Privacy Policy

EthiConnect Ethiopia (“we”, “us”, “the platform”) is a marketplace that connects Ethiopian farmers and other sellers directly with buyers. This policy explains exactly what information the platform collects, why it is collected, and who can see it. It describes only what the application actually does today.

We collect only the information needed to operate the marketplace:

• Account information — the email address and password you register with (passwords are handled by our authentication provider and are never visible to us), your full name, and the role you choose (buyer or seller).
• Contact details — your phone number, and a WhatsApp number if you choose to provide one.
• Region and approximate location — the region you select, and approximate coordinates used to place listings on the map.
• Profile details — an optional short bio, an optional profile image, and your preferred language (English, Amharic or Afaan Oromoo).
• Listing information — product title, description, category, price, quantity, unit, region and any category-specific details you enter, plus the photos you upload.
• Inquiry messages — the messages exchanged between a buyer and a seller about a listing, and whether a message has been read.
• Favorites — the listings you save.
• Reports — if you report a listing or a user, we store the reason, any details you write, and who submitted the report.
• Account and seller status — whether your account is active or suspended (and the reason), and your seller verification status where applicable.
• Technical information — a login session stored in your browser so you stay signed in, your language preference stored locally, and standard server logs generated when the site is served. We do not run advertising or third-party analytics trackers.

• To create and secure your account and keep you signed in.
• To publish your listings and let buyers find them by search, category, region and distance.
• To let buyers and sellers contact each other about a specific listing.
• To show the interface in your chosen language.
• To review reports, moderate listings that require review, verify sellers, and act on abuse.
• To keep an internal record of administrative actions so moderation stays accountable.

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not use it for advertising.

Phone numbers are protected. They are not readable from public profile data and are not exposed to visitors browsing the marketplace. A seller’s phone or WhatsApp number is disclosed only to a signed-in user who opens that seller’s listing and requests contact details in order to negotiate a purchase. Your own contact details are always visible to you.

Your name, region, approximate location, bio, account status and seller verification status are visible to other users, because they help buyers judge who they are dealing with. Never share bank details, passwords or one-time codes with another user.

Listings are shown on a map using an approximate location, not your exact address. Coordinates are deliberately stored and shared in approximate form so that a home or farm gate cannot be pinpointed from a listing. Location is used only for marketplace and map discovery — showing listings near a buyer, sorting by distance and filtering by radius.

If you use the “near me” feature, your browser asks your permission first and your device position is used in your browser to calculate distances. You can refuse this permission and continue using the marketplace normally.

Photos you upload for a listing are stored in our private storage and served through our own image endpoint, which only serves image files. Before upload, images are checked and resized in your browser to keep them small enough for slow connections. Photos you attach to a listing are visible to anyone who can see that listing, so do not include documents, identity cards or other private material in them. You can delete a photo by editing or deleting your listing.

If you choose a photo from your device camera or gallery, that access is requested by your browser or device and used only to attach the image you select.

Inquiry messages between a buyer and a seller are stored so that both participants can read the conversation later and continue the discussion. Only the two participants can read a conversation. Administrators may access messages when investigating a report or suspected abuse.

When you report a listing or a user, your report — including the reason, any details and your account identity — is reviewed by our administrators for trust and safety. Listings in sensitive categories are held for administrator review before they appear publicly. Administrative actions are recorded internally.

Accounts that violate our Terms and Conditions may be suspended. A suspended account cannot post listings, send messages or submit reports, and its listings are hidden from the marketplace. Suspension does not delete your data. You can see your account status, and the reason given, on your profile page.

We keep your account, listings, messages and reports for as long as your account exists, because the platform needs them to function. We have not yet defined fixed retention periods for each type of data, and we will not state a period we do not actually apply. When we introduce specific retention periods, we will publish them here.

Deleting a listing also removes the photos, favorites, inquiries and reports attached to that listing.

The application does not currently offer self-service account deletion. You can edit or delete your own listings at any time, and you can update your profile details yourself. To request deletion of your account, or a copy or correction of the information we hold about you, contact us using the details in section 14 and we will handle the request manually.

The platform relies on a small number of external providers to operate. We do not use advertising networks or third-party analytics services.

• Backend and hosting provider — stores the database, authentication accounts and uploaded photos, and serves the website.
• Map tile provider — your browser requests map background images directly from a map tile service when you view the map.
• Web font provider — fonts, including the Ethiopic script font used for Amharic, are loaded from a font service.

These providers receive only what is technically necessary to deliver their part of the service. Any contact you make by phone or WhatsApp after obtaining a seller’s number happens outside the platform and is governed by that service’s own terms.

Access to data is enforced at the database level, not only in the app: each user can read and change only their own records, phone numbers are withheld from public profile data, moderation actions require an administrator role and are rate-limited and logged, uploaded files are validated and stored privately, and all traffic is served over HTTPS with restrictive browser security headers. No system is perfectly secure, so please use a strong, unique password and tell us if you notice anything suspicious.

For privacy questions, data or deletion requests, or to report a safety concern, contact us:

• Email: arititemesgen16@gmail.com
• Phone / WhatsApp: +251916007076
• Phone / WhatsApp: +251996630505

We may update this policy as the platform develops. The current version is always available on this page, with the date it was last updated shown at the top.