Privacy policy
Last modified: November 15, 2023
Introduction
- Business owners utilizing Bigmerchant to empower their operations.
- Customers engaging in transactions with businesses powered by Bigmerchant.
- Partners, including affiliates, involved in developing applications for businesses, setting up stores, referring potential entrepreneurs to Bigmerchant, or assisting.
- Users utilizing Bigmerchant apps and services.
- Visitors to Bigmerchant’s websites and individuals reaching out to Bigmerchant support.
Our Principles
At Bigmerchant, trust serves as the cornerstone of our platform, encompassing the confidence you place in us to handle your information responsibly. Our commitment to three core values directs the development of our products and services, offering insight into our approach to your information and privacy.
1. Ownership of Your Information
We meticulously assess the types of information required to deliver our services and strive to limit our data collection to only essential details. Where feasible, we either delete or anonymize this information when it is no longer necessary. Our engineers collaborate closely with our privacy and security teams to imbue privacy considerations into the construction and enhancement of our products. Throughout these endeavors, our fundamental principle remains steadfast: your information belongs to you, and our intent is to utilize it solely for your benefit.
2. Safeguarding Your Information
When a third party seeks access to your personal information, we steadfastly withhold sharing unless granted explicit permission from you or compelled by legal obligations. In instances where legal obligations necessitate the sharing of your personal information, we commit to notifying you beforehand, unless legal constraints prohibit us from doing so.
3. Supporting Privacy Obligations for Merchants and Partners
Recognizing that many merchants and partners on Bigmerchant may lack a dedicated privacy team, we find it crucial to assist them in meeting their privacy obligations. To facilitate this, we design our products and services to be easily employed in a privacy-conscious manner. Additionally, we offer comprehensive FAQs and documentation covering key privacy topics, and actively address any privacy-related inquiries we receive.
Why we process your information
Our processing of your information is typically driven by the need to fulfill contractual obligations, such as processing subscription payments for utilizing the Bigmerchant platform. Additionally, we or our associates may process your personal information for business-related reasons, commonly referred to as “legitimate interests” under the laws of the Federal republic of Nigeria. These “legitimate interests” include:
1. Preventing risk and fraud
2. Addressing queries and providing support
3. Assisting merchants in discovering and utilizing apps through our app store
4. Delivering and enhancing our products and services
5. Providing reporting and analytics
6. Testing features or additional services
7. Assisting with marketing, advertising, or other communications
We only engage in processing personal information for these “legitimate interests” after carefully evaluating potential privacy risks. We balance these risks by ensuring transparency in our privacy practices, granting you control over your personal information where applicable, restricting the information we retain, specifying the purposes for which we use your information, managing recipients of your information, determining the duration we retain your information, and implementing technical measures to safeguard your data.
In certain instances, we may also process your personal information with your explicit consent. This occurs when we cannot rely on an alternative legal basis for processing, when you instruct us to transfer information to a third party, when data is received from a third party with existing consent, or when legal requirements mandate obtaining your consent (especially in the context of sales and marketing activities). You retain the right to withdraw your consent at any time by adjusting your communication preferences, opting out of our communications, or contacting us directly.
For specific details tailored to your role as a merchant, customer, partner, user, or visitor, please refer to our supplemental privacy policies. These documents outline the purposes for processing, categories of recipients, and the legal basis for processing specific types of personal data.
Your Rights Over Your Information
At Bigmerchant, we firmly believe that you should have control and access to your personal information, irrespective of your location. Depending on your interactions with Bigmerchant, you may have the right to request access to, correct, amend, delete, port to another service provider, restrict, or object to certain uses of your personal information. We want to assure you that exercising any of these rights will not result in additional charges or a change in the level of service. It’s essential to understand that some of these rights apply only in specific circumstances, and all rights may be subject to legal limitations.
If you’ve made a purchase or provided information to a business powered by Bigmerchant and wish to assert these rights concerning your purchase or interaction, kindly contact the merchant directly. As a processor, we handle information on their behalf and will assist our merchants in fulfilling these requests in accordance with the law, providing them with the necessary tools and support.
For merchants, partners, Bigmerchant users, employees, website visitors, or individuals with a direct relationship with Bigmerchant, please initiate your data subject request through our online portal. To ensure the security of your information, we may use a third party to collect and verify identification documents before responding. Further details on rights available to individuals in specific regions can be found in the relevant regional privacy notices below.
Should you be dissatisfied with our response to a request, feel free to contact us for resolution. If you are situated in regions where applicable, you also retain the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection or privacy authority at any time.
Lastly, as there is no universally accepted definition of what a “Do Not Track” signal entails, we do not specifically respond to such signals.
Where We Send Your Information
Bigmerchant, as a Nigerian-based startup, operates globally and collaborates with individuals worldwide. While we are headquartered in Nigeria, our business activities may necessitate the transfer of your personal information outside of Nigeria, including to other countries such as the United States. It’s important to acknowledge that this data may be subject to the laws of the countries to which it is sent. We take precautionary measures to safeguard your information when it is transmitted across borders.
Whether you are a merchant, customer, partner, user, or visitor, we encourage you to refer to our relevant supplemental privacy policies for specific details tailored to your role. These policies outline the necessary information regarding the transfer of data and the legal safeguards in place.
Rest assured, we are committed to ensuring that your information is handled with the utmost care and protection, regardless of the geographical location to which it may be transmitted.
How Long we Retain your Information
At Bigmerchant, we retain your personal data only for the duration necessary to fulfill the purposes for which we collected it. To determine the appropriate retention period, we consider factors such as the quantity, nature, and sensitivity of your personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorized use or disclosure, the specific purposes of processing, and whether we can achieve those purposes through alternative means. Additionally, we take into account the applicable legal requirements. We will retain and utilize your personal information as required to comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our policies. If you cease using our services or delete your account, we will either delete your information or store it in an aggregated and anonymized format.
For detailed information based on your role as a merchant, customer, partner, user, or visitor, please refer to our relevant supplemental privacy policies.
How We Protect Your Information
Our dedicated teams work diligently to safeguard your information and ensure the security and integrity of our platform. Independent auditors regularly assess the security of our data storage and systems processing financial information. While we implement robust security measures, it’s important to note that no method of transmission over the Internet or electronic storage can be 100% secure. As such, we cannot guarantee the absolute security of your personal information.
How We Use "Cookies" and Other Tracking Technologies
Bigmerchant employs cookies and similar tracking technologies on our website and when delivering our services. To gain a comprehensive understanding of how we utilize these technologies, including a list of companies that place cookies on our sites, the cookies we place when powering a merchant’s store, and instructions on opting out of certain types of cookies, please refer to our Cookie Policy.
How to reach us
If you have inquiries, requests, or concerns regarding the processing of your personal information by Bigmerchant, please don’t hesitate to contact Bigmerchant Support. You can also reach out to us via mail at the address provided below. If you need to submit a legally binding request for someone else’s personal information, such as a subpoena or court order, please review our Guidelines for Legal Requests.
Contact Information:
No. 1 Kashim Ibrahim Street, Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria.
Email address:
contact@bigmerchant.co
If you are a merchant, partner, Shop user, Bigmerchant employee, website visitor, or an individual with a direct relationship with Bigmerchant, and you are located in the EEA or UK, Bigmerchant is the controller of your personal data. If you make a purchase from or otherwise provide your information to a Bigmerchant-powered store, the merchant is your data controller, and we act as a processor on their behalf.
For questions about how a merchant or store processes your personal information, please contact the merchant directly or refer to their privacy policy.
Information We Collect and Share About You
In order to deliver our apps and services to you, we are required to process information about you, which may include personal information.
It’s important to note that we do not “sell” your personal information, as defined under US Privacy Laws.
Below is a brief overview of the categories of personal information that may have been collected about you in the past 12 months and the entities with whom we may have shared that information, depending on your use of Bigmerchant.
CATEGORIES OF PERSONAL INFORMATION COLLECTED | RECIPIENTS OF PERSONAL INFORMATION |
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Why We Collect and Share Your Personal Information
At Bigmerchant, the collection and sharing of your personal information are conducted in accordance with the Shopify Privacy Policies. For categories of sensitive personal information that we collect, we only use or disclose such information either with your specific consent when required or as otherwise permitted by law.
Sources of Personal Information
To enhance commerce experiences on Bigmerchant, we gather and utilize personal information from various sources:
- You: We collect information provided by you when using our platform. This includes data from your sign-up as a merchant, interactions with Bigmerchant-powered stores, order information, visits to our websites, and communications with Bigmerchant support. Information such as account details, payment information, saved stores or items, purchases, reviews, and your interactions with stores or other users on our platform is gathered. Additionally, we collect data on your browsing behavior, including search terms.
- Your Device(s): Information is collected from and about the devices you use to access Bigmerchant, such as computers, phones, and other web-connected devices. This information is combined across different devices.
- Third Parties: receive information from partners who assist us in delivering services. This includes email providers for the Shop App, service providers aiding in account reviews, and marketplaces like Amazon if connected through the Shop App. Additionally, we work with subprocessors, analytics providers, and cookie providers for various purposes.
How Long We Keep Your Information
Because your personal information is essential for providing Bigmerchant services, we generally retain it, including sensitive personal information, for the duration of your use of Bigmerchant products or services or until you request its deletion. We may also retain personal information to meet legal obligations or safeguard our or others’ interests.
For merchants operating a Bigmerchant-powered store, if the store is closed, subscription fees are discontinued, or the account is terminated, we retain store information for two years before initiating the deletion process.
When you visit or make a purchase from a merchant’s Bigmerchant-powered store, we act as a service provider or processor for the merchant. The merchant, not Bigmerchant, determines the duration for which your information is retained.
Your Rights Over Your Information
Depending on your location and how you use Bigmerchant, you may have some or all of the following rights, subject to certain exceptions:
- Right to Know: The right to request disclosure of the personal information collected, used, or disclosed about you, along with information about our data practices.
- Right to Request Correction: The right to request correction of inaccurate personal information that we maintain about you.
- Right to Request Deletion: The right to request deletion of personal information that we have collected about you.
To exercise your rights, including the “right to know” and “right to delete,” please submit a request through our online portal.
If you have interacted with a merchant’s Bigmerchant-powered store, please contact the specific merchant directly. Any requests made to us will be forwarded to the relevant merchant.
Please note that for the protection of your information and the integrity of our products and services, we may need to verify your identity before processing your request. In some cases, additional information, such as your email address or a government-issued ID, may be required for verification.
Under Nigerian Privacy Laws, you have the option to designate an authorized agent to make these requests on your behalf. If you use an authorized agent, additional information, such as a government-issued ID, may be collected for verification.
In certain states, you have the right to appeal our decision regarding a request related to these rights. If you wish to appeal, please contact Bigmerchant Support.
We do not discriminate against you for exercising any of these rights.
How You Can Reach Us
If you have inquiries or concerns about how we process your personal information, please contact Bigmerchant Support. For requests related to your personal information, use the contact methods provided in the section above.