Privacy policy

1. Who we are

FreshMarkets is a project of verticalfarming.co.za, a South African digital publisher focused on the fresh produce trade. You can reach our Information Officer at hello@freshproducemarket.co.za.

2. What personal information we collect

We collect personal information only when you give it to us directly. We never buy or sell personal data.

• Newsletter signup — name, email address, optional WhatsApp number, optional province and trade.
• Market preferences — which of the four markets (Joburg, Tshwane, Durban, Cape Town) you want daily updates for.
• Unsubscribe requests — email address, timestamp, IP address (for fraud prevention).
• Server log data (always) — IP address, browser type, device type, and pages visited, kept in web server logs and rotated every 30 days. Used only for security and debugging.
• Analytics data (opt-in only) — anonymised page views, country, device category and referring site, collected by Google Analytics 4 ONLY if you click "Accept" on the cookie banner. Your IP is anonymised (last octet removed). We do not enable Google Signals, advertising features, remarketing, or any data-sharing with Google's advertising products.

We do not collect your ID number, physical address, banking details, or location coordinates.

3. Why we collect it (purpose)

• To send you the daily market digest you signed up for.
• To send you occasional product updates (no more than once a month).
• To keep the service secure, prevent abuse, and fix bugs.
• To comply with South African law.

We do not use your data for automated profiling, advertising, or credit scoring.

4. Legal basis (POPIA)

We process your personal information on the following lawful bases under POPIA section 11:

• Consent (s.11(1)(a)) — when you tick the opt-in box on our signup form.
• Performance of a contract (s.11(1)(b)) — to deliver the email service you asked for.
• Legitimate interest (s.11(1)(f)) — server logs and fraud prevention.

5. How long we keep your data

• Active subscribers — kept until you unsubscribe or we go offline.
• Unsubscribed records — kept for 12 months in case you change your mind, then permanently deleted.
• Server logs — rolled over every 30 days.
• Email delivery logs (bounces, complaints) — 24 months.

6. Who we share it with

We never sell your data. We share it only with the following service providers, each bound by a written data-processing agreement:

• Hosting — Rackspace cPanel shared hosting (RSA-based data centre).
• Email delivery — outgoing SMTP only, via our own mailbox at freshproducemarket.co.za. No third-party ESP.
• Law enforcement — only if we receive a valid South African court order.

7. Your rights (POPIA sections 23–24)

You have the right to:

• Be told what personal information we hold about you (we'll send you a free copy within 30 days).
• Correct anything that's wrong.
• Delete your record ("right to be forgotten").
• Object to processing.
• Lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator (details below).

To exercise any of these rights, email hello@freshproducemarket.co.za with the subject line "POPIA request".

8. Cookies and offline storage

By default, FreshMarkets sets no cookies and sends no data to third parties. We use a small amount of browser storage to make the site work and to remember your choices. The full picture:

• Service Worker cache — keeps the PWA working when you're offline. Stores only static files (CSS, JS, icons, the hero image). No personal data.
• Consent preference (localStorage) — when you answer the cookie banner, we store your choice in your browser's localStorage under the key fm-consent. This is a first-party preference, not a tracking cookie, and records only "granted" or "denied" plus a timestamp.
• Google Analytics 4 (opt-in only) — if and only if you click Accept on the cookie banner, GA4 sets its standard first-party cookies (_ga, _ga_*) with a 2-year expiry to distinguish unique visitors and sessions. We anonymise your IP, we do not enable advertising features, and we do not share data with Google's advertising products. The legal basis is your explicit consent. See Google's GA4 cookie documentation for the full technical detail.

How the consent banner works (Google Consent Mode v2)

On your first visit you see a banner at the bottom of the page. Until you make a choice, our site loads Google Analytics 4 in "consent denied" mode using Google Consent Mode v2 — Google's regulator-friendly way of honouring a "no" answer. The page still works fully; no analytics cookies are set, no events are sent, and no personal data is collected.

If you click Accept, we update the consent state to "granted" and analytics begins. If you click Decline, the state stays "denied" and nothing else changes. Your choice is remembered across every page and every visit (until you clear your browser storage).

We also honour the Global Privacy Control (GPC) and Do Not Track (DNT) browser signals: if either is on, we automatically record your choice as "declined" and the banner is suppressed.

9. Security

All traffic is served over HTTPS with TLS 1.2+ and HSTS. Subscriber data lives in a SQLite database outside the web root, and passwords/tokens are hashed with bcrypt. Admin access requires a secret key kept on a password manager and rotated every 90 days.

10. Children

The service is intended for adults working in the fresh produce trade. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. If you believe a child has signed up, email us and we'll delete the record within 7 days.

11. Cross-border transfers

Your data is stored in South Africa and is not transferred outside the country. Email delivery may transit international SMTP relays, but no content other than the address is exposed.

12. Complaints to the Information Regulator

If you believe we have not handled your personal information properly, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the South African Information Regulator:

13. Changes to this policy

If we change this policy in a material way, we'll email active subscribers at least 14 days before the change takes effect and re-prompt for consent. The "Last updated" date at the top of this page always reflects the current version.

14. How to change your cookie choice

You can change your mind at any time. Click the "Cookie settings" link in the footer of any page, and the consent banner will reappear. You can also clear our localStorage entry in your browser's developer tools (key: fm-consent), or clear all site data for freshproducemarket.co.za — the banner will reappear on your next visit.

You can also block Google Analytics across every site you visit by installing the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on or by using a privacy-focused browser or extension that sends the Global Privacy Control signal.