Privacy Policy

Effective Date: 2025

1. Introduction

Stitches from Africa is committed to protecting your privacy and ensuring that your personal information is collected and used properly, lawfully, and transparently in accordance with the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) and applicable South African legislation.

This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your personal information when you interact with our website: https://stitchesfromafrica.com.

2. Website Comments

When visitors leave comments on the site, we collect the data shown in the comments form, as well as the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to assist with spam detection.

An anonymized string (hash) created from your email address may be sent to the Gravatar service to check if you are using it. The Gravatar privacy policy is available at: https://automattic.com/privacy/. Once your comment is approved, your profile picture may be visible publicly in the context of your comment.

3. Cookies

Our website uses cookies to enhance the user experience, enable basic functionality, and track site performance. Cookies are small files stored on your device.

Examples include:

Remembering your login details and preferences
Retaining your shopping cart contents
Improving website analytics and user experience

You may disable cookies in your browser settings, though some features of the site may not function optimally.

4. Embedded Content from Third-Party Websites

Articles on this website may include embedded content such as videos, images, or links from other websites. These third-party websites may collect data, use cookies, embed additional tracking tools, and monitor your interaction with their content — particularly if you are logged into those platforms.

We do not control the data collection of third-party services and recommend reviewing their privacy policies separately.

5. Orders and Customer Accounts

When you place an order or register on our website, we collect and process the necessary personal information, which may include your:

Full name
Email address
Contact number
Billing and delivery address
Order history and preferences

This data is used to fulfil your order, communicate with you regarding your purchase, and support customer service or returns. We retain order information as required by law for financial and administrative purposes.

6. Payments

All online payments are securely processed via Yoco, our trusted third-party payment provider. Your credit or debit card information is encrypted and handled externally through Yoco’s secure platform.

Stitches from Africa does not store or have access to your payment card details.

Yoco’s privacy policy is available at:
https://www.yoco.com/za/legal/privacy-policy/

7. Shipping

We offer nationwide shipping within South Africa. Shipping charges and estimated delivery timeframes are displayed at checkout. Once dispatched, tracking details will be sent to the email address provided.

Customers are responsible for ensuring that the shipping address entered during checkout is accurate.

8. Returns and Exchanges

If you are not satisfied with your purchase, please notify us within 7 days of delivery. Items must be:

Returned within 14 days of receipt
In original, unused condition with packaging intact

Refunds or exchanges will be processed once the returned item is received and inspected. Return courier costs are the responsibility of the customer unless the product was delivered incorrectly or damaged.

Please note: Due to the handmade nature of our products, minor variations in colour, texture, or stitching may occur and are not considered defects.

9. Data Retention

We retain customer and order data only for as long as necessary to fulfil our obligations, including:

Order processing and delivery
Legal and tax requirements
Customer support and return policies

Registered users may view, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (excluding usernames). Administrators may also access and manage this information for operational purposes.

10. Your Rights

In accordance with POPIA, you may request to:

Access the personal data we hold about you
Correct or update your personal information
Request deletion of your personal information (subject to legal and contractual restrictions)
Withdraw consent to receiving direct marketing communications

To make a request, please contact us using the details below.

11. Data Security

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised access, loss, alteration, or disclosure. However, no method of data transmission over the internet can be guaranteed 100% secure.

12. Automated Data Checks

Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service. This helps protect our website and users from abuse and fraud.