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Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy

Last updated: May 2026

RealTeasy (Pty) Ltd ("PetGuru", "we", "us", or "our") is committed to protecting the privacy and personal information of our users in accordance with the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA) and all applicable South African data protection legislation. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, share, and protect your personal information when you use our website, mobile application, and related services (collectively, the "Platform").

By registering an account or using the PetGuru Platform, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree with any part of this policy, please discontinue use of our Platform.

1. Information We Collect

We collect personal information that you voluntarily provide to us, as well as information gathered automatically through your use of the Platform.

1.1 Information You Provide Directly

  • Account Registration: Full name, email address, password, and profile photo.
  • Pet Profiles: Pet name, species, breed, age, gender, photographs, and health notes.
  • Breeder / Business Listings: Business name, physical address, contact number, KUSA or relevant registration numbers, and kennel / cattery details.
  • Marketplace Transactions: Billing address, delivery address, and payment information (processed securely through our third-party payment gateway, PetGuru does not store full card details).
  • Communications: Messages sent through our in-platform messaging system, support enquiries, and feedback submissions.
  • Verification Documents: Identity documents (such as your South African ID book, smart ID card, or passport), professional registration or accreditation certificates (KUSA, SABBS, SAVC, CIPC, NPO and similar), and an optional selfie photograph submitted for our Verified Breeder and professional verification programme. See section 1.4 below and our AI Disclaimer for how these are processed.

1.2 Information Collected Automatically

  • Usage Data: Pages visited, search queries, listings viewed, time spent on the Platform, and click-through behaviour.
  • Device & Technical Data: IP address, browser type and version, operating system, device identifiers, and referring URLs.
  • Location Data: General location derived from your IP address, or precise location if you grant permission through your device settings.
  • Cookies & Tracking Technologies: We use cookies, pixel tags, and similar technologies as described in our Cookie Policy.

1.3 Information from Third Parties

  • Social login providers (Facebook, Google) if you choose to register via a social account.
  • Payment processors for transaction verification.
  • Public registries, where relevant for breeder or veterinary verification purposes.

1.4 Identity and Biometric Verification Information

To protect our community from pet scams and to operate our Verified programme, professional applicants (breeders, shelters, vets, groomers, trainers, and other service providers) may submit identity and biometric information. Your South African ID number and any facial image are "special personal information" under POPIA and are processed only with your explicit consent, which we request at the point of submission.

  • South African ID Number: We do not store your ID number in plain text. It is converted into an irreversible, one-way cryptographic hash used only to validate the number and to detect the same ID being used across multiple accounts. We separately retain your date of birth, gender, and citizenship status (mathematically derived from the number) and a masked display value (for example, 800101*******).
  • Identity & Credential Documents: Images of your ID document and registration / licence certificates are analysed — including by automated optical character recognition (OCR) — to confirm they appear genuine and that the details match what you provided.
  • Selfie / Facial Image: If you choose to provide a selfie, it is compared against the photograph on your ID document using facial-recognition technology to confirm that you are the document holder. Our facial-comparison provider performs a one-to-one comparison only and does not retain or index your face.
  • Registration Numbers: Professional registration numbers may be checked against public registers (for example, the South African Veterinary Council register for vets, the NPO directory for shelters, and CIPC company registrations for businesses).
  • Business Address: Business addresses may be validated against mapping data to confirm they correspond to a real, physical premises.

Providing this information is voluntary; however, if you decline, you may be unable to obtain a Verified badge or to list pets for sale or adoption. Verification documents and selfies are stored on access-controlled private storage and are visible only to authorised PetGuru reviewers — they are never shown on your public profile or to other users. You may withdraw your consent and request deletion of this information at any time (see section 6).

2. How We Use Your Information

We process your personal information only for lawful purposes as permitted under POPIA. These include:

  • Account Management: Creating, maintaining, and securing your PetGuru account.
  • Platform Services: Facilitating pet listings, marketplace transactions, breeder directory searches, and community features.
  • Verification: Verifying the identity and credentials of breeders, rescues, and pet care professionals to protect our community.
  • Communications: Sending transactional emails (order confirmations, delivery updates), service notifications, and, where you have opted in, marketing communications.
  • Personalisation: Tailoring search results, recommendations, and content to your pets and preferences.
  • Safety & Security: Detecting and preventing fraud, abuse, and other prohibited activities on the Platform.
  • Legal Compliance: Meeting our obligations under POPIA, the Consumer Protection Act, and other applicable South African laws.
  • Analytics & Improvement: Understanding how users interact with the Platform to improve features, performance, and user experience.

3. Data Sharing

PetGuru does not sell your personal information to third parties. We may share your information only in the following circumstances:

3.1 With Your Consent

When you contact a breeder, rescue, or seller through the Platform, your name and contact details may be shared with that party to facilitate the enquiry. You consent to this sharing by initiating the contact.

3.2 Service Providers (Operators)

We engage trusted third-party service providers who process personal information on our behalf and under our instruction, as "operators" under POPIA. These include:

  • Cloud hosting and infrastructure providers
  • Payment gateway providers
  • Email and SMS communication platforms
  • Analytics and performance monitoring tools
  • Courier and logistics partners (for Marketplace orders)
  • Verification providers: AI document-analysis and risk-assessment providers (which read and assess uploaded verification documents), a facial-recognition provider (which performs the one-to-one selfie-to-ID comparison), and a mapping / geocoding provider (which validates business addresses).

All operators are contractually required to comply with POPIA and to protect your information to the same standard we apply. Some verification providers process data on servers located outside South Africa (see section 5).

3.3 Legal Requirements

We may disclose personal information if required to do so by law, court order, or regulatory authority, or if we believe in good faith that such disclosure is necessary to protect the rights, property, or safety of PetGuru, our users, or the public.

3.4 Business Transfers

In the event of a merger, acquisition, or sale of all or part of our business, personal information may be transferred as part of that transaction. We will notify affected users and ensure any successor entity honours this Privacy Policy.

4. Data Retention

We retain your personal information for as long as your account remains active, or as long as is necessary to fulfil the purposes outlined in this policy, and to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations. When you delete your account, we will remove or anonymise your personal information within 30 days, except where retention is required by law.

5. International Transfers

Where we transfer personal information outside South Africa (for example, to cloud infrastructure hosted in other jurisdictions), we ensure that adequate protections are in place as required by Section 72 of POPIA, including binding contractual agreements that meet the standard of POPIA. This includes the analysis of verification documents and the one-to-one comparison of facial images by specialist providers located outside South Africa (for example, in the United States and the European Union), performed under contractual data-protection terms.

5A. Automated Decision-Making

As permitted under Section 71 of POPIA, our verification system may make an automated assessment of a professional application (for example, auto-approving a low-risk application or declining one with clear fraud indicators) based on the document, identity, biometric, registration, and address checks described above. You are not subject to a decision based solely on automated processing that has a legal or similarly significant effect without recourse: any applicant whose verification is declined may submit representations and updated information through our resubmission process, and a member of our team will review the matter. See our AI Disclaimer for more detail.

6. Your Rights Under POPIA

As a data subject under POPIA, you have the following rights:

  • Right to Access: Request a description of the personal information we hold about you and details of how it has been used.
  • Right to Correction: Request correction of inaccurate, incomplete, or misleading personal information.
  • Right to Deletion: Request the deletion of your personal information where it is no longer necessary for the purpose it was collected, subject to legal retention requirements.
  • Right to Object: Object to the processing of your personal information, including for direct marketing purposes.
  • Right to Withdraw Consent: Where processing is based on your consent, withdraw that consent at any time without affecting the lawfulness of prior processing.
  • Right to Complain: Lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator of South Africa if you believe your rights have been infringed.

To exercise any of these rights, please submit a request to our Information Officer using the contact details below. We will respond within 30 days as required by POPIA.

7. Security

We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal information against unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration, and destruction. These measures include SSL/TLS encryption, hashed password storage, access controls, and regular security assessments. However, no method of transmission over the internet is entirely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

In the event of a data breach that poses a risk to your rights and freedoms, we will notify the Information Regulator and affected data subjects as required under Section 22 of POPIA.

8. Children's Privacy

The PetGuru Platform is not directed at children under the age of 18. We do not knowingly collect personal information from minors. If you believe a minor has provided us with personal information, please contact us immediately and we will take steps to remove that information.

9. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or legal requirements. When we make material changes, we will notify you by email or through a prominent notice on the Platform at least 30 days before the changes take effect. Continued use of the Platform after that date constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

10. Contact Us

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests relating to this Privacy Policy or the handling of your personal information, please contact our Information Officer:

  • Information Officer: PetGuru Information Officer
  • Email: privacy@petguru.co.za
  • Postal Address: RealTeasy (Pty) Ltd, South Africa
  • Information Regulator (South Africa): www.inforegulator.org.za