Your privacy at Kama Shoetra

Kama Shoetra is a premium sneaker, sports gear and bag cleaning studio run by Kama Shoetra (Pty) Ltd ("Kama Shoetra", "we", "us"). Kama Shoetra (Pty) Ltd is the responsible party under POPIA for the personal information described in this policy, including the Kama Shoetra app on the App Store and Google Play.

We only collect what we need to run the service. Here is each type of information, what it includes, why we use it and whether you have to give it to us.

What we don't collect

The app does not collect your card or bank account numbers, contacts, calendar, microphone audio, date of birth, ID number, health information or advertising ID, and it never uses your location in the background. The app contains no third-party analytics, crash reporting or advertising tools, and the app doesn't track you across other companies' apps or websites. Our website's advertising tag is explained in section 14.

Our legal reasons for using your information

Under POPIA we process your information because it is needed to carry out the service you asked for (section 11(1)(b)), to meet our legal obligations such as tax records (section 11(1)(c)), for our legitimate interests in running and securing the business and understanding our own sales (section 11(1)(f)), or with your consent, for example for the AI photo check in the app, location access, notifications and marketing use of your photos (section 11(1)(a)).

• The app asks for your permission first. Before the first photo you add while booking goes anywhere, the app asks whether you allow the AI photo check. If you allow it, the app sends each photo you add to our servers and to Anthropic's Claude AI model, which estimates the material, condition and level of dirt and suggests services. The result is saved with your booking.
• If you say no, the app doesn't take or send a photo. You add your items and choose the services yourself.
• You can change your choice at any time in the app under Profile > Privacy & account deletion, where you can turn the AI photo check on or off. Turning it off stops new photos going to Anthropic. It doesn't change assessments already saved with your bookings.
• At our studio, our team photographs each item when it arrives and after cleaning. These photos are also assessed by AI (Anthropic's Claude) and used for quality checks, whatever you chose in the app. They are our record of the item's condition if there is ever a question about it.
• If the AI flags an item as heavily soiled, a surcharge is added to your quote and shown to you before you pay. Our team checks every item again when it arrives. If you disagree with an assessment, contact us and a team member will review it.
• Please photograph only the item. If a photo also shows people or the inside of your home, that will be sent too.
• The app asks your phone for the photo without its hidden details (such as where it was taken) and uploads a compressed copy.
• Photos are stored with your order on our hosting provider, Supabase.

• Card payments for cleaning orders and marketplace purchases are processed by Yoco on Yoco's own secure checkout page, which opens in a secure browser window. At our studio, we use a Yoco card machine.
• Kama Shoetra Club and Seller Pro subscriptions are billed monthly by Paystack on Paystack's own secure page.
• You type your card details directly into Yoco or Paystack. Your card number never passes through the Kama Shoetra app or our servers, and we don't store it.
• We receive confirmation of each payment, such as the amount, status, reference and the type of payment method, and we keep this with your order.
• Yoco and Paystack handle your payment information under their own privacy policies and the card industry's security standards.

• Courier pickup and delivery is carried out by Uber Direct, with Picup as a backup. To quote and book a trip, we send the courier your name, phone number, the pickup or delivery address, your location coordinates if you chose "Use my current location", and the order reference.
• Marketplace shipping and Pudo lockers are handled by The Courier Guy / Pudo. For buyers we share your name, phone number, email address and delivery address or chosen locker. For sellers we share your name, contact details and the address where the courier collects your item.
• To turn a typed address into a map position, we may send the address text to OpenStreetMap's Nominatim service, and your phone may use Apple's or Google's address look-up.
• Location permission is optional and only used while the app is open. The app asks when you tap "Use my current location" or open the locker finder. We use your coordinates to get a delivery quote or find nearby lockers and don't save them in our database. You can turn location off at any time in your phone's settings and type your address instead.

• Email: order confirmations and updates are sent through SendGrid. Account emails (confirming your address and resetting your password) are sent by our sign-in provider, Supabase.
• WhatsApp: order updates are sent through 360dialog on Meta's WhatsApp Business Platform.
• Push notifications: if you allow them, we send order status updates through Expo's push service and Apple or Google. You can switch them off in your phone's settings at any time. We remove your push token from your account when you sign out.
• Promotions: we won't send you promotional messages unless you have agreed to receive them. Every promotional message will tell you how to opt out, and you can opt out at any time by contacting us.

We love showing off a great clean, but we only use photos of your items in our marketing if you say so.

• After your order, we may ask you on WhatsApp whether we can use its before-and-after photos. We only use them if you reply YES, and we record your answer and the time against that specific order. If you reply NO or don't reply, they are never used for marketing.
• With your permission, the photos may be turned into posts or short videos using AI tools (BytePlus) and published on our Facebook and Instagram pages.
• We check that permission is still in place when content is created and again before it is published.
• To withdraw permission, message us on WhatsApp or email hello@kamashoetra.com with your order number. We will stop using those photos in new content and remove posts from our own pages on request.

We don't sell your personal information, and we don't share it with anyone for their own advertising. We share it only with the service providers below, which process it on our behalf to run Kama Shoetra, and only what each one needs, and with the people listed after them. Our website's Google advertising tag is covered in section 14.

Other people who may see some of your information

• Other app users: once our team has checked and published your marketplace listing, other users can see its details (title, description, brand, size, condition, price and our photos of the item). They don't see your name or contact details.
• Partner drop-off locations: if you drop off or collect an item at one of our partner locations (such as a gym) instead of our studio, that partner sees your name, your order number and the services booked so they can receive and hand over your items.
• Authorities: we may disclose information where the law requires it, for example to the South African Revenue Service or in response to a valid legal request, or to protect the rights and safety of our customers and staff.

Some of our service providers store or process information outside South Africa: our database is hosted in Ireland (EU), AI photo assessment, email delivery and push notifications run in the United States, map and address look-ups may go to the United Kingdom or Germany, and marketing content made with your permission may be processed in Singapore. Uber, 360dialog (Germany), WhatsApp, Meta, Apple and Google may also process information in other countries.

As POPIA (section 72) requires, we only send information across borders to providers that are bound by data-protection laws, binding corporate rules or agreements that give protection substantially similar to POPIA, or where the transfer is needed to provide the service you asked for.

• Account, profile, photos, AI assessments, saved shoes, delivery quotes and message history: kept while your account is open. When you ask us to delete your account, we delete or anonymise them within 30 days (see Account deletion).
• Order, payment and invoice records: kept for as long as South African tax and company law requires (generally five years, and up to seven for company records). After your account is deleted, we remove your contact details from these records where the law allows.
• Photo-marketing permissions: kept for as long as we use the photos, so we can show you agreed.
• Security and server logs: kept only as long as needed to protect accounts and prevent fraud.
• Website enquiries: kept as long as needed to deal with your enquiry.

• All traffic between the app or website and our systems is encrypted (HTTPS), and so are our connections to our service providers.
• Your sign-in session is stored in your phone's secure storage (Keychain on iPhone, Keystore on Android).
• Database access rules limit customers to their own records, and our staff's access depends on their role.
• Passwords are stored in scrambled (hashed) form by our sign-in provider, so no one at Kama Shoetra can see yours. Card details never reach us.
• No system is completely secure. If a security breach affects your personal information, we will notify you and the Information Regulator as POPIA requires.

You have the right to:

• Access your information: ask us to confirm what we hold about you and who we have shared it with.
• Correct it: update your contact details in the app's Profile screen, or ask us to correct or delete information that is wrong, out of date or incomplete.
• Delete it: ask us to delete your account and personal information. See Account deletion.
• Object to us using your information, including for direct marketing, at any time.
• Withdraw consent you have given, such as the AI photo check (turn it off in the app under Profile > Privacy & account deletion), photo-marketing permission, location access or notifications. This doesn't affect what we did before you withdrew it.
• Ask for a person to review an automated decision that affects you. If you disagree with the AI assessment of your item or a surcharge based on it, a team member will review it.
• Complain to the Information Regulator: inforegulator.org.za, email POPIAComplaints@inforegulator.org.za. We'd appreciate the chance to sort things out with you first.

To use any of these rights, email hello@kamashoetra.com or WhatsApp 068 614 3596. We may ask you to confirm your identity first, and we'll respond within 30 days.

The Kama Shoetra app and our online services are meant for adults aged 18 and over. We don't knowingly collect personal information from children. If you are under 18, a parent or guardian should place orders for you. If you believe a child has given us personal information without a parent's or guardian's consent, contact us and we will delete it.

• Our website uses Google's advertising tag (Google Ads) to measure how well our ads work, for example whether someone who clicked an ad later sent us an enquiry, and Google may use it to show our ads to people who have visited our website. The tag may set cookies and send information such as your IP address, browser type and the pages you visit to Google, which also uses it as described in Google's own policy.
• You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings and manage how Google uses your information for ads in your Google account's ad settings.
• Our staff sign-in pages use cookies that are needed to keep staff signed in.
• The mobile app does not use this Google tag or any other advertising tracker.

We will update this policy when our services or the law change. The date at the top shows when it last changed. If we make an important change, we'll tell you in the app or by email before it takes effect.

Questions about this policy or your information? Email hello@kamashoetra.com, call or WhatsApp 068 614 3596, or visit us at 1 Kikuyu Rd, Sunninghill, Sandton, 2157 (inside Moove Gym). For anything else, see our Support page.