Privacy Policy

Sproud is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy.

As used in this Privacy Policy, the terms “Sproud,” “we” and “us” refer to Sproud (Pty) Ltd and its subsidiaries and affiliates.

This Privacy Policy describes how we collect, use, protect and share information about you, as an individual, that we obtain when you access and use our Platform (defined below), including when you request an offer, sell us your home, buy a home from us, use our other real estate-related services, participate in contests or promotions, or submit questions or feedback. This Privacy Policy also applies to information that we obtain when you communicate or interact with us outside of the Platform, including by e-mail, telephone and otherwise.

For purposes of this Privacy Policy, the term “Website” refers to the website currently located at www.sproud.co.za, and any and all other websites owned or operated by Sproud, through which access to Sproud real estate-related services is available, including all features, functionality, tools and content of those websites and services. The Website will be referred to herein collectively as the “Platform.”

Please read this Privacy Policy carefully to understand how we will treat your information before you access or use our Platform or communicate with us outside of the Platform. (Although, we may provide additional notice and choice options within the Platform itself.)

BY ACCESSING OR USING OUR PLATFORM OR COMMUNICATING WITH US OUTSIDE OF THE PLATFORM, YOU ARE ACCEPTING AND CONSENTING TO THE PRACTICES DESCRIBED IN THIS PRIVACY POLICY, WHICH MAY BE UPDATED AND AMENDED FROM TIME TO TIME. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THE TERMS OF THIS PRIVACY POLICY, YOU MUST NOT ACCESS OR USE OUR PLATFORM OR COMMUNICATE WITH US.

HOW WE COLLECT INFORMATION

Information You Provide to Us

We collect and store information that you provide directly to us, including when you request an offer, register for an account, provide us your location, upload or otherwise submit photos, make an offer, update your e-mail preferences, respond to a survey or provide other feedback about the Platform or contact us with questions or comments.

We may also collect information about you when you request to receive text messages from us (for example, when you sign up for instant access to your chosen properties). You may opt in to receive such updates and offers by providing your mobile telephone number through the Platform.

We will not ask for or request sensitive information such as government identifiers, medical information, or financial information, except in connection with requests for offers or purchase or sale transactions. Please do not provide this type of information to us unless specifically requested.

Using our Platform

We also collect and store certain technical information when you access, browse and use our Platform. This technical information helps us operate and provide our Platform to you, and includes standard information about interactions and system capabilities, such as:

information about the device(s) you use to access our Website, including MAC address, IP address, browser type and version, location, time zone setting, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform, device type, and device identifiers;
information about your visits to the Website, including the full URL clickstream to, through, and from the Website (including date and time);
information we need and use to facilitate your use of our Platform (including to provide access to third party websites and services), such as URL requests, destination IP addresses, or device configuration details;
pages you view, services you search for, length of time browsing search results, specific search results you select to view; and
page response times, download errors, length of visits to certain pages, page interaction information (such as scrolling, clicks, and mouse-overs), your engagement with certain variable/dynamic elements of a page and methods used to browse away from the page.

We also may collect information using cookies and web beacons. (See Cookies & Web Beacons below.)

Other Collection of Information

We may supplement the technical information we collect from you with information collected by third parties. Such third parties may include service providers or advertising partners that help us understand the users who access and use our Platform and services and provide better services to those users. To the extent that access to the Platform is made available by any of our partners or affiliates through its/their owned or operated website(s), the applicable partner or affiliate may share information with us that they have collected from or about you in connection with such access.

On occasion, we may combine or compare data from other third-party sources with information that you have, or your company (if applicable) has, provided, or that we have otherwise collected. This may include demographic and navigation data, credit check information and additional information about you from a credit bureau, as permitted by law.

We may also collect and compile contact information from other sources in order to contact you if we think you, or the company you represent (if applicable), would be interested in our Platform or services.

Third parties that are unaffiliated with us may also collect information about you, including tracking your browsing history, when you use our Platform. Such third parties may collect information about your online activities over time and across different websites or online services. We do not have control over these third-party collection practices and advise you to adjust the settings of your browsers or install plug-ins and add-ins if you wish to minimize these third-party collections.

HOW INFORMATION MAY BE USED

We may use any information that we collect in order to:

enable you to submit requests for offers, make offers, and use our other related services;
operate our Platform and provide services to our users, including for payment processing, Platform administration, internal operations, troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, research, statistical and survey purposes;
manage access to our Platform;
send you information that helps you to use our Platform;
provide you access to, and updates regarding, particular properties and other offers via text message;
contact you directly about offer requests, offers, or sale or purchase transactions;
create reports for our affiliates, licensors and service providers that may include aggregate information about use of various aspects of the Platform;
comply with laws and regulations;
carry out our obligations and enforce our rights arising from any contracts entered into between you and us;
notify you about changes to our Platform;
protect the integrity and maintain the security of our Platform, including secured areas of the Platform;
in any other way that we describe when you provide the information; and
for any other purpose for which you may provide consent.

In some cases, how we treat and use information will depend on the type of information. Some of the information we collect through your use of our Platform or communications with us, such as your first and last name, address, e-mail address, telephone number, geo-location information, financial information and billing information associated with a transaction, Agent ID, and/or the name of the company or organization on behalf of which you are authorized to use the Platform (if applicable) may personally identify you. We will treat this information as “Personally Identifiable Information.” Other data derived from your use of the Platform is treated as “Non-Personally Identifiable Information,” unless it is combined with Personally Identifiable Information, or unless otherwise required by applicable law. We will treat as Personally Identifiable Information any Non-Personally Identifiable Information -that is combined with Personally Identifiable Information.

In addition to the uses listed above, we may use your information, including Personally Identifiable Information, in order to:

respond to your requests for offers, feedback or questions (by telephone, text or email);
serve or otherwise deliver relevant advertising and information about products or services offered by us, our affiliates, our advertising partners, or other third parties; and
send you e-mails about updates, information, or alerts regarding our Platform.

In addition, we may use your information as described in any notice provided at the time you provide the information, and for any other purpose for which you may provide consent.

We may use technical information and Non-Personally Identifiable Information to:

evaluate and improve our Platform and present content in the best way for you and for your device(s);
measure the effectiveness of the advertising we serve or otherwise deliver.

We may also combine technical information or non-Personally Identifiable Information about your use of our Platform and services with similar information that we obtain from other users to use in an aggregate or anonymous manner for similar purposes.

HOW INFORMATION MAY BE SHARED

We may share any information, including Personally Identifiable Information with:

our subsidiaries and affiliates;
our licensors, service providers, subcontractors and agents as reasonably necessary to enable us to operate and provide our Platform and services to you;
a buyer or other successor in the event of a merger, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution or other sale or transfer of some or all of our assets, whether as a going concern or as part of bankruptcy, liquidation or similar proceeding, in which Personally Identifiable Information held by us about our users is among the assets transferred;
third parties with whom we must legally share information about you;
to our advertising partners, advertising networks, or other third parties to serve or otherwise deliver relevant advertising and information about products or services;
you, upon your written request;
the company or organization you represent (if applicable) if that company requests us to do so; and
other third parties with your express consent.

We may also disclose your Personally Identifiable Information:

to comply with any court order, law or legal process, including to respond to any government or regulatory request;
to investigate potential unauthorized access or misuse of our Platform or otherwise enforce our Terms of Use, Supplemental Terms (as defined below), Platform Rules (as defined below) other agreements;
to protect our assets or rights, including for billing and collection purposes;
if we believe disclosure is necessary or appropriate to protect the rights, property, or safety of Sproud, our users or others (including exchanging information with other companies and organizations for the purposes of fraud protection and credit risk reduction); and
for any other purpose disclosed by us when you provide the information.

We do not permit these third parties to use any Personally Identifiable Information we share for any purpose other than (i) as described in this Privacy Policy, and (ii) to comply with their own legal requirements.

In addition to the above, we may share non-Personally Identifiable Information, aggregate or anonymous data:

with analytics providers, search engines, or other service providers that help us improve our Platform and services; and
with other users or prospective users of our Platform and services.

In the event that we receive a request from a governmental entity to provide it with your Personally Identifiable Information, we will take reasonable attempts to notify you of such request, to the extent reasonably possible and legally permissible.

COOKIES & WEB BEACONS

We may use cookies, beacons and similar technologies, now or in the future, to support the functionality of our Platform. This provides a better experience when you visit our Platform and allows us to improve our Platform and services.

Browser Cookies. A browser cookie is a small file placed on the hard drive of your computer. That cookie then communicates with servers, ours or those of other companies that we authorize to collect data for us, and allows recognition of your personal computer. We associate cookies with Personally Identifiable Information only if you use the automatic recognition capabilities on restricted areas of the Platform, order a Service, use the personalization services available as part of the Platform, or ask us to contact you with additional marketing information. We do not otherwise collect Personally Identifiable Information from browser cookies and we do not associate browser cookies with your Personally Identifiable Information.
You may use the tools available on your computer or other device to set your browser to refuse or disable all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when cookies are being set. However, if you refuse or disable all browser cookies, you may be unable to access certain parts or use certain features or functionality of our Platform.
You may choose whether to activate automatic recognition when you register for an account. After registration, you may disable the persistent cookie that supports recognition using the tools in your browser. If you choose to disable the cookies that support automatic recognition, you will need to re-enter your e-mail and password each time you access a gated portion of the Platform.
Unless you have adjusted your browser settings so that it refuses all cookies, we may issue cookies when you direct your browser to use our Platform.
To learn more about cookies, you can visit http://www.allaboutcookies.org.
Flash Cookies. Certain features of our Platform may use local stored objects called flash cookies to collect and store information about your preferences and navigation to, from and on our Platform. We also include cookies in our third-party hosted video players to count the number of unique viewers who see a video and to provide aggregate reporting. The cookies do not identify you as an individual or track your online behavior. We do not collect Personally Identifiable Information from flash cookies and we will not associate them with your Personally Identifiable Information.
Flash cookies are not managed by the same browser settings as are used for browser cookies. To learn how you can manage your Flash cookie settings, visit the Flash player settings page on Adobe’s website. If you disable or refuse Flash cookies, please note that some parts of our Platform may be inaccessible or may not function properly.
Web Beacons. Our Platform and e-mails may contain small electronic files known as web beacons (also referred to as clear GIFs, pixel tags and single-pixel GIFs) that permit us to, for example, count users who have visited those pages or opened an e-mail and for other website-related statistics. Web beacons in e-mail marketing campaigns allow us to track your responses and your interests in our content, offerings and web pages. You may use the tools in your device to disable these technologies as well.

Google Inc. (“Google”) is one example of a service provider that uses cookies or similar technologies to collect information about your browsing activities over time and across different websites following your visit to our Platform. Google Analytics is a web analytics service provided by Google that uses first-party cookies to track users’ interactions and collect other information about how you use our Platform. Google Analytics collects information anonymously. We then use the information to compile reports, including usage trends, to help us improve our Platform. You can opt out of Google Analytics without affecting how you visit our site. For more information on how Google uses this data, go to https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners/, or review the Google Analytics Terms of Service at https://www.google.com/analytics/terms/us.html. For more information about opting out of being tracked by Google Analytics across all websites you use, please visit https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout/.

YOUR CHOICES

We offer you certain choices in connection with the information we collect from you.

E-mail Communications

You may have the opportunity to receive certain communications from us related to our Platform. If you provide us with your e-mail address in order to receive communications, you can opt out of marketing e-mails at any time by following the instructions at the bottom of our e-mails and adjusting your e-mail preferences. Please note that certain e-mails may be necessary for the operation of our Platform. You will continue to receive these e-mails, if appropriate, even if you unsubscribe from our optional communications.

Cookies/Beacons

If you wish to minimize information collected by cookie or beacon, you can adjust the settings of your browsers to notify you when you receive a cookie, which lets you choose whether or not to accept it. You can also set your browser to automatically reject any cookies. You may also be able to install plug-ins and add-ins that serve similar functions. However, please be aware that some features and services on our Platform may not work properly if we are not able to recognize and associate you with your account. In addition, the offers we provide when you visit us may not be as relevant to you or tailored to your interests.

Network Advertising Initiative

Certain websites you visit may provide options regarding advertisements you receive. If you wish to minimize the amount of targeted advertising you receive, you can opt out of certain network advertising programs through the Network Advertising Initiative (NAI) Opt–Out Page. Please note that even if you choose to remove your information (opt out) you will still see advertisements while you’re browsing online. However the advertisements you see may be less relevant to you. For more information or to opt out of certain online behavioral advertising, please visit http://www.aboutads.info.

Additionally, many advertising network programs allow you to view and manage the interest categories that they have compiled from your online browsing activities. These interest categories help determine the types of targeted advertisements you may receive. The NAI Opt–Out Page provides a tool that identifies its member companies that have cookies on your browser and provides links to those companies.

Do Not Track

Some browsers support a “Do Not Track” feature, which is intended to be a signal to websites that you do not wish to be tracked across different websites you visit. Our Platform does not currently change the way they operate based upon detection of a Do Not Track or similar signal.

Please note that we cannot control how third-party websites or online services you visit through our Platform respond to Do Not Track signals. Check the privacy policies of those third parties for information on their privacy practices.

You may opt out of direct telemarketing contacts by requesting us to remove you from our direct telemarking list. Please note that opting out from our direct telemarketing contacts does not limit us from contacting you for other purposes, including those contacts that are reasonably necessary to provide you with our Platform. If you decide to opt out of our direct telemarketing contacts, allow a reasonable time for us to process your request and do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected].

Text Alerts

You may have the opportunity to receive certain information, updates and/or offers from us via text communications. If you provide us with your mobile number in order to receive such communications, you can opt out of receiving text messages at any time by texting STOP.

Updating or Deleting Information

We value the accuracy of the information we have about you. To review or correct your Personally Identifiable Information, please contact us at [email protected].

SECURING YOUR INFORMATION

The security of your information is important to Sproud, and we have established administrative, technical and physical safeguards designed to protect Personally Identifiable Information against loss, alteration, unauthorized access, theft, misuse or disclosure. Unfortunately, no system can guarantee complete security of your information. As a result, Sproud cannot ensure or warrant your information, including your Personally Identifiable Information, is completely secure from unauthorized third parties. Thus, your use of the Platform and communication with us is at your own risk.

You are responsible for protecting your password and for the security of information that you transmit to us over the internet.

If you have reason to believe that your interaction with the Platform is no longer secure (for example, if you feel that the security of your username or password has been compromised), you must immediately notify us of the problem by contacting us.

CHILDREN

Our Platform is directed to and is intended for use by persons who are 18 years of age or older. We do not knowingly collect information from children under 18. If you are under 18 years of age, you are not permitted to submit any personally identifiable information to us, including your name, address or e-mail address. If we discover that we have collected any personally identifiable information from a child under the age of 18, we will remove that information from our database as soon as possible. By submitting any personally identifiable information to us, you represent and warrant that you are 18 years of age or older.

INTERNATIONAL USERS

The Platform is operated and hosted within the South Africa and is not intended for use outside of the South Africa. If you are accessing our Platform from other jurisdictions, please be advised that any personal information you provide to us is being transferred to the South Africa. By using our Platform, you consent to that transfer and to the use of your personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy. You also agree to abide by applicable federal, state and local law concerning your use of the Platform and your agreements with us. Any persons accessing our Platform from any jurisdiction with laws or regulations applicable to the Platform or use thereof, including personal data collection, use and disclosure, that are different from those of South Africa may not use the Platform in a manner that is unlawful in their jurisdiction.

INTERPRETATION

Your use of our Platform may be governed by our Terms of Use located at www.sproud.co.za/terms-of-use, the supplemental terms that govern certain of the features, functionality, tools, content and promotions available on or through the Platform (the “Supplemental Terms””), and any and all policies and rules referenced herein or therein, posted on the Platform, or otherwise communicated to our users (the “Website Rules””). In the event that the provisions of any such agreement that are specific to a particular Platform or service differ from or conflict with the provisions of this Privacy Policy, the more specific terms will apply.

CHANGES TO OUR PRIVACY POLICY

We may change this Privacy Policy from time to time to align with changes to our business practices and/or changes to our legal requirements. We will post the updated Privacy Policy on this page (https://www.sproud/privacy-policy), and will indicate that the updates have been made by changing the effective date first written above. We urge you to check back periodically to check whether there have been updates to our Privacy Policy.

Your continued use of the Platform or communication with us after the updated Privacy Policy has been posted (or any other indication of your consent) will constitute your acceptance of the updated Privacy Policy.

Please note that we may condition your continued access to our Platform on your consent to changes to this Privacy Policy.

If you have questions, comments or requests relating to this Privacy Policy, please e-mail us at info@sproud.co.za