Privacy policy

1. About this policy

OmdaBazar is an assisted wholesale marketplace connecting Afghan producers with business buyers. This policy explains how information is handled on this site. This policy applies to the marketplace pilot and its account, RFQ, support, registry, and direct-order features.

2. What the platform collects

• Accounts are limited to business use. We collect the identity and contact details needed to authenticate you, prefill forms, route RFQs, and protect the marketplace.
• No advertising trackers. The platform does not set advertising or cross-site tracking cookies. Optional analytics are enabled only after consent.
• Forms are stored when you submit them. RFQs, supplier applications, support requests, quotes, and direct-order records are stored so the marketplace can route requests, support businesses, and maintain an audit trail.
• Local browser storage only. Your product-comparison tray (and demo reorder selections) are kept in your browser's localStorage. This stays on your device, is never transmitted, and you can clear it at any time with the "Clear" button on the compare tray or by clearing site data in your browser.
• Photos are served locally. Images are stored with the site; none are loaded from third-party hosts that could log your visit.

3. Server logs

When the platform is hosted on a web server, the server may keep standard technical access logs (IP address, page requested, time) for security and uptime. These logs are not used to profile visitors and are deleted on a routine schedule.

4. What the platform collects, and why

The marketplace collects only what it needs to function:

• Business identity & contact details — company name, trade licence, province, named contacts — to create accounts, show supplier profiles and route quotes.
• RFQ and quote content — what you buy, quantities, specifications, delivery province — to match requirements to capable suppliers and produce comparable quotations.
• Order records — the written order specification both sides approve, dispatch and receipt milestones — to power the reorder centre and assisted dispute follow-up.
• Verification materials (suppliers) — business documents and site-visit records — to grant and re-check 🛡️ Verified status.
• Performance statistics — on-time delivery, response times, claim and reorder rates computed from completed orders — to publish supplier KPIs.

5. Business listings from public directories

Part of the supplier directory is compiled from publicly available business directories and public company pages, rather than from data businesses submitted themselves. For each such listing the platform stores the company name, sector, city and province, public contact details, website and logo — so buyers can discover the business and reach it.

• Source and status. These records are published as LISTED — directory information that has not been document-verified by OmdaBazar. They are kept while they remain useful to buyers, and are never presented as verified.
• Your rights. If you represent a listed business you can claim the listing from its profile page (free of charge) to take control of it, or ask us to correct, complete or remove it — write to [email protected]. We act promptly on valid requests.
• Once claimed. The claim links the profile to your account; from then on you maintain the profile through the seller dashboard, and the claim is recorded in our audit log so it is always clear who controls the listing.

6. What we will not do

• We will not sell or rent personal or business data.
• We will not run third-party advertising trackers on the platform.
• We will not disclose one buyer's pricing, volumes or specifications to another buyer, or to suppliers outside the quotes and orders that buyer initiates.
• We will not publish a supplier's verification documents; only the verification status, date and scope.

7. Verification documents (suppliers)

Documents submitted for verification — licences, ownership records, site-visit notes — are used solely to establish identity, production site and capacity. Access is restricted to the OmdaBazar verification team. The publicly visible result is limited to the badge tier, the date of assessment and its scope. Records are retained for the life of the verification (re-checked annually) and for a reasonable period afterwards to support dispute resolution.

8. Sharing

Information is shared only as the marketplace requires to work: your approved order specification goes to the supplier you chose, and theirs to you; logistics details go to the freight provider for the lane you book; disclosure may also occur where law requires. OmdaBazar does not otherwise distribute user data.

9. Security and retention

The production platform is designed to encrypt data in transit and at rest, restrict internal access by role, and retain account and order records for as long as an account is active plus the period needed for tax, audit and dispute-resolution purposes. You can request correction or deletion of your account data; records tied to completed orders may be retained in anonymised or minimised form where law or dispute history requires. If you switch on optional two-factor authentication, the platform stores your authenticator key encrypted (AES-256-GCM) solely to check the codes you enter; two-factor stays off unless you enable it.

10. Your choices and contact

Questions, correction or deletion requests: [email protected]. This policy is available in English, Dari and Pashto; the English text is the reference version. See also the terms of use and the disclaimer.

Engineering detail on how usage is measured without tracking lives in the privacy-preserving analytics spec.

11. Changes to this policy

Material changes will be announced on the site before taking effect. The "last updated" date above reflects the current version.