Last updated: 01 February 2025
The Business List respects your privacy and is committed to protecting personal information in accordance with the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 ("POPIA") and other applicable South African laws.
This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, why we collect it, how we use and protect it, when it may be shared, and the rights available to you.
By accessing or using The Business List website, creating an account, submitting or managing a business listing, contacting us, submitting a review or rating, subscribing to communications, or otherwise interacting with our services, you acknowledge the practices described in this Privacy Policy.
The Business List is a South African business discovery and advertising platform that enables businesses to create and maintain profiles and enables users to search for, compare, review and contact businesses and service providers.
For purposes of POPIA, The Business List may act as the Responsible Party in relation to personal information where we determine the purpose and means of processing.
Website:
https://thebusinesslist.co.za/
Privacy and general enquiries:
connect@thebusinesslist.co.za
Physical address:
Infinity Office Park,
2 Robin Cl,
Meyersdal,
Alberton,
1448
The information we collect depends on how you use our website and services.
When you register for or use an account, we may collect information such as:
We do not intentionally store passwords in readable plain-text form.
When a business profile is created, claimed, edited or managed, we may process information including:
Business listings are intended to be publicly discoverable. Information submitted as part of a published business listing may therefore be visible to anyone accessing The Business List and may also be indexed by search engines.
You should not submit personal information to a public business profile unless you are authorised to do so and are comfortable with that information being publicly accessible.
Where a person asks to claim, control, change or manage an existing business listing, we may request information to establish that person's authority.
This may include:
We use this information to protect businesses, users and the integrity of the platform.
When you contact The Business List through a form, email or other communication method, we may collect:
We may retain correspondence where reasonably necessary to provide support, maintain records, investigate disputes or protect our legitimate interests.
Where our platform allows users to submit ratings, reviews, comments or similar content, we may collect and process:
Reviews and ratings may be displayed publicly.
Users must not publish unnecessary personal, confidential, defamatory, unlawful or sensitive information about another person in a review or other public submission.
When you purchase a listing, advertising service or another paid service, information relating to the transaction may be processed.
This may include:
Where payment details are entered directly into a third-party payment provider's system, those details are processed in accordance with that provider's own privacy and security practices.
The Business List does not require access to more payment information than is reasonably necessary to confirm, administer and record a transaction.
When you access The Business List, certain information may be collected automatically, including:
We may use analytics and similar technologies to understand how the website is used and to improve our services.
Not all information processed by The Business List necessarily comes directly from the individual concerned.
Where permitted by law, we may receive or obtain business-related information from:
Public availability does not remove our obligations under POPIA. Where personal information is processed, we seek to do so for a lawful, specific and legitimate purpose.
If you believe information about you or your business is incorrect, outdated, unauthorised or should not be displayed, you may contact us to request that we investigate it.
We may process personal information for purposes including:
We will not intentionally process personal information for a purpose that is materially incompatible with the purpose for which it was lawfully collected unless permitted by law.
Depending on the circumstances, our processing of personal information may be based on one or more lawful grounds recognised under POPIA, including where:
Where consent is the applicable basis for processing, you may withdraw that consent, subject to applicable legal and contractual consequences.
A central function of The Business List is to make business information available to people searching for products and service providers.
A published listing may contain business contact information such as:
Once information is published on the internet, it may be copied, indexed, cached or stored by third-party search engines, archives or other services outside our control.
Removing information from The Business List does not necessarily result in its immediate removal from search-engine caches or third-party websites.
The Business List may use permitted contact information to communicate with users, customers, business representatives and prospective business users about our services, business-discovery opportunities, promotions, newsletters or related commercial communications.
Electronic direct marketing is subject to the requirements of POPIA and other applicable South African law.
Where consent is required by law before sending an electronic direct-marketing communication, we will seek the required consent.
Where a person is an existing customer, we may communicate about our own similar products or services where permitted by law and subject to the applicable right to object.
Marketing communications sent by or on behalf of The Business List should identify the sender and provide a method through which recipients can request that marketing communications cease.
You may opt out of marketing communications by:
An objection to marketing does not necessarily prevent us from sending essential communications relating to an account, payment, transaction, security matter, support request or other existing relationship.
The Business List may use cookies and related technologies to operate and improve the website.
Cookies may be used for purposes such as:
Some cookies are necessary for website functionality, while others may relate to analytics, advertising or third-party services.
You can usually control or delete cookies through your browser settings. Disabling certain cookies may affect the functionality of the website.
We may use third-party technology or service providers to assist with services such as:
These providers may process limited personal or technical information on our behalf or in accordance with their own legal obligations.
Where a third party acts as an operator on our behalf, we expect personal information to be processed only for authorised purposes and subject to appropriate safeguards.
Some third-party services may independently determine how certain information is processed. Their own privacy policies may therefore also apply.
We do not sell personal information as a standalone commercial product.
We may disclose personal information where reasonably necessary to:
Public information contained in a published business listing is, by its nature, available to visitors to the website.
The Business List provides mechanisms through which users can discover or contact independent businesses.
Where you contact a listed business directly, including by telephone, email, WhatsApp, website link or another external method, the business concerned may become independently responsible for the personal information you provide to it.
The Business List does not control how an independent business processes information after you communicate directly with that business.
You should review the relevant business's own privacy practices where appropriate.
We take reasonable technical and organisational measures designed to protect personal information against:
Measures may include access controls, password protection, encryption or hashing where appropriate, server security, backups, software updates and administrative procedures.
However, no website, database, server, email system or internet transmission can be guaranteed to be completely secure.
Users are responsible for protecting their own account credentials and should notify us promptly if they believe an account has been compromised.
Where there are reasonable grounds to believe that personal information has been accessed or acquired by an unauthorised person, we will investigate the incident and take steps required by applicable law.
Where POPIA requires notification to the Information Regulator and affected data subjects, we will make the required notifications as soon as reasonably possible, subject to any lawful restriction on notification.
We retain personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, unless:
Information may also remain temporarily in secure backups after deletion from active systems.
We may retain limited information concerning fraud prevention, disputes, transactions, suppression of marketing communications or legal compliance where reasonably necessary.
Subject to applicable law and any lawful limitations, you may have the right to:
Before providing access to or modifying personal information, we may take reasonable steps to verify your identity and authority.
Certain information cannot necessarily be deleted immediately where retention is required by law or reasonably necessary for legal, contractual, security, fraud-prevention or record-keeping purposes.
If you are authorised to represent a business and believe its listing contains incorrect, outdated or unauthorised information, you may contact us or use the available account and verification processes.
We may require evidence that you are authorised to act for the business before making changes to a listing.
This helps protect businesses against unauthorised profile changes, fraudulent claims and impersonation.
The Business List is intended primarily for businesses, professionals and adults seeking business information.
Our services are not designed for children to create business accounts or submit personal information independently.
We do not knowingly seek to collect children's personal information without an appropriate lawful basis or the authorisation required by applicable law.
If you believe that a child has provided personal information to us improperly, please contact us.
We do not ordinarily require users to provide special personal information as defined under POPIA.
Users should not submit information concerning matters such as health, biometric information, religious or philosophical beliefs, political persuasion, trade-union membership, sex life or other sensitive matters unless there is a legitimate and lawful reason to do so.
Such information should never be included unnecessarily in a public business listing, review or message.
Some service providers or technical systems used to operate The Business List may process or store information outside South Africa.
Where personal information is transferred across borders, we will seek to ensure that the transfer is made in accordance with POPIA, including applicable requirements relating to adequate protection, contractual safeguards, consent or another lawful basis for the transfer.
Business profiles and other pages on The Business List may contain links to external websites, social-media platforms, messaging services, maps, videos or other third-party services.
The Business List is not responsible for the privacy, security, availability or content of independent third-party services.
Once you leave our website or interact directly with a third party, that third party's terms and privacy practices may apply.
We may use automated processes, technical rules or monitoring systems to identify matters such as:
Where POPIA places restrictions on decisions based solely on automated processing that have legal consequences or substantially affect a person, we will process such information in accordance with the applicable requirements.
Privacy-related enquiries, objections, correction requests and deletion requests may be directed to:
The Business List
Email:
connect@thebusinesslist.co.za
Infinity Office Park, 2 Robin Cl, Meyersdal, Alberton, 1448
Please provide sufficient information for us to identify the relevant account, listing or information and understand your request.
We may request proof of identity or authority before acting on a request where reasonably necessary to protect the information concerned.
You also have the right to approach the Information Regulator (South Africa) regarding concerns about the processing of personal information.
Current contact details and complaint procedures should be obtained directly from the Information Regulator's official website:
We may amend this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect:
The updated version will be published on this page with a revised "Last updated" date.
Material changes may also be communicated through the website, account notifications, email or another reasonable method where appropriate.
Continued use of the website after an updated policy becomes effective will be subject to the revised Privacy Policy, to the extent permitted by law.
If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or how The Business List handles personal information, contact us at:
Email:
connect@thebusinesslist.co.za
Address:
Infinity Office Park, 2 Robin Cl, Meyersdal, Alberton, 1448
Website:
https://thebusinesslist.co.za/