Privacy Policy for Gadget and Pet (gadgetandpet.co.za)
Effective Date: 01/02/2025
Last Updated: 23/04/2025
1. Introduction
Gadget and Pet (“we”, “us”, or “our”) respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal information. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, share, and protect your personal information when you visit our website https://www.gadgetandpet.co.za/ (the “Site”), create an account, purchase products, or otherwise interact with our services (“Services”).
This policy is designed to comply with South Africa’s Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) and other relevant data protection laws. By using our Site and Services, you agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this policy.
Full Legal Business Name: Gadget And Pet (PTY) LTD
We collect information to provide and improve our Services to you. The types of personal information we may collect include:
Information You Provide Directly:
Account Information: When you create an account, we collect your username, email address, and password.
Order Information: When you make a purchase, we collect your name, billing address, shipping address, email address, phone number, and payment information (e.g., credit card details, processed securely by our payment partners).
Communication Information: If you contact us directly (e.g., customer support), we may collect your name, email address, phone number, and the contents of your message.
Information Collected Automatically (Device Information):
When you visit our Site, we automatically collect certain information about your device and Browse activity using technologies like cookies, log files, and web beacons. This may include your IP address, browser type, operating system, time zone, referring/exit pages, pages viewed, products viewed, search terms used, and interaction with the Site.
Information from Third Parties:
We may receive information about you from third-party service providers, such as payment processors (confirmation of payment) or analytics providers.
3. How We Use Your Personal Information
We use the personal information we collect for various purposes, including:
Providing and Managing Services:
To create and manage your account.
To process and fulfill your orders, including processing payments, arranging shipping, and providing invoices or order confirmations.
To communicate with you about your orders, account, or inquiries.
Improving Our Site and Services:
To understand how users interact with our Site.
To improve and optimize the Site experience and product offerings.
To monitor and analyze trends and usage.
Security and Fraud Prevention:
To screen orders for potential risk or fraud.
To protect the security and integrity of our Site and Services.
Marketing and Advertising (with your consent):
To provide you with information or advertising relating to our products or services, where in line with the preferences you have shared (e.g., newsletters). You can opt-out at any time.
To provide targeted advertisements (See Section 6: Cookies and Tracking).
Legal Compliance:
To comply with applicable laws, regulations, legal processes, or government requests.
4. Lawful Basis for Processing (POPIA)
We process your personal information based on the following lawful grounds under POPIA:
Consent: Where you have given explicit consent (e.g., for marketing emails, non-essential cookies).
Contract: Where processing is necessary for the performance of a contract with you (e.g., fulfilling your order).
Legal Obligation: Where processing is necessary to comply with a legal requirement.
Legitimate Interests: Where processing is necessary for our legitimate business interests (e.g., fraud prevention, site improvement), provided these interests are not overridden by your rights and interests.
5. Sharing Your Personal Information
We do not sell your personal information. We may share your personal information with third parties only in the following circumstances:
Service Providers: With third-party companies that perform services on our behalf, such as payment processing, order fulfillment and shipping, website hosting, data analysis, email delivery, and customer service. These providers only have access to the information necessary to perform their functions and are contractually obligated to protect your6 data.
Analytics Providers: We use services like Google Analytics to help us understand how customers use the Site. You can learn more about how Google uses your Personal Information here. You can also opt-out of Google Analytics here.
Advertising Partners: We may share device information with advertising partners to provide you with targeted advertisements, as described below.
Legal Requirements: If required by law, subpoena, search warrant, or other legal process, or if we believe in good faith that disclosure is necessary to protect our rights, protect your safety or the safety of others, investigate fraud, or respond to a government request.
Business Transfers: In connection with, or during negotiations of, any merger, sale of company assets, financing, or acquisition of all or a portion of our business by another company.
6. Cookies and Tracking Technologies
We use cookies and similar tracking technologies (like log files and web beacons) to collect Device Information, improve your Browse experience, analyze site traffic, and for advertising purposes.
What are Cookies? Cookies are small data files placed on your device.
How We Use Them: We use cookies for site functionality (e.g., remembering items in your cart), performance analysis (how visitors use the site), and targeting/advertising.
Your Choices: You can control and manage cookies through your browser settings. Most browsers allow you to block or delete cookies. However, disabling essential cookies may affect the functionality of the Site. We will request your consent for non-essential cookies via a cookie banner upon your first visit, as required by POPIA.
7. Data Security
We take reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect your personal information from loss, misuse, unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, and destruction. This includes measures like using HTTPS/SSL encryption, secure servers, access controls. However, no internet transmission or electronic storage is 100% secure.
8. Data Retention
We retain your personal information only for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements, or as necessary to resolve disputes. When your information is no longer needed, we will securely delete or anonymize it.
9. Your Rights Under POPIA
As a data subject in South Africa, you have the following rights regarding your personal information:
Right to Access: You can request access to the personal information we hold about you.
Right to Correction: You can request correction of inaccurate or incomplete personal information.
Right to Erasure (Deletion): You can request the deletion of your personal information under certain conditions.
Right to Object: You can object to the processing of your personal information based on our legitimate interests or for direct marketing purposes.
Right to Restrict Processing: You can request the restriction of processing your personal information under certain circumstances.
Right to Withdraw Consent: Where processing is based on consent, you can withdraw your consent at any time.
Right to Complain: You have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator of South Africa if you believe your privacy rights have been violated. (Contact details for the Regulator can be found at https://inforegulator.org.za/).
To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the contact details provided in Section 1. We may need to verify your identity before processing your request.
10. International Data Transfers
Your information may be transferred to, stored, and processed in countries outside of South Africa, such as the United States of America. We will ensure that any such transfers comply with POPIA requirements, typically by ensuring the recipient country has adequate data protection laws or by implementing appropriate safeguards like standard contractual clauses.
11. Children’s Privacy
Our Site and Services are not intended for individuals under the age of 18. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 18. If we become aware that we have collected personal information from a child under 18 without parental consent, we will take steps to delete that information.
12. Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or for other operational, legal, or regulatory reasons. We will notify you of any significant changes by posting the new policy on the Site and updating the “Last Updated” date. We encourage you to review this policy periodically.
