PRIVACY POLICY
VERSION 2.0 · EFFECTIVE 3 OCTOBER 2026
This policy explains how Saint Ventura(“we”, “us”) collects, uses and protects your personal information when you visit saintventura.co.za, order from us or contact us. We follow the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (POPIA).
1. Who we are
- Business: Saint Ventura
- Email: contact@saintventura.co.za
- Phone / WhatsApp: +27 62 948 1721
- Information Officer: reachable at contact@saintventura.co.za
We are the “responsible party” for your information. That means we decide how it’s used and we’re accountable for protecting it.
2. What we collect
| Information | When | Required? |
|---|---|---|
| Name, email address and phone number | At checkout | Yes, to process your order and contact you about it |
| Delivery details: street address, city, province and postal code, or your Paxi point and PEP store, or your UJ campus. Any order notes | At checkout | Yes for the delivery option you choose. Notes are optional |
| Your cart and checkout details before you pay | As you shop and type at checkout | Saved automatically (see below) |
| Payment confirmation: amount, reference and status | When you pay | Yes. Card details are entered on Yoco's secure page. We never see or store them |
| Email address | When you subscribe to our newsletter | Optional |
| Your messages | When you email, WhatsApp or message us | Optional |
| Site statistics: pages viewed, the page that sent you to us, browser type and a random visit ID | When you browse | Collected automatically. Not linked to your name or email |
| IP address and technical details | When you use the site | Collected automatically for security, to block abuse and to fix errors |
Unfinished checkouts:as you type at checkout, your name, email and phone number are saved in your browser and, together with your cart, on our server. This lets us help if something goes wrong before payment and see where checkout fails. We only email you about an unfinished order if you tick “Email me one reminder”. These records are deleted automatically after 30 days.
If you don’t give us the required information, we can’t process your order.
3. Why we use it
| Purpose | Our reason under POPIA |
|---|---|
| Processing, delivering and updating you about your order, returns and refunds | Needed to carry out our agreement with you |
| Taking payment and preventing fraud | Needed for the transaction, and our legitimate interest in preventing fraud |
| Keeping unfinished checkout records | Our legitimate interest in helping you complete your order and fixing checkout problems |
| Sending one cart reminder email | Only with your consent (the reminder tick box) |
| Sending our newsletter about drops and offers | Only with your consent (subscribing). Unsubscribe any time |
| Site statistics, security and fixing errors | Our legitimate interest in running a safe, working website |
| Tax and accounting records | Required by law |
We won’t use your information for an unrelated purpose without telling you first.
4. Marketing
We only send you marketing emails if you subscribed to our newsletter or ticked the cart reminder box. Every newsletter tells you it’s from Saint Venturaand has an unsubscribe link. When you unsubscribe, we keep your email address on a do-not-email list so we don’t contact you again. We only send marketing by WhatsApp or SMS if you have agreed to it. To stop any marketing, use the unsubscribe link or email contact@saintventura.co.za.
6. Who we share it with
We don’t sell or rent your personal information. We share only what’s needed with service providers who help us run the store, under terms that require them to keep it confidential and secure:
| Provider | What for | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Yoco | Card payments | South Africa |
| Paxi (PEP) | Delivering Paxi parcels: your name, phone number and parcel details | South Africa |
| Supabase | Database for orders, carts, subscribers and statistics; file storage; staff sign-in | Ireland (EU) |
| Vercel | Website hosting | United States and other regions |
| Resend | Sending order, newsletter and reminder emails | United States |
| Telegram | Instant order and sign-up alerts to our team (name, email, phone and order details) | Outside South Africa |
| Sentry | Error monitoring. Technical details about errors, set up not to collect your name, email or address | Outside South Africa |
| CreatingwithOra (Pty) Ltd | Builds, hosts and maintains this website for us, under a written operator agreement | South Africa |
We may also disclose information if the law requires it, or to protect our rights or someone’s safety.
7. Information stored outside South Africa
Some of our providers store or process information outside South Africa, mainly in the European Union and the United States (see the table above). We only use providers that are bound by agreements or laws that give your information a level of protection similar to POPIA.
8. How we protect it
Everything is sent over encrypted connections (HTTPS). Our database can only be reached by our own server code, not from the public website. Our staff dashboard runs on a separate address and needs a password plus an authenticator app code, each staff member has their own account with only the access their role needs, and staff activity is logged. Card details stay with Yoco, and we confirm every payment directly with Yoco before treating an order as paid.
No system is perfectly secure. If a security breach affects your information, we will tell you and the Information Regulator as soon as reasonably possible, as POPIA requires.
9. How long we keep it
| Information | How long |
|---|---|
| Orders and payment records | 5 years, for tax and accounting |
| Unfinished checkouts (abandoned carts) | 30 days, then deleted automatically |
| Payment session records | Deleted within 2 days, once the payment is confirmed or expires |
| Newsletter subscription | Until you unsubscribe. After that we keep only your email address on our do-not-email list |
| Site statistics | 12 months, then deleted automatically |
| Your messages to us | As long as needed to help you |
| Chat with our on-site assistant | Only in your browser. We never receive it |
10. Children
Our online store is for people aged 18 and over. If you’re under 18, a parent or guardian must place the order and agree to us processing your information. If we learn we have a child’s information without that consent, we will delete it.
11. Your rights
Under POPIA you can:
- ask whether we hold information about you, and for a copy of it;
- ask us to correct or delete it;
- object to us using it, including for marketing, at any time;
- withdraw any consent you gave (this doesn’t affect what we did before);
- complain to the Information Regulator. Its current contact details and complaint forms are on inforegulator.org.za.
To use any of these rights, email contact@saintventura.co.za. We respond within 30 days and may first need to confirm your identity.
12. Changes to this policy
We update this policy when our practices change. The version and date at the top show when it last changed. If a change is significant, we’ll say so on the website or by email. Our Terms and Conditions explain the rules for buying from us.
13. Contact
Questions about your information? Contact our Information Officer at contact@saintventura.co.za or on WhatsApp at +27 62 948 1721.