Privacy Policy – The Marketplace Kenya

1. WHO WE ARE

The Marketplace Kenya operates an online marketplace connecting customers with sellers, shops, wholesalers, businesses and service providers.

Website:

Home

For privacy questions or requests:

• Email: [email protected]
• Phone/WhatsApp: +254 110 803 424
• Additional support: +254 747 092 252

2. INFORMATION WE COLLECT

Depending on how you use The Marketplace, we may collect the following information.

A. Account Information

This may include:

• Full name
• Username
• Phone number
• Email address
• Account credentials
• Profile information
• Seller or business information

B. Date of Birth and Birthday Information

We may collect your date of birth when you create or update your Marketplace account.

We collect this information primarily to provide personalised services and opportunities, including:

• Birthday wishes
• Birthday notifications
• Birthday gifts
• Birthday rewards
• Birthday-related promotions
• Eligible gigs and opportunities
• Age-based eligibility for certain programs or services

Where possible, we may use only the information necessary for a particular feature. For example, a birthday service may need to know that your birthday is today without publicly displaying your complete date of birth.

Where a gig, promotion or opportunity has age-related eligibility requirements, we may use your date of birth to determine whether you are eligible.

C. Order and Transaction Information

We may collect:

• Products ordered
• Order details
• Delivery information
• Transaction references
• Payment status
• Refund information
• Seller and customer transaction history

D. Payment Information

The Marketplace may process information relating to payments made through supported payment methods, including M-PESA.

Where payment processing is handled by a third-party payment provider, that provider may process payment information according to its own privacy policy and applicable requirements.

E. Seller Information

If you register as a seller, we may collect:

• Seller name
• Business name
• Phone number
• Email address
• Business information
• Product information
• Store information
• Payment and transaction information
• Seller activity and sales information

F. Technical Information

When you use our website or applications, we may automatically collect certain technical information, including:

• IP address
• Device type
• Browser type
• Operating system
• Device identifiers where applicable
• Pages visited
• Referring pages
• Approximate location information
• Date and time of activity
• Technical logs
• Cookies and similar technologies

3. HOW WE USE YOUR INFORMATION

We may use personal information to:

• Create and manage your account
• Process orders and transactions
• Connect customers with sellers
• Process payments
• Facilitate deliveries
• Provide customer support
• Communicate with you about your account or orders
• Send important service notifications
• Manage seller accounts
• Prevent fraud and abuse
• Maintain website and application security
• Improve our services
• Understand how customers and sellers use the Marketplace
• Provide relevant offers, promotions or marketing communications where permitted
• Operate affiliate, referral and earning programs
• Maintain transaction and accounting records
• Comply with applicable legal and regulatory requirements
• Resolve disputes and enforce our terms and policies

Birthday, Gifts and Gigs

We may use your date of birth and related birthday information to:

• Send birthday wishes
• Provide eligible birthday gifts
• Provide birthday rewards
• Notify you about birthday promotions
• Personalise birthday-related experiences
• Identify eligible gigs and opportunities
• Determine eligibility for age-dependent programs or promotions

We will not use your date of birth for unrelated purposes unless permitted by applicable law or otherwise appropriately authorised.

4. CUSTOMER COMMUNICATIONS

When you contact The Marketplace through WhatsApp, phone, email, social media or other communication channels, we may retain information necessary to respond to your request and provide customer service.

Customer conversations may also be processed by technology providers that help us operate communication and customer-support services.

We may use automated tools, including AI-assisted systems, to help answer customer questions.

These systems are intended to use information available to them for providing the relevant service and should not be used to disclose confidential personal information to unauthorised people.

5. WHATSAPP AND SOCIAL MEDIA

If you communicate with us through WhatsApp, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram or another third-party platform, your interaction may also be subject to that platform’s privacy policy and terms.

The Marketplace does not control how third-party platforms independently process information.

Please avoid sending sensitive personal information through ordinary social-media messages unless it is necessary and you are communicating through an official Marketplace channel.

6. COOKIES AND SIMILAR TECHNOLOGIES

The Marketplace may use cookies and similar technologies to:

• Keep users signed in
• Remember preferences
• Maintain shopping carts
• Improve website functionality
• Understand website usage
• Improve security
• Measure performance
• Support relevant advertising or marketing where applicable

You can manage cookies through your browser settings. Disabling certain cookies may affect some website functionality.

7. SHARING OF INFORMATION

We may share relevant personal information with service providers and partners where reasonably necessary to operate The Marketplace.

These may include:

• Payment processors
• Delivery and logistics providers
• Hosting providers
• Website and technology providers
• Communication providers
• Customer-support platforms
• Analytics and security providers
• Professional advisers
• Government authorities or law-enforcement agencies where legally required

We do not sell your personal information as a general business practice.

Where information is shared with a service provider, we seek to limit the information shared to what is reasonably necessary for the relevant service.

8. INFORMATION ABOUT SELLERS

The Marketplace is a marketplace connecting customers and sellers.

Some seller information may be displayed publicly to help customers identify and communicate with a seller.

This may include:

• Business/store name
• Product information
• Store information
• Other information the seller has chosen or is required to make available

Sellers are responsible for ensuring that information they provide to The Marketplace is accurate and that they have the necessary rights and permissions to provide personal information relating to other individuals.

9. PRODUCT AND ORDER INFORMATION

Product listings may contain information provided by sellers.

The Marketplace may process product, order and seller information to facilitate transactions and customer support.

Customers should not post unnecessary personal or sensitive information in product reviews, comments, product descriptions or other publicly visible areas.

10. BIRTHDAY AND PERSONAL INFORMATION PRIVACY

Date of birth is treated as personal information and should not be unnecessarily exposed publicly.

The Marketplace may use a customer’s date of birth internally to determine:

• Birthday dates
• Birthday eligibility
• Age eligibility
• Birthday rewards
• Birthday gifts
• Relevant gigs or opportunities

We aim to limit public disclosure of personal information and only display information that is necessary for a particular Marketplace feature.

Users should not attempt to access, request or disclose another person’s private date of birth without appropriate authorisation.

11. DATA SECURITY

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

However, no internet transmission or electronic storage system can be guaranteed to be completely secure.

You are responsible for protecting your account credentials and should notify us promptly if you believe your account has been compromised.

12. DATA RETENTION

We retain personal information for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy.

Some information may need to be retained for longer periods because of:

• Legal requirements
• Accounting and financial records
• Tax requirements
• Fraud prevention
• Dispute resolution
• Security
• Enforcement of agreements
• Legitimate business requirements

When information is no longer required, we may delete, anonymise or securely dispose of it in accordance with applicable requirements.

13. YOUR PRIVACY RIGHTS

Subject to applicable law and any lawful limitations, you may have rights relating to your personal information, including the right to:

• Know how your personal information is being used
• Request access to personal information we hold about you
• Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete information
• Request deletion of personal information where legally applicable
• Object to or restrict certain processing
• Withdraw consent where processing is based on consent
• Request information about how your personal information is processed
• Raise a complaint about the handling of your personal information

You may also request correction of inaccurate date-of-birth information.

Because date of birth may be required for certain birthday services, rewards, gifts, gigs or age-dependent programs, deleting or withholding it may mean that some of these features cannot be provided.

Some requests may be subject to verification and legal or regulatory limitations.

To make a privacy request:
[email protected]

14. MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS

We may send customers or sellers information about Marketplace services, promotions, products, offers, birthday benefits or other relevant communications where permitted by applicable law.

You may request to stop receiving promotional communications.

Important service communications relating to orders, payments, account security or other essential services may still be sent where necessary.

15. CHILDREN’S PRIVACY

The Marketplace takes the privacy of children seriously.

Where our services involve age-restricted features, gigs, promotions or opportunities, we may use date-of-birth information to determine eligibility.

We do not knowingly collect or use children’s personal information for purposes prohibited by applicable law.

Where applicable, parents or guardians may contact us if they believe that a child has provided personal information to us without appropriate authorisation.

16. THIRD-PARTY SERVICES AND LINKS

The Marketplace may contain links to third-party websites, applications or services.

We are not responsible for the privacy practices, security or content of third-party services.

You should review the privacy policy of any third-party service before providing personal information to it.

17. INTERNATIONAL DATA PROCESSING

Some technology and service providers used by The Marketplace may process information outside Kenya.

Where personal information is transferred or processed outside Kenya, we will take steps required by applicable data-protection laws and regulations.

18. DATA BREACHES

If we become aware of a personal-data security incident, we will assess it and take appropriate steps in accordance with applicable law, including notifying relevant authorities or affected individuals where legally required.

19. CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, technology, legal requirements or business practices.

When we make changes, we may update the “Last Updated” date at the top of this policy.

You should periodically review this page for the latest version.