This Support Policy establishes the standards and procedures used by ShopyTide when providing assistance to customers, sellers and other authorised users of the ShopyTide platform.

Support may include assistance relating to:

• Customer accounts.
• Orders and order status.
• Product information.
• Payments.
• Deliveries and tracking.
• Returns, refunds and exchanges.
• Seller-related matters.
• Dropshipping fulfilment.
• Website functionality.
• Technical problems.
• Complaints and disputes.
• Privacy and personal-information requests.

ShopyTide may provide support through one or more official channels, including:

• Customer support email.
• Contact forms available on the ShopyTide website.
• Customer account support or ticketing functionality.
• Seller support channels.
• Other official communication channels published by ShopyTide.

Customers should exercise caution when communicating with individuals claiming to represent ShopyTide through unofficial channels.

ShopyTide will not normally request a customer's full password, PIN or other confidential authentication credentials through ordinary customer-support communications.

ShopyTide's digital platform may be accessible 24 hours a day, subject to maintenance, outages and circumstances beyond our reasonable control.

Customer-support operating hours may differ from the availability of the website.

Messages received outside normal support operating periods may be handled during the next available support period.

Where an unavoidable delay affects the performance of a service, ShopyTide will endeavour to provide appropriate notice where reasonably practicable.

ShopyTide aims to acknowledge and respond to support requests within a reasonable period, taking into account the nature, complexity and urgency of the matter.

Response times are targets and not guarantees of resolution. Some matters require investigation by sellers, couriers, payment providers, suppliers or other third parties.

Customers can contact support regarding:

• Order confirmation.
• Order status.
• Dispatch information.
• Tracking information.
• Delayed deliveries.
• Missing parcels.
• Damaged deliveries.
• Incorrect products.
• Incomplete orders.

To protect customers and prevent unauthorised disclosure of order information, ShopyTide may request verification before discussing an order.

Delivery estimates are estimates and may be affected by courier delays, customs, supplier processing, public holidays, weather, operational disruptions and other circumstances.

Support may assist with payment-related enquiries such as:

• Payment confirmation.
• Failed payments.
• Duplicate payment concerns.
• Refund status.
• Payment-related order issues.

Payment processing may involve independent payment service providers. ShopyTide may need to refer certain payment investigations to the relevant payment provider or financial institution.

Customers should never send their full card number, CVV, banking password, PIN or online-banking credentials through customer-support email.

Return and refund enquiries are handled in accordance with ShopyTide's Return, Refund & Exchange Policy.

Customers should provide their order number and a clear description of the issue when requesting assistance.

Supporting photographs, videos or other information may be requested where reasonably necessary to investigate a claim.

Nothing in this Support Policy removes or limits any mandatory consumer right.

ShopyTide may operate as a marketplace in which products are supplied by independent sellers.

Where an issue relates specifically to a seller's product, listing, fulfilment or conduct, ShopyTide may investigate the matter with the relevant seller.

Sellers are expected to cooperate with legitimate customer support requests and comply with the ShopyTide Seller Policy and applicable law.

Customers should not attempt to resolve serious seller disputes by making threats, harassment or public accusations. ShopyTide provides internal channels for reporting legitimate concerns.

Certain ShopyTide products may be fulfilled through third-party dropshipping suppliers.

ShopyTide may need to communicate with a supplier, fulfilment partner or courier when investigating an order.

Customers are not required to independently contact an overseas supplier where ShopyTide has instructed the customer to communicate directly with ShopyTide.

Dropshipping arrangements do not automatically remove or reduce applicable South African consumer protections.

Technical support may assist with issues including:

• Login problems.
• Password-reset issues.
• Checkout errors.
• Shopping-cart problems.
• Broken links or pages.
• Account display issues.
• Website errors.

Customers should provide screenshots, error messages, affected page URLs and relevant order information where reasonably possible.

ShopyTide may temporarily disable or restrict certain functionality when necessary for security, maintenance or technical reasons.

Support may assist with:

• Account registration.
• Login difficulties.
• Password recovery.
• Updating permitted account information.
• Account security concerns.
• Account suspension or restriction enquiries.

For security reasons, ShopyTide may require identity or account verification before making sensitive account changes.

ShopyTide will not ask customers to disclose passwords to customer-support representatives.

ShopyTide takes the protection of personal information seriously and handles privacy-related requests in accordance with applicable data-protection legislation.

Privacy enquiries may include requests relating to:

• Personal-information processing.
• Access to personal information.
• Correction of inaccurate information.
• Objection to certain processing.
• Marketing preferences.
• Privacy concerns.
• Potential personal-information incidents.

Privacy-related matters may be directed to the ShopyTide Information Officer.

The South African Information Regulator provides a formal mechanism for POPIA complaints where a person believes that their personal information has been processed unlawfully. :contentReference[oaicite:1]{index=1}

ShopyTide encourages customers to give us an opportunity to resolve complaints internally before escalating the matter externally.

Where a complaint cannot reasonably be resolved internally, customers retain any rights available to them under applicable law.

ShopyTide will make reasonable efforts to resolve complaints fairly and within an appropriate period having regard to the nature and complexity of the matter.

ShopyTide is committed to treating customers respectfully and expects the same standard in return.

Customers must not use support channels to:

• Threaten or intimidate staff.
• Use abusive or discriminatory language.
• Send malicious or harmful content.
• Attempt to obtain unauthorised account information.
• Submit knowingly fraudulent claims.
• Repeatedly submit substantially identical complaints solely to disrupt support operations.

Where abusive or threatening conduct occurs, ShopyTide may restrict communications to appropriate written channels or take other reasonable measures, subject to applicable law.

ShopyTide aims to make its support services reasonably accessible to customers with different communication needs.

Customers who require reasonable assistance in communicating with support should indicate this when contacting us.

Where reasonably practicable, ShopyTide will consider appropriate communication methods depending on the nature of the request and available resources.

Some support matters require information or action from third parties, including:

• Couriers.
• Payment providers.
• Sellers.
• Dropshipping suppliers.
• Warehouses.
• Technology providers.
• Fraud-prevention providers.

Where reasonably necessary, ShopyTide may share or obtain relevant information in accordance with its Privacy Policy and applicable data-protection requirements.

Third-party involvement may affect the time required to resolve a support request.

Customer support is intended to assist customers in resolving legitimate platform, product, order and service issues.

Support representatives cannot:

• Guarantee a refund before an investigation is completed.
• Guarantee delivery dates controlled by third parties.
• Override applicable law.
• Provide legal, tax or financial advice.
• Reveal confidential information about another customer.
• Provide passwords or security credentials.

Where specialist advice is required, customers should consult an appropriately qualified professional.

ShopyTide may retain reasonable records of customer-support communications for purposes including:

• Resolving customer complaints.
• Investigating disputes.
• Preventing fraud and abuse.
• Improving customer service.
• Meeting legal and regulatory obligations.
• Maintaining appropriate business records.

Personal information contained in support records will be handled in accordance with ShopyTide's Privacy Policy and applicable privacy legislation.

ShopyTide may update this Support Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, technology, business operations or applicable law.

The latest version published on the ShopyTide website will apply from its stated effective date.

Where changes materially affect customer rights or obligations, ShopyTide will take reasonable steps to communicate the relevant changes where appropriate.