PayO Privacy Policy

1. INTRODUCTION

PayO SA (Pty) Ltd trading as PayO, registration number 2018/387334/07 (“PayO“, “we”, “us” or “our”) is committed to ensuring the protection of the privacy of all visitors (“Visitors”) to our website and any related Mobi-sites accessible at www.payo.co.za, (the “Website”), payment platform (“Platform”) and mobile application (“App”), as well as all individual or Company (“Customers”) who have subscribed to any of the services we offer (“Services”), whether they be ‘PayO payment platform’ users (“Users”) or payment receivers (“Merchants”).

If you have questions or complaints regarding our privacy policy or practices, please contact us by email at support@payo.co.za. This privacy policy (“this Policy”) describes the ways in which we collect, store, use and protect the personal information of our Visitors and Customers. Throughout this Policy, we use the term “personal information” to describe information that can be associated with a specific person and can be used to identify that person. We do not consider personal information to include information that has been made anonymous so that it does not identify a specific person.

It is important that you read this Policy with our Website Terms and any additional terms and conditions and policies incorporated in this Policy by reference. Each User and Merchant needs to accept all the provisions in this Policy when he/she/it signs up for any of our Services. If you do not agree with anything in this Policy, then you may not register and/or use any of the Services.

By accepting this Policy, accessing our website or using our Services, you are regarded as having read and agreed with this Policy.

2. CHANGES TO PRIVACY POLICY

We may amend this Policy at any time by posting a revised version on our website. The revised version will apply to Visitors with effect from the time we post it.

  1. we will provide Customers with at least 30 days’ prior notice of any such revision by posting notice of the change in the “Policy Updates” page of the Website, the revision will then apply to Customers with effect from the date indicated in such notice, provided that if a Customer is not happy with the revisions made, he/she/it shall be entitled to terminate the Services subscribed for;
  2. any revisions so made during the fixed initial period of any Service subscribed for by a Customer (if applicable) will only apply to such Customer after the expiry of such initial period.

3. GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT ANYONE

1. Types of Information we collect
As a Visitor, User or Merchant, you agree that we may electronically collect, store and use the following of your information for the purposes:

1.1. internet usage information, including your Internet Protocol address (“IP Address”), browsing habits, click patterns, unique user ID, version of software installed, system type, screen resolutions, colour capabilities, plug-ins, language settings, cookie preferences, search engine keywords, JavaScript enablement, the content and pages that you access on the Website, App or Platform, and the dates and times that you visit the Website, App or Platform, paths taken, and time spent on sites and pages within the Website, App or Platform (“Usage Details”); and

1.2. additional information you may provide on a voluntary basis, such as demographic information or information related to your favourite social networking site (e.g. the site name, address and description), or information relating to your participation in competitions, promotions, surveys, and/or additional services (“Optional Details”).

2. How we collect such information

1) Voluntarily provided by you: Optional Details may be submitted by you to us if you decide to upload or download certain content (or products) from the Website, App or Platform, enter competitions, take advantage of promotions, respond to surveys, register and subscribe for certain additional services, or otherwise use the optional features and functionality of the Website, App or Platform.

2) Automatically gathered via various technologies:

1) “Cookies” Information: When you access the Website, App or Platform, we may send
one or more cookies (small text files containing a string of alphanumeric characters) to your computer to collect certain Usage Details. PayO may use both session cookies (which disappears after you close your browser) and persistent cookies (which remain after you close your browser which can be removed manually) and may be used by your browser on subsequent visits to the Website, App and Platform. Please note that the use of cookies is standard on the internet and many major websites use them. Please review your web browser’s “Help” file to learn more about modifying your cookie settings.

2) Other tracking technology: When you access the Website, App or Platform or open one of our HTML emails, certain Usage Details may be automatically collected and recorded by us from your system by using different types of tracking technology.

3) Web Beacons: Our Website may contain electronic image requests (called a “single-pixel gif” or “web beacon” request) that allow us to count page views and to access cookies. Any electronic image viewed as part of a web page (including an ad banner) can act as a web beacon. Web beacons are typically 1-by-1 pixel files (so small that you would likely not realize that they are there), but their presence can usually be seen within a browser by clicking on “View” and then on “Source.” We may also include web beacons in HTML- formatted newsletters that we send to opt-in subscribers in order to count how many newsletters have been read. PayO web beacons do not collect, gather, monitor or share any personally identifiable information about our customers, they are just the technique we use to compile anonymous information about the Website and Service usage.

3) The purpose for which we collect this information

1. We may use any Optional Details provided by you for such purposes as indicated to you at the time you agree to provide such Optional Details.

2. We may use your Usage Details to:

1. automatically provide you with the latest version of the PayO application on your system;

2. remember your information so that you will not have to re-enter it during your visit or the next time you access the Website, App or Platform;

3. monitor aggregate Website usage metrics such as total number of visitors and pages accessed; and

4. track your entries, submissions, and status in any promotions or other activities in connection with your usage of the Website, App or Platform.

5. Please Note: Some of our business partners (e.g. advertisers or platform providers) use their own cookies and/or widgets on our Website and PayO has no access to or control over such cookies or widgets. (Widgets are interactive mini-programs that run on our website to provide specific services from another company (e.g. displaying the news, opinions, music, etc) and these widgets may collect certain of your personal information (e.g. your email address). Cookies may also be set by the widget to enable it to function properly.) Information collected by any such cookie or widget is governed by the privacy policy of the company that created it, and not by PayO. This Policy covers the use of cookies by PayO only and does not cover the use of cookies or widgets by any third-party advertisers or partners on the Website.

3. We use information from our affiliates to supplement information you have provided to us, provide joint content and services like registration, transactions and customer support, to help detect and prevent potentially illegal acts and violations of our policies, and to guide decisions about their products, services and communications.

4. INFORMATION ABOUT CONSUMER PAYO USERS

1. Types of information we collect about Users
If you are an User, you agree that we may also electronically collect, store and use the following of your information:

  • name and surname, identity number and/or passport number, gender, country of residence, and nationality (“Personal Details”);
  • e-mail address, mobile number, and credit card billing address (“Contact Details”);
  • the credit card number, cardholder name and expiration date you submit to PayO in respect
    of your credit card(s), in accordance with the User Agreement (“Card Details”);

2. How we collect information about Users
PayO collects the aforesaid information from you in the following manner:

1. User-provided Information: Your Personal Details, Contact Details and Card Details will provide by you directly to us during your registration as an User and/or thereafter by your actively updating or supplementing such details in the PayO Consumer mPAY Application.

2. Merchant-provided information: During your registration as a User, we may collect from the person you wish to pay via the internet using the Services (such person hereinafter referred to as a “Merchant”), such of your Personal Details, Contact Details and/or Card Details as you may have already submitted to such Merchant, without you having to re-enter such information. However, prior to doing so, we shall notify you thereof and request your consent thereto.

3. The purposes for which PayO collects the information
PayO uses the information that Users provide (or that we collect) to operate, maintain, enhance, and provide all of the features of the Services, and as may be necessary to comply legally as a payment service provider. More specifically:

  1. We use your Card Details in order to provide the Services (including the verification thereof when you transact with Merchants) and, should fees be charged for some of the Services and you have selected a credit card as your means of payment therefor, to debit such credit card for such fees owed by you.
  2. We use your Personal Details to greet you when you access your User Account, to manage and administer your use of the Services and fulfil our contractual obligations, including by verifying your identity when you transact with a Merchant. We may also share your Personal Details with the platform provider via which you agreed to sign up for a PayO App even if such sign up occurred on our website.
  3. We use your Contact Details to verify your identity and to inform you of facts relating to your use of the Services (e.g. notifications regarding major updates or content you have posted or downloaded from the Website or Platform, customer service notifications, and to address copyright infringement or defamation issues) as well as to inform you, subject to obtaining your prior consent, of competitions, promotions and special offers from us and/or our partners and/or affiliates.

5. INFORMATION ABOUT MERCHANTS

1. Types of information we collect about Merchants
If you are a Merchant, you also agree that we may electronically collect, store and use the following of your information:

1. If you are an individual, your full name/s, birth date, identity number and/or passport number, gender, country of residence, and nationality (“Personal Details”);

2. If you are a legal entity, your full name, registration number, country of incorporation (“Corporate Details”), and the Personal Details of all your directors and/or office bearers;

3. e-mail address, mobile number, and such other contact details as provided in the Merchant Application Form (“Contact Details”);

4. your bank account details (“Bank Account Details”).

2. How we collect information about Merchants
You provide the aforesaid information directly to PayO in the Application Form you submit to PayO during your registration as a Merchant and thereafter should you actively update or supplement such details in your Merchant Account.
3. The purposes for which PayO collects the information
PayO uses the information that Merchants provide to operate, maintain, enhance, and provide all of the features and Services provided to Merchants and as may be necessary to comply legally as a payment service provider. More specifically:

  1. We use your Banking Details and Corporate Details (or Personal Details, as the case may be) in order to provide the Services and fulfil our contractual obligations, including by verifying your identity and your bank account information when transaction with a User, the payment to you of funds due to you, or debiting of fees due by you.
  2. We use your Contact Details to verify your identity and to inform you of facts relating to your use of the Services (e.g. notifications regarding scheduled system maintenance or downtime,
    major updates, customer service notifications, and to address copyright infringement or defamation issues) as well as to inform you, subject to obtaining your prior consent, of competitions, promotions and special offers form us and/or our partners and/or affiliates.

6. HOW WE PROTECT AND STORE PERSONAL INFORMATION

  1. We store and process the personal information of our Users, Merchants and Visitors on our computers in South Africa, and we protect it by maintaining physical, electronic and procedural safeguards in compliance with applicable Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS). We use computer safeguards such as firewalls and data encryption, we enforce physical access controls to our buildings and files, and we authorize access to personal information only for those employees who require it to fulfill their job responsibilities.
  2. You should not divulge your account password to anyone. PayO will never ask you for your password in an unsolicited telephone call or e-mail. YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR MAINTAINING THE SECRECY OF YOUR UNIQUE PASSWORD AND ACCOUNT INFORMATION AT ALL TIMES.
  3. If you are a legal entity and not an individual, we will liaise only with your named contact or alternative contact provided by your named contact. It is your responsibility to let us know of any changes to your named contact.

7. HOW WE SHARE PERSONAL INFORMATION WITH OTHERS

1. We may share your personal information with:

  1. PayO Merchants, as described in clause 7 below, if you are a User;
  2. the persons making payment to you, if you are a Merchant;
  3. service providers under contract who help with parts of our business operations (fraud
    prevention, bill collection, marketing, technology services). Our contracts dictate that these service providers only use your information in connection with the services they perform for us and not for their own benefit;
  4. financial institutions that we partner with to jointly create and offer products and services. These financial institutions may only use this information to market PayO-related products, unless you have given consent for other uses;
  5. credit bureaus to report account information, as permitted by law;
  6. banking partners as required by credit card association rules for inclusion on their list of
    terminated merchants (in the event that you utilise the Services to receive payments and
    you meet their criteria);
  7. companies that we plan to merge with or be acquired by. (Should such a combination occur,
    we will require that the new combined entity follow this Policy with respect to your personal information. If your personal information could be used contrary to this Policy, you will receive prior notice);
  8. law enforcement, government officials, fraud detection agencies or other third parties when –

    9. 8.1. we are compelled to do so by a subpoena, court order or similar legal procedure;
    8.2. we need to do so to comply with any law; and/or
    8.3. we believe in good faith that the disclosure of personal information is necessary to
    prevent physical harm or financial loss, to report suspected illegal activity, or to investigate violations of our User Agreement (if you are a User), our Website Terms, or our General Terms;

  9. other third parties, with your consent or direction to do so;
    may share your personal information with:

2. PayO will not sell or rent any of your personal information to third parties for their marketing purposes and only shares your personal information with third parties as described in this Policy. Note however that if you open a PayO Account directly on a third-party website or application, any information that you enter on that website or application (and not directly on our website) will be shared with the owner of the third-party website or application.
3. PayO may also or alternatively store your personal information on and transfer your personal information to locations outside of South Africa, for example in Ireland or Turkey. If the location is located in a jurisdiction that does not have substantially similar laws which provide for the protection of personal information, you consent to us transferring and storing your personal information in such jurisdiction provided that we will take the necessary steps to ensure that your personal information is adequately protected in that jurisdiction.

8. HOW TO ACCESS, CHANGE OR DELETE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

1. Merchants can review any of their personal information at any time by signing in to the PayO back office.
2. Deleting your information:

1. Merchant account: You may request that your account is deactivated by emailing us on support@payo.co.za.

2. Please note: Even after you have removed the App or requested that we deactivate your account, copies of that information may remain viewable elsewhere, to the extent it has been shared with others, it was otherwise distributed pursuant to User’s privacy settings, or it was copied or stored by other users, our merchants, and partners.
Certain information may be retained for legal purposes and will only be held for so long as required by applicable law.

9. NON-PERSONAL INFORMATION

Notwithstanding anything contained in this Policy regarding your information, the following information is not regarded as personal information for purposes of this Policy:

  1. Permanently de-identified information that does not relate and/or cannot be traced back to you specifically. We may compile, use, share and otherwise process such information as we deem fit.
  2. Non-personal statistical information collected and compiled by us. We own and retain all rights in such information.
  3. Information that you have provided voluntarily in an open, public environment or forum including (without limitation) any blog, chat room, albums, community, classifieds or discussion board. Because the information has been disclosed in a public forum, it is no longer confidential and does not constitute personal information subject to protection under this Policy. Since such public environments are accessible by third parties, it is possible that third parties may collect and collate and use such information for their own purposes and you should accordingly be careful when deciding to share any of your personal information in such public environments.

10. YOUR CONSENT TO THE PROCESSING OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

By accepting this Policy, you consent to our collection, storage, processing, and disclosure of your personal information as described in this Policy, for so long as you are a registered Customer of our Services. Should you terminate your registration with us and close your Account, you consent to our retention of the information we have already collected from you for record-keeping purposes only in accordance with applicable law.

11. HOW YOU CAN CONTACT US ABOUT PRIVACY-RELATED QUESTIONS

If you have questions or concerns regarding this Policy, you should contact us by using the contact us link in any of the PayO website or via email at support@payo.co.za.