1. Introduction
TradeFeed (“we”, “us”, “our”) operates the TradeFeed platform (tradefeed.co.za), a digital catalog service for South African wholesalers and retailers. We are committed to protecting your personal information in compliance with the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (POPIA) and other applicable South African legislation.
2. Information We Collect
We collect the following categories of personal information:
- Account Information: Name, email address, and profile image when you sign up via our authentication provider (Clerk).
- Shop Information: Business name, WhatsApp number, address, city, province, GPS coordinates, business hours, and social media handles.
- Product Data: Product names, descriptions, images, prices, and variant information uploaded by sellers.
- Usage Analytics: Anonymised page views, product views, and WhatsApp click counts. We do not track individual buyer identities.
- Payment Information: Billing is processed by PayFast (a South African payment gateway). We do not store credit card details — PayFast handles all payment data securely.
3. How We Use Your Information
We process your personal information for the following purposes:
- To create and manage your seller account and shop profile.
- To display your public catalog to potential buyers.
- To facilitate WhatsApp communication between buyers and sellers.
- To provide analytics about your catalog performance.
- To process subscription payments via PayFast.
- To send service-related communications (no marketing without consent).
- To improve our platform and fix technical issues.
4. Legal Basis for Processing (POPIA)
Under POPIA, we process your personal information based on:
- Consent: You provide consent when creating an account and setting up your shop.
- Contract: Processing is necessary to provide our catalog services to you.
- Legitimate Interest: Anonymised analytics to improve the platform.
5. Data Sharing
We do not sell your personal information. We share data only with:
- Clerk: Authentication provider (stores account credentials securely).
- PayFast: Payment processor for subscription billing.
- Uploadthing: Image hosting service for product photos.
- Neon: Database hosting provider (PostgreSQL).
All service providers are bound by data protection agreements. Your shop's public catalog information (shop name, products, WhatsApp number) is intentionally made public as this is the core service — connecting buyers with sellers.
6. Data Retention
We retain your personal information for as long as your account is active. If you delete your account, we will remove your personal data within 30 days, except where retention is required by law (e.g., financial records for SARS compliance).
7. Your Rights Under POPIA
You have the right to:
- Access: Request a copy of your personal information.
- Correction: Request correction of inaccurate information.
- Deletion: Request deletion of your personal information.
- Objection: Object to the processing of your information.
- Portability: Request your data in a machine-readable format.
To exercise any of these rights, contact us at privacy@tradefeed.co.za. We will respond within 30 days.
8. Cookies & Analytics
TradeFeed uses essential cookies for authentication (Clerk session management). We use anonymised, first-party analytics to track catalog page views and WhatsApp click counts — no third-party tracking scripts (no Google Analytics, no Facebook Pixel). We do not track individual buyers across sessions.
9. Security
We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal information, including: encrypted database connections (TLS), secure authentication via Clerk, HTTPS-only access, and role-based access controls.
10. Information Officer
Our Information Officer can be contacted at: privacy@tradefeed.co.za
If you are not satisfied with our response, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator of South Africa at inforegulator.org.za.
11. Changes to This Policy
We may update this privacy policy from time to time. We will notify registered users of material changes via email. The “Last updated” date at the top of this page indicates when the policy was last revised.