
• Whether you have dismissed notices, such as the cookie notice

Analytics:

• Google Analytics, loaded through Google Tag Manager, sets cookies (such as _ga) to count visits and show us how pages are used. Google processes this information on our behalf.

We do not use advertising cookies.

9.3 Managing Cookies

You can control cookies through:

• Browser Settings: Most browsers allow you to refuse cookies or delete existing ones
• Google Analytics Opt-Out: Google's browser add-on (tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout) stops Google Analytics from recording your visits

Note: Blocking essential cookies will stop you from signing in.

9.4 Emails

Our email provider may record when an email from us is opened or a link in it is clicked, so we can tell whether our emails are delivered.

10. Your Rights Under POPIA

10.1 Right of Access

You have the right to:

• Request confirmation of whether we process your personal information
• Access your personal information
• Receive information about how we process your data

10.2 Right to Correction

You have the right to:

• Correct inaccurate or incomplete personal information
• Update outdated information
• Request amendment of your records

10.3 Right to Deletion (Right to be Forgotten)

You have the right to request deletion of your personal information when:

• It is no longer necessary for the purpose it was collected
• You withdraw consent and there is no other legal basis for processing
• You object to processing and there are no overriding legitimate grounds
• The information has been unlawfully processed
• Deletion is required for legal compliance

Note: We may be unable to delete information if we are required to retain it for legal, tax, or regulatory purposes.

10.4 Right to Object

You have the right to object to:

• Processing based on legitimate interests
• Direct marketing (including profiling)
• Processing for research or statistical purposes

10.5 Right to Restrict Processing

You have the right to request restriction of processing when:

• You contest the accuracy of the information
• Processing is unlawful but you prefer restriction over deletion
• We no longer need the data but you need it for legal claims
• You have objected to processing pending verification

10.6 Right to Data Portability

You have the right to:

• Receive your personal information in a structured, commonly used format
• Transmit your data to another service provider

10.7 Right to Withdraw Consent

Where processing is based on consent, you have the right to:

• Withdraw consent at any time
• Not be prejudiced for withdrawing consent

Withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of processing before withdrawal.

10.8 How to Exercise Your Rights

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at:

• Email: [email protected]
• Subject Line: "POPIA Rights Request"
• Include: Your full name, email address, and specific request

We will respond to your request within 30 days. If we need more time, we will notify you and explain the reason for the delay.

10.9 Right to Lodge a Complaint

If you believe we have not handled your personal information properly, you have the right to lodge a complaint with:

Information Regulator of South Africa
Website: https://inforegulator.org.za

11. Children's Privacy

Thesouthmart is not intended for individuals under the age of 18. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you are under 18, you may not use Thesouthmart or provide any personal information.

If we become aware that we have collected personal information from a child under 18, we will take immediate steps to delete that information.

If you believe we have collected information from a child, please contact us immediately at [email protected].

12. Third-Party Services and Links

Thesouthmart may contain links to third-party websites, services, or applications that are not operated by us. This Privacy Policy does not apply to third-party services.

We are not responsible for:

• The privacy practices of third-party websites
• Content or services provided by third parties
• How third parties collect or use your information

We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any third-party services you access through Thesouthmart.

13. Marketing Communications

13.1 Types of Communications

With your consent, we may send you:

• Promotional emails about new products, features, or offers
• Newsletters and updates
• Personalized recommendations
• Surveys and feedback requests

13.2 Opting Out

You can opt out of marketing communications by:

• Clicking the "unsubscribe" link in any marketing email
• Adjusting your preferences in your account settings
• Contacting us at [email protected]

Note: Even if you opt out of marketing communications, we will still send you transactional and service-related messages (e.g., order confirmations, password resets).

14. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technology, legal requirements, or other factors. When we make changes, we will:

• Update the "Last Updated" date at the top of this policy
• Notify you of material changes via email or platform notification
• Obtain your consent if required by law

Your continued use of Thesouthmart after changes are posted constitutes your acceptance of the updated Privacy Policy.

15. Contact Us

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us:

Privacy Inquiries:
Email: [email protected]
Subject: Privacy Policy Inquiry

General Support:
Email: [email protected]

Information Officer (POPIA):
Vhathenzheni General Solutions (Pty) Ltd
Registration Number: 2019/014324/07
Email: [email protected]

We will respond to all privacy-related inquiries within 30 days.

16. Glossary

Data Subject: An identifiable natural person whose personal information is processed.

Personal Information: Information relating to an identifiable natural or juristic person.

Processing: Any operation or activity concerning personal information, including collection, storage, use, and deletion.

Responsible Party: A person who determines the purpose and means of processing personal information (Thesouthmart).

Operator: A person who processes personal information on behalf of the responsible party.

POPIA: Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (Act No. 4 of 2013).

17. Acknowledgment and Consent

By using Thesouthmart, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy and consent to the collection, use, and disclosure of your personal information as described herein.

If you do not agree with this Privacy Policy, please do not use Thesouthmart.