Privacy Policy

1.1 Personal Information

1.1.1 When you engage our services, we may collect the following personal information: full name, business name, email address, contact number, physical or postal address, and payment details (processed securely — we do not store card numbers).

1.1.2 Additional information you voluntarily provide such as business branding materials, logos, images, and content supplied for website development purposes.

1.2 Technical & Usage Information

1.2.1 When you visit our website or interact with our services, we may collect technical data including IP address, browser type, device type, and pages visited.

1.2.2 This information is collected automatically via cookies or similar tracking technologies and is used solely to improve our service delivery.

1.3 Third-Party Platform Data

1.3.1 Where we manage services such as Google Ads (Premium Tier) on your behalf, we may access performance data and account information within those platforms as necessary to deliver the agreed service.

1.3.2 We do not collect or retain third-party platform credentials beyond what is operationally required.

2.1 Service Delivery

2.1.1 Your personal information is primarily used to deliver the services outlined in our Terms & Conditions — including website design, setup, and ongoing maintenance.

2.1.2 We use your contact details to communicate project updates, invoices, revision requests, and monthly maintenance reports.

2.1.3 Payment information is used solely for billing purposes and is processed via secure third-party payment gateways (EFT or Stripe).

2.2 Account & Platform Management

2.2.1 Where applicable, we use your information to register domain names (via Absolute Hosting) and platform accounts (via team of web designers hosting providers) in your name.

2.2.2 For Premium Tier clients, we use account access credentials to manage and optimise Google Ads campaigns on your behalf.

2.3 Legal & Administrative Purposes

2.3.1 We may use your information to comply with applicable South African laws and regulations, including the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (POPIA).

2.3.2 In the event of non-payment or breach of our Terms & Conditions, we may use your personal information to pursue legal remedies or debt collection.

3.1 Grounds for Processing

3.1.1 We process your personal information on the following lawful grounds as defined by the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (POPIA):

3.1.2 Contractual necessity — processing is required to fulfil our obligations under the service agreement with you.

3.1.3 Legitimate interest — we may process certain data to protect our business interests, provided this does not override your rights.

3.1.4 Legal obligation — we may be required to process your data to comply with applicable South African law.

3.1.5 Consent — where we request consent for any specific processing activity, you retain the right to withdraw that consent at any time.

4.1 Service Providers

4.1.1 We may share limited personal information with trusted third-party service providers strictly for the purpose of delivering our services. These include:

• Absolute Hosting — for domain registration
• team of web designers hosting providers — for website hosting
• Stripe — for payment processing
• Google — for Ads management (Premium Tier clients)

4.1.2 These third parties operate under their own privacy policies and are governed by their respective terms. Echobyte is not responsible for the data practices of these platforms.

4.2 Legal Disclosure

4.2.1 We may disclose your personal information where required to do so by law, court order, or at the request of a lawful authority.

4.2.2 We will notify you of any such disclosure where it is legally permissible to do so.

4.3 Data Location

4.3.1 Data may be stored on servers located outside South Africa depending on the service providers used.

5.1 How We Store Your Data

5.1.1 Client information is stored digitally in secure internal systems. Physical documentation (such as signed agreements) may be retained in secure offline storage.

5.1.2 We retain client data for the duration of the service agreement and may retain it for a reasonable period (up to 12 months) for legal, accounting, or dispute resolution purposes after termination, after which data may be permanently deleted in accordance with our Terms & Conditions.

5.2 Security Measures

5.2.1 We take reasonable technical and organisational steps to protect your personal information against unauthorised access, loss, misuse, or disclosure.

5.2.2 Website security for sites hosted on team of web designers hosting is governed by those platforms' own infrastructure and security policies — as outlined in our Terms & Conditions (Section 4).

5.2.3 You are responsible for maintaining the security of your own account credentials. Echobyte shall not be liable for any loss, breach, or misuse of data occurring on third-party platforms.

6.1 Access & Correction

6.1.1 You have the right to request access to the personal information we hold about you at any time. Requests may be submitted via email to our designated contact address.

6.1.2 If any information we hold is inaccurate or outdated, you have the right to request that it be corrected.

6.2 Deletion & Restriction

6.2.1 You may request the deletion of your personal information, subject to any legal or contractual obligations that require us to retain it (such as outstanding invoices or active agreements).

6.2.2 You may request that we restrict processing of your data in certain circumstances, for example where you contest the accuracy of the data.

6.3 Objection & Withdrawal of Consent

6.3.1 Where processing is based on your consent, you may withdraw that consent at any time without affecting the lawfulness of processing prior to withdrawal.

6.3.2 You may object to processing carried out on the basis of legitimate interest, and we will assess whether our grounds override your rights.

6.4 Lodging a Complaint

6.4.1 If you believe we have violated your privacy rights, you may lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator of South Africa:

Website: www.inforegulator.org.za
Email: inforeg@justice.gov.za

7.1 Use of Cookies

7.1.1 Our website may use cookies and similar technologies to enhance user experience, analyse site traffic, and support service functionality.

7.1.2 By using our website, you consent to the use of cookies unless disabled via your browser settings; however, this may affect the functionality of certain features on our website.

7.2 Client Websites

7.2.1 Websites we build for clients on platforms such as team of web designers may include cookies or analytics tools (such as Google Analytics) as part of the platform's standard functionality. Clients are responsible for ensuring their own websites are compliant with applicable cookie consent requirements.

8.1 Our services are intended for businesses and adults (18 years and older). We do not knowingly collect personal information from individuals under the age of 18. If you believe we have inadvertently collected such information, please contact us immediately so that we may delete it.

9.1 We reserve the right to update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or legal requirements.

9.2 Clients will be notified of material changes with a minimum of 14 days' notice, consistent with our Terms & Conditions (Section 6.2).

9.3 Continued use of our services following notification of changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

10.1 Contact Us

10.1.1 For any questions, concerns, or requests related to this Privacy Policy, please contact us at:

Echobyte | echobyte.co.za

10.2 Governing Law

10.2.1 This Privacy Policy is governed by the laws of the Republic of South Africa, including but not limited to the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (POPIA) and the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act, 2002 (ECTA).

11.1 Notification

In the event of a data breach, Echobyte will take reasonable steps to investigate and contain the issue.

Where required by law, affected Clients will be notified within a reasonable timeframe.

Echobyte will cooperate with relevant authorities where necessary.