Privacy policy

This Privacy Policy explains how PMC TechLife collects, uses, and discloses your personal information when you use our online store and services (the "Services"). PMC TechLife operates this store and website, including all related information, content, features, tools, products, and services, to provide you with a curated shopping experience. This policy complies with South Africa's Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) and other applicable laws. PMC TechLife is powered by Shopify, which enables us to provide the Services. If there is a conflict between our Terms of Service and this Privacy Policy, this Privacy Policy controls with respect to the collection, processing, and disclosure of your personal information.

By using and accessing any of the Services, you acknowledge that you have read and understand this Privacy Policy.

Personal Information We Collect or Process

"Personal information" refers to information relating to an identifiable, living, natural person, and where applicable, an identifiable, existing juristic person, as defined in POPIA. Depending on how you interact with the Services, this may include:

• Contact details: Your name, address, billing address, shipping address, phone number, and email address.
• Financial information: Credit card, debit card, and financial account numbers, payment card information, transaction details, form of payment, payment confirmation, and other payment details.
• Account information: Your username, password, security questions, preferences, and settings.
• Transaction information: Items you view, put in your cart, add to your wishlist, purchase, return, exchange, or cancel, and your past transactions.
• Communications with us: Information you include in communications with us, for example, when sending a customer support inquiry.
• Device information: Information about your device, browser, or network connection, your IP address, and other unique identifiers.
• Usage information: Information regarding your interaction with the Services, including how and when you interact with or navigate the Services.

Personal Information Sources

We may collect personal information from the following sources:

• Directly from you: When you create an account, visit or use the Services, communicate with us, or otherwise provide us with your personal information. We will inform you where providing information is mandatory or voluntary.
• Automatically through the Services: From your device when you use our products or services or visit our websites, and through the use of cookies and similar technologies.
• From our service providers: When we engage them to enable certain technology and when they collect or process your personal information on our behalf.
• From our partners or other third parties.

How We Use Your Personal Information

We use your personal information only for the specific, explicitly defined, and lawful purposes for which it was collected and agreed with you. Depending on how you interact with us or which of the Services you use, we may use personal information for the following purposes:

• Provide, Tailor, and Improve the Services: To provide you with the Services, process payments, fulfill orders, remember preferences, send notifications, process transactions, manage your account, arrange shipping, facilitate returns and exchanges, and enable reviews.
• Marketing and Advertising: For marketing and promotional purposes, such as sending communications by email, text message, or postal mail, and showing online advertisements. We do not use sensitive information (e.g., health, race, religion, sexual orientation) to tailor ads.
• Security and Fraud Prevention: To authenticate your account, provide a secure payment and shopping experience, detect, investigate, or take action regarding fraudulent, illegal, unsafe, or malicious activity, protect public safety, and secure our services.
• Communicating with You: To provide customer support, be responsive to you, provide effective services, and maintain our business relationship.
• Legal Reasons: To comply with applicable law or respond to valid legal process (including law enforcement or government agency requests), to investigate or participate in civil discovery, potential or actual litigation, or other adversarial legal proceedings, and to enforce or investigate potential violations of our terms or policies.

How We Share Your Personal Information

To provide our Services, we must share your personal information with other companies that perform services on our behalf. We have written agreements in place with all our service providers to ensure they protect your information to the same high standards required by POPIA. We do not sell your personal information to any third parties.

We share information with the following categories of third parties:

• E-commerce Platform Provider: Our online store is powered by Shopify Inc. (Canada). We share your information with Shopify to provide the core functionality of our website, process orders, and manage our business.
• Payment Processors: To securely process your payments, we share your financial and transactional information with our trusted payment gateway providers, including Paystack and Peach Payments. These processors handle credit card transactions, payment verification, and fraud prevention on our behalf.
• Shipping and Fulfillment Partners: We share your name, shipping address, and contact details with our courier partners to deliver your orders.
• Marketing and Advertising Partners: To show you relevant advertisements and manage our marketing communications, we may share certain information (such as your email address, with your consent, or device information) with advertising platforms like Google and Meta, and email marketing services.
• Analytics Providers: We use services like Google Analytics to understand how visitors use our website, which helps us improve your experience. This involves sharing device and usage information.
• Customer Support and Review Platforms: If you contact us for support or leave a product review, your information will be processed by the platforms we use for these services.

Cookies and Tracking Technologies

Like many websites, we use cookies and similar tracking technologies to collect information about your interaction with our Services. Cookies are small data files stored on your device that help us improve our Services and your experience. Under POPIA, we require your explicit, informed consent to use cookies.

We use the following types of cookies:

• Strictly Necessary Cookies: Essential for browsing the website and using its features (e.g., accessing secure areas, making purchases).
• Performance Cookies: Collect information about how you use our Services (e.g., most visited pages) to help us optimize our website.
• Functional Cookies: Recognize you when you return to our Services, enabling us to remember your preferences.
• Targeting or Advertising Cookies: Deliver advertisements more relevant to you and your interests, usually placed by advertising networks with our permission.

You can manage your cookie preferences through your browser settings or a preference center on our site.

Relationship with Shopify

The Services are hosted by Shopify, which collects and processes personal information about your access to and use of the Services. Information you submit will be transmitted to and shared with Shopify and other third parties to provide and improve the Services. While Shopify is responsible for certain processing activities, we, as the responsible party, remain accountable for ensuring your data is protected in line with POPIA. To learn more about how Shopify uses your personal information, you can visit the Shopify Consumer Privacy Policy.

Children's Data

The Services are not intended for children, and we do not knowingly collect any personal information about children under the age of 18 without the consent of a competent person. If you are the parent or guardian of a child who has provided us with their personal information, you may contact us to request that it be deleted.

Security and Retention of Your Information

We are legally obliged under POPIA to provide adequate protection for the personal information we hold and to stop unauthorized access and use of personal information. To protect your personal information, we use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology to encrypt data transmission through our website, including personal and financial information. We will continually review our security controls and related processes to ensure your personal information remains secure.

We are legally obliged to retain your personal information only for as long as is necessary to fulfill the purpose for which it was collected, or as required or permitted by law. We determine our data retention periods based on the following criteria:

• Transactional Records: We retain information related to your purchases (including your name, contact details, and order history) for a minimum of 5 years to comply with our financial and tax record-keeping obligations under South African law.
• Account Information: If you create an account with us, we will retain your account information for as long as your account remains active. If you close your account, we will delete your information within a period of 90 days, unless we are required to retain it for legal reasons.
• Marketing Communications: If you consent to receive marketing communications, we will retain your contact details for this purpose until you withdraw your consent.

Once the retention period expires, we will securely destroy or permanently anonymize your personal information.

Security Compromise Notification

Should there be reasonable grounds to believe that your personal information has been accessed or acquired by any unauthorized person, we will notify the Information Regulator and yourself as soon as reasonably possible.

Your Rights under POPIA

Under the Protection of Personal Information Act, you have certain rights in relation to your personal information. These rights include:

• Right to Access Information: You have the right to request a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
• Right to Correction, Deletion, or Destruction: You may request that we correct, delete, or destroy personal information we hold about you if it is inaccurate, irrelevant, excessive, out of date, incomplete, misleading, or obtained unlawfully.
• Right to Object: You have the right to object to the processing of your personal information on reasonable grounds.
• Right to Withdraw Consent: Where we rely on your consent to process your personal information, you have the right to withdraw this consent at any time.

• Right to Object to Direct Marketing: You have the right to object to your personal information being processed for the purpose of direct marketing by means of unsolicited electronic communications.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact our Information Officer using the details provided below. We will require a copy of your ID document to confirm your identity before processing your request.

International Transfers of Your Information

Our business operations require us to transfer your personal information to service providers located outside of South Africa. We take all necessary steps to ensure that these transfers are lawful and that your information remains secure.

Our primary service provider, Shopify Inc., is headquartered in Canada. We transfer your information to them to provide our online store services. This transfer is lawful and necessary for the performance of our contract with you (i.e., to process your purchase).

For any transfer of personal information to a country that may not have data protection laws equivalent to POPIA, we will ensure that the transfer is subject to appropriate safeguards, such as approved binding corporate rules or standard contractual clauses, which contractually oblige the recipient to protect your information to POPIA's standards.

Complaints

If you have complaints about how we process your personal information, please contact our Information Officer first, using the contact details provided below. If you are not satisfied with our response, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator of South Africa.

The Information Regulator (South Africa)

• Physical Address: JD House, 27 Stiemens Street, Braamfontein, Johannesburg, 2001
• Postal Address: P.O. Box 31533, Braamfontein, Johannesburg, 2017
• Complaints Email: POPIAComplaints@inforegulator.org.za
• General Enquiries: enquiries@inforegulator.org.za

Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time, including to reflect changes to our practices or for other operational, legal, or regulatory reasons. We will post the revised Privacy Policy on this website, update the "Last updated" date and provide notice as required by applicable law.

Contact Us & Information Officer

Should you have any questions about our privacy practices or this Privacy Policy, or if you would like to exercise any of the rights available to you, please contact our Information Officer.

Information Officer:

• Email: sales@pmctechlife.co.za
• Address: 2 Heleza Boulevard, umhlanga, Kwazulu-Natal, 4320, South Africa

For the purpose of POPIA, we are the "responsible party" for your personal information.

Last Updated: July 5, 2025