Privacy Policy

This information is provided in good faith to explain how we operate and how we handle your information. It is not legal advice. If anything here is unclear or you have a question, please contact us and we’ll gladly help.

Effective date: 1 September 2026

1. Who we are

Scentrifuge (formerly Forest Garden Perfumes) is a South African online store selling “inspired by” fragrance oils. Our perfume oils are blended locally from high-quality oils. This policy explains how we collect, use, share and protect your personal information in line with the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (POPIA).

Responsible party: SCENTRIFUGE (registration number K2026674646), of 21 Yellowwood Street, Randpark Ridge Ext 14, Johannesburg, 2169. This is our back-office address; we are an online store and ship nationwide by courier.

This policy applies to our website and to orders placed with us.

2. Our Information Officer

POPIA requires every responsible party to have an Information Officer who is accountable for how personal information is handled. You can reach our Information Officer with any privacy question or request:

Information Officer: David Berman — 073 238 5827, info@scentrifuge.co.za
General contact: David — 073 238 5827 (call or WhatsApp), or Michelle — 083 635 4494 (call or WhatsApp)
Email: info@scentrifuge.co.za

3. Personal information we collect

Depending on how you use the site, we may collect:

Your name and surname.
Your email address.
Your phone number.
Your delivery and billing address.
Your order and purchase history.
Communications with us (emails, WhatsApp/phone enquiries, contact-form messages).
Technical and cookie data — such as your IP address, browser/device type and pages viewed (see “Cookies & analytics” below).

Payments: when online payment goes live, your payment details are collected and processed directly by our payment gateway (Ozow), which supports instant EFT, card payments, Apple Pay and Google Pay. We do not receive or store your full card number, CVV, PIN or banking login credentials. Apple Pay and Google Pay pass a device-specific token to the gateway rather than your actual card number.

4. Why we process your information (purpose & lawful basis)

Under POPIA we only process your information for a lawful purpose. We use it to:

Process, fulfil and deliver your orders, and keep you updated on their status (necessary to conclude and perform our contract with you).
Arrange courier delivery to your address.
Provide customer support and respond to your enquiries.
Meet our legal, tax and accounting obligations (e.g. keeping invoice records).
Detect and prevent fraud and secure our website (our legitimate interest).
Send you marketing or promotional messages — only where you have consented, and you can opt out at any time.

5. How we share your information

We do not sell your personal information. We share it only with trusted third parties (“operators” under POPIA) who help us run the store, and only to the extent needed to do their job:

Courier / delivery partner — to deliver your order (name, address, phone).
Payment gateway (Ozow) — to process online payments securely (instant EFT, cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay).
Email / SMTP provider — to send order and account emails.
Website host — where the site and its data are stored.

These operators are required to keep your information confidential and secure and to process it only on our instructions. We may also disclose information where the law requires it.

6. Cookies & analytics

Our website uses cookies and similar technologies to make the site work, remember your cart, improve performance (via our caching tool, SpeedyCache) and understand how the site is used. When you first visit, our cookie-consent tool lets you accept or decline non-essential cookies. You can also control or delete cookies through your browser settings, though disabling some cookies may affect how the site works.

7. How we keep your information safe (security safeguards)

In line with POPIA’s security safeguards (condition 7), we take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect your personal information against loss, unauthorised access and misuse — including secured (HTTPS) connections, access controls and using reputable service providers. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, but we work to protect your information and to notify you and the Information Regulator if a security compromise affecting your information occurs.

8. How long we keep it (retention)

We keep your personal information only for as long as we need it for the purposes described above, or for as long as South African law requires — whichever is longer. When information is no longer needed, we securely delete, destroy or de-identify it.

In practice:

Order, invoice, payment and delivery records — 7 years. The Companies Act 71 of 2008 (sections 24 and 25) requires accounting records and financial statements to be kept for seven years, and the Tax Administration Act 28 of 2011 (section 29) requires tax records to be kept for five years from the date the related return is submitted. We apply the longer of the two.
Your account — Name, email address, delivery addresses and order history are kept for as long as your account stays open. You can ask us to close and delete it at any time — we will remove it, except for the order records we are legally required to keep above.
Enquiries you send us — Contact-form messages, emails and WhatsApp conversations are kept for 24 months after our last exchange, then deleted.
Marketing consent and unsubscribe records — Kept while you are subscribed, plus 3 years after you opt out, so that we can show we acted on your withdrawal.
Saved wishlists — A guest wishlist expires automatically after 30 days of inactivity. A wishlist saved to an account lasts as long as the account.
Website analytics — We use Google Analytics 4. Analytics data is retained for no longer than 14 months.
Server, security and access logs — Kept for up to 12 months for security and fraud prevention.

Where we need to keep something for longer for a specific legal reason — for example a SARS audit or verification, a dispute over an assessment, or a legal claim — we keep only the records relevant to that matter, and only until it is concluded.

9. Cross-border transfers

Some of our service providers (for example hosting or email services) may store or process information outside South Africa. Where this happens, we take reasonable steps to ensure your information receives a level of protection comparable to that required by POPIA.

10. Your rights under POPIA

As a data subject, you have the right to:

Access the personal information we hold about you.
Correct or update information that is inaccurate or outdated.
Request deletion or destruction of information we no longer have a lawful reason to keep.
Object to processing in certain circumstances, and to withdraw consent to marketing at any time.
Complain to the Information Regulator (South Africa).

Information Regulator (South Africa): the Regulator is the independent body that oversees POPIA and handles privacy complaints. You may lodge a complaint with them if you believe we have not handled your information lawfully:

POPIA complaints: POPIAComplaints@inforegulator.org.za
General enquiries: enquiries@inforegulator.org.za
Telephone: 010 023 5200 · Toll-free: 0800 017 160
Address: Woodmead North Office Park, 54 Maxwell Drive, Woodmead, Johannesburg, 2191
Website: inforegulator.org.za — complaints may also be lodged through the Regulator’s eServices portal

11. How to exercise your rights

To access, correct or delete your information, to object to processing, or to ask any privacy question, contact our Information Officer using the details in section 2. We may need to verify your identity before acting on a request.

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The latest version will always be posted on this page with an updated effective date. Please check back periodically.

Scentrifuge fragrances are our own interpretations inspired by designer scents. We are not affiliated with, associated with, or endorsed by the original brands. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners and are used for descriptive comparison only.