Privacy Policy for Maubazaar

Maubazaar (“we”, “us”, or “our”) operates the Maubazaar marketplace platform (the “Platform”). We are committed to protecting your personal data and respecting your privacy in accordance with applicable data protection laws, including the Mauritius Data Protection Act 2017 (DPA 2017) and international data protection standards.

This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your personal data when you visit our website, register an account, list products or services, bid in auctions, or complete transactions.

1. Information We Collect

We collect information directly from you, automatically through your device, and from third-party payment and verification providers.

A. Information You Provide to Us

• Account Information: Name, email address, phone number, username, password, and physical address.
• Seller & Merchant Data: Business registration details (BRN), national ID number (where required for seller verification), bank account details, and payout information.
• Transaction & Listing Data: Descriptions, images, pricing, bidding history, order details, delivery addresses, and communications between buyers and sellers.
• Customer Support: Records of inquiries, messages, dispute tickets, and correspondence sent to our support team.

B. Information Collected Automatically

• Log & Device Data: IP address, browser type, operating system, device identifiers, referring URLs, and pages visited.
• Cookies & Tracking: Session cookies, authentication tokens, and analytical tracking to keep you logged in and understand site usage.

C. Information from Third Parties

• Payment Processors: When making or receiving payments (e.g., via card processors, Juice/bank transfers), we receive transaction status, transaction IDs, and confirmation. We do not store full credit/debit card numbers on our servers.

2. Legal Basis and Purpose of Processing

We process your personal data under the following legal bases:

• Performance of a Contract: To facilitate buyer-seller transactions, manage your account, process listings, process auction bids, and deliver order confirmations.
• Legal Obligations: To comply with tax, financial, and anti-fraud reporting requirements under Mauritian law.
• Legitimate Interests: To protect against fraud, enhance platform security, resolve disputes between marketplace participants, and improve platform functionality.
• Consent: For marketing communications, newsletters, or optional non-essential cookies. You can withdraw your consent at any time.

3. How We Share Your Information

Maubazaar is a multi-vendor marketplace. To enable transactions, certain information is shared as follows:

• Between Buyers and Sellers: When an order is placed or an auction is won, relevant contact and delivery information is shared between the parties to facilitate fulfilment.
• Third-Party Service Providers: Trusted partners who assist in hosting, database management, SMS/email delivery, payment processing, and analytics under strict confidentiality obligations.
• Legal and Regulatory Authorities: When required by court order, statutory regulation, or lawful investigation by law enforcement agencies in Mauritius.
• Business Transfers: In the event of a merger, acquisition, or restructuring, user data may be transferred as an asset under equivalent privacy commitments.

We do not sell or rent your personal data to third parties for independent marketing purposes.

4. Data Security

We implement technical and organizational measures designed to protect your personal data against unauthorized access, loss, destruction, or alteration:

• HTTPS / TLS encryption for data in transit.
• Hashed and salted password storage.
• Role-based access control to administrative databases.
• Regular security reviews and vulnerability patching.

While we take appropriate precautions, no internet-based transmission is 100% secure. You are responsible for keeping your login credentials confidential.

5. Data Retention

We retain personal information only for as long as necessary for the stated purpose, including statutory accounting, tax, anti-money-laundering, security, fraud-prevention, dispute, auction, order, and moderation obligations. Financial records may be retained for the period stated above (typically up to 7 years). Category-specific schedules for other restricted archive records require owner and legal approval before production release; records with no approved schedule are flagged for restricted legal review rather than used for normal activity.

When a record is no longer required under its approved schedule or a legal hold, it is scheduled for secure deletion or anonymisation. Restricted archive access is limited to authorised Maubazaar personnel with a documented fraud, security, legal, financial, auction, order, or moderation need; it is not available through normal account pages, marketplace pages, app responses, or ordinary WordPress administration.

6. Account Deletion

You can request deletion from the Android app Settings screen or through our public account-deletion resource. Both routes require the signed-in account holder to review a warning, type DELETE MY ACCOUNT, and verify a short-lived one-time code through a verified contact channel before the account is archived from active use.

• Immediately after successful verification, normal sign-in, sessions, mobile tokens, public profile access, new listings, bids, purchases, messages, profile edits, and account changes are revoked or unavailable. Active listings are closed or hidden. The deleted account’s app-only session/preferences are cleared only after the server confirms archival.
• The account is no longer used for ordinary Maubazaar activity. Public-facing identity is replaced with Deleted account where historic context must remain, and direct public profile links are removed.
• Only restricted, pseudonymised archive references may remain where justified for fraud prevention, security, legal, financial, auction, order, or moderation obligations. These records exclude plaintext passwords, active tokens, verification codes, marketing data, and unnecessary profile, address, message, or media data.
• Deletion requests are tied to the currently authenticated account; Maubazaar does not accept a client-supplied target user ID. To recover safely when you cannot access a verified channel, or to ask about a deletion request, contact privacy@maubazaar.mu.

7. Your Rights

Under the Mauritius Data Protection Act 2017, you have specific rights regarding your personal information:

• Right of Access: Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Right to Rectification: Request correction of inaccurate, incomplete, or out-of-date records.
• Right to Erasure (“Right to be Forgotten”): Request deletion of your personal data where retention is no longer legally necessary.
• Right to Restriction or Object: Object to data processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing.
• Right to Lodge a Complaint: Lodge a complaint with the Data Protection Office (DPO) of Mauritius if you believe your rights have been infringed.

8. Cookies Policy

Maubazaar uses essential cookies to manage user sessions, ensure account security, and maintain the functionality of your shopping cart/watchlist. You can control or block cookies through your browser settings; however, disabling essential cookies will impact site functionality and login sessions.

9. Updates to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy periodically to reflect changes in our operational practices or legal requirements. Material updates will be notified through an announcement on the Platform or via email before they take effect.

10. Contact Us

For questions, requests, or concerns regarding this Privacy Policy and your personal data:

• Platform Name: Maubazaar
• Email: support@maubazaar.mu
• Data Protection Inquiries: privacy@maubazaar.mu
• Address: Port Louis, Mauritius