Privacy Policy
Digital Cartel · Last updated: October 13, 2026
Digital Cartel ("we", "us", "our") is a business based in South Africa, owned and run by Shaun Retief. This policy explains what personal information we handle, why, and your rights. It covers:
- This website, digitalcartel.online
- The online shops we run on marketplaces such as Etsy and Shopify
- Our social media accounts
- Our Pinterest API app, Digital Cartel Shops
Each of our Shopify apps has its own policy, which applies to that app. They are listed under Our Shopify Apps below.
Summary
- We collect as little as we can, and only what we need to answer you or fill your order.
- We do not sell personal information, and we do not share it for advertising.
- This website sets no cookies and runs no analytics or tracking.
- Our Pinterest app connects only to Pinterest accounts that we own. It does not access anyone else's account.
Who Is Responsible
Digital Cartel is the responsible party under South Africa's Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) and the data controller under the EU and UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for the information described here. Shaun Retief is our Information Officer. Contact details are at the end of this policy.
This Website
You can read this website without giving us any personal information. It has no accounts and no newsletter sign-up.
- Contact form. If you send the form on our contact page, we receive your name, your email address, the topic and budget you pick, and what you write. It reaches us by email through our email delivery provider, Resend, and a copy is kept in a private file on our hosting so that no enquiry is lost. We use it only to reply to you.
- Email. If you email us, we receive your email address and whatever you write. We use it to reply and to keep a record of the conversation.
- Server logs. Like every website, our hosting provider records standard technical details of each request, such as IP address, browser type, the page requested and the time. We use these only to keep the site secure and working.
- Fonts and video. Pages load fonts from Google Fonts, and some pages embed video from YouTube's privacy-enhanced player (youtube-nocookie.com). Your browser contacts those services directly to fetch the files, so they see your IP address.
Cookies
This website sets no cookies of its own. We use no analytics, no advertising pixels and no fingerprinting, so there is no cookie banner to accept. If you play an embedded video, YouTube may store information on your device under its own policy. If we ever add analytics or cookies, we will update this policy first and ask for consent where the law requires it.
Etsy, Shopify, Pinterest and other platforms use their own cookies on their own sites. Their cookie policies apply there.
Our Online Shops
We sell digital and printed products through shops hosted on third-party platforms such as Etsy and Shopify. When you buy from one of our shops, the platform collects your details and passes us what we need to fill the order:
- Your name and email address
- Your delivery address, for printed or physical products
- What you ordered, when, and what you paid
- Any message you send us about the order
We use this to deliver your order, answer questions, handle refunds and keep the accounting records the law requires. Payment is handled by the platform or its payment provider. We never see or store your card details.
For printed products, we pass your name, delivery address and order details to the print and delivery partner that makes and ships the item, and to nobody else. We do not add you to a mailing list unless you ask us to.
Each platform is responsible for the information it collects from you directly, under its own privacy policy.
Our Social Accounts
We run accounts on social platforms such as Pinterest, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and X. If you follow, comment on or message one of our accounts, we see your public profile and what you send us, and we use it only to respond. Each platform also gives us totals, such as views and clicks, that do not identify you. The platform's own privacy policy governs what it collects.
Pinterest App: Digital Cartel Shops
Digital Cartel Shops is an app we registered with Pinterest so that our own software can work with our own Pinterest accounts through the Pinterest API. It is an internal tool. It is not offered to the public, and it is not used to sign in other Pinterest users.
What the app accesses, on our own accounts only:
- Boards. The boards on our accounts, so we can organise them and choose where a pin goes.
- Pins. The pins on our accounts, so we can create and update pins for our own products.
- Analytics. Performance figures for our own accounts and pins, such as impressions, saves and clicks. These are totals and do not identify any person.
What the app does not do:
- It does not access any Pinterest account that we do not own.
- It does not collect personal information about people who view, save or click our pins.
- It does not sell Pinterest data, and it does not share Pinterest data with any third party, advertising service or data broker.
- It does not use Pinterest data to target advertising on or off Pinterest, or to build profiles of people.
Storage. The app calls the Pinterest API when it needs information. We keep only the access credentials for our own accounts, stored securely, and performance totals for our own accounts so that we can see what is working. We handle all Pinterest data in line with Pinterest's Developer Guidelines.
How to revoke access. Access can be removed at any time by the owner of a connected account: sign in to Pinterest, open Settings, go to Security, find the list of apps connected to the account and remove Digital Cartel Shops. The app loses access straight away. You can also email us and we will disconnect the account and delete its access credentials and any stored figures within 30 days.
Why We Use Information
We rely on these legal grounds under POPIA and the GDPR:
- Contract. To deliver an order you placed and to support it.
- Legal obligation. To keep tax and accounting records.
- Legitimate interest. To answer messages, keep our website and accounts secure, and understand how our own content performs.
- Consent. For anything optional, such as a mailing list. You can withdraw consent at any time.
Who We Share Information With
We do not sell personal information. We share it only with the service providers we need to run the business, and only as far as each needs it: the shop platforms, their payment providers, print and delivery partners, our email and hosting providers, and our accountant. We will also disclose information where the law requires it.
International Transfers
We are based in South Africa, and the platforms and providers we use store information in other countries, including the United States and the European Union. Where information crosses borders, we rely on providers that offer protection for it in line with POPIA section 72 and the GDPR, such as standard contractual clauses.
How Long We Keep It
- Order records: five years, as South African tax law requires.
- Emails and messages: for as long as needed to deal with your request, and no longer than two years after the last message.
- Server logs: for the short period our hosting provider keeps them.
- Pinterest data: as described in the Pinterest section above.
Security
We keep personal information in accounts protected by strong passwords and two-step sign-in where it is available, and we limit access to the people who need it. No system is perfectly secure. If a breach affects your information, we will tell you and the regulator as the law requires.
Your Rights
Under POPIA and the GDPR you can ask us to:
- Tell you what personal information we hold about you, and give you a copy
- Correct information that is wrong or out of date
- Delete your information, where we have no legal duty to keep it
- Stop or limit how we use it, or object to our use of it
- Send your information to you or to another provider in a portable format
- Stop any direct marketing, at any time
Email us and we will answer within 30 days, free of charge. If you are unhappy with our answer, you can complain to the Information Regulator of South Africa, or to the data protection authority in your own country if you live in the EU or the UK.
Children
Our website and shops are meant for adults. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has sent us information, email us and we will delete it.
Our Shopify Apps
Each app has its own privacy policy:
Changes to This Policy
We may update this policy occasionally. Changes will be reflected on this page with an updated date.
Contact Us
For privacy questions or to use any of your rights, please contact our Information Officer:
Shaun Retief, Digital Cartel, South Africa
shaun@digitalcartel.online