This Privacy Policy governs the manner in which Arms of Mercy collects, uses, maintains and discloses information collected from users (each, a “User”) of the http://www.armsofmercy.org.za website (“Site”).

Personal identification information

We may collect personal identification information from Users in a variety of ways, including, but not limited to, when Users visit our site, fill out a form, and in connection with other activities, services, features or resources we make available on our Site. Users may be asked for, as appropriate, name, email address, phone number. Users may, however, visit our Site anonymously. We will collect personal identification information from Users only if they voluntarily submit such information to us.

Users can always refuse to supply personally identification information, except that it may prevent them from engaging in certain Site related activities. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.

Non-personal identification information

We may collect non-personal identification information about Users whenever they interact with our Site. Non-personal identification information may include the browser name, the type of computer and technical information about Users means of connection to our Site, such as the operating system and the Internet service providers utilized and other similar information.

This Site uses Google Analytics for traffic reporting and to gain insights into users/visitors and their behaviour. For more information see https://policies.google.com. Information collected may be used for targeted marketing.

Web browser cookies

Our Site may use “cookies” to enhance User experience. User’s web browser places cookies on their hard drive for record-keeping purposes and sometimes to track information about them. User may choose to set their web browser to refuse cookies, or to alert you when cookies are being sent. If they do so, note that some parts of the Site may not function properly. You can control and/or delete cookies as you wish, see https://www.aboutcookies.org/.

Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website. These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracing your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

This Site uses Facebook Pixel for Advertising and Analytics and your information may be collected through cookies or other methods. We share data from our website’s first-party cookies with Facebook to help us deliver relevant ads to people who may be interested in our products or services. Pixels can track the type of operating system used, devices and software, the time the Site was visited, IP address, your location etc. See Facebook Data Policy.

This Site uses Mailchimp to manage email marketing subscriber lists and send emails to our subscribers. Read their privacy policy. Please also see Mailchimp Cookie Policy.

This Site uses Complianz | GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies, but opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. View Cookie Policy.

How we use collected information

Arms of Mercy may collect and use Users personal information for the following purposes:

  • To improve our Site
    We may use feedback you provide to improve our products and services.
  • To send periodic emails
    We may use the email address to respond to their inquiries, questions, and/or other requests.

Users may request that we erase any personal data we hold about them at any time. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.

How we protect your information

We adopt appropriate data collection, storage and processing practices and security measures to protect against unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure or destruction of your personal information and data stored on our Site.

Sharing your personal information

Your personal information remain private. We do not sell, trade, or rent Users` personal identification information to others. We may share generic aggregated demographic information not linked to any personal identification information regarding visitors and users with our business partners, trusted affiliates and advertisers for the purposes outlined above.

Third party websites

Users may find advertising or other content on our Site that link to the sites and services of our partners, suppliers, advertisers, sponsors, licensors and other third parties. We do not control the content or links that appear on these sites and are not responsible for the practices employed by websites linked to or from our Site. These sites may use additional or different cookies to the ones described above. If so, the details of these will be provided in their specific cookies notice page. You may be asked for your agreement to store these cookies. You can control and/or delete cookies as you wish – for details, see https://www.aboutcookies.org/.

In addition, these sites or services, including their content and links, may be constantly changing. These sites and services may have their own privacy policies and customer service policies. Browsing and interaction on any other website, including websites which have a link to our Site, is subject to that website’s own terms and policies.

Purchase Order Data /Customer Order Information

When you make a purchase or attempt to make a purchase through the Site, we collect certain information from you; this may include your name, billing address, shipping address, payment information, email address, and phone number. We refer to this information as “Customer Order Information”.

We use the Customer Order Information that we collect generally to fulfill any orders placed through the Site (including processing your payment information, arranging for shipping, and providing you with invoices and/or order confirmations). Additionally, we use this Order Information to communicate with you; screen our orders for potential risk or fraud; and when in line with the preferences you have shared with us, provide you with information or advertising relating to our products or services.

We use the Device Information that we collect to help us screen for potential risk and fraud (in particular, your IP address), and more generally to improve and optimize our Site (for example, by generating analytics about how our customers browse and interact with the Site, and to measure the success of our personal marketing campaigns).

We retain records of Customer Order Information for tax purposes for a number of 5 years. Successful Purchase Orders are captured manually for our records to reflect sales made on the Site which are stored permanently. We also backup all records on hard drive and , and ultimately destroy customer and order records from said backup after 5 years.

Payfast

This Site uses the Payfast payment gateway. Payfast provide easy, secure and instant payment processing and have a multitude of automated and manual checks in place to protect both buyers and sellers from fraudulent transactions. See https://www.payfast.co.za/security-fraud/. Payfast is a PCI DSS Level 1 Service Provider and use Extended Validation SSL with 256-bit encryption. Only two of the four major South African banks use this –the highest– level of encryption currently available.

PayFast processes personal information only for the purposes for which it was collected and in accordance with this Privacy Policy. Payfast review data collection, storage and processing practices to ensure that they only collect, store and process the personal information needed to provide or improve their services.

Payfast take appropriate security measures to protect against unauthorized access to or unauthorized alteration, disclosure or destruction of data. The servers that Payfast store personally identifiable information on are kept in a secure environment.

Payfast restrict access to personal information to PayFast employees who need to know that information in order to operate, develop or improve their services.

Who we share your data with

When we talk about “Personal Information” in this Privacy Policy, we are talking both about Device Information and Order Information.

We share your Personal Information with third parties to help us use your Personal Information, as described above. For example, we use Woocommerce to power our online store–you can read more about how Woocommerce uses your Personal Information here: Privacy Notice for Visitors to Our Users’ Sites, and here: Privacy Policy

To keep track of cart data, WooCommerce makes use of 3 cookies, and no personal information is stored within these cookies. For more information see Woocommerce Cookie Policy. For information on the Woocommerce privacy policy see  www.automattic.com/privacy-notice/, and www.automattic.com/privacy/.

Finally, we may also share your personal information to comply with applicable laws and regulations, to respond to a subpoena, search warrant or other lawful request for information we receive, or to otherwise protect our rights.

Data Retention & Tracking

If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognize and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.

For users that register on our website, we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.

When you place an order through the Site, we will maintain your Order Information for our records unless and until you ask us to delete this information.

What rights you have over your data

If you have an account on this site, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.

Where we send your data

Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service.

Changes To Privacy Policy

We may update this policy from time to time in order to reflect changes to our practices or for other operational, legal or regulatory reasons. Arms of Mercy may update this privacy policy at any time. When we do, we will post a notification on our Site. Users and visitors are encouraged to frequently check back to this page for any changes to stay informed about how we share and protect personal information we collect.

Acceptance of these Terms

Arms of Mercy has the discretion to update this privacy policy at any time. When we do, we will post a notification on the blog of our Site. We encourage Users to frequently check this page for any changes to stay informed about how we are helping to protect the personal information we collect. You acknowledge and agree that it is your responsibility to review this privacy policy periodically and become aware of modifications.

Contacting us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, the practices of this Site, or your dealings with this Site, please contact us.

This document was last updated on 28 July 2022.