Privacy Policy (POPIA)

1. Scope

This Privacy Policy explains how we process personal information under the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (POPIA), the Consumer Protection Act (CPA), and the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act (ECTA).

2. What We Process

2.1. Information you provide: questionnaire responses (personality traits, preferences, lifestyle choices, partner preferences including race and gender preferences), city and province.

2.2. Payment information: handled by Paystack; we receive confirmation/transaction references only.

2.3. Technical/session data: device/browser data and browser session storage entries to operate the questionnaire; temporary Redis keys for payment verification.

2.4. We do not create accounts or permanently store questionnaire responses or generated profiles.

3. Lawful Basis and Purpose Specification

3.1. We process personal information with your informed consent for the specific purpose of generating your AI-based partner profile and delivering premium features.

3.2. Where questionnaire inputs include special personal information (e.g., race/gender preferences), you provide explicit consent for processing solely to generate your requested outputs.

3.3. We process minimal identifiers (transaction reference) for reconciliation/records required by law.

4. No Permanent Retention; Retention Limitation

4.1. Questionnaire responses and AI outputs are processed ephemerally and are not permanently stored on our servers.

4.2. We retain payment records required for financial/legal compliance.

4.3. You are responsible for saving your results; we cannot restore them later.

5. Recipients and Operators (Processors)

We use carefully selected service providers acting as operators under POPIA:

• Paystack – payment processing (card/bank data collected by Paystack; we never see card numbers).
• OpenAI – text and image generation from your inputs to create outputs.
• Vercel – hosting infrastructure for the website.

We ensure appropriate contractual safeguards with these parties.

6. Cross-Border Transfers

Your information may be processed on servers located outside South Africa (e.g., by OpenAI, Resend, Vercel). By using the Services, you consent to cross-border transfers for the limited purpose of providing the Services. We take reasonable steps to ensure operators apply protections substantially similar to POPIA.

7. Security Safeguards

We apply appropriate, reasonable technical and organisational measures, including HTTPS/TLS encryption in transit, principle of data minimisation/no-retention, access controls, and limited-duration Redis tokens. Payments are handled by PCI-DSS-compliant Paystack.

8. Children

The Services are intended for individuals 18+. We do not knowingly process children's information.

9. Your POPIA Rights

Subject to limitations in law, you may:

• request access to or correction of personal information you provided;
• object to processing and/or withdraw consent (noting this may prevent service delivery);
• request deletion/erasure of personal information we may still hold, subject to legal retention.

Contact support@partnerfinder.co.za. You may also escalate privacy disputes to disputes@partnerfinder.co.za. You may lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator (South Africa).

10. Cookies and Tracking

We rely primarily on browser session storage to operate the questionnaire. We do not use marketing cookies. If we introduce analytics, we will update this Policy and our consent banner.

11. Communications

We do not send marketing communications. All interactions are through the website.

12. Changes

We may update this Policy. Material changes will be noted by updating the effective date.

13. Contact

Privacy queries: support@partnerfinder.co.za.

Need help? Contact us at support@partnerfinder.co.za