Privacy Policy

1. INTRODUCTION AND SCOPE

1.1 – As a responsible party under POPIA, TechTraders determines the purpose of and means for processing your personal information.

1.2 – This Policy applies to all visitors, registered users, trade-account holders, suppliers and other parties whose personal information we process.

1.3 – "Personal information" means information relating to an identifiable, living natural person and, where applicable, an identifiable existing juristic person, as defined in POPIA.

2. INFORMATION WE COLLECT

We may collect and process the following categories of personal information:

• Identity & contact data – name, company name, company registration number, email address, telephone number, and delivery/billing addresses.
• Account data – username, password (stored in hashed form), profile and trade-account details, and your communication preferences.
• Transaction data – orders, quotes, invoices, payment status, and credit-application information.
• Technical data – IP address, browser type, device information, and pages visited, collected through cookies and analytics tools.
• Communications – records of your correspondence with us, including contact-form, support and lead-capture submissions.

We collect this information directly from you, automatically as you use the Website, and occasionally from third parties such as credit bureaus where you have authorised a credit application.

3. HOW WE USE YOUR INFORMATION

We process personal information for the following purposes:

• To create and administer your account and trade-account application;
• To process quotes, orders, invoices, payments and deliveries;
• To perform credit assessments and manage credit facilities;
• To provide customer support and respond to enquiries;
• To send transactional notifications and, where you have consented, marketing communications;
• To improve, secure and maintain the Website and Services;
• To comply with legal, regulatory and tax obligations.

4. LAWFUL BASIS FOR PROCESSING

We rely on one or more of the following lawful bases recognised in POPIA:

• Contract – processing necessary to conclude or perform a contract with you;
• Legal obligation – processing required to comply with the law;
• Legitimate interests – processing necessary for our or a third party's legitimate interests, balanced against your rights;
• Consent – where you have given consent, which you may withdraw at any time.

5. SHARING AND DISCLOSURE

5.1 – We do not sell your personal information. We may share it with operators (third-party service providers) who process it on our behalf, under written agreements requiring confidentiality and adequate security, including:

• Payment, banking and credit-assessment providers;
• Logistics and courier partners for delivery;
• Hosting, email, analytics and IT-infrastructure providers;
• Distributors and vendors where required to fulfil an order.

5.2 – We may disclose information where required by law, court order, or to protect our rights, property or safety.

6. CROSS-BORDER TRANSFERS

Some of our service providers may store or process personal information outside South Africa. Where we transfer personal information across borders, we do so only in accordance with section 72 of POPIA — that is, where the recipient is subject to adequate data-protection laws or binding agreements, where you have consented, or where the transfer is necessary to perform a contract with you.

7. SECURITY SAFEGUARDS

We maintain appropriate, reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal information against loss, damage, unauthorised access and unlawful processing, including access controls, encryption in transit, hashed password storage, and audit logging. While we take security seriously, no method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

8. RETENTION OF INFORMATION

We retain personal information only for as long as is necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, or as required by law (for example, tax and company-law record-keeping obligations). When information is no longer required, we will delete, destroy or de-identify it in a secure manner.

9. YOUR RIGHTS

Subject to POPIA, you have the right to:

• Be notified that we are collecting your personal information;
• Request access to the personal information we hold about you;
• Request correction or deletion of inaccurate, irrelevant, excessive or outdated information;
• Object, on reasonable grounds, to the processing of your information;
• Object to processing for direct-marketing purposes;
• Withdraw consent where processing is based on consent;
• Lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator.

To exercise any of these rights, contact our Information Officer (see section 11). Requests for access to records are handled in terms of our PAIA Manual.

10. COOKIES AND TRACKING

We use cookies and similar technologies to operate the Website, remember your preferences, and analyse usage. Some cookies are essential for the Website to function; others (such as analytics) help us improve the Website. You can control cookies through your browser settings, though disabling certain cookies may affect functionality. For further detail on analytics and tracking, see the relevant section of our Terms & Conditions.

11. INFORMATION OFFICER AND CONTACT

Our Information Officer is responsible for ensuring compliance with POPIA. To exercise your rights or raise a privacy query, contact:

You may also lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator (South Africa): JD House, 27 Stiemens Street, Braamfontein, Johannesburg, 2001 — [email protected] / [email protected].

12. CHANGES TO THIS POLICY

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The latest version will always be available on this page, and the "Last updated" date above reflects the most recent revision. Material changes will be communicated where appropriate.