Shopexperts (“we”, “us”, or “our”) respects the privacy of every individual whose Personal Data we handle. Please read this Privacy Policy to understand how we collect, use, and protect Personal Data through our website, https://www.shopexperts.com, and all associated sites linked to it (the “Site”).

This Privacy Policy works alongside our Terms of Service (Client, Expert), which govern your use of our platform, Services, and accounts. These documents are separate but complementary, and you should review them together to understand your rights and obligations.

By using or accessing the Site, or by providing Personal Data to us, you consent to the practices described in this Privacy Policy.

1. Interpretation and Definitions

For the purposes of this Privacy Policy, the following terms have the meanings set out below:

Account means the unique account created for you to access our Services or parts of our Services.

Data Controller means that, for the purposes of the General Data Protection Regulation (the "GDPR"), we are the Data Controller of your Personal Data. This means that we determine the purposes and the means by which your Personal Data is used or processed.

Data Subject means any identified or identifiable natural person who is the subject of Personal Data.

Do Not Track (DNT) refers to a concept promoted by U.S. regulatory authorities, in particular the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), encouraging the Internet industry to develop and implement a mechanism that allows users to control the tracking of their online activities across websites.

Personal Data means any information that, on its own or combined with other information, relates to and identifies, whether directly or indirectly, a living individual.

Services refers to the Site and related technology provided by Shopexperts. It does not include the work or services offered directly by Experts or Clients during their collaboration. Experts and Clients may request and process additional personal data outside of our platform for the purpose of a specific project, and they are solely responsible for handling such data. Shopexperts is responsible only for the personal data collected through the website and platform for the purpose of maintaining user accounts (both Experts and Clients).

Users refers to both Experts and Clients of the Shopexperts Platform and Community.

2. Collection of Personal Data

We will only collect Personal Data that is necessary for, and directly related to, the provision of our Services. There are two types of data that we collect:

(I) Information You Provide to Us

We ask for and collect information, including Personal Data, about you when you use our Services. This information may include, but is not limited to:

Business contact information such as your name, job title, organization, address, phone number, and country.
Business experience information such as your work history, areas of professional expertise, client or expert reviews, portfolio of completed projects, proficiency with relevant tools and technologies, certifications, skills, and other background information that helps us understand your professional profile.
Payment information (Experts only) such as your preferred payout method or bank account details, which may be shared with Clients to facilitate payments. We do not collect or store such information from Clients.
Marketing information such as your contact preferences.
Account log-in credentials such as your email address or username and password.

(II) Information We Collect Automatically

When you use our Services, we may automatically collect or receive certain information about your usage of our Services (collectively, the "Usage Data"). In some countries, including those in the European Economic Area (the "EEA"), such information is considered Personal Data under applicable data protection laws.

This includes:

Device Information: We may collect certain information about the device you use, including your unique device ID, IP address, operating system, browser type, unique device identifiers, and other diagnostic data.
Log Data: Our servers keep log files that record general data and information each time a Data Subject or automated system accesses our Site. This includes, but is not limited to, the browser types and versions used, the operating system of the accessing system, the website from which an accessing system reaches our Site (so-called referrers), sub-websites visited, date and time (so-called timestamp) of access, originating IP address, the Internet Service Provider (ISP) of the accessing system, and any other similar data and information that may be used in the event of attacks on our information technology systems.

3. Sensitive or Special Categories of Personal Data

Special rules apply to the processing of certain types of Personal Data, including data concerning:

Racial or ethnic origin
Political opinions or religious beliefs
Trade union membership
Health or medical information
Sexual orientation or sexual life

We do not require, collect, or process any such sensitive or special categories of Personal Data.

4. Criminal Convictions and Offenses

Certain rules apply to the processing of Personal Data relating to criminal convictions and offenses, as set out under GDPR Article 10. We do not require, collect, or process any Personal Data concerning criminal convictions or offenses, as such information is not necessary for the provision of our Services and falls outside the scope of our platform’s operations.

5. Use of Personal Data

We will only process and use your Personal Data where permitted by applicable laws. In particular, we may use the Personal Data we collect or receive for the following purposes, based on a lawful basis such as your consent, performance of a contract, or our legitimate interests:

(i) To Provide, Improve, and Develop our Services

To enable you to access and use our Services and manage your Account.
To provide functionalities of the Site available only to registered users.
To deliver content correctly and respond to your requests.
To contact you via email or other electronic communications regarding updates, informative communications, or security notices when necessary.
To maintain and improve the quality of our Services and optimize the user experience through analytics and research.
To provide customer service, facilitate payments, refunds, logistics, and after-sales services.

(ii) To Provide, Personalize, Measure, and Optimize Advertising and Marketing

To provide news, special offers, and general information about Services and events relevant to your interests, unless you have opted out of such communications.

(iii) To Ensure a Safe Website and Protect Users’ Personal Data

To detect, prevent, and respond to fraud, spam, abuse, security incidents, and other harmful activities.
To verify or authenticate information provided by users.
To comply with legal obligations.
To prevent unauthorized access to our Services and the spread of malicious software.
To provide law enforcement authorities with information necessary for criminal prosecution in the event of cyberattacks.

6. Disclosure of Personal Data

We may share your Personal Data in the following situations:

(i) Third-Party Service Providers
We may share your Personal Data with third-party service providers who perform services on our behalf, including but not limited to:

Analytics and User Feedback Providers – to understand user behavior, improve our Site, and collect feedback.
Email and Marketing Providers – to manage and send newsletters, promotional communications, or other messages.
Payment Processors – to facilitate payment transactions for paid Services. We do not store your payment card details; these are provided directly to the payment processor, which complies with applicable security standards such as PCI-DSS.
Advertising and Remarketing Providers – to serve personalized ads on third-party websites based on your use of our Site.

These service providers have access to your Personal Data only to perform their specified tasks and are contractually obligated not to use it for other purposes. We may engage additional service providers in the future; the list above is illustrative and not exhaustive.

(ii) Affiliates
We may share your Personal Data with our affiliates, including parent companies, subsidiaries, joint ventures, or companies under common control, who are required to comply with this Privacy Policy.

(iii) Business Partners
We may share your Personal Data with business partners to offer you certain products, services, or promotions.

(iv) Third Parties Permitted by Law
We may disclose your Personal Data when legally required or permitted, including to:

Prevent, investigate, or take action against illegal activities, suspected fraud, threats to safety, or violations of our agreements;
Defend our legal rights, respond to court orders, subpoenas, warrants, or requests by public authorities, including for national security or law enforcement purposes.

(v) Business Transfers
In the event of a merger, sale of assets, financing, or acquisition of all or part of our business, your Personal Data may be transferred to the relevant third party. We will provide notice before your Personal Data becomes subject to a different Privacy Policy.

7. International Transfers

Your Personal Data may be processed at our operating offices and by other parties involved in the processing, which may be located outside your country, state, or other governmental jurisdiction. As a result, your Personal Data may be transferred to and stored on servers in jurisdictions where data protection laws differ from those of your location.

Whenever we transfer your Personal Data internationally, we implement appropriate safeguards to ensure an adequate level of protection, consistent with the measures described in this Privacy Policy.

8. Storage and Retention of Personal Data

All Personal Data collected is subject to our strict data security policies. We retain Personal Data only as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes described in this Privacy Policy, comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements and policies.

Usage Data is generally retained for a shorter period for internal analysis, except when it is needed to enhance security, improve the functionality of our Site, or when legal obligations require longer retention.

If Personal Data is processed for multiple purposes, it will be retained until the purpose with the longest retention period expires. Data will no longer be used for purposes with shorter retention periods once those periods end.

9. Security of Personal Data

We implement and maintain appropriate technical and administrative measures to protect your Personal Data against unauthorized access, loss, misuse, destruction, or alteration. Access to Personal Data is restricted to authorized personnel who are obligated to maintain its confidentiality.

While we strive to ensure the security of your Personal Data, no method of transmission over the Internet or electronic storage is completely secure. If you believe that your Personal Data, including Account information, has been lost, stolen, misappropriated, or otherwise compromised, please contact us using the instructions in Section 18 of this Privacy Policy.

We will assess the potential impact, take necessary measures to contain the incident, and, where required, notify the relevant authorities and affected individuals with appropriate information.

10. Privacy Obligations under the GDPR

Under the GDPR, our processing of your Personal Data must be justified under a lawful basis. The principal legal grounds for our use of your Personal Data are:

Consent: You have provided consent for processing your Personal Data for one or more specific purposes.
Contract Performance: Processing is necessary to enter into or perform our contract with you, including our Terms and Conditions or other policies under which we provide Services.
Legal Obligations: Processing is necessary for us to comply with applicable legal obligations.
Vital Interests: Processing is necessary to protect your vital interests or those of another natural person.
Public Interest: Processing is necessary to carry out a task in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in us.
Legitimate Interests: Processing is necessary to achieve our legitimate interests, provided these are not overridden by your data protection rights and fundamental freedoms.

If you wish, we will clarify the specific legal basis that applies to any processing, and in particular whether the provision of Personal Data is required by law or under a contract.

11. Access and Correction of Personal Data

If you are located in the EEA, you have the following rights under this Privacy Policy and applicable law:

Access: You have the right to access the Personal Data we hold about you. Whenever possible, you can access, update, or request deletion of your Personal Data directly through your Account settings. If you cannot perform these actions yourself, please contact us for assistance.
Correction: You have the right to rectify or correct any incomplete or inaccurate Personal Data we hold about you.
Right to Object: You may object to our processing of your Personal Data where we rely on a legitimate interest or when your data is processed for direct marketing purposes.
Restriction: You may request that we restrict processing of your Personal Data if it is inaccurate (until corrected), if the processing is unlawful, or if it is no longer necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, subject to any overriding legal obligations.
Deletion: You may request deletion of Personal Data that we do not have a legal basis to retain.
Data Portability: You have the right to receive Personal Data you have provided to us in a structured, electronic format and to transmit it to another data controller, where the processing is carried out by automated means or based on your consent or a contract.
Withdraw Consent: You may withdraw your consent to our processing of your Personal Data. However, withdrawing consent may prevent you from accessing certain functionalities of the Site.

We may ask you to verify your identity before responding to such requests and reserve the right to charge a reasonable fee for processing any data access or correction request.

If you are in the EEA, you also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local Data Protection Authority regarding our collection and use of your Personal Data.

12. Tracking Technologies and Cookies

Cookies and Tracking Technologies
Cookies are small text files stored on your computer or device via an Internet browser. Other tracking technologies, such as beacons, tags, and scripts, may also be used to collect and track information about your use of our Site. These technologies help us analyze and improve our Services and provide a more user-friendly experience.

By using cookies, we can recognize returning users, remember login credentials, store shopping cart contents, and tailor content and features to your preferences.

Types of Cookies

Session Cookies: Temporary cookies deleted when you close your browser.
Persistent Cookies: Stored on your device for a set period and used to remember preferences or recognize returning users.

Our Use of Cookies

Necessary / Essential Cookies
- Type: Session Cookies
- Administered by: Us
- Purpose: Required to provide Services, enable features, authenticate users, and prevent fraudulent account use. Services you request cannot be provided without these cookies.
Cookies Policy / Notice Acceptance Cookies
- Type: Persistent Cookies
- Administered by: Us
- Purpose: Identify whether users have accepted our use of cookies.
Functionality Cookies
- Type: Persistent Cookies
- Administered by: Us
- Purpose: Remember user choices, such as login details or language preferences, to provide a personalized experience.
Tracking and Performance Cookies
- Type: Persistent Cookies
- Administered by: Third Parties
- Purpose: Track Site usage and traffic, analyze performance, and test new pages or features. Information may be linked to a pseudonymous identifier associated with your device.

Managing Cookies
You can prevent the setting of cookies via your browser settings and delete existing cookies at any time. Please note that disabling cookies may affect the functionality of certain features on our Site.

13. “Do Not Track” Policy

Our Services do not respond to Do Not Track (DNT) signals. Some third-party websites, however, may track your browsing activities.

You can set your browser preferences to indicate that you do not want to be tracked. To enable or disable DNT, please visit the settings or preferences page of your web browser.

14. Automated Decision-Making / Profiling

We may use automated systems to assist with certain processes, such as evaluating profiles, ranking Experts, or recommending Services.

Automated processing is based on pre-defined criteria and does not have legal or similarly significant effects on you.
You have the right to request human intervention, express your point of view, and contest decisions based solely on automated processing where applicable under GDPR.

15. Links to Other Sites

Our Services may contain links to websites not operated by us. If you click on a third-party link, you will be directed to that site. We strongly recommend reviewing the privacy policies of any site you visit. We do not control and are not responsible for the content, privacy practices, or policies of third-party websites or services.

16. Children’s Privacy

Our Services are not directed to individuals under the age of 18, and we do not knowingly collect Personal Data from anyone under 18. Individuals under 18 should not provide Personal Data through our Services.

If you become aware that someone under 18 has provided Personal Data without parental consent, please contact us using the information in Section 18. Upon becoming aware, we take commercially reasonable steps to delete such information from our systems.

17. Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time, with or without prior notice. Any changes will be posted on this page, and the "Last Updated" date at the top of this Privacy Policy will indicate the most recent revision.

You are encouraged to review this Privacy Policy periodically. All changes become effective immediately upon posting on this page, regardless of whether notice is provided.

18. Contact Information

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or our processing of your Personal Data, including exercising your rights under applicable data protection laws, you may contact us at:

Company / Data Controller:

Swift Commerce Limited,

Unit 2A, 17/F, Glenealy Tower,

No1 Glenealy, Central, HKG

Email: [email protected]

Privacy Policy