Privacy, Data Protection & Cookies Policy

Last updated: 29 June 2026
Website: https://emberjewelry.co.za
Contact: info@emberjewelry.co.za
Privacy contact: info@emberjewelry.co.za

This Privacy, Data Protection & Cookies Policy explains how Ember Jewelry collects, uses, stores, shares, protects and manages personal information when you visit our website, buy from us, contact us, subscribe to marketing, interact with us online or use our services.

This policy is drafted with South Africa’s Protection of Personal Information Act, 4 of 2013, known as POPIA, in mind, together with appropriate international privacy and e-commerce principles where Ember Jewelry sells or markets internationally.

1. Who we are

Ember Jewelry is a South African jewellery business operating through https://emberjewelry.co.za.

For the purposes of POPIA, Ember Jewelry is the responsible party for personal information that we decide how and why to process.

Where we use service providers such as website hosts, payment providers, couriers, email platforms, analytics providers, accountants or IT support providers, they may act as operators or independent responsible parties depending on the service.

2. Scope of this policy

This policy applies to personal information processed through our website, online store, customer service channels, email, social media interactions, marketing campaigns, giveaways, order fulfilment and related business administration.

It does not apply to websites, platforms or services that we do not own or control.

3. Personal information we collect

We may collect the following categories of personal information:

Identity and contact information, such as name, surname, email address, phone number, billing address and delivery address.
Order and transaction information, such as products ordered, size or finish selected, order number, payment status, delivery method, returns, refunds, customer notes and communication history.
Payment information, such as payment confirmation, transaction reference and fraud screening information. We do not intentionally store full bank card numbers or CVV codes on our own systems. Card processing is handled by our payment service provider.
Account information, if you create an account, such as username, password credentials in encrypted form, saved addresses, order history and preferences.
Marketing information, such as newsletter subscription status, consent records, campaign engagement, product preferences and opt-out requests.
Website and device information, such as IP address, browser type, device type, operating system, pages visited, referring website, approximate location, cookie identifiers and analytics information.
Customer support information, such as messages, reviews, complaints, images you send us to show a product issue and information needed to resolve your request.
Legal and compliance information, such as records needed for accounting, tax, fraud prevention, dispute handling and compliance with applicable laws.

4. Sensitive or special personal information

We do not ask customers to provide special personal information unless it is genuinely necessary.

However, because Ember Jewelry may sell identity-based, Pride-related, symbolic or community-oriented jewellery, your product choices may indirectly reveal information about identity, expression, relationships, beliefs or community affiliation.

We treat order information with care and do not use product choices to build sensitive profiles about customers.

Please do not send us unnecessary medical, identity-document, financial or highly personal information unless we specifically request it for a lawful purpose.

5. How we collect personal information

We collect personal information directly from you when you place an order, create an account, subscribe to emails, contact us, complete forms, enter a promotion, leave a review or communicate with us.

We also collect information automatically through cookies and similar technologies when you use our website.

We may receive limited information from service providers, such as payment confirmation from payment providers, delivery updates from couriers, analytics reports from website tools or fraud-prevention signals.

6. Why we process personal information

We process personal information for the following purposes:

To operate the website and online store.
To receive, confirm, process, pack, dispatch and deliver orders.
To process payments, refunds, returns and exchanges.
To communicate with you about orders, delivery, returns, customer service and complaints.
To provide customer accounts and saved order history, where applicable.
To detect, prevent and investigate fraud, abuse, security incidents and unlawful activity.
To improve our website, products, stock planning, customer experience and marketing.
To send marketing communications where we are allowed to do so and to manage opt-outs.
To comply with legal, accounting, tax, regulatory, consumer protection and dispute-resolution obligations.
To protect our rights, property, customers, staff, service providers and business partners.

7. Legal grounds for processing

We process personal information only where we have a lawful basis under POPIA and, where applicable, similar international privacy laws.

Depending on the situation, this may include:

Your consent, for example when you subscribe to marketing or accept non-essential cookies.
Contract necessity, for example when we need your information to process and deliver an order.
Legal obligation, for example tax, accounting, consumer protection, customs or regulatory recordkeeping.
Our legitimate interests, for example security, fraud prevention, customer service, business administration, analytics and improving our services, provided that your privacy rights are respected.
Your legitimate interests, for example where processing is needed to respond to your request, protect your account or resolve a complaint.

8. Direct marketing

We may send marketing emails, SMS messages or other electronic communications only where permitted by law.

You can unsubscribe or opt out of marketing at any time by using the unsubscribe link in the message or contacting us at info@emberjewelry.co.za.

Opting out of marketing will not stop necessary transactional messages, such as order confirmations, delivery updates or customer-service replies.

9. What cookies are

Cookies are small text files placed on your device when you visit a website.

They help the website work, remember your preferences, understand how visitors use the site and support security, analytics and marketing functions.

Similar technologies include pixels, tags, scripts, local storage, software development kits and tracking links.

10. Types of cookies we may use

We may use the following categories of cookies:

Strictly necessary cookies: Required for the website and online store to function. These may support shopping cart, checkout, login, fraud prevention, security, load balancing and payment processes.
Preference cookies: Remember choices such as region, currency, language, saved details or display preferences.
Analytics and performance cookies: Help us understand how visitors use the website, which pages are popular, where errors happen and how the store can be improved.
Functional cookies: Support enhanced features such as product recommendations, embedded content, customer support tools or reviews.
Marketing and advertising cookies: May be used to measure campaigns, show relevant ads, limit ad frequency, build audiences or support retargeting where enabled.
Social media and embedded content cookies: May be set by third-party platforms when you interact with embedded posts, videos, sharing tools or social links.

11. Why we use cookies

We use cookies to:

Operate the shopping cart, checkout and payment flow.
Keep the website secure and prevent fraud or abuse.
Remember preferences and improve user experience.
Understand website traffic and store performance.
Measure marketing effectiveness.
Support advertising or retargeting where you have consented or where the law allows.

12. Cookie consent and control

Where required by law, we will ask for your consent before placing non-essential cookies on your device.

You can change your cookie preferences through our cookie banner or preference tool where available.

You can also manage cookies through your browser settings. Most browsers allow you to block or delete cookies.

If you block strictly necessary cookies, parts of the website may not work properly, including cart, checkout, login or payment features.

13. Third-party cookies and tools

Some cookies may be placed by third-party service providers, such as payment providers, analytics platforms, advertising networks, social media platforms, embedded content providers, email marketing tools or security services.

These providers may process information according to their own privacy policies.

14. Sharing personal information

We may share personal information with trusted third parties where necessary for the purposes described in this policy, including:

Payment service providers and fraud prevention tools.
Couriers, shipping aggregators, fulfilment partners and delivery providers.
Website hosting, domain, email, security, backup and IT service providers.
WooCommerce, WordPress plugins or other e-commerce tools used to operate the store.
Email marketing, customer relationship management and analytics providers.
Accountants, auditors, legal advisers, insurers and professional service providers.
SARS, regulators, courts, law-enforcement bodies or other authorities where required or permitted by law.
A buyer, investor or successor if our business is sold, merged, restructured or transferred, subject to appropriate confidentiality and data protection safeguards.

We do not sell personal information as a standalone business activity.

15. International transfers

Some of our service providers may store or process information outside South Africa, including in countries that may have different privacy laws.

Where we transfer personal information outside South Africa, we will take reasonable steps to ensure that the transfer is permitted under POPIA and that appropriate safeguards are in place.

These safeguards may include suitable contractual protections, service-provider commitments, your consent where required, or transfer where necessary to perform our contract with you.

16. Data protection principles

Ember Jewelry aims to process personal information lawfully, fairly, securely and transparently.

We apply the following principles:

Accountability: We assign responsibility for privacy compliance and review practices where needed.
Processing limitation: We process information lawfully and only where there is a valid reason.
Purpose specification: We collect information for specific, defined and lawful purposes.
Minimality: We collect only the information reasonably needed.
Further processing limitation: We use information for new purposes only where compatible with the original purpose or otherwise lawful.
Information quality: We take reasonable steps to keep information accurate and up to date.
Openness: We give customers clear privacy notices.
Security safeguards: We use reasonable technical and organisational security measures.
Data subject participation: We respect lawful access, correction, deletion, objection and opt-out requests.

17. Security safeguards

We use reasonable technical and organisational safeguards to protect personal information against loss, unauthorised access, misuse, disclosure, alteration or destruction.

These may include:

Strong passwords and multi-factor authentication where available.
Limiting access to personal information to people who need it.
Secure payment processing through reputable payment providers.
HTTPS and secure website configuration.
Regular updates for WordPress, WooCommerce, themes and plugins.
Backups where practical.
Anti-malware, spam and security monitoring tools.
Secure disposal of unnecessary records.
Staff and contractor confidentiality requirements.
Service-provider due diligence.

No website or electronic transmission is completely secure. You are responsible for keeping your account credentials confidential and for using secure devices and networks when shopping online.

18. Service providers and operators

Before sharing personal information with service providers, Ember Jewelry aims to check whether the provider is appropriate for the task and whether suitable safeguards exist.

Operators and service providers should process personal information only according to Ember Jewelry’s instructions, applicable contracts and applicable law.

Where appropriate, contracts with operators should require confidentiality, appropriate security, limited processing, breach notification, return or deletion of information where appropriate, and assistance with data subject requests.

19. Breach response

A security compromise may include unauthorised access, acquisition, loss, disclosure, alteration or destruction of personal information.

If a suspected breach occurs, Ember Jewelry will take reasonable steps to contain the incident, assess what information was involved, reduce harm, keep an incident record, and notify the Information Regulator and affected data subjects where required by POPIA.

Operators should notify Ember Jewelry promptly if they discover a security compromise affecting Ember Jewelry personal information.

20. Retention

We keep personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes for which it was collected.

This may include order fulfilment, customer service, returns, refunds, fraud prevention, legal claims, accounting, tax, regulatory and compliance purposes.

When information is no longer needed, we will delete, destroy, de-identify or restrict it where reasonably possible.

21. Your rights

Subject to applicable law, you may have the right to:

Ask what personal information we hold about you.
Request access to your personal information.
Ask us to correct or update inaccurate, irrelevant, excessive, outdated, incomplete, misleading or unlawfully obtained personal information.
Ask us to delete or destroy personal information where we are no longer allowed to keep it.
Object to certain processing.
Withdraw consent where processing is based on consent.
Opt out of direct marketing.
Lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator in South Africa.

We may need to verify your identity before responding to a privacy request.

We may refuse or limit a request where the law allows or requires us to do so, for example where we must retain records for legal, tax, accounting, fraud-prevention or dispute-resolution purposes.

22. Children’s privacy

Our website is intended for general audiences and is not directed at children.

We do not knowingly collect personal information from children without appropriate consent where required by law.

If you believe that a child has provided personal information to us without appropriate consent, contact us so that we can assess and address the issue.

23. International visitors

If you access our website from outside South Africa, your information may be processed in South Africa and other countries where our service providers operate.

Mandatory consumer or privacy rights in your country may still apply where the law requires.

We aim to treat international customers fairly and to apply suitable privacy safeguards.

If you visit from a country with specific cookie rules, such as the European Union, United Kingdom or similar jurisdictions, additional consent requirements may apply.

24. Privacy by design

When choosing new tools, plugins, marketing campaigns, integrations, payment systems, courier integrations and analytics tools, Ember Jewelry aims to consider privacy and security before using them.

We aim to avoid unnecessary tracking, excessive data collection, insecure plugins or service providers that cannot provide reasonable data protection assurances.

25. Complaints

Please contact us first at info@emberjewelry.co.za so we can try to resolve your concern.

You may also contact the Information Regulator South Africa using the contact details published on its official website.

26. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time.

The latest version will be posted on our website with the updated date.

Continued use of the website after an update means the updated policy applies to future interactions with us.

27. Contact

For privacy, data protection or cookie questions, contact us at info@emberjewelry.co.za.