Last updated: [Date]

Royal Oils (“we”, “us”, or “our”) is committed to protecting your personal information in accordance with the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA) and all applicable South African privacy legislation. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, and protect your personal information when you visit our website (royaloils.co.za) or make a purchase from us.

1. Responsible Party

The responsible party (as defined in POPIA) for the processing of your personal information is:

2. What Personal Information We Collect

We may collect the following personal information from you:

3. How We Collect Your Information

We collect your personal information when you:

• Create an account or place an order on our website
• Subscribe to our newsletter
• Contact us via our contact form, email, phone, or WhatsApp
• Leave a product review
• Browse our website (via cookies and analytics — see Section 8)

4. Purpose of Processing (Why We Use Your Information)

We process your personal information for the following purposes, as permitted by POPIA:

• To fulfil your orders — processing payments, arranging delivery, and sending order confirmations (legal basis: performance of a contract).
• To communicate with you — responding to enquiries, providing customer support, and sending order updates (legal basis: legitimate interest / performance of a contract).
• To send marketing communications — newsletters, promotions, and product updates, only if you have given us your consent. You may opt out at any time (legal basis: consent).
• To improve our website and services — analysing website usage to enhance your experience (legal basis: legitimate interest).
• To comply with legal obligations — keeping records as required by South African tax and commercial law (legal basis: legal obligation).

5. Sharing of Personal Information

We do not sell your personal information to third parties. We may share your information with the following trusted service providers, solely for the purposes described above:

• Payment gateway — [Payment Provider Name, e.g. PayFast] for secure payment processing
• Courier / delivery service — [Courier Name, e.g. The Courier Guy] for order delivery
• Email service provider — [Email Platform, e.g. Mailchimp] for newsletters (only if you’ve subscribed)
• Website hosting — [Hosting Provider, e.g. Afrihost]
• Analytics — Google Analytics for anonymous website usage statistics

All third-party providers are required to handle your data securely and in compliance with applicable privacy laws.

6. Your Rights Under POPIA

You have the following rights regarding your personal information:

• Right of access — You may request confirmation of what personal information we hold about you and request a copy.
• Right to correction — You may request that we correct or update inaccurate or incomplete personal information.
• Right to deletion — You may request that we delete your personal information, subject to any legal obligations we have to retain it.
• Right to object — You may object to the processing of your personal information for direct marketing purposes.
• Right to withdraw consent — Where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw your consent at any time.
• Right to lodge a complaint — You have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator (South Africa) if you believe your personal information has been mishandled.

7. Data Retention

We retain your personal information only for as long as is necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, or as required by law. Specifically:

• Order records: retained for [X] years as required by South African tax law (Tax Administration Act).
• Marketing data: retained until you unsubscribe or request deletion.
• Website analytics: anonymised data retained for up to 26 months.

8. Cookies

Our website uses cookies to enhance your browsing experience. Cookies are small text files stored on your device. We use:

• Essential cookies — required for the website and shopping cart to function.
• Analytics cookies — to understand how visitors use our site (e.g., Google Analytics).
• Marketing cookies — to deliver relevant advertisements (only with your consent).

You can control or disable cookies through your browser settings. Please note that disabling essential cookies may affect the functionality of our website.

9. Security

We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect your personal information against unauthorised access, loss, misuse, or alteration. These include:

• SSL encryption on all pages of our website
• Secure payment processing through PCI-compliant payment gateways
• Restricted access to personal information on a need-to-know basis
• Regular security reviews of our systems

While we take all reasonable precautions, no method of transmission over the Internet is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

10. Children’s Privacy

Our website and products are not intended for children under the age of 18. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If we become aware that a child has provided personal information to us, we will take steps to delete it.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or legal requirements. The updated version will be posted on this page with a revised “Last updated” date. We encourage you to review this policy periodically.

12. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, wish to exercise your rights, or have a complaint about how your personal information has been handled, please contact us:

Email: hello@royaloils.co.za
Phone / WhatsApp: +27 XX XXX XXXX
Address: [Full Physical Address]