CARTOVA PRIVACY AND COOKIE POLICY / POPIA NOTICE

Last updated: [15/10/2026]

1. Introduction

At Cartova, we respect your privacy and are committed to processing your personal information responsibly, in line with the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) and other applicable South African privacy laws.

This policy explains what personal information we collect, why we collect it, how we use it, who we share it with, how we use cookies and similar tracking technologies, and how you can contact us with any privacy questions.

2. Who is responsible for your information

Cartova (Pty) Ltd is the responsible party under POPIA for the personal information we collect through our website.

For privacy, POPIA, PAIA, personal information, data-related or legal requests, please use the Legal / Privacy / Data Request option on our Contact Us page or Help Centre.

3. What personal information we collect

Depending on how you use our website, we may collect:

name and surname;
email address and mobile number;
delivery and billing address;
account login details;
order history and products viewed or purchased;
payment status and transaction reference, but not your full card details — see Clause 11;
refund and return information;
customer support messages;
product reviews you submit;
marketing preferences;
courier delivery notes;
IP address, device, browser and cookie information — see Clause 9;
fraud-prevention and security information; and
any other information reasonably necessary to serve you lawfully.

We only collect identity numbers or sensitive information, such as health or biometric data, where this is genuinely required for a specific, lawful purpose — we don’t collect this by default.

4. Why we collect your information

We use your personal information to:

create and manage your account;
process your orders and confirm payment;
deliver your products;
arrange returns and refunds;
send you order and delivery updates;
provide customer support;
prevent and detect fraud;
comply with our legal obligations;
improve our website and analyse performance;
send you marketing, where you’ve permitted this;
manage product reviews;
resolve disputes; and
protect Cartova’s rights, systems and customers.

5. Who we share your information with

We only share the information reasonably necessary, and only with:

payment providers, to process your payment;
courier and delivery partners, to deliver your order — see Clause 6;
technology and website hosting providers;
analytics and advertising providers — see Clause 9;
marketing platforms, where you’ve given permission;
our accountants, attorneys or other professional advisers; and
regulators or authorities, where required by law.

We do not sell your personal information to third parties.

6. Sharing information with couriers

To get your order to you, we share your name, phone number, delivery address, delivery instructions, order reference and parcel information with our delivery partners. This is limited to what’s needed to complete delivery and process any returns.

7. International transfers

Some of the service providers we use, for example hosting providers, analytics tools, or marketing platforms, may store or process information outside South Africa. Where this happens, we take reasonable steps to ensure your information receives a similar level of protection as it would under South African law, as required by POPIA.

8. Payment information

We do not store your full card details. Card payments are processed by secure, third-party payment providers.

If we offer saved-card functionality in future, this will be handled through secure tokenisation by our payment provider — we will not store your raw card details ourselves.

See our Payment Policy for more detail.

9. Cookies and similar tracking technologies

9.1 What are cookies?

Cookies are small text files, or similar technologies, that get placed on your device when you visit our website. They help our website work properly and help us understand how it’s being used.

9.2 Types of cookies we use

We may use the following types of cookies:

Essential cookies – needed for the website to function;
Account and login cookies – keep you logged in and recognise your account;
Cart and checkout cookies – remember what’s in your cart;
Security cookies – help protect your account and our website;
Analytics cookies – help us understand how customers use our site;
Performance cookies – help our website run faster and more reliably;
Advertising and retargeting cookies – used to show you relevant ads, including on other websites; and
Preference cookies – remember your settings and preferences.

9.3 Why we use cookies

We use cookies to:

keep our website working properly;
remember the items in your cart;
keep your account secure;
understand how customers use our website;
improve your shopping experience;
measure how well our advertising is performing;
show you promotions that are more relevant to you; and
understand which products customers are interested in.

9.4 Analytics and advertising tools

We may use tools such as Google Analytics and Meta/Facebook Pixel to understand website usage, improve our platform, measure advertising performance, and show you more relevant marketing. These tools may use cookies, pixels and similar technologies, and may be set by these trusted third parties directly.

9.5 Managing your cookie preferences

You can manage or disable cookies at any time through your browser settings, or through our cookie preference tool available on our website. Most browsers let you view, delete, or block cookies, or notify you when a cookie is being set.

Please note: if you disable essential cookies, some parts of our website — such as staying logged in, using your cart, or completing checkout — may not work properly.

9.6 How long cookies stay on your device

Some cookies are session cookies, which are automatically deleted once you close your browser. Others are persistent cookies, which stay on your device for a set period, or until you delete them manually.

10. Marketing communications

We may send you marketing emails, SMSs, WhatsApp messages or other electronic marketing, but only where the law allows this.

You can opt out of marketing at any time by using the unsubscribe link or opt-out option provided in the marketing message, where available, or by submitting a request through the Contact Us page or Help Centre on our website.

Opting out of marketing won’t stop necessary transactional messages, such as order confirmations, delivery updates, return updates, refund notices, or customer support communications — these aren’t marketing, and you can’t opt out of them while your account is active.

11. How we protect your information

We take reasonable technical and organisational steps to protect your personal information against loss, misuse, unauthorised access, alteration, or disclosure.

No online system is completely risk-free, so please also do your part — keep your account login details confidential and secure.

12. How long we keep your information

We keep your personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purpose it was collected, or as required by law — for example, for accounting, tax, fraud-prevention, or dispute-resolution purposes.

13. Your rights

Under POPIA, you have the right to:

ask us to confirm what personal information we hold about you;
request access to your personal information;
ask us to correct or update inaccurate or outdated information;
ask us to delete your personal information, subject to legal and operational limitations, for example where we may need to retain certain records for tax purposes;
object to how we process your information in certain circumstances; and
withdraw consent, where processing is based on your consent, such as marketing.

To exercise any of these rights, please submit a request through the Legal / Privacy / Data Request option on our Contact Us page or Help Centre.

If you’re unhappy with how we’ve handled your personal information, you also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator of South Africa:

Website: justice.gov.za/inforeg
Email: complaints.IR@justice.gov.za

14. Contact us

For privacy, cookie, POPIA, PAIA, personal information, data-related or legal requests, please submit your request through the Legal / Privacy / Data Request option on our Contact Us page or Help Centre.

Please include your full name, contact details, the nature of your request, and any relevant account or order details so that we can assist you properly.

Business hours: 08:00–17:30, Monday to Friday, South African time.

See our Terms and Conditions for our general website terms, and our Payment Policy for how payment information is handled.