Privacy policy (POPIA)

1. Who is responsible

PhotoGecko (Pty) Ltd., based in Cape Town, South Africa, is responsible for personal information processed through the marketplace where it determines why and how that information is used. Photographers may also be independently responsible for the personal information in photographs they capture and upload. Privacy questions and requests may be sent to privacy@photogecko.co.za.

2. Information we collect

• Account and contact details, including name, email address, mobile number and sign-in records.
• Order details, cart contents, purchased licences, delivery history, refund requests and customer-support messages.
• Seller details, including studio name, profile, contact details, identity or business information where required, event records, tax-related records and bank-account details needed for payouts.
• Photographs, previews, event information, race numbers and other labels supplied by photographers. A photograph may contain the personal information of an identifiable person, including a child.
• Technical and usage information such as device, browser, IP address, security logs, pages viewed, referring page and essential cookie or local-storage identifiers.
• Payment status, provider reference and limited transaction details. PhotoGecko does not need to store a buyer’s full card number when payment is handled by an authorised payment provider.

3. Why we use information

• To create accounts, authenticate users and keep the service secure.
• To display and search events and photographs, process orders, deliver files, support re-downloads and respond to enquiries.
• To onboard photographers, calculate PhotoGecko’s commission, maintain seller ledgers, prevent duplicate payouts and complete each 25-day payout cycle.
• To prevent fraud and abuse, enforce our terms, investigate rights complaints and comply with accounting, tax, consumer and other legal duties.
• To improve performance and understand aggregate marketplace use. Direct marketing is sent only where legally permitted, and recipients can opt out.

4. Our grounds for processing

Depending on the circumstances, we process information to perform a contract with you, comply with law, protect legitimate interests such as marketplace security and fraud prevention, or act with consent. Where we rely on consent, it may be withdrawn, but withdrawal does not make earlier lawful processing unlawful.

If required information is not supplied, we may be unable to create an account, complete a purchase, investigate a request or pay a photographer.

5. Photographs, identifiable people and children

Action photographs may identify participants and spectators who did not create an account. Photographers must have a lawful basis and any permission required to capture, upload and sell those images. PhotoGecko uses them to operate searchable event galleries and fulfil purchases, and may restrict a gallery to protect participants.

We treat requests involving children with particular care. A parent, guardian or other competent person may ask us to hide or remove an image by emailing privacy@photogecko.co.za with the photo link or number and enough information to verify the request. We may restrict access while reviewing it. Images of children will not be reused in PhotoGecko advertising without appropriate permission.

6. Who receives information

We share only what is reasonably needed with service providers that help us operate hosting, storage, email, security, analytics, customer support, payment processing and bank payouts. A photographer receives the order information needed to understand a sale, but not a buyer’s full payment-card details.

We may disclose information to professional advisers, regulators, law-enforcement agencies, courts, a purchaser of the business or another person where required or permitted by law. We do not sell personal information.

7. International processing

Some service providers may process information outside South Africa. Where this occurs, we use providers and arrangements designed to provide an adequate level of protection, contractual safeguards or another lawful basis required by POPIA section 72.

8. Retention

We retain information only as long as reasonably needed for the purposes described here. Order, payment, payout, tax and dispute records may be kept for the period required by law. Account and support records are kept while the account is active and for a reasonable period afterwards. Security logs are kept for a limited period. Content may remain in backups for a short, controlled period after deletion.

A photographer’s removal of a public listing does not require us to erase transaction records or a copy needed to honour a completed buyer licence, resolve a dispute or meet a legal duty.

9. Security

We use reasonable technical and organisational safeguards appropriate to the information we hold, including access controls, private original-file storage and secure download links. No online system is risk-free. If a security compromise creates a legal notification duty, we will notify the Information Regulator and affected people as required by POPIA.

10. Cookies and device storage

PhotoGecko uses essential cookies or similar device storage to keep users signed in, preserve a cart, prevent abuse and operate the website. Optional analytics or marketing technologies, if introduced, will be described and handled with the choices required by law. Blocking essential storage may prevent parts of the service from working.

11. Your rights

Subject to POPIA and other applicable law, you may ask whether we hold your information; request access, correction or deletion; object to certain processing; withdraw consent; or complain. Email privacy@photogecko.co.za with enough detail to identify the relevant account, order or photograph. We may verify your identity and may retain information where law permits or requires it.

You may also complain to South Africa’s Information Regulator. Its current contact channels are published at inforegulator.org.za.

12. Updates and contact

We may update this policy as the marketplace, service providers or law changes. Material changes will be communicated where reasonably possible. Privacy and Information Officer enquiries: privacy@photogecko.co.za. Customer support: support@photogecko.co.za. Operator: PhotoGecko (Pty) Ltd., Cape Town, South Africa.