This Privacy Policy explains what personal information Bholat’s IT World collects when you use this website, why we collect it, and how it is handled.
Last updated: 8 September 2026.
Information we collect
- Name, email address, phone number, billing address, and shipping address — provided when you place an order or create an account.
- Account username and a securely hashed password — if you create an account. We never store your password in plain text; it is processed using WordPress’s standard password hashing.
- Order history — the products, quantities, and totals of orders you place.
- Messages you send us — if you use our contact form, we receive the name, email address, enquiry type, and message you provide.
- Basic technical information — such as your IP address, which is included automatically in some system emails (for example, a password-reset email) and in our web server’s standard access logs.
- Payment-related information — depending on the payment method you choose at checkout, some of the above details are shared with our payment provider to process your order. See “Payment processing” below for exactly what this involves.
Why we collect it
- To process and fulfil your orders.
- To create and manage your account, if you choose to have one.
- To respond to questions you send us through the contact form.
- To keep the store secure and functioning correctly.
Cookies and sessions
This site uses cookies for core shopping functionality: keeping track of your cart contents between pages, and keeping you logged in to your account. Login cookies last two days by default, or two weeks if you select “Remember me”. If you log out, your login cookies are removed.
This site also currently sets the following additional cookies and similar browser storage, automatically, on every visit:
The first time you visit, a banner offers a real choice: Accept all, Reject non-essential, or Manage preferences. Necessary cookies (described above) are never affected by this choice. Marketing cookies are switched off by default and only activate if you choose to allow them:
- Order-source cookies (“sbjs_”) — WooCommerce’s own built-in “order attribution” feature. These record how a visitor arrived at the site (for example, via a search engine, a social media link, or a direct visit) so that we can see, in our own store reports, which channels our orders come from. WooCommerce’s own source code classifies this feature under a “marketing” cookie category, so it only runs if you have chosen to allow marketing cookies. This data stays within our own store — it is not sent to an external company.
- Meta (Facebook) Pixel (“_fbp”) and related requests. If you allow marketing cookies, this site loads Meta’s Pixel tracking code, which sets a first-party “_fbp” cookie and contacts Meta’s servers, in order to measure and improve the effectiveness of Bholat’s IT World’s advertising on Facebook and Instagram. If you have not chosen to allow marketing cookies, none of this loads and no Meta cookie is set. Meta’s own privacy practices apply to this data once it reaches Meta.
- Payflex instalment-calculator script. Covered under “Payment processing” below. This is treated as a functional/payment feature, not marketing — it is part of the product information the page itself is showing you, not advertising — so it is unaffected by your marketing-cookie choice. Our own testing found this script does not itself set any cookie or browser-storage value, though loading it does involve a request to Payflex’s own servers.
Your choice is remembered for 30 days (after which you may be asked again), and you can change it at any time using the “Cookie preferences” link in the site footer. Turning marketing cookies off there removes the Meta Pixel cookie and stops WooCommerce’s order-attribution cookies immediately, without needing to clear your browser’s cookies manually.
Payment processing
This store offers Cash on Delivery, and two independent third-party online payment providers: PayFast and Payflex. Depending on which method you choose at checkout, the information needed to process and secure that specific transaction — such as your name, contact details, billing and delivery address, order details, and the transaction amount and reference — is shared with that provider. We do not send this information to a provider you did not select.
PayFast
PayFast is an independent payment gateway (operated by Payfast, part of the Network International group) used to process card and EFT payments. If you choose PayFast, you are taken to PayFast’s own secure, hosted payment page to enter your card or banking details directly — these details go to PayFast, not to Bholat’s IT World. As a result, Bholat’s IT World does not itself receive, transmit, or store your complete card number or CVV as part of a PayFast payment.
To process and secure the transaction, we provide PayFast with the order and customer information described above. PayFast applies its own fraud-prevention and security measures, and may process or store information outside South Africa as part of its own operations (PayFast’s group operates across several countries). Use of PayFast is subject to PayFast’s own Privacy Policy.
Payflex
Payflex is an independent third-party provider of a Buy Now, Pay Later (instalment) payment option, integrated using Payflex’s own official WooCommerce plugin. If you choose Payflex at checkout, the order and customer information described above is provided to Payflex so it can process the transaction.
Payflex separately decides whether to approve you for its instalment service. According to Payflex’s own published information, this may involve a credit/affordability check and other information (which Payflex, not Bholat’s IT World, collects directly from you) and may be decided using automated means. This decision is made solely by Payflex, under its own terms — Bholat’s IT World has no role in and no visibility into that assessment, and approval is not guaranteed. Use of Payflex is subject to Payflex’s own Privacy Policy, which also states that personal information may be transferred outside South Africa.
What we store, compared to what your payment provider handles
Bholat’s IT World stores: your order (the products, quantities, and total), the customer, billing, and delivery details you provided, which payment method you selected, the transaction/order reference and payment status returned to us by that provider (for example, that a payment was completed or cancelled), and any related order notes.
Only your payment provider handles: your complete card number, CVV, online banking credentials, and — for Payflex — the further personal and financial information it collects directly from you to assess your eligibility. We do not receive or store these.
Delivery providers
Return and refund requests
If you submit a return, refund, warranty, or cancellation request, we collect the order and product you’re referring to, the type of issue, your description of it, and any photos you choose to attach as evidence. If you submit a request as a guest (without an account), we also collect the order number and email address you use to look up your order.
This information is only visible to authorised staff reviewing the request. Any internal notes staff add while reviewing a request are never shown to you — only status updates and messages specifically intended for you are visible in your account. Evidence photos are stored securely and are not publicly accessible.
If you ask us to export or delete your personal data (see “Your rights” below), any return/refund requests linked to your email address are included. For a deletion request, we remove your uploaded evidence photos and anonymise your written description, but we keep the underlying request record itself — in the same way we keep order records — since it may form part of the operational history of a real order (for example, a record of why a refund was or wasn’t issued).
Other service providers
This website’s fonts are self-hosted rather than loaded from a third-party font service, so visiting this site does not send your information to an external font provider. Our payment providers, PayFast and Payflex, are covered separately under “Payment processing” above. If you allow marketing cookies, we also use the Meta (Facebook) Pixel, described under “Cookies and sessions” above. Other than those, we do not currently use any third-party analytics, marketing, or customer-support tool that would receive your information.
Security
Passwords are never stored in plain text. Account access is protected using WordPress’s standard, unmodified authentication system.
How long we keep your information
Our store is currently configured to retain order and account information indefinitely (we have not set an automatic deletion period). This includes order-level payment information such as the payment method used and the transaction reference/status recorded against an order. You can ask us to review or delete your information at any time — see “Your rights” below.
Your rights
You can contact us at any time to ask what personal information we hold about you, to correct it, or to request that it be deleted, subject to any information we are legally required to keep (for example, for tax or accounting records) or that is held directly by a payment provider under its own policy.
Children
This store is not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children.
Contact us about this policy
If you have a question about this policy or your personal information, please contact us.
Changes to this policy
We may update this page as our store, processes, or the services we use change. We recommend checking back periodically.
Questions about your data?
Contact us any time about this policy or your personal information.