Privacy Policy

Shivs is operated by Onyx Advance (Pty) Ltd (registration number 2026/110041/07), a company registered in South Africa, with its address at 12 Jan Hupkes Crescent, Loerie Park, George, Western Cape, 6529.

For any privacy question, or to exercise the rights described below, contact our Information Officer at andre@onyxadvance.co.za.

This policy applies to three groups of people:

• Visitors to our marketing website and anyone who requests a demo.
• People who submit an enquiry through a website Shivs built and hosts for one of our client businesses.
• People who contact a business over WhatsApp, whose messages are handled through Shivs’ messaging inbox.

Where a client business uses Shivs to manage their own leads, that business is the responsible party for their customers’ information under POPIA, and Onyx Advance acts as their operator — processing that information on their behalf and under their instruction. For our own website and demo enquiries, Onyx Advance is the responsible party.

Depending on how you interact with us, we may process:

• Contact details — name, email address, phone number.
• Enquiry details — the business you’re interested in, what you’re asking about, location, and anything you choose to tell us in a form or message.
• WhatsApp messages — the content of messages you send to a business, your WhatsApp phone number, and your WhatsApp profile name, so that the business’s team can read and reply to you.
• Usage & analytics data — pages visited, approximate location (town/city level), device and browser information, and referral source, collected to understand where interest comes from and to improve the product.

Some businesses let you enquire over WhatsApp. When you message a business, WhatsApp (operated by Meta) delivers your message to Shivs, where it is stored and shown to that business’s team in a private inbox so they can respond to you. We use this information solely to handle your enquiry and conversation — never to send you unrelated marketing, and never sold or shared beyond the business you contacted and the service providers listed below.

Your use of WhatsApp itself is also governed by WhatsApp’s own Privacy Policy.

• To respond to your enquiry and manage your conversation with a business.
• To let a business’s team follow up with you about something you showed interest in.
• To send you service communications you’ve asked for or consented to (for example, launch updates).
• To understand demand and improve the Shivs platform.
• To meet our legal and regulatory obligations.

We rely on your consent (which you can withdraw at any time), the need to take steps at your request before entering a possible transaction, and our clients’ legitimate interest in managing customer enquiries, as our lawful bases for processing.

We do not sell your personal information. We share it only with:

• The client business whose site or WhatsApp number you contacted.
• Service providers who help us run the platform — our messaging provider (Meta / WhatsApp), email delivery provider (Resend), and analytics (Google Analytics) — each processing data only as needed to provide their service.
• Authorities, where we are legally required to disclose information.

Shivs is hosted on servers located in South Africa. Some of our service providers (such as WhatsApp/Meta and Google) may process limited data outside South Africa; where that happens, we rely on providers that offer protection consistent with POPIA’s requirements for cross-border transfers.

We keep personal information only as long as needed for the purposes above — typically for as long as you remain an active lead with a business, and thereafter only as required to meet legal, tax, or record-keeping obligations. You can ask us to delete your information at any time (see below).

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to safeguard personal information, including encrypted connections, access controls that limit who can view messages and leads, and encryption of sensitive stored credentials. No system is perfectly secure, but we work to protect your information against loss, misuse, and unauthorised access.

You have the right to:

• Ask what personal information we hold about you, and get a copy.
• Ask us to correct or update information that is wrong or out of date.
• Ask us to delete your information, or to stop processing it.
• Object to processing, and withdraw any consent you’ve given.
• Opt out of marketing communications at any time.

To exercise any of these, email andre@onyxadvance.co.za. You also have the right to complain to the Information Regulator of South Africa.

Our sites use cookies and similar technologies to keep the product working and to measure how it’s used (via Google Analytics). You can control cookies through your browser settings; blocking some may affect how the site works.

We may update this policy from time to time. When we do, we’ll change the “last updated” date above, and material changes will be reflected here on this page.