Effective Date: 1 January 2025
Last Updated: 4 August 2025
At Vape Land, we are committed to protecting your privacy in accordance with the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) and other relevant South African privacy laws. This Privacy Policy outlines how we collect, process, share, and secure personal information, whether you’re shopping online, contacting us, or browsing our website at https://vapeland.africa.
1. Who We Are
Our website address is: https://vapeland.africa.
We are a South African-based electronics retailer committed to ethical data handling and privacy protection.
2. Why This Privacy Policy Is Important
This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, store, use, and share personal information in accordance with South African laws. It applies to all visitors, customers, and partners interacting with our website, communication channels, or physical store.
3. What Personal Information We Collect
We may collect the following types of personal information:
- Full name, email address, and phone number
- Physical or delivery addresses
- Identity or passport number (for verification or billing, if required)
- Payment and banking details (via secure payment providers)
- Device and browser information, IP address, and location data
- User account details and order history
- Content submitted through forms, messages, and comments
- Cookies and online identifiers for website functionality and analytics
4. How We Collect Your Personal Data
We collect your personal information in several ways:
- Directly from you when you complete forms, register an account, make a purchase, or communicate with us
- Automatically through cookies, browser analytics, and traffic monitoring tools
- From third parties, such as payment processors, marketing platforms, and service providers
5. Why We Use Your Personal Information
We use your information for the following purposes:
- To process orders, deliver products, and offer customer support
- To secure and verify online transactions
- To send service updates, promotions, and newsletters (with your consent)
- To analyze traffic and improve website performance
- To comply with POPIA and other legal obligations
- To detect and prevent fraud or suspicious activity
6. POPIA Legal Basis for Processing
We process your personal information based on:
- Your explicit consent
- Contractual obligations (e.g., order fulfillment)
- Legal requirements (e.g., tax and regulatory compliance)
- Our legitimate business interests, provided your rights are not infringed
7. Cookies and Tracking Tools
We use cookies for website functionality, user preferences, analytics, and advertising. These include:
- Login and session cookies
- Google Analytics and SEO tools
- Cookies used by comment or form submission systems
- Personalization and advertisement performance cookies
You can manage cookie settings in your browser. Disabling cookies may impact your user experience.
8. Comments
When visitors leave comments on our site:
- We collect the information shown in the comments form
- We log the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent to assist with spam detection
- An anonymized hash of your email address may be shared with Gravatar to display your profile image
- Once approved, your comment and profile image may be visible to the public
Read the Gravatar privacy policy
9. Media
If you upload images to the website, please avoid including location metadata (EXIF GPS).
Other users may download and extract this data if images are posted publicly.
10. Embedded Content from Other Websites
Articles and pages on our site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, or links).
Embedded content behaves exactly as if you visited the external website. These sites may:
- Track your interaction and browsing behavior
- Use their own cookies and analytics
- Collect data independently of us
11. Who We Share Your Data With
We do not sell personal data. We may share data only with:
- IT vendors, payment processors, courier services
- Legal or regulatory authorities when required by law
- Data security service providers
- Partners in the case of a merger or acquisition (with strict safeguards)
If you request a password reset, your IP address will be included in the reset email.
12. How Long We Retain Your Data
- Comments and metadata are retained indefinitely to allow automatic approval of future replies
- Registered user data is stored until the account is deleted or user requests erasure
- Backup and archive data may be retained for administrative or legal purposes
13. What Rights You Have Over Your Data
As a data subject under POPIA, you may:
- Request a copy of the personal data we store about you
- Ask us to correct or delete your data
- Withdraw consent for marketing or data processing
- Object to specific types of data processing
- Lodge a complaint with the South African Information Regulator
To make a data request, contact our Information Officer (see Section 14).
14. Where Your Data Is Sent
Visitor comments may be checked through automated spam detection tools.
Your data may also be processed by external services for security or performance reasons under secure protocols.
15. Data Security
We take data protection seriously and use the following safeguards:
- SSL encryption for secure data transmission
- Access control and firewall protection
- Regular software updates and malware prevention
- Secure third-party payment gateways
Please note that no data transmission is ever 100% secure. You are advised to use secure devices, passwords, and personal precautions.
16. International Data Transfers
If we transfer your data outside South Africa, we ensure that the receiving entities follow adequate data protection rules and meet POPIA standards or equivalent international frameworks.
17. Children’s Privacy & AI Use
- Our services are not intended for children under 18. We do not knowingly collect data from minors.
- We do not use artificial intelligence or automated decision-making that affects user rights without human oversight.
18. Updates to This Policy
This Privacy Policy may be updated periodically in response to legal, technical, or business changes. We recommend checking this page occasionally to stay informed.
19. Contact Information
If you have questions or wish to exercise your data rights:
Information Officer
📧 Email: [email protected]
📞 Phone: +27 68 678 9379
📬 Address: 65 Pretorius St, Volksrust, MP 2470
For formal complaints:
South African Information Regulator
📧 Email: [email protected]
🌐 Website: https://www.justice.gov.za/inforeg/
This policy is part of our commitment to transparent, ethical data practices in South Africa and beyond. By using our site, you accept this Privacy Policy and the handling of your data as described above.