Privacy Policy

TRADE AFRICA ONLINE

Last Updated: 25 August 2026

1. INTRODUCTION

Trade Africa Online (“Trade Africa Online”, “we”, “us”, or “our”) is an African e-commerce platform designed to facilitate the exchange of goods and services between African manufacturers, merchants, businesses and consumers.

Our platform enables businesses and producers to showcase their products and services, operate online storefronts and engage in electronic commerce with customers.

We respect your privacy and are committed to protecting the personal information entrusted to us by customers, vendors, merchants, visitors and other users of our platform.

This Privacy Policy explains how Trade Africa Online collects, uses, stores, protects and, where necessary, shares personal information when you use our website, create an account, purchase products, register as a vendor, communicate with us or otherwise use our services.

This Policy should be read together with our Terms of Use and other policies published on the Trade Africa Online platform.

2. ABOUT TRADE AFRICA ONLINE

Trade Africa Online is an e-commerce platform established to support the operationalisation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) by facilitating electronic commerce between African businesses, manufacturers, merchants and consumers.

The platform provides opportunities for African businesses to establish online storefronts, list products, reach customers, process payments and facilitate the sale and delivery of goods and services.

3. INFORMATION WE COLLECT

Depending on how you interact with our platform, we may collect the following categories of information.

3.1 Information You Provide

This may include:

• Full name;
• Email address;
• Telephone number;
• Billing address;
• Delivery or shipping address;
• Account login information;
• Business or company information;
• Vendor information;
• Product and service information submitted by vendors;
• Customer enquiries and communications;
• Reviews, ratings and feedback;
• Information submitted through forms;
• Information relating to returns, refunds and complaints; and
• Other information voluntarily provided to us.

3.2 Transaction Information

When you make a purchase through Trade Africa Online, we may collect information relating to:

• Products purchased;
• Order number;
• Order date;
• Quantity purchased;
• Purchase amount;
• Delivery address;
• Payment status;
• Refund information;
• Transaction references; and
• Order and delivery history.

Where payments are processed through third-party payment providers, sensitive payment credentials may be handled directly by those providers rather than stored by Trade Africa Online.

3.3 Vendor Information

If you register as a vendor or merchant, we may collect additional information, including:

• Business name;
• Business address;
• Contact information;
• Business registration information where required;
• Product information;
• Bank or settlement information where required;
• Tax or regulatory information where required;
• Store information;
• Vendor profile information; and
• Information necessary to administer your vendor account.

3.4 Automatically Collected Information

When you visit or use our website, certain information may be collected automatically, including:

• IP address;
• Browser type;
• Device information;
• Operating system;
• Pages visited;
• Search activity;
• Date and time of visits;
• Referring website;
• General website usage information; and
• Cookies and similar technologies.

4. HOW WE USE PERSONAL INFORMATION

We may use personal information to:

1. Create and manage customer and vendor accounts.
2. Process and fulfil orders.
3. Facilitate payments and settlements.
4. Arrange or coordinate delivery.
5. Communicate with customers and vendors.
6. Provide customer and technical support.
7. Process returns, refunds and complaints.
8. Verify transactions and accounts.
9. Prevent fraud and other unlawful activities.
10. Improve our website and services.
11. Analyse customer and platform usage.
12. Improve product discovery and shopping experiences.
13. Administer promotions and marketing campaigns.
14. Communicate information about products and services.
15. Manage vendor storefronts and marketplace activities.
16. Maintain appropriate business, financial and transaction records.
17. Comply with applicable legal and regulatory requirements.
18. Protect the security, integrity and functionality of our platform.
19. Enforce our Terms of Use and other agreements.
20. Protect the rights, property and safety of Trade Africa Online, our users and third parties.

5. LEGAL BASIS FOR PROCESSING

Trade Africa Online will process personal information on a lawful basis recognised under applicable data-protection legislation.

Depending on the circumstances, this may include:

• Your consent;
• Performance of a contract or steps necessary to enter into a contract;
• Compliance with a legal obligation;
• Protection of legitimate business interests;
• Prevention of fraud or abuse; and
• Other lawful grounds permitted by applicable law.

Where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw that consent where legally applicable.

6. MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS

Where permitted by law, Trade Africa Online may send customers and registered users information about:

• New products;
• Promotions;
• Discounts;
• Special offers;
• New services;
• Vendor campaigns;
• Events; and
• Other relevant commercial communications.

You may opt out of promotional communications at any time by following the unsubscribe instructions provided in the relevant communication or by contacting us.

Opting out of marketing communications does not necessarily stop essential transactional communications, such as order confirmations, payment notifications, delivery updates or important account notices.

7. COOKIES AND SIMILAR TECHNOLOGIES

Trade Africa Online may use cookies and similar technologies to improve the functionality and performance of the platform.

Cookies may be used to:

• Maintain shopping-cart information;
• Keep users signed in;
• Remember preferences;
• Improve website functionality;
• Analyse website traffic;
• Improve security;
• Understand user behaviour; and
• Support marketing activities where applicable.

Users may manage or disable cookies through their browser settings. However, disabling certain cookies may affect some website functions.

8. SHARING PERSONAL INFORMATION

Trade Africa Online may share personal information where reasonably necessary to operate the platform and provide our services.

Information may be shared with:

• Vendors and merchants involved in fulfilling an order;
• Payment processors;
• Banks and financial service providers;
• Delivery and logistics providers;
• Technology and hosting providers;
• Website security providers;
• Analytics providers;
• Customer-support providers;
• Professional advisers;
• Auditors and accountants;
• Regulators and government authorities where legally required; and
• Law-enforcement authorities where legally required or reasonably necessary to protect our rights or prevent unlawful activity.

We will take reasonable steps to ensure that third parties receiving personal information handle it appropriately and only for legitimate purposes.

9. INFORMATION SHARED WITH VENDORS

Because Trade Africa Online operates as an e-commerce marketplace, certain transactions may involve independent vendors.

Where necessary to fulfil an order, information such as the customer’s name, delivery address, telephone number and relevant order information may be provided to the applicable vendor.

Vendors may use this information only for legitimate purposes connected with the transaction and must comply with applicable privacy and data-protection requirements.

10. PAYMENT INFORMATION

Trade Africa Online may provide customers with electronic payment facilities through third-party payment service providers.

Payment providers may collect and process payment information according to their own privacy policies and security procedures.

Trade Africa Online may receive information necessary to confirm and reconcile a transaction, such as:

• Payment status;
• Transaction reference;
• Payment method;
• Amount paid; and
• Date of payment.

Customers should never provide their PIN, password, one-time password or other confidential authentication credentials to Trade Africa Online personnel.

11. INTERNATIONAL DATA PROCESSING

Trade Africa Online may use technology and service providers located in Ghana or other jurisdictions.

Where personal information is transferred or processed outside Ghana, we will take reasonable measures to ensure that such processing is carried out in accordance with applicable data-protection requirements.

12. DATA SECURITY

We implement reasonable technical and organisational safeguards designed to protect personal information from:

• Unauthorised access;
• Unauthorised disclosure;
• Loss;
• Destruction;
• Alteration;
• Misuse; and
• Other unlawful or accidental processing.

Security measures may include access controls, authentication mechanisms, secure hosting, monitoring and other appropriate safeguards.

However, no internet-based system can be guaranteed to be completely secure. Users are therefore responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of their account credentials and taking reasonable precautions when accessing our platform.

13. DATA RETENTION

Trade Africa Online will retain personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for legitimate business, contractual, legal, regulatory or operational purposes.

Information may be retained for purposes including:

• Completing transactions;
• Maintaining customer and vendor accounts;
• Accounting and financial reporting;
• Tax compliance;
• Fraud prevention;
• Dispute resolution;
• Customer support;
• Legal compliance; and
• Enforcement of agreements.

When information is no longer reasonably required, we will take reasonable steps to securely delete, destroy or anonymise it, subject to applicable legal requirements.

14. YOUR PRIVACY RIGHTS

Subject to applicable law, you may have rights concerning your personal information, including the right to:

• Know how your personal information is being processed;
• Request access to personal information held about you;
• Request correction of inaccurate information;
• Object to certain forms of processing;
• Withdraw consent where consent is the basis of processing;
• Request deletion where legally applicable;
• Opt out of direct marketing; and
• Seek appropriate remedies where your data-protection rights have been violated.

Requests should be submitted through our official contact channels.

We may require reasonable verification of your identity before processing certain requests.

15. CHILDREN’S PRIVACY

Trade Africa Online does not knowingly seek to collect personal information from children where parental or guardian consent is required by applicable law.

If we become aware that personal information has been collected in circumstances where such collection was unlawful, we will take reasonable steps to address the matter.

16. THIRD-PARTY WEBSITES

Our platform may contain links to third-party websites, payment services, social-media platforms or other external services.

Trade Africa Online is not responsible for the privacy practices, security or content of third-party websites.

Users should review the privacy policies of third-party services before providing personal information.

17. REVIEWS AND PUBLIC CONTENT

Where the platform permits users to submit product reviews, ratings, comments or other public content, information submitted may be displayed publicly.

Users should avoid submitting sensitive personal information in reviews, comments or other publicly visible content.

Trade Africa Online reserves the right to remove content that violates applicable law or our platform rules.

18. DATA BREACHES

If Trade Africa Online becomes aware of a personal-data breach requiring notification under applicable law, we will take reasonable steps to:

• Investigate the incident;
• Contain and mitigate the breach;
• Assess potential risks;
• Implement appropriate corrective measures; and
• Make any notifications required by applicable law.

19. CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

Trade Africa Online may update this Privacy Policy periodically to reflect changes in:

• Our services;
• Technology;
• Business practices;
• Marketplace operations;
• Legal requirements; or
• Data-protection practices.

The updated version will be published on the Trade Africa Online website.

The “Last Updated” date at the beginning of this Policy indicates the most recent revision.

20. CONTACT INFORMATION

For questions, requests or complaints concerning this Privacy Policy or the handling of personal information, please contact:

Trade Africa Online

Email: info@tradeafricaonline.com
Telephone: (+233) 302 790 7616
Address: #57 Kofi Annan Street, Airport Residential Area, Accra, Ghana
Website: tradeafricaonline.com

These contact details are currently published on the Trade Africa Online website.

21. COMPLAINTS

Customers and users are encouraged to contact Trade Africa Online first regarding any privacy concern so that we can investigate and attempt to resolve the matter.

Nothing in this Privacy Policy prevents an individual from exercising any rights available under applicable data-protection legislation or contacting the relevant regulatory authority.

22. GOVERNING LAW

This Privacy Policy shall be interpreted and applied in accordance with the applicable laws of the Republic of Ghana, subject to any mandatory rights or protections applicable to users in other jurisdictions.

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TRADE AFRICA ONLINE

Connecting African Businesses, Products and Consumers Through Digital Commerce.