Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy describes how Tropical Ghar (“we,” “us,” “our”), operating from Kathmandu, Nepal, collects, uses, stores, and shares personal information when you use our website, shop (registered-user carts, offline carts, and purchase orders), marketplace, subscriptions, messaging, custom tank requests, and related services.
We collect personal information in line with the Individual Privacy Act, 2075 (2018). We tell you here what we collect, why we collect it, and who may receive it. By creating an account, using an offline cart, or submitting checkout or contact details, you consent to this collection and use, except where the law allows collection without consent.
1. Information we collect
Account & profile
Name, username, email, phone (if provided), password (stored only in hashed form), country and location fields, profile details, and preferences. We ask only for what we need to open and secure the account.
Shop carts, offline carts & purchase orders
When you use a registered-user cart, an offline (guest) cart, or place a purchase order, we collect:
- Cart contents, quantities, prices, discounts, delivery charges, and totals;
- Checkout details you submit, including recipient name, phone number, email, delivery or pickup choice, and delivery address;
- Order status, payment type and payment references, invoice or bill details, and handover or delivery acknowledgement;
- A session identifier and, for an offline cart, a cookie that lets us keep that cart on your browser until you check out, sign in, or the session ends.
We use the address and contact details to decide whether the purchase can be fulfilled inside Kathmandu Valley and to deliver or arrange pickup. Purchases outside the Valley may be rejected or invalidated, as stated in our Terms & Conditions. We keep a record of that decision.
Subscriptions
For a registered user’s subscription we keep the plan, status, period start and end, cancellation (including that you may use the remainder of a paid period), and payment references. We do not keep a copy of a full payment-card number where a payment partner handles the charge.
Payments
Order and subscription history, amounts, and billing identifiers. Card and wallet credentials are processed by payment partners (such as eSewa, Khalti, or ConnectIPS) under their own terms and under Nepal’s payment rules. We store the result of a payment (for example, paid, pending, or failed) and the reference we need to match it to your order or subscription.
Marketplace
If you list items or services, we collect listing content (titles, descriptions, images, prices, categories), seller identifiers, and activity related to listings. If you browse or contact sellers, we log the interactions needed to operate the Marketplace. Listings may be visible to other users and to the public. We are not the seller of those listings and we are not responsible for how another user uses information you choose to share with them.
Messages
Content of messages sent through our in-app messaging, including Marketplace messages. Message bodies are encrypted at rest on our servers using AES-256-GCM before storage. This is encryption at rest, not end-to-end encryption, so our systems can decrypt messages to deliver them and to meet safety and legal duties. Correspondence is treated as private under the Individual Privacy Act, 2075 (2018), and is accessed only for delivery, security, enforcement of our Terms, or when the law or a competent authority requires it.
Custom tank orders
Information you submit on custom tank forms: specifications, contact details, notes, and any files or descriptions you provide.
Technical & usage data
IP address, device and browser type, cookies, session data, pages viewed, and similar logs. We use these to keep you signed in, to attach an offline cart to your browser, to detect tampering and abuse, and to understand how the site is used.
2. How we use information
- Operate the site, shop, Marketplace, subscriptions, and messaging;
- Create and update carts and offline carts, calculate delivery charges, and fulfil or reject purchase orders;
- Confirm that a delivery address is inside Kathmandu Valley and record handover acknowledgement;
- Process payments, issue bills or invoices, and record cancellation of a subscription while leaving the paid period in place;
- Detect tampering with a cart, offline cart, purchase order, or subscription, and terminate that cart, order, or subscription where our Terms require it;
- Communicate with you about your account, orders, delivery, and, where you have agreed, news and offers;
- Protect users and cooperate with Nepal Police, courts, regulators, and other competent authorities when the law allows or requires it;
- Fulfil custom tank requests and related customer service;
- Keep accounting and tax records required by the revenue laws of Nepal.
We use personal information for the purpose it was collected. We do not use it for a new purpose unless you consent or the Individual Privacy Act, 2075 (2018), or another law of Nepal allows that use.
3. Marketplace & other users
When you use the Marketplace, other users may see your public profile and any message or listing detail you send them. We do not control those users and we are not responsible for products or services they sell, or for how they handle your information after you share it. Buyers and sellers are each responsible for complying with the laws of Nepal. See our Terms & Conditions.
4. Sharing of information
We share personal information only as needed for the purposes above:
- Payment and technology providers (hosting, email, analytics, and payment instruments) who process data for us and are expected to protect it;
- Delivery of our own shop goods inside Kathmandu Valley, limited to the name, contact number, and address required to complete handover;
- Other users, to the extent a Marketplace listing or message you send is meant for them;
- Authorities — Nepal Police, a court, a consumer-protection body, a tax authority, or another competent body — when Nepali law, a court order, or a lawful request requires or permits disclosure, including in the case of fraud, tampering, or an unlawful Marketplace listing.
We do not sell your personal information. We do not hand Marketplace buyers’ or sellers’ data to unrelated advertisers as a traded list.
5. Retention
We keep personal information only for as long as the purpose requires, and for any longer period the law of Nepal requires. In particular:
- Account data is kept while the account is open, and for a limited period afterwards for security, disputes, and legal claims;
- An offline cart and its cookie last for the session period we set, and are removed or merged when you check out, sign in, or the cart expires;
- Purchase orders, invoices, payment results, delivery records, and subscription payment records are kept for accounting, tax, and dispute periods under Nepal’s revenue and commercial laws;
- Records of a rejected out-of-Valley purchase, or of a cart, purchase order, or subscription terminated for tampering, are kept for enforcement and for any lawful investigation.
If you close your account, or we close it for breach, we delete or de-identify personal information that we no longer need, unless a legal hold or a statutory retention period applies.
6. Security
We use administrative, technical, and organisational measures to protect personal information against unauthorised access, alteration, and disclosure, as required by the Individual Privacy Act, 2075 (2018). Passwords are hashed. In-app message content is encrypted at rest (AES-256-GCM). No method of transmission or storage is completely secure. Please use a unique password and do not share checkout links or session cookies.
7. Cookies & similar technologies
We use cookies and similar tools for:
- Session and security — to keep you signed in and to protect forms;
- Offline carts — to remember a guest cart on your browser;
- Preferences and measurement — to remember settings and to understand site use.
You may control cookies in your browser. Blocking the offline-cart or session cookie will stop a guest cart from being saved and may sign you out.
8. Your rights under Nepali law
Under the Individual Privacy Act, 2075 (2018), and subject to that Act, you may:
- Ask what personal information we hold about you and why;
- Ask us to correct information that is inaccurate or incomplete;
- Withdraw consent for an optional use (such as marketing) without affecting a purchase or subscription that is already under way;
- Complain to us, and, where the Act provides, to the concerned authority, if you believe your privacy has been violated.
Contact us through the Contact Us page to use these rights. We may ask you to confirm your identity before we act. Some records, including bills and records we must keep for tax or for an active legal matter, cannot be deleted on request.
Our shop and Marketplace are aimed at people in Nepal. If another country’s privacy law also applies to you, we will consider a request made under that law to the extent we are required to.
9. Children
Our services are for people who are at least 18 years old. We do not knowingly collect personal information from a child. If you believe we have done so, contact us and we will delete it unless the law requires us to keep it.
10. Where information is processed
We operate from Nepal. Hosting, email, or payment partners may process information on systems outside Nepal. When that happens, the information is still handled for the purposes in this policy, and we remain responsible for our own handling under the Individual Privacy Act, 2075 (2018).
11. Shop, subscription & custom-order records
Checkout and order records are used to supply goods, charge delivery, issue a bill, and handle an exchange or a return of a defective product we shipped, as described in our Terms & Conditions. Goods once sold are non-refundable. Subscription records are used to provide the paid period and to process a cancellation that leaves the remainder of that period available. Subscription fees are non-refundable.
Custom tank submissions are used to quote and fulfil your request. Custom tank orders are not refundable, as stated in our Terms & Conditions. Please check every detail before you confirm.
12. Changes to this policy
We may update this Privacy Policy. We will post the new version here and update the “Last updated” date. Where a change materially affects how we use personal information already collected, we will provide an additional notice where that is appropriate.
13. Contact & complaints
For a privacy request, a correction, or a complaint, use our Contact Us page. Please describe the information and the right you want to use. If you are not satisfied, you may use the complaint process provided by the Individual Privacy Act, 2075 (2018).
Thank you for trusting Tropical Ghar.