Privacy Policy

Bennett Read knows that you care how information about you is used and shared, and we appreciate your trust that we will do so carefully and sensibly. This notice describes our Privacy Policy. By visiting Bennett Read, you are accepting the practices described in this Privacy Policy.

Not all terms are necessarily defined in order or may be defined in our Conditions of Use.

Please ensure that you read all the provisions below, and our policies and guidelines which may apply from time to time, to understand all of your, and our, rights and duties.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION AND WHO WE ARE

This Privacy Policy aims to give you information on how we collect and process your personal information through any form of your engagement with us. This Privacy Policy complies with, and facilitates the obligations required from, the South African Protection of Personal Information Act, No. 4 of 2013 (“POPIA”), as amended.

It is important that you read this Privacy Policy together with any other privacy policy or fair processing notice we may provide on specific occasions when we are collecting or processing personal information about you, so that you are fully aware of how and why we are using your personal information. This Privacy Policy supplements the other notices and is not intended to override them.

We do not process the data of minors nor special categories of personal information. Do not provide us with any such personal data, as it will constitute an immediate and automatic material breach of this Privacy Policy and our Conditions of Use.

Contacting Us

Bennett Read is the “Responsible Party” and is responsible for your personal information when we decide the processing operations of your personal information. In certain instances, we operate as an “Operator” of personal information on behalf of a Responsible Party who use our services. In that case, that Responsible Party’s privacy policy will apply to your use of their services.

We have appointed an information officer at Bennett Read who is responsible for overseeing questions in relation to this Privacy Policy. If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, including any requests to exercise your legal rights, please contact our information officer using the following details:

Information Officer: Andrew Machanick
Email address: AndrewM@tevo.co.za
Contact number: 031 570 5900
Postal address: Office 3 Rydallviews 5A Rydall Vale, 38 Douglas Saunders Dr, La Lucia, 4051

You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the South African regulator’s office (Information Regulator’s Office of South Africa). We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach any such regulator, so please contact us in the first instance.

WHAT PERSONAL INFORMATION DOES BENNETT READ GATHER?

The personal information we collect and process help us personalise and continually improve our services including your shopping experience at Bennett Read.

We may collect, use, store, and transfer (“process”) different kinds of personal information about you which we have grouped together as follows:

Identity Data including full name or the information about your company such as company name, address and/or company registration details.

Contact Data including email address, delivery or billing address, and contact numbers.

Account Data including all information available in your Bennett Read account including identity, contact and transactional data and support enquiries.

Financial Data including bank account details, third-party payment provider information and payment card details (which we do not store but is processed by our payment service provider).

Social Media Data including all information available through any public social media account that interacts with our company including posts, stories, likes and comments.

Transaction Data including details about payments to and from you, contracts, contractual terms, contract fees, signups, subscriptions, invoices and other details of products and services you have obtained from us or provide to us.

Technical Data including internet protocol address/es, login data, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, cookies, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform, purchase history; the full Uniform Resource Locators (URL) clickstream to, through, and from our website, including date and time; cookie number; and products you viewed or searched for and other technology on the devices you use to access our website or services.

Usage Data including information about how you use our company, website, surveys, and services.

Marketing and Communications Data including messages sent to us through the website or otherwise, your preferences in receiving notices and marketing from us and our third parties, support queries and communications, and your communication preferences as well as details of which communications were sent to you and how they were sent.

We may also collect, use, and share Aggregated Data such as statistical data for any purpose. Aggregated Data may be derived from your personal information but is not considered personal information in law as this data does not directly or indirectly reveal your identity. However, if we combine or connect Aggregated Data with your personal information so that it can directly or indirectly identify you, we treat the combined data as personal information which will be used in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

Where we need to collect personal information by law, or under the terms of a contract we have with you and you fail to provide that data when requested, we may not be able to provide access to our website and/or our services you have requested. In this case, we may have to suspend your use of our services but we will notify you if this is the case at the time.

HOW IS YOUR INFORMATION COLLECTED?

INFORMATION YOU GIVE US DIRECTLY:

You provide most data when you search, buy, bid, post, participate in a contest or questionnaire, or communicate with customer service. For example, you provide information when you search for a product; place an order; provide information in Your Account (and you might have more than one if you have used more than one e-mail address when shopping with us); communicate with us by phone, e-mail, or otherwise; complete a questionnaire or a contest entry form; by providing employer, school, or other such information; participate in discussion boards; or provide and rate reviews.

INFORMATION COLLECTED AUTOMATICALLY:

We receive and store certain types of information whenever you interact with us by using cookies, server logs and other similar technologies. For example, like many websites, we use "cookies," and we obtain certain types of information when your web browser accesses Bennett Read. A number of companies offer utilities designed to help you visit web sites anonymously. Although we will not be able to provide you with a personalised experience at Bennett Read if we cannot recognise you, we want you to be aware that these tools exist.

THIRD PARTY INFORMATION:

We may receive personal information about you from various third parties such as -

analytics providers;
marketing platforms;
search information providers; and
payment service providers.

LEGAL BASIS FOR PROCESSING

We will only process personal information when the law allows us to, under lawful bases, which you hereby expressly understand and consent to.

Most commonly, we will process personal information under the following legal grounds:

where we have your express consent to do so;
where we need to consult with you or perform on the services contract we are about to enter into or have entered into with you;
where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests (or those of a third party) and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests; and/or
where we need to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation.

PURPOSES FOR PROCESSING

We have set out below the purpose for which we will process your personal information, which includes:

To register, create, and maintain your account on our website;
To process, fulfil, and deliver orders for products and services;
To provide customer support, respond to enquiries, and resolve disputes;
To communicate with customers regarding orders, account information, updates;
To contract with you as a service provider to Bennett Read;
To provide it to our authorised service providers who need your personal information to provide their services to you (such as our payment gateway);
To process and service your payment for any services rendered by Bennett Read or our service providers;
To manage payments, fees, and charges, and process refunds;;
To comply with regulatory compliance requirements, accounting, and tax obligations, including record-keeping and reporting requirements;
To detect, prevent, and address fraud, security breaches, or other prohibited or illegal activities;
To manage our relationship with you which may include notifying you about changes to our Conditions of Use, Privacy Policy, or services or the delivery of communications and the effectiveness thereof;
To administer and protect our company, website and services (including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, system maintenance, support, reporting and hosting of data);
To use data analytics to improve our website, services, customer relationships and experiences;
To provide customer support, respond to enquiries, and resolve disputes;
To send you service-related communications, updates, and, where permitted, marketing or promotional materials;
To anonymise and aggregate data for statistical, research, or analytical purposes, provided such data does not identify you or any individual; and
For any other purpose that is compatible with the original purpose of collection, or where you have provided your consent.

CHANGE OF PURPOSE

We will only use your personal information for the purposes for which we collected it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose.

If we need to use your personal information for an unrelated purpose, we will notify you and we will explain the legal basis which allows us to do so.

Please note that we may process your personal information without your knowledge or consent, in compliance with the above rules and where required or permitted by law.

WHAT ABOUT COOKIES?

Cookies are alphanumeric identifiers that we transfer to your computer’s hard drive through your web browser to enable our systems to recognise your browser and to provide features such as Automatic Login and permanent Shopping Carts for storage of items in your Shopping Cart between visits. If you would like to know more, the "Help" section of the toolbar on most browsers will tell you how to prevent your browser from accepting new cookies, how to have the browser notify you when you receive a new cookie, or how to disable cookies altogether. However, cookies do allow you to take full advantage of some of Bennett Read’s best features, and we recommend that you leave them turned on.

MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS

We strive to provide you with choices regarding how we use your personal information, particularly around marketing and advertising. To manifest your rights attached to any marketing sent to you as an existing customer, please use the in-built prompts provided on those communications, or contact us.

You will receive marketing communications from us if you have requested our services, requested information from us, or provided us with your details in any other circumstance and, in each case, have not opted-out of receiving that marketing.

To help us make e-mails more useful and interesting, we often receive a confirmation when you open e-mail from Bennett Read if your computer supports such capabilities.

If you do not want to receive e-mail or other communications from us, please adjust your account to reflect this by selecting "Unsubscribe" in the Newsletter menu. Where you opt-out of receiving marketing messages, this opt-out will not apply to other personal information of yours which we process for another lawful basis.

Information about our customers is an important part of our business, and we are not in the business of selling it to others. We share customer information only with the subsidiaries Bennett Read controls and as described below.

AGENTS:

We may employ other companies and individuals to perform functions on our behalf. Examples may include fulfilling orders, delivering packages, sending postal mail and e-mail, removing repetitive information from customer lists, analysing data, providing marketing assistance, processing credit card payments, and providing customer service. They have access to personal information needed to perform their functions, but may not use it for other purposes unless directly instructed by us.

PROTECTION OF BENNETT READ AND COMPLIANCE WITH LAW:

We release account and other personal information when we believe such release is appropriate to comply with law; enforce or apply our Conditions of Use and other agreements; or protect the rights, property, or safety of Bennett Read, our users, or others. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organisations for fraud protection and credit risk reduction.

PROFESSIONAL ADVISORS:

We may share personal information with third parties including professional advisers including lawyers, bankers, auditors and insurers who provide consultancy, banking, legal, insurance and accounting services as required.

MERGER OR ACQUISITION:

We may share personal information with third parties to whom we may choose to sell, transfer, or merge parts of our company or our assets. Alternatively, we may seek to acquire other organisations or merge with them. If a change happens to our company, we may continue to use your personal information in the same way as set out in this Privacy Policy.

Other than as set out above, you will receive notice when information about you might go to third parties, and you will have an opportunity to choose not to share the information.

We require all third parties to respect the security of your personal information and to treat it in accordance with the law. We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal information for their own purposes and only permit them to process your personal information in accordance with our instructions and standards.

INTERNATIONAL TRANSFERS

We may share and process your personal information outside of South Africa as part of our group structure, for the purpose of cloud storage and other software services, or to engage with third party service providers.

If we transfer your personal information out of South Africa, we will ensure a similar degree of protection is afforded to it by ensuring at least one of the following safeguards is implemented:

We will only transfer your personal information to countries that have appropriate data protection legislation in place similar to that of South Africa; and/or
Where we use service providers, we will use specific contracts/clauses which ensure personal information is processed and secured lawfully.

CHANGES TO YOUR INFORMATION?

It is important that the personal information we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your personal information changes during your relationship with us.

You can always choose not to provide information, even though it might be needed to make a purchase or to take advantage of such Bennett Read features as Automatic Login, and permanent Shopping Carts. You can add or update certain information on pages such as those listed in the My Account pages. When you update information, we usually keep a copy of the prior version for our records.

CHILDREN

Bennett Read does not sell products for purchase by children. We sell children’s products for purchase by adults. If you are under the age of 18 years, you may use Bennett Read only with involvement of a parent or guardian, who will remain responsible and liable for any actions taken by you.

CONDITIONS OF USE, NOTICES, AND REVISIONS

If you choose to visit Bennett Read, your visit and any dispute over privacy is subject to this Privacy Policy and our Conditions of Use, including limitations on damages, arbitration of disputes, and application of the law of South Africa.

This Privacy Policy was last updated on 26 June 2025 and previous versions are archived and can be provided on request.

This Privacy Policy is subject to change without notice and is updated or amended from time to time and will be effective once we upload the amended version to our website. Your continued access or use of our services or engagement with us constitutes your acceptance of this Privacy Policy, as amended. It is your responsibility to read this document periodically to ensure you are aware of any changes.

THIRD PARTY LINKS

Our website may include links to third-party websites, plug-ins, and applications. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share information about you. We do not control these third-party websites and are not responsible for their privacy statements or terms. When you leave our environment or engage with such third parties, we encourage you to read the distinct privacy policy of every third-party you engage with.

DATA SECURITY

We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal information from being accidentally lost, used, or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered, or disclosed by implementing reasonable technical and organisational measures including encryption of data in transit and at rest, access controls based on the principle of least privilege, regular security audits, secure password policies, firewalls, and intrusion detection systems.

We also limit access to your personal information to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a legitimate need to know. They will only process your personal information on our instruction and are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected personal information breach and will notify you and the Information Regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so.

DATA RETENTION

We will only retain your personal information for as long as necessary to fulfil the purpose we collected it for including any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.

To determine the appropriate retention period for personal information, we consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal information, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal information, the purpose for which we process your personal information, any other South African applicable law requiring us to retain the personal information and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements.

We may also anonymise your personal information (so that it can no longer be associated with you) for research or statistical purposes in which case we may use this information indefinitely without further notice to you.

YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS

You have rights in relation to your personal information where we are the relevant “Responsible Party” over such personal information. Please contact us to find out more about, or manifest, these rights:

request access to your personal information;
request correction of your personal information;
request erasure of your personal information;
object to the processing of your personal information;
request a restriction of processing your personal information;
request transfer of your personal information; and/or
right to withdraw consent.

You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal information (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive, or excessive. Alternatively, we may refuse to comply with your request in these circumstances.

We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your personal information (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is a security measure to ensure that personal information is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it. We may also contact you to ask you for further information in relation to your request to speed up our response.

We try to respond to all legitimate requests within one month. Occasionally it may take us longer than a month if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests. In this case, we will notify you and keep you updated.

Users with citizenships from jurisdictions other than South Africa, please note that we comply with South African data protection laws when processing your personal information as we are a South African entity. Should foreign law be applicable to your use of our services or website in any way, including how we may process your personal information, please contact us and we will gladly engage with you on your rights.