Privacy policy

This website is operated by Empire Invest Store.

• Website: empireinvest.online/store
• Email: support@empireinvest.online
• Phone: 0789172036
• Business address: Old Pretoria Rd, Halfway House Estate, Midrand, 1685
• Information Officer: Customer Support Team
• Information Officer email: support@empireinvest.online

We may collect the following types of personal information:

This may include:

• Full name.
• Email address.
• Phone number.
• Billing address.
• Delivery address.
• Order details.
• Payment-related information.
• Account login details, where applicable.
• Messages, complaints, refund requests, or customer support queries.
• Product reviews, comments, or feedback.
• Marketing preferences.

Payments may be processed through secure third-party payment providers.

We do not intentionally store your full card number, CVV, or full banking credentials on our own systems unless expressly stated. Your payment provider may process payment information according to its own privacy and security policies.

When you use our website, we may automatically collect:

• IP address.
• Device type.
• Browser type.
• Operating system.
• Pages visited.
• Time and date of visit.
• Referring website.
• Approximate location based on IP address.
• Cookies and similar tracking information.
• Checkout and cart activity.

We may receive information from:

• Payment processors.
• Courier or delivery partners.
• Fraud prevention tools.
• Analytics providers.
• Advertising platforms.
• Ecommerce plugins or website service providers.

We collect and use personal information for lawful business purposes, including to:

• Process and deliver orders.
• Confirm payment.
• Communicate with you about your order.
• Provide customer support.
• Handle returns, refunds, cancellations, and exchanges.
• Prevent fraud, abuse, and unauthorised transactions.
• Improve our website, products, and services.
• Send marketing communications where allowed.
• Personalise your shopping experience.
• Keep records for tax, legal, accounting, and compliance purposes.
• Respond to complaints, disputes, chargebacks, or legal requests.
• Comply with South African law.

We process personal information only where we have a lawful reason to do so.

This may include:

• You gave us consent.
• Processing is necessary to fulfil your order or provide services.
• Processing is necessary to comply with a legal obligation.
• Processing protects our legitimate business interests.
• Processing is necessary to detect or prevent fraud.
• Processing is necessary to respond to your request or enquiry.

POPIA sets minimum requirements and conditions for lawful processing of personal information in South Africa.

Our website may use cookies, pixels, analytics tools, and similar technologies.

These may be used to:

• Keep items in your cart.
• Remember your preferences.
• Improve website performance.
• Understand how visitors use the website.
• Support checkout functionality.
• Measure advertising performance.
• Show relevant promotions or retargeting ads.

You can disable cookies in your browser settings, but some parts of the website may not work properly.

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

If you subscribe to our marketing emails, SMS messages, WhatsApp updates, or promotional communications, we may send you:

• Product updates.
• Discounts and promotions.
• Store news.
• Abandoned cart reminders.
• Special offers.

You may unsubscribe at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in our emails or contacting us at support@empireinvest.online.

We will not send direct marketing where we are not legally allowed to do so.

We may share your personal information with trusted third parties where necessary to operate our store and provide services to you.

These may include:

• Payment processors.
• Courier and delivery companies.
• Warehousing or dropshipping suppliers.
• Website hosting providers.
• Ecommerce platform providers.
• Email and SMS service providers.
• Analytics and advertising platforms.
• Fraud prevention services.
• Accountants, auditors, legal advisers, or compliance professionals.
• Regulators, courts, law enforcement, or government authorities where required by law.

We require service providers to process personal information only for authorised purposes and to protect it appropriately.

Empire Invest Store may use third-party suppliers, fulfilment partners, warehouses, or dropshipping providers to process and deliver orders.

This may require us to share limited customer information, such as:

• Name.
• Delivery address.
• Phone number.
• Email address.
• Ordered products.
• Delivery instructions.

Some suppliers or fulfilment partners may be located outside South Africa. Where personal information is transferred outside South Africa, we will take reasonable steps to ensure that the recipient protects the information in a way that is consistent with POPIA or otherwise legally permitted.

We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal information against:

• Loss.
• Theft.
• Unauthorised access.
• Unauthorised disclosure.
• Alteration.
• Destruction.
• Misuse.

These measures may include:

• Secure payment processing.
• Password protection.
• Access controls.
• Secure hosting.
• SSL/HTTPS encryption.
• Limited access to customer information.
• Regular review of security practices.

No website or electronic storage system is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security. However, we take reasonable steps to protect your personal information.

We keep personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this policy, unless a longer period is required or allowed by law.

We may keep information for:

• Order fulfilment.
• Customer support.
• Returns and refunds.
• Legal compliance.
• Tax and accounting records.
• Fraud prevention.
• Dispute resolution.
• Warranty or product support.

When personal information is no longer needed, we will securely delete, destroy, or anonymise it where reasonably possible.

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 inaccurate or outdated information.
• Ask us to delete personal information where legally allowed.
• Object to certain processing.
• Withdraw consent where processing is based on consent.
• Opt out of direct marketing.
• Complain to the Information Regulator.

To exercise your rights, contact us at support@empireinvest.online.

We may need to verify your identity before processing your request.

Our website is not intended for children under the age of 18 without the involvement of a parent or legal guardian.

We do not knowingly collect personal information from children without appropriate consent. If you believe that a child has provided us with personal information without proper consent, please contact us so we can take appropriate action.

Our website may contain links to third-party websites, payment gateways, courier tracking pages, supplier pages, plugins, or social media platforms.

We are not responsible for the privacy practices, security, content, or policies of third-party websites. You should read their privacy policies before providing personal information to them.

If we become aware of a security breach that affects your personal information, we will take reasonable steps to investigate and respond.

Where required by law, we will notify affected users and/or the Information Regulator.

If you believe that we have processed your personal information unlawfully or unfairly, please contact us first so we can try to resolve the issue.

Email: support@empireinvest.online

You may also lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator of South Africa, which monitors and enforces compliance with POPIA.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time.

The latest version will be posted on this page with the updated date. Continued use of our website after changes are posted means you accept the updated Privacy Policy.