Privacy Policy

This page explains what information we collect, why, and how it's used.

POPIA compliance

Marketrade processes personal information in line with South Africa's Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA). We only collect what we need to run the marketplace, we don't sell it to advertisers, and you have the right to access, correct, or request deletion of your personal information at any time. If you believe your information has been misused, you may also lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator (South Africa) at inforegulator.org.za.

1. What we collect

• Account info: name, email, WhatsApp number, residence, area (province, city, district, suburb)
• Listings you create: title, description, price, photos, category
• Orders: buyer/seller contact details exchanged to arrange a sale
• Reviews and ratings you leave or receive
• Favorites/saved listings and recently viewed items (stored in your browser)

2. Why we collect it

We use this information to run the marketplace: showing your listings to buyers, letting buyers and sellers contact each other, tracking orders, computing seller ratings, and enforcing our Terms of Service.

3. Who can see your information

• Your name, residence, area, and listings are visible to anyone browsing the site.
• Your WhatsApp number is shared with a buyer once they place an order with you, and with a seller once you place an order with them.
• Admins can see all account and listing data to moderate the platform and manage seller subscriptions.

4. Photos and uploads

Listing photos and store logos are stored via our hosting provider (Supabase) and are publicly accessible via their URL, since they're needed to display your listings.

Identity verification (ID and selfie)

You can choose to verify your identity so other users can see a "ID verified" badge, which helps make meet-ups safer. In some cases we may require it before you can list items or send messages.

• What we collect: photos of your ID document (front, and back where applicable), a selfie of you holding it, and your full name. We do not collect your ID number as a separate field, but it may be visible on the photo.
• Special personal information: a photo of your face is biometric information, which POPIA treats as special personal information. We only process it with your explicit consent, which you give (and can withdraw) on the verification screen. We compare your face to your ID by eye. We do not use facial recognition software.
• Purpose: only to check that you are a real person, so we can show the verified badge and make meet-ups safer. We do not use these documents for marketing, profiling, or any other purpose, and we never sell or share them.
• Who can see them: only the Marketrade admins who review them. They are never shown to other users. Each time an admin opens a document, it is recorded in an audit log.
• How long we keep them: your photos are permanently deleted from our storage as soon as a decision is made, or after 30 days if no decision has been made. After that we keep only your verified status and the name on your ID, until you delete your account or ask us to remove it.
• Security: documents are kept in private, access-controlled storage and are only opened through short-lived links. Do not send your ID in chat. Marketrade will only ever ask for it on the verification screen.
• Age: verification is only for people aged 18 or older.
• Voluntary: providing these documents is voluntary. If you do not provide them, you can still browse, but you will not get the badge, and while verification is required for listing or messaging you will not be able to do those things.
• Storage location: our hosting provider, Supabase, may store data on servers outside South Africa. We only use providers that protect personal information to a standard comparable to POPIA.

Your rights under POPIA

You have the right to know what personal information we hold about you, to ask us to correct or delete it, to object to our processing it, and to withdraw any consent you have given (withdrawing consent does not affect processing that already happened). You can delete your identity verification record yourself from the "Verify identity" screen. For anything else, contact our Information Officer at marketrade.co@gmail.com and we will respond within a reasonable time. If you are not satisfied, you may complain to the Information Regulator (South Africa): inforegulator.org.za.

If we become aware that your personal information has been accessed by an unauthorised person, we will notify the Information Regulator and you as soon as reasonably possible, as POPIA requires.

5. Data storage

Your data is stored using Supabase (a third-party database and authentication provider). We don't sell your data to advertisers or third parties.

6. Your choices

• You can edit your profile information at any time.
• You can clear your saved name, WhatsApp number, and residence from your Edit Profile page.
• To fully delete your account and all associated data, contact us using the "Report an issue" link in the footer.

7. Cookies and local storage

We use your browser's local storage to remember things like your selected area, recently viewed listings, and shopping cart — this stays on your device and isn't shared with third parties or used for advertising.

8. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy occasionally. Continued use of the platform after changes means you accept the updated policy.

9. Contact

Questions about your data? Reach out via the "Report an issue" link in the footer.