Privacy Policy

1. Information We Collect

We collect information you provide directly and information generated by your use of the platform:

2. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect to:

• Provide, operate, and improve the Tradeza platform
• Enable you to post ads and communicate with other users
• Send transactional emails such as registration confirmation and password resets
• Detect, investigate, and prevent fraud, abuse, and safety incidents
• Respond to your support requests and reports
• Analyse usage patterns to improve features and user experience
• Comply with legal obligations under South African law

3. What We Do Not Do With Your Data

• We do not sell your personal information to third parties.
• We do not share your private messages with advertisers or data brokers.
• We do not use your data for automated individual decision-making or profiling.

4. Sharing Your Information

Tradeza may share your information in the following limited circumstances:

4b. Lawful Basis for Processing

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

• Consent: You consent to our processing when you register an account and accept these terms.
• Contract performance: Processing is necessary to provide the platform services you requested (posting ads, messaging, reviews).
• Legitimate interests: Processing is necessary for our legitimate interests in operating a safe platform, preventing fraud, and improving our services — balanced against your rights.
• Legal obligation: We may be required to process data to comply with South African law.

5. Cookies & Tracking

Tradeza uses cookies and similar technologies to keep you logged in, remember your preferences, and analyse how the platform is used. You can control cookies through your browser settings, but disabling them may affect the functionality of the site.

6. Data Retention

We retain your personal information for as long as your account is active or as necessary to provide our services. If you delete your account, we will delete or anonymise your personal information within 30 days, except where retention is required by law or for legitimate business purposes (e.g., fraud records).

7. Your Rights Under POPIA

Under the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA), you have the following rights:

To exercise any of these rights, contact our Information Officer at privacy@trade-za.co.za. We will respond within 30 days.

8. Security

We implement reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect your personal information, including:

• Encrypted HTTPS connections for all data in transit;
• Bcrypt password hashing (industry standard);
• Two-factor authentication for administrator accounts;
• Admin action audit logging;
• Rate limiting on authentication endpoints;
• Content Security Policy and other security headers;
• Automated daily database backups with retention policy.

Notwithstanding these measures, no online system is completely secure. You are responsible for keeping your password confidential and for any activity under your account.

8b. Data Breach Notification

In the event of a security compromise affecting your personal information, Tradeza will notify you and the Information Regulator of South Africa as soon as reasonably possible, in accordance with Section 22 of POPIA. The notification will describe the nature of the breach, the information affected, and the steps we are taking in response.

9. Children's Privacy

Tradeza is not intended for use by persons under the age of 18. We do not knowingly collect personal information from minors. If we become aware that a minor has registered, we will delete the account promptly.

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of significant changes via email or an in-app notification. The date at the top of this page reflects the most recent update.