Privacy policy

Privacy Policy — Howzit Paws

Last updated: August 30, 2026

Howzit Paws operates this store and website, including all related information, content, features, tools, products and services, in order to provide you, the customer, with a curated shopping experience (the "Services"). Howzit Paws is powered by Shopify, which enables us to provide the Services to you. This Privacy Policy describes how we collect, use, and disclose your personal information when you visit, use, or make a purchase or other transaction using the Services or otherwise communicate with us, in accordance with the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (POPIA) and other applicable South African law. If there is a conflict between our Terms of Service and this Privacy Policy, this Privacy Policy controls with respect to the collection, processing, and disclosure of your personal information.

Please read this Privacy Policy carefully. By using and accessing any of the Services, you acknowledge that you have read this Privacy Policy and understand the collection, use, and disclosure of your information as described in this Privacy Policy.

Information Officer

In accordance with POPIA, Howzit Paws has designated an Information Officer responsible for compliance with this legislation. You may contact our Information Officer directly with any questions, concerns, or requests regarding your personal information:

Howzit Paws
Email: howzitpaws@gmail.com
Address: Cape Town, Western Cape, 7500, South Africa

Personal Information We Collect or Process

When we use the term "personal information," we are referring to information that identifies or can reasonably be linked to you or another person. Personal information does not include information that is collected anonymously or that has been de-identified, so that it cannot identify or be reasonably linked to you. We may collect or process the following categories of personal information, including inferences drawn from this personal information, depending on how you interact with the Services:

  • Contact details including your name, address, billing address, shipping address, phone number, and email address.
  • Financial information including credit card, debit card, and financial account numbers, payment card information, financial account information, transaction details, form of payment, payment confirmation and other payment details.
  • Account information including your username, password, security questions, preferences and settings.
  • Transaction information including the items you view, put in your cart, add to your wishlist, or purchase, return, exchange or cancel and your past transactions.
  • Communications with us including the information you include in communications with us, for example, when sending a customer support inquiry.
  • Device information including information about your device, browser, or network connection, your IP address, and other unique identifiers.
  • Usage information including information regarding your interaction with the Services, including how and when you interact with or navigate the Services.

Personal Information Sources

We may collect personal information from the following sources:

  • Directly from you including when you create an account, visit or use the Services, communicate with us, or otherwise provide us with your personal information;
  • Automatically through the Services including from your device when you use our products or services or visit our websites, and through the use of cookies and similar technologies;
  • From our service providers including when we engage them to enable certain technology and when they collect or process your personal information on our behalf;
  • From our partners or other third parties.

How We Use Your Personal Information

Depending on how you interact with us or which of the Services you use, we may use personal information for the following purposes:

  • Provide, Tailor, and Improve the Services. We use your personal information to provide you with the Services, including to perform our contract with you, to process your payments, to fulfill your orders, to remember your preferences and items you are interested in, to send notifications to you related to your account, to process purchases, returns, exchanges or other transactions, to create, maintain and otherwise manage your account, to arrange for shipping, to facilitate any returns and exchanges, to enable you to post reviews, and to create a customized shopping experience for you, such as recommending products related to your purchases.
  • Marketing and Advertising. Where you have given us your prior, explicit consent (such as by signing up to our "Join the Pack" mailing list), we use your personal information to send marketing, promotional, and discount communications by email, and to show you online advertisements for products on the Services or other websites, including based on items you previously have purchased or added to your cart. We will not send you direct marketing communications unless you have opted in to receive them. You may withdraw this consent at any time (see "Managing Communication Preferences" below).
  • Security and Fraud Prevention. We use your personal information to authenticate your account, to provide a secure payment and shopping experience, detect, investigate or take action regarding possible fraudulent, illegal, unsafe, or malicious activity, and to secure our services.
  • Communicating with You. We use your personal information to provide you with customer support and to maintain our business relationship with you.
  • Legal Reasons. We use your personal information to comply with applicable South African law or respond to valid legal process, including requests from law enforcement or government agencies.

How We Disclose Personal Information

In certain circumstances, we may disclose your personal information to third parties for legitimate purposes subject to this Privacy Policy, including:

  • With Shopify, vendors and other third parties who perform services on our behalf (e.g. IT management, payment processing, data analytics, customer support, cloud storage, fulfillment and shipping).
  • With business and marketing partners to provide marketing services and advertise to you, where you have provided the necessary consent.
  • When you direct, request us or otherwise consent to our disclosure of certain information to third parties, such as to ship you products.
  • In connection with a business transaction such as a merger, to comply with legal obligations, or to enforce our terms of service or protect our rights.

Relationship with Shopify

The Services are hosted by Shopify, which collects and processes personal information about your access to and use of the Services in order to provide and improve the Services for you. Information you submit to the Services will be transmitted to and shared with Shopify as well as third parties that may be located in countries other than South Africa, in order to provide and improve the Services for you. To learn more about how Shopify uses your personal information, you can visit the Shopify Consumer Privacy Policy.

Cross-Border Transfers of Personal Information

Your personal information may be transferred to, stored, and processed in a country outside of South Africa (for example, where Shopify's servers or our service providers are located). Where this occurs, we take reasonable steps to ensure that the recipient of your personal information is subject to a law, binding corporate rules, or a binding agreement which provides an adequate level of protection that effectively upholds principles for the reasonable processing of personal information, substantially similar to POPIA's conditions.

Third Party Websites and Links

The Services may provide links to websites or other online platforms operated by third parties. If you follow links to sites not affiliated or controlled by us, you should review their privacy and security policies and other terms and conditions. We do not guarantee and are not responsible for the privacy or security of such sites.

Children's Data

The Services are not intended to be used by children, and we do not knowingly collect personal information about children without the consent of a parent or guardian, in accordance with POPIA. If you are the parent or guardian of a child who has provided us with their personal information without your consent, please contact us using the details below to request that it be deleted.

Security and Retention of Your Information

We take reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect your personal information against loss, misuse, and unauthorized access, in line with POPIA's security safeguard requirements. However, please be aware that no security measures are perfect or impenetrable, and we cannot guarantee "perfect security." We retain your personal information only for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected, including to maintain your account, provide you with Services, comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements.

Your Rights and Choices

In accordance with POPIA, you have the following rights in relation to your personal information:

  • Right to Access. You may request access to the personal information we hold about you.
  • Right to Correction or Deletion. You may request that we correct or delete personal information we hold about you that is inaccurate, irrelevant, excessive, out of date, incomplete, or misleading, or that we obtained unlawfully.
  • Right to Object. You may object to the processing of your personal information, including for direct marketing purposes.
  • Right to Complain. You have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator (see below) if you believe we have processed your personal information unlawfully.
  • Managing Communication Preferences. You may withdraw your consent to receive marketing emails at any time by using the unsubscribe option displayed in our emails, or by contacting us directly. If you opt out, we may still send you non-promotional emails, such as those about your account or orders.

You may exercise any of these rights by contacting us using the details provided below. We may need to verify your identity before processing your request. We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of these rights.

Complaints

If you have concerns about how we process your personal information, please contact our Information Officer using the details below in the first instance. If you are not satisfied with our response, you have the right to lodge a complaint with:

The Information Regulator (South Africa)
Email: complaints.IR@justice.gov.za
Website: www.justice.gov.za/inforeg

Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time, including to reflect changes to our practices or for other operational, legal, or regulatory reasons. We will post the revised Privacy Policy on this website and update the "Last updated" date.

Contact

Should you have any questions about our privacy practices or this Privacy Policy, or if you would like to exercise any of the rights available to you, please email us at howzitpaws@gmail.com or contact us at Cape Town, Western Cape, 7500, South Africa.