Privacy Policy

Kasuku Market ("Kasuku", "we") is a marketplace where people in Uganda buy and sell directly with each other, on the website kasukumarket.online and in the Kasuku Market Android app. Kasuku Market is operated by Terry Technologies Limited, Kampala, Uganda. This policy explains what we collect, why, who we share it with, and the choices you have. It follows the Uganda Data Protection and Privacy Act, 2019.

1. What we collect

• Account details: your name, phone number and/or email, and a password (stored only as a secure hash). If you use "Continue with Google", we receive your name, email and Google account ID.
• Profile and shop details you add: profile photo, the area you sell from (for example "Ntinda, Kampala"), shop address and a short description.
• Your ads: photos, title, description, price, category and the area of the item.
• Messages and calls: chat messages and offers between buyers and sellers, and a record of calls (who called whom, when, how long). Voice and video calls connect directly between the two phones; we do not record them.
• Activity: searches, ads you view or save, and feedback you leave or receive.
• Device data: a push-notification token for your phone (so calls ring and messages notify you), and basic technical data such as your IP address, browser or app version, kept in server logs for security.
• Payments for promotions: when you pay to promote an ad (Lift or Spotlight), the mobile-money number you pay from and the payment reference. We never see your PIN.

We do not collect your precise GPS location, contacts, or files other than the photos you choose to upload.

2. How we use it

• To run the marketplace: show your ads, connect buyers and sellers by chat and calls, and send the notifications you choose.
• To keep people safe: review ads before they go live, warn when a message asks for payment in advance, investigate reports, and stop fraud and abuse.
• To make search and posting easier: our AI features turn a sentence like "cheap iPhone under 1.5m" into search filters, and write a draft ad from your photo or words.
• To process payments for ad promotions, and to keep the records the law requires.
• To improve the service, using totals such as how many people searched for a category.

We do not sell your personal data, and we do not use it for third-party advertising.

3. What other people see

Your ads, your name, your profile photo, your area and the feedback others leave you are public. Your phone number is shown only to signed-in users who tap "Show contact" on one of your ads. Messages are seen only by the two people in the chat, and by our team when a chat is reported.

4. Who we share data with

Only with service providers that help us run Kasuku Market, and only what each needs:

• Hosting: our servers and database, run by our hosting provider (Contabo), store the data above.
• Google: Firebase Cloud Messaging delivers notifications and incoming calls to your phone; Google Sign-In if you use it.
• AI provider (Groq): processes the search text, ad text or photo you submit to an AI feature, to return a result. It is not used to identify you.
• Payments (MarzPay): processes mobile-money payments for ad promotions.
• SMS and email providers: send password-reset codes and message reminders you have turned on.
• The law: we may share data when required by Ugandan law or a court, or to protect people from fraud or harm.

5. How long we keep it

• Your account and ads: while your account exists. Expired and sold ads stay in your account history until you delete them or the account.
• Messages: while either person in the chat still has an account.
• Payment records: as long as Ugandan tax and accounting law requires.
• Server logs: up to 90 days. Backups: up to 14 days.

6. Your choices and rights

• See and change your details any time in Account → Edit profile.
• Choose which notifications and SMS you receive, and set quiet hours, in notification settings.
• Delete an ad, or mark it sold, at any time.
• Delete your account in the app (Account → Delete my account) or on the web at kasukumarket.online/delete-account. Your ads come down and your personal details are erased; see that page for exactly what happens.
• Ask us for a copy of your data, to correct it, or to stop a use of it, by writing to the email below.

7. Security

All traffic uses HTTPS encryption. Passwords are stored as secure hashes, payment secrets and keys are kept off the public servers, and access to personal data is limited to the people who need it to run and protect the service. No system is perfectly secure; if a breach affects you, we will tell you and the authorities as the law requires.

8. Children

Kasuku Market is for people aged 18 and over. We do not knowingly collect data from children; if you believe a child has an account, tell us and we will remove it.

9. Changes

If we change this policy, we will update the date above, and tell you in the app or by notification for important changes.

10. Contact us

Terry Technologies Limited, operator of Kasuku Market, Kampala, Uganda.
Email: moseswasswa121@gmail.com