Privacy Policy

1. Petz Direct (“Petz Direct”, “we”, “us” or “our”) respects the privacy of all individuals whose Personal Information comes into our possession. We recognise the importance of protecting your Personal Information and will take reasonable measures to safeguard it in accordance with applicable South African data protection laws.
2. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, process and disclose Personal Information when you visit or use our website; purchase products from us; communicate with us; subscribe to our communications; make use of any services we provide; or otherwise interact with Petz Direct.
3. Petz Direct supplies pet food, treats, pet care products and other pet-related products and services to customers. Depending on the products and services you use, we may collect and process Personal Information in order to fulfil orders, process payments, arrange deliveries, provide customer support, communicate with you and improve our products and services.
4. This Privacy Policy applies to Personal Information collected by Petz Direct through our website, online platforms, electronic communications, telephone communications and other interactions with you.
5. Any capitalised terms used in this Privacy Policy that are not specifically defined shall have the meaning given to them in the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (“POPIA”), or any applicable data protection legislation.
6. For purposes of applicable South African data protection legislation, Petz Direct acts as the responsible party in respect of Personal Information that you provide to us or that we collect through our website, correspondence or communications with you. Where we process Personal Information on behalf of another party, we may act as an operator as contemplated by POPIA.
7. By using our website, purchasing products from us or otherwise providing your Personal Information to us, you acknowledge that your Personal Information may be collected, used, stored and disclosed in accordance with this Privacy Policy and applicable law.

2.1 Non-personal information

When you visit our website, we may automatically collect certain information that does not directly identify you. This may include your Internet Protocol (“IP”) address; browser type; operating system; internet service provider; device information; and information relating to how you use and interact with our website. This information may be used for website administration, security, analytics and statistical purposes.

2.2 Personal information

When you purchase our products, use our services or communicate with us, we may collect Personal Information. For purposes of this Privacy Policy, “Personal Information” means information relating to an identifiable individual or entity, including:

• name and surname;
• identity or other identification number, where required;
• physical or delivery address;
• postal address;
• email address;
• telephone or mobile number;
• country and postal code;
• age and gender, where relevant;
• payment and billing information;
• pet name and relevant pet information;
• order and purchasing history;
• account information;
• correspondence and communications with us; and
• other information that you voluntarily provide to us.

We may collect Personal Information in a number of ways, including:

1. information provided when you create or use an account on our website;
2. information provided when placing an order through our online store, including your name, contact details, delivery address and payment-related information;
3. information provided when contacting us by telephone, email, social media or other communication channels;
4. information provided when subscribing to newsletters, marketing communications or promotional material;
5. information provided when participating in competitions, promotions, surveys or other activities organised by Petz Direct;
6. information provided when requesting customer support, assistance or information about our products and services;
7. information relating to your purchases, orders, returns, refunds and delivery history;
8. details regarding your visits to and use of our website, including traffic information, location information, browsing activity and the resources you access;
9. information collected through cookies and similar technologies, as described below; and
10. telephone calls or other communications with us, which may be recorded for quality, training, security and record-keeping purposes, unless prohibited by applicable law or where you have requested otherwise.

2.3 What we do not collect: card details

We do not collect or store card or banking details on this website. Card payments are processed by Yocoon their own secure payment page — your card number is entered on Yoco’s website, never on ours, and we never see or store it. We keep only a record that a payment succeeded, along with the card type and its last four digits.

2.4 If you create an account

Creating an account is optional — you can always check out as a guest. If you do:

• we store your email address and a cryptographic hash of your password — never the password itself;
• we save the delivery details you choose to store, so we can fill them in at your next checkout;
• we save the contents of your cart so it follows you between devices; and
• we keep a list of your past orders so you can see them on your account page.

We send a one-time code to your email address to confirm it is you. Those codes are stored only as a hash, expire after 10 minutes, and can be used once.

2.5 Providing personal information

Providing Personal Information is generally voluntary. However, certain information may be necessary for us to process your order, arrange delivery, process payment, provide customer support or otherwise provide the products and services you have requested. If you choose not to provide Personal Information that is necessary for these purposes, we may not be able to provide the relevant product or service to you.

2.6 Information relating to third parties

If you provide us with Personal Information relating to another person, you confirm that you have obtained any consent or authorisation required by law to provide that information to us.

We may use the Personal Information we collect for the following purposes:

1. to process and fulfil orders for products purchased from us;
2. to arrange and manage deliveries;
3. to process payments, refunds, returns and other transactions;
4. to provide customer service and respond to enquiries, complaints or requests;
5. to communicate with you regarding your orders, deliveries, account, purchases or services;
6. to provide information about our products, services, promotions and special offers where you have consented to receive marketing communications or where otherwise permitted by law;
7. to conduct market research, customer surveys and statistical analysis;
8. to improve our products, services, website and customer experience;
9. to manage customer accounts and loyalty or rewards programmes, where applicable;
10. to detect, prevent and investigate fraud, unlawful activity, security breaches or other misuse of our website and services;
11. to comply with legal, regulatory and other applicable obligations;
12. to enforce our terms, policies and agreements;
13. to protect the rights, property and safety of Petz Direct, our customers, employees and other persons; and
14. for any other lawful purpose that is compatible with the purposes for which the information was originally collected.

We rely on your consent, the performance of a contract (fulfilling your order) and our legitimate interests in running the business as the lawful bases for processing. We will only process your Personal Information in accordance with this Privacy Policy, applicable law, or where we have obtained the necessary consent or are otherwise legally permitted or required to do so.

1. We will not sell your Personal Information to third parties.
2. We may disclose or share Personal Information where this is reasonably necessary to provide our products and services, operate our business or comply with legal requirements.
3. This may include sharing Personal Information with:

• our employees and internal departments who require the information to perform their duties;
• delivery and logistics providers who assist us in delivering your orders;
• payment processors, banks and other financial service providers involved in processing payments — for this website, that is Yoco, which processes card payments on its own secure platform;
• technology, hosting, website and IT service providers;
• marketing and communication service providers, where legally permitted;
• professional advisers, auditors and other service providers assisting us in operating our business;
• fraud prevention and security service providers;
• government authorities, regulators, law enforcement agencies or courts where required or permitted by law; and
• other third parties where you have given us the required consent.

4. Where we use third-party service providers to process Personal Information on our behalf, we will take reasonable steps to ensure that such parties are required to protect the information and process it in accordance with applicable law.
5. Where appropriate and legally permissible, we may use information in an aggregated or anonymised form so that individual customers cannot reasonably be identified.
6. Your Personal Information may, in certain circumstances, be processed or stored by service providers located outside South Africa. Where this occurs, we will take reasonable steps to ensure that the transfer and processing complies with applicable data protection legislation and that appropriate safeguards are in place.
7. We may disclose Personal Information where necessary to comply with a court order, subpoena, legal process, regulatory requirement or other lawful obligation.
8. We may also disclose Personal Information where we reasonably believe that doing so is necessary to protect the rights, property or safety of Petz Direct, our customers, employees or members of the public, or to investigate suspected unlawful activity.

1. If you have opted to receive marketing or newsletter communications from us, we may send you information relating to our products, services, promotions and special offers.
2. You may unsubscribe from marketing communications at any time by following the unsubscribe instructions contained in the relevant communication or by contacting us directly.
3. You may also request that we update your communication preferences.
4. We will not continue sending direct marketing communications where you have lawfully opted out, except where we are permitted or required by law to communicate with you for other purposes, such as transactional or service-related communications.

1. We may display advertisements, promotions and other information on our website that may be relevant to your interests or browsing behaviour.
2. Where permitted by law, this may involve automated systems using information about your website activity to determine which advertisements or information may be relevant to you.
3. We will not provide your Personal Information directly to advertisers for their own purposes without the appropriate consent or other lawful basis.
4. Advertisers may receive aggregated information regarding the performance of their advertisements, such as the number of views or clicks, but this will not ordinarily include information that directly identifies you.
5. If you click on an advertisement or third-party link, you may be directed to an external website. Once you leave our website, the privacy practices of the third-party website will apply.

We recognise the importance of keeping your Personal Information secure and will take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect it against unauthorised access, unlawful processing, accidental loss, destruction, damage, alteration or disclosure. We will:

1. treat your Personal Information as confidential;
2. take reasonable steps to protect Personal Information against unauthorised or unlawful processing;
3. take reasonable steps to prevent accidental loss, destruction or damage to Personal Information;
4. restrict access to Personal Information to persons who have a legitimate business need to access it;
5. take reasonable steps to ensure that employees and service providers who have access to Personal Information are subject to appropriate confidentiality and security obligations;
6. notify affected persons and/or the Information Regulator where required by applicable law if we become aware of a security compromise involving Personal Information; and
7. take reasonable steps to securely destroy or delete Personal Information when it is no longer required, subject to applicable legal retention requirements.

If you have an account with us, you are responsible for keeping your account password confidential and should not share it with anyone else.

1. We take reasonable measures to protect Personal Information held by us. However, no method of transmitting information over the internet or storing information electronically can be guaranteed to be completely secure.
2. You acknowledge that any transmission of information over the internet takes place at your own risk.
3. Once we receive your information, we will use reasonable security procedures and safeguards designed to prevent unauthorised access, use, alteration or disclosure.
4. Where your Personal Information is stored or processed by third-party service providers, we will take reasonable steps to ensure that appropriate security measures and confidentiality obligations are in place.
5. Where Personal Information is transferred to or stored on servers outside South Africa, we will take reasonable steps to ensure that such transfer and storage comply with POPIA and other applicable data protection requirements.

1. Our website may collect information about your computer or device, including your IP address, operating system and browser type.
2. This information may be used for system administration, website security, analytics and statistical reporting.
3. We may use cookies and similar technologies to improve your experience on our website.
4. Cookies are small text files that may be stored on your device when you visit a website. They may collect information such as the date and time you visit the website; your browsing activity; your preferences; your username or account-related information; and other information necessary to operate and improve the website.
5. Cookies may be used to understand website traffic and usage patterns; remember your preferences; improve website functionality; make searches faster; assist with website security; and recognise you when you return to our website.
6. Certain third-party service providers may also use cookies or similar technologies on our website. We do not control the cookies used by third parties and their use may be governed by their own privacy policies.
7. Most web browsers allow you to control or disable cookies through your browser settings. Please note that disabling cookies may affect the functionality of certain parts of our website.

9.1 The cookies this website actually uses

In practice this website uses essential cookies and local storage only: to remember your privacy choice, to remember the items in your cart, and to keep the site functioning.

If you create an account, we also set a sign-in cookie, and — if you choose “remember this browser” — a cookie that lets us skip the emailed verification code on that browser for 30 days. You will still be asked for your password every time. Signing out removes the sign-in cookie; “sign out everywhere” also forgets every remembered browser. We do not use advertising or tracking cookies.

1. Subject to applicable law, you may have the right to request access to Personal Information that we hold about you; request correction or updating of inaccurate or incomplete Personal Information; request the deletion of Personal Information where legally permissible; object to certain types of processing; withdraw consent where processing is based on consent; and lodge a complaint regarding the processing of your Personal Information.
2. Requests relating to your Personal Information should be submitted to us using the contact details provided in this Privacy Policy.
3. We may require reasonable proof of identity before processing a request relating to your Personal Information.
4. We may, where permitted by applicable law, charge a reasonable administrative fee for certain requests.
5. In certain circumstances, we may be legally permitted or required to refuse access to particular Personal Information. If this occurs, we will provide an explanation where required by law.
6. You can delete your account at any time by contacting us. Deleting it removes your profile, saved cart and order list. We may still be required to keep the underlying order records for tax purposes, but they are no longer linked to your account.
7. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator of South Africa (inforegulator.org.za) if you believe that your Personal Information has been processed in breach of applicable data protection legislation.

1. Our website may contain links to third-party websites, applications or services.
2. Once you leave our website and access a third-party website or service, this Privacy Policy will no longer govern the processing of your Personal Information by that third party.
3. Petz Direct is not responsible for the privacy practices, security, content or policies of third-party websites or service providers.
4. Third parties may collect information such as your IP address, browser information, device information or other Personal Information in accordance with their own privacy policies.
5. We recommend that you review the privacy policy of any third-party website or service before providing Personal Information to that third party.

1. If Petz Direct is involved in a merger, acquisition, restructuring, sale of assets, change of ownership or similar transaction, Personal Information held by us may be transferred to the relevant successor, purchaser or other entity involved in the transaction, subject to applicable law.
2. Where required by law, we will notify customers of any material change affecting the processing of their Personal Information.
3. Where legally permissible, you may request the deletion of your Personal Information if you do not wish it to be transferred to a new owner, subject to our legal obligations to retain certain information.

1. We will retain Personal Information only for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, provide our products and services, maintain business and transaction records, resolve disputes, prevent fraud, comply with legal obligations or for any other lawful purpose.
2. We will not retain Personal Information for longer than is permitted or required by applicable law.
3. When Personal Information is no longer required, we will take reasonable steps to securely delete, destroy or anonymise it.

In practice, we keep order details (your name, contact details and delivery address) for 13 months, which covers our returns window and our record-keeping obligations. If you would like your details removed sooner, contact us and we will delete them where we are not required by law to keep them.

1. This Privacy Policy applies to Personal Information collected through our website; online purchases; communications with us; telephone calls; email correspondence; the sale and delivery of our products; any services we provide; and other interactions between you and Petz Direct.
2. You agree to provide information that is accurate, truthful and current. You should notify us if any Personal Information you have provided to us changes.
3. You must not impersonate another person or misrepresent your identity or affiliation with another person or organisation when using our website or communicating with us.
4. You may request that we update or correct your Personal Information by contacting us using the details provided in this Privacy Policy.
5. We may send you communications that are necessary to provide our services, including order confirmations, delivery updates, account notifications, security notices and information regarding changes to our policies or services.
6. You may opt out of direct marketing communications in accordance with the provisions of this Privacy Policy and applicable law.
7. This Privacy Policy must be interpreted and applied in accordance with POPIA and any other applicable South African data protection legislation.
8. If any provision of this Privacy Policy conflicts with a mandatory provision of applicable data protection legislation, the applicable legislation will take precedence to the extent of the conflict.

1. We reserve the right to amend or update this Privacy Policy from time to time.
2. Any updated version will be published on our website and will become effective from the date specified in the updated policy.
3. Where required by law, we will take reasonable steps to notify you of material changes to this Privacy Policy.
4. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically to remain informed about how we collect, use and protect your Personal Information.
5. Your continued use of our website or continued purchase of our products after an updated Privacy Policy becomes effective will be subject to the updated policy, to the extent permitted by applicable law.

If you have any questions, comments, requests or concerns regarding this Privacy Policy or the way in which we process your Personal Information, please contact Petz Direct:

• Business: Petz Direct (Pty) Ltd
• Email: petzdirectza@gmail.com
• Telephone: +27 82 759 9986
• Area: Centurion, Gauteng

Please use “Privacy Policy” as the subject of your email so that your request can be directed to the appropriate person. If you wish to exercise any rights relating to your Personal Information, please provide sufficient information for us to identify you and process your request.

You can also reach us via our Contact page.