Privacy Policy

Last updated 18 May 2026

1. Who We Are

This Privacy Policy is issued by Bataviya Traders CC T/A Al-cell (registration number 2002/070199/023), trading from 76 Bok Street, Polokwane, 0700 ("Alcell", "we", "our", or "us"). It explains how we collect, use, store, share, and protect your personal information when you visit alcell.co.za, place an order, or otherwise interact with our business.

We are committed to handling your personal information in accordance with the Protection of Personal Information Act, 4 of 2013 ("POPIA"), the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act, 25 of 2002 ("ECTA"), and the Consumer Protection Act, 68 of 2008 ("CPA").

2. Information We Collect

We collect personal information that you voluntarily provide, that is generated when you use our website, or that we receive from third parties involved in fulfilling your order. This includes:

  • Account & identity information: first and last name, ID or passport number (only where legally required), date of birth.
  • Contact information: email address, telephone or mobile number, physical and delivery addresses.
  • Order information: products you purchase, order history, invoices, returns, and warranty claims.
  • Payment information: processed by our payment provider (Payfast) — we do not store full card details on our servers.
  • Technical information: IP address, browser type and version, device type, operating system, time zone, and pages visited.
  • Marketing preferences: your consent (or withdrawal of consent) to receive newsletters, SMS, and promotional messages.
  • Communications: emails, WhatsApp messages, support tickets, and call records when you contact our customer care team.

You may browse our website without providing personal information, but you will need to provide certain details to register an account, place an order, or contact our support team.

3. How We Use Your Information

We process your personal information only for lawful purposes, including:

  • Creating and managing your customer account.
  • Processing and fulfilling your orders, including arranging delivery and handling returns, refunds, and warranty claims.
  • Verifying your identity and validating payment details to prevent fraud.
  • Sending order confirmations, shipping updates, and other transactional communications.
  • Providing customer support and responding to your enquiries.
  • Sending marketing communications, where you have given consent, including newsletters and promotional offers.
  • Improving our website, products, and services through analytics and customer feedback.
  • Complying with legal, tax, accounting, and regulatory obligations.
  • Detecting and preventing fraud, abuse, or other unlawful activity.

4. Lawful Basis for Processing

We rely on one or more of the following lawful bases to process your personal information under POPIA:

  • Performance of a contract — to fulfil orders you have placed with us.
  • Compliance with law — to meet our tax, accounting, and regulatory obligations.
  • Legitimate interests — to operate, protect, and improve our business, provided your rights do not override these interests.
  • Consent — for marketing communications and for any non-essential cookies.

5. Who We Share Your Information With

We do not sell your personal information. We share it only with third parties who help us run our business and only to the extent necessary to do so:

  • Payment providers: Payfast and other processors we may enable, who handle card transactions, EFT, and similar payment methods.
  • Couriers and logistics partners: to deliver your order to the address you provide.
  • Third-party sellers: where a product is supplied by a third party listed on our website, your order details are shared with them so they can fulfil the order.
  • Service providers: hosting, email, SMS, analytics, customer support, and other software vendors that power our website and store operations.
  • Professional advisors: accountants, auditors, and lawyers, where reasonably required.
  • Government and regulatory bodies: where we are required to disclose information by law.
  • Acquirers or successors: in the event we sell or transfer any part of our business.

We require all third parties to handle your personal information in line with POPIA and our own data protection standards.

6. Cross-Border Transfers

Some of our service providers may store or process personal information outside South Africa. Where we transfer your information internationally, we ensure that the recipient is subject to laws, binding rules, or contractual obligations that provide an adequate level of protection comparable to POPIA.

7. Cookies and Similar Technologies

We use cookies and similar technologies to make our website work, remember your preferences, keep your cart and account session active, measure traffic and performance, and (with your consent) deliver relevant marketing.

The categories of cookies we use are:

  • Strictly necessary cookies — required for the website to function (e.g. cart, checkout, login session). These cannot be switched off.
  • Performance and analytics cookies — help us understand how visitors use the site so we can improve it.
  • Functional cookies — remember your preferences and personalise your experience.
  • Marketing cookies — used (with consent) to show relevant advertising on and off our website.

You can control cookies through your browser settings. Disabling cookies may affect parts of our website that depend on them.

8. Marketing Communications

When you subscribe to our newsletter, opt in at checkout, or provide your phone number when creating an account, you consent to receiving marketing emails and SMS messages from Alcell about new products, promotions, and store news.

You can opt out at any time by clicking the "unsubscribe" link in any marketing email, replying STOP to a marketing SMS, or contacting us at info@alcell.co.za. Opting out does not affect transactional communications related to your orders.

9. How We Protect Your Information

We use appropriate, reasonable technical and organisational measures to safeguard your personal information against loss, damage, unauthorised access, or unlawful processing. These include:

  • HTTPS / TLS encryption across our website and checkout.
  • Payment processing through Payfast, which uses Extended Validation SSL with 256-bit encryption and 3D Secure.
  • Access controls and authentication for staff and contractors who handle personal information.
  • Vetted service providers with their own security commitments.
  • Periodic review of our security practices.

You also have a role to play: please keep your account login details confidential and notify us immediately at info@alcell.co.za if you suspect any unauthorised use of your account.

10. How Long We Keep Your Information

We keep your personal information only for as long as we need it for the purpose it was collected, or as required by law. As a general rule:

  • Order and transaction records are kept for at least 5 years to comply with tax and accounting law.
  • Account information is kept while your account is active and for a reasonable period thereafter.
  • Customer support records are kept for as long as needed to handle the matter and any related warranty period.
  • Marketing data is kept until you withdraw consent or opt out.

Once retention periods expire, we securely delete or anonymise the information.

11. Your Rights Under POPIA

Subject to certain limits in law, you have the right to:

  • Access the personal information we hold about you.
  • Correct or update information that is inaccurate or out of date.
  • Delete information we no longer have a lawful basis to keep.
  • Object to direct marketing, or withdraw your consent to it.
  • Object to processing that is based on our legitimate interests, on reasonable grounds.
  • Lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator (see section 14).

To exercise any of these rights, please email info@alcell.co.za. We may need to verify your identity before acting on the request.

12. Children

Our website and services are not intended for children under 18. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 18 without verifiable parental or guardian consent. If you believe we may have collected information from a child, please contact us and we will take appropriate steps to delete it.

13. Links to Third-Party Websites

Our website may contain links to websites operated by third parties. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of those websites. We recommend you review the privacy policy of any third-party site before sharing personal information with it.

14. Contact Us & Information Regulator

For any questions about this Privacy Policy, to exercise your POPIA rights, or to report a privacy concern, please contact:

Bataviya Traders CC T/A Al-cell
Email: info@alcell.co.za
Phone: 015 297 8666
Address: 76 Bok Street, Polokwane, 0700, South Africa
Postal: P.O Box 4327, Polokwane, 0699

If you are not satisfied with our response, you may lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator of South Africa:

Information Regulator (South Africa)
Website: inforegulator.org.za
Email: POPIAComplaints@inforegulator.org.za

15. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, our services, or applicable law. The updated version will be posted on this page with a revised "Last updated" date. Material changes will, where appropriate, be communicated to you directly.

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