Privacy Policy

Responsible Party (POPIA): Aspect Digital (Pty) Ltd trading as "PawShield". We determine the purposes and means of processing personal information for our store and sales operations.

Registered company: Aspect Digital (Pty) Ltd (Reg. No 2022/390934/07)

Address: 5 Elliot Street, Rynfield, Benoni, Gauteng, South Africa

Email: info@pawshield.co.za

If you have any questions about this policy or how we handle your personal information, please contact us using the details above.

This policy applies to personal information collected when you browse our website, add items to your cart, check out, create an account, contact our support team, or purchase through one of our authorised independent sales representatives. It also covers information collected through cookies and analytics.

This policy does not cover third-party websites or services linked from our site. Those services operate under their own privacy policies.

• Identity & Contact: first name, last name, email address, phone number, and delivery or collection address.
• Account: password (stored securely and never in plain text), and account preferences if you choose to create an account.
• Order & Transaction: products purchased, order totals, discounts applied, delivery method selected, payment reference numbers, and support history.
• Payment: payment is processed by our third-party payment provider(s). We do not store full card details on our systems.
• Technical: IP address, device type, browser type, pages viewed, time on page, and referring URLs, collected automatically when you use our website.
• Cookies & Analytics: essential session, security, and cart cookies; and aggregated analytics events (see Section 6).
• Communications: emails or messages you send to us, and records of communications we send to you.
• Rep-facilitated orders: where you purchase through a sales representative, they will collect your name, contact details, and delivery information on our behalf and record this in our order management system. That information is subject to this policy.

• Direct interactions: forms on our website (checkout, account creation, contact), telephone or email enquiries, and customer support interactions.
• Sales representatives: information collected by our authorised independent sales representatives when you place an order through them. Representatives are bound by contractual obligations to handle your information in accordance with this policy and POPIA.
• Automated technologies: cookies, server logs, and analytics events generated when you browse our website.
• Third parties: payment providers and courier services supplying order status and delivery updates.

• To fulfil and manage orders (Contractual necessity): processing orders, arranging payment and delivery or collection, and managing customer support.
• To operate, secure, and improve our platform (Legitimate interests): debugging, fraud prevention, analytics, and quality assurance. We have assessed that these interests do not override your rights and freedoms.
• To comply with legal obligations (Legal obligation): tax, accounting, audit, and any other applicable regulatory requirements.
• Account management (Contractual necessity or consent where applicable): where you choose to create an account, to store your details for future purchases and provide order history.

We do not use your personal information for unsolicited direct marketing without your consent. We do not sell your personal information to third parties.

Essential cookies (always active): required for security and basic site operation, including session management, CSRF protection, and cart persistence. These cannot be disabled without affecting site functionality.

Analytics: we use Google Analytics (GA4) to measure aggregate site usage and performance. GA4 collects pseudonymous identifiers and behavioural events such as page views and device or browser information. This data is processed in aggregate and is not used to identify you individually. We do not use advertising or marketing cookies, and we do not use remarketing or tracking pixels.

You can control cookies in your browser settings. Disabling essential cookies may prevent the site from functioning correctly.

We share personal information only where necessary, and only with service providers and parties who are contractually obliged to process your data lawfully and on our instructions. We do not sell personal information to any third party.

• Hosting & infrastructure: DigitalOcean (cloud hosting, storage, and backups).
• Payment processing: third-party payment gateway provider(s) to process card and EFT payments securely. We do not store full card details on our systems.
• Transactional email: a third-party email delivery provider for order confirmations, account notifications, and customer support correspondence.
• Analytics: Google Analytics (GA4) for aggregated, pseudonymous usage statistics.
• Courier services: delivery partners to fulfil courier orders, including your name and delivery address.
• Sales representatives: our authorised independent sales representatives access your order details through our platform for the sole purpose of fulfilling and managing orders placed through them. Representatives are bound by confidentiality and POPIA compliance obligations.
• Professional advisors: legal, accounting, or compliance advisors where required by law or in connection with our legitimate business operations.

We may also disclose personal information where required by law, court order, or a competent regulatory authority, or where necessary to protect our rights, the safety of users, or the public.

Some of our service providers may process or store personal information outside South Africa, including in the United States or European Union. Where such transfers occur, we rely on appropriate safeguards — such as contractual data protection terms that impose equivalent protection standards — consistent with our obligations under POPIA. If you would like more information about the specific safeguards in place, please contact us.

We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal information against unauthorised access, loss, or misuse. These include HTTPS encryption in transit, access controls, password hashing, activity logging, and regular security reviews. No system is perfectly secure; in the event of a material data breach, we will notify affected data subjects and the Information Regulator as required by POPIA.

We retain personal information only for as long as is necessary to fulfil the purposes set out in this policy, or as required by applicable law. Order and transaction records are typically retained for a minimum of five years to meet accounting and tax obligations. Account data is retained for as long as your account remains active. You may request deletion of your personal information at any time, subject to any legal retention obligations we must satisfy. Anonymised or aggregated data may be retained indefinitely for analytics and service improvement.

Under POPIA, you have the right to:

• Be notified that your personal information is being collected and processed.
• Access the personal information we hold about you and request a copy.
• Request correction of inaccurate, incomplete, or outdated information.
• Request deletion or restriction of processing in certain circumstances, subject to any legal obligations that require us to retain the information.
• Object to the processing of your personal information on grounds relating to your particular situation, where processing is based on legitimate interests.
• Withdraw consent where processing is based on your consent, without affecting the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.
• Lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator of South Africa (see Section 14).

We may need to verify your identity before actioning a request. Some rights may be limited where we have overriding legal obligations, such as tax or fraud prevention requirements. We will respond to requests within a reasonable time and in any event within 30 days.

Our website and products are intended for persons aged 18 and over. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has submitted personal information to us, please contact us immediately so we can identify and remove it.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our operations, service providers, or applicable law. The "Last updated" date at the top of this page indicates when the policy was last revised. Where changes are material, we will notify registered account holders by email and display a notice on the website. Continued use of our website after a policy update constitutes acceptance of the revised policy.

PawShield (Aspect Digital (Pty) Ltd)

5 Elliot Street, Rynfield, Benoni, Gauteng, South Africa

Email: info@pawshield.co.za

If you are not satisfied with our response, you may lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator of South Africa:

Information Regulator (South Africa)

JD House, 27 Stiemens Street, Braamfontein, Johannesburg, 2001

Email: inforeg@justice.gov.za

We would appreciate the opportunity to resolve your concerns directly before you escalate to the Regulator.