The short version
- No account, no profile. The Plugin needs no login. We don't ask for your name, email address, phone number or payment details, and we don't build a profile of you.
- We don't track you across apps or websites. The Plugin sets no cookies and uses no advertising identifiers or fingerprinting.
- We do keep records of searches. When your AI assistant uses the Plugin, we record the request: the search text, filters and product IDs. We also record the products, prices and other results we return, and technical details of the connection.
- We use these records to run the Plugin, improve search, compile combined statistics and keep the service secure. Section 7 lists every use.
- Results can include other people's public reviews, with the reviewer's name and public profile details (section 6).
- We don't sell your information or use it for targeted advertising.
- You're in control. You can disconnect the Plugin at any time, and you can ask us about or delete your information (section 14).
1. Who we are
The PriceCheck AI Plugin (the "Plugin") is provided by PriceCheck (Pty) Ltd ("PriceCheck", "we", "us" or "our"). PriceCheck runs the price comparison website www.pricecheck.co.za in South Africa.
Under the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 ("POPIA"), PriceCheck is the responsible party for the information described in this policy. Where the EU or UK General Data Protection Regulation ("GDPR") applies, PriceCheck is the controller.
2. What this policy covers
This policy applies to the PriceCheck AI Plugin. It covers information processed when you use the Plugin inside an AI assistant, such as ChatGPT or Claude.
It does not cover:
- the PriceCheck website, which has its own privacy policy;
- the AI assistant you use the Plugin with, which is covered by its provider's privacy policy; or
- retailer websites you visit from a result.
3. How the Plugin works
The Plugin is read-only. It can't buy anything, create accounts or change data. Here is what happens when you ask your AI assistant something like "find the cheapest Ninja air fryer":
- The assistant chooses one of the Plugin's tools and fills in its inputs, such as
search: "air fryer"andbrands: "Ninja". - The AI platform's servers send that tool request to PriceCheck. The request does not come directly from your device.
- We look up the answer and send back results, such as products, prices and shops.
- The assistant uses the results to answer you.
We receive only the tool inputs the assistant sends, plus technical details of the connection. We don't receive your conversation, your messages or your AI platform account details.
4. Information we collect
We collect the following information through Plugin requests:
| Category | What it includes | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Searches | Search text for products and categories, such as "air fryer" or "Galaxy S24 128GB". | Your AI assistant, based on what you ask |
| Filters and preferences | Brands, category IDs, minimum and maximum price, sort order, time windows (such as 24 hours or 7 days), date ranges, price-drop and price-spread thresholds, review sort order, and page, limit and offset values. | Your AI assistant |
| Products and shops looked up | PriceCheck product IDs and shop IDs used for comparisons, price history, retailer listings, related products and reviews. | Your AI assistant, usually taken from earlier results |
| Results returned | The products, prices, shops, categories, brands, statistics and reviews we send back for each request (see section 5). | Our systems |
| Technical request data | Date and time, which tool was called, response status, response time and errors. | Our systems |
| Connection data | The network (IP) address of the AI platform server that connected to us, and the platform's client name and version. Also a temporary connection identifier that groups requests made in the same session. | The AI platform |
| Platform-supplied context | Some AI platforms attach extra context to tool requests. This can include your language or locale, an approximate location (such as country, region, city or time zone) and an anonymised identifier created by the platform. We don't ask for this context or rely on it. If it arrives, it is stored only in our technical logs. | The AI platform, depending on its settings |
What we don't collect
The Plugin does not ask for or collect your name, email address, phone number, postal address, account login, payment or banking details, or precise location. It doesn't access your contacts, files or photos, or your conversation with the AI assistant. It sets no cookies and uses no device or advertising identifiers.
Please keep personal details out of your searches
Your assistant writes search inputs from what you ask. If you put a name, address, phone number or other personal detail into a product question, the assistant might include it in a search we receive. We don't need it and don't use it to identify you. However, it would be stored with the request record like any other search text.
5. Tool inputs and outputs
This table lists every tool the Plugin currently offers. It shows the inputs we receive and what we return. All prices are in South African Rand (ZAR).
| Tool | Inputs we receive | What it returns |
|---|---|---|
search-products-toolFind products | Search text; optional brands, minimum price, maximum price | Product name, PriceCheck link, category, description, brand, model number, barcode, image; offers with shop name, shop logo and price |
products-in-category-toolBrowse a category | Category ID; optional brands, price range, sort order, include sub-categories, limit, offset | Products in the category with prices, shops and links |
search-for-category-toolFind a category | Category search text; optional limit | Matching category names and IDs |
list-categories-toolCategory list | Optional parent category ID, depth, whether to include product counts | Category names, IDs, structure and optional product counts |
list-brands-toolBrand list | Optional category ID, limit, minimum product count | Brand names ranked by popularity on PriceCheck, with product counts |
comparison-data-toolCompare products | 2 to 5 product IDs; optional "differences only" setting | Specifications, lowest and highest price, number of shops, rating, number of reviews, brand, model number, product link, retailer offers |
retailer-listings-toolWhere to buy | Product ID; optional sort order | Current retailer offers for the product: shop name and details, price, shop rating |
price-history-toolPrice history | Product ID; optional number of days | Daily lowest prices over the period, with product details |
related-products-toolRelated products | Product ID; optional relationship type, limit | Products often viewed together with it, products from the same brand in other categories, or products in a similar price range |
product-reviews-toolProduct reviews | Product ID; optional sort order, page | Product name and image; for each review the reviewer's name, star rating, summary and full text (see section 6) |
shop-reviews-toolShop reviews | Optional shop ID, sort order, page | Shop name, website and logo; for each review the reviewer's name, public profile picture, link to their public Google reviewer profile, star rating, review text, date and a link to the original review (see section 6) |
trending-products-toolTrending products | Optional time window, category ID, minimum baseline traffic, limit, offset | Products with a quick rise in clicks on PriceCheck, with prices and links |
popular-products-toolPopular products | Optional time window, category ID, limit, offset | Products ranked by clicks and views on PriceCheck |
trending-searches-toolTrending searches | Optional time window, query type, limit, offset | Popular search terms entered on PriceCheck, with their rank and type (product, brand or retailer) |
biggest-drops-toolPrice drops | Optional time window, category ID, minimum drop percentage, limit, offset | Products with the biggest recent price drops |
historical-lows-toolHistorical lows | Optional look-back period, limit, offset | Products currently at their lowest price for the period |
competitive-listings-toolPrice spreads | Optional minimum number of retailers, minimum price spread, limit, offset | Products sold by several retailers with a large difference between the cheapest and dearest price |
price-index-toolPrice index | Category ID; optional start date, end date, granularity | PriceCheck Price Index values for the category over time |
server-health-toolService status | None | Service version, whether each tool is available, and when data was last updated |
No tool returns information about you or about other Plugin users. The popular, trending and related results are combined statistics (see section 8). If we add, remove or change tools in a way that changes what we collect or return, we will update this table.
6. Reviews and reviewers' information
The product and shop review tools return reviews written by members of the public. These contain the reviewer's personal information.
- Where reviews come from. Product reviews are collected from reviews published on South African retailers' websites. Shop reviews are collected from public Google reviews of the shop.
- What we show. The reviewer's name or display name, star rating and review text. For shop reviews we also show the review date, the reviewer's public profile picture, a link to their public Google reviewer profile and a link to the original review. We show only what the reviewer chose to publish.
- Why. Reviews help shoppers judge products and retailers. We process them because we have a legitimate interest in giving shoppers that information (POPIA section 11(1)(f); GDPR Article 6(1)(f)). The reviewers made the reviews public themselves.
- Reviewers' rights. If you wrote a review shown through the Plugin, you can ask us to remove it, or remove your name or picture from it. Use our contact page. You can also edit or delete the original review where you posted it.
7. How we use information
We use the information in section 4 only for the purposes below:
| Purpose | Information used | Legal basis |
|---|---|---|
| Answering requests: running each tool and returning results | Searches, filters, product and shop IDs, connection data | Providing the service you asked for (POPIA s11(1)(b); GDPR Art. 6(1)(b)) |
| Improving search and results: finding searches with poor or empty results, and improving matching, ranking and categories | Searches, filters, results returned | Legitimate interests (POPIA s11(1)(f); GDPR Art. 6(1)(f)) |
| Combined statistics and trending features: working out popular searches, products and categories (see section 8) | Searches, product IDs, results returned | Legitimate interests |
| Reliability: monitoring performance, fixing errors and planning capacity | Technical request data, connection data | Legitimate interests |
| Security and abuse prevention: detecting and blocking scraping, attacks and use that breaks our Terms of Use | Technical request data, connection data, request patterns | Legitimate interests |
| Usage reporting: internal reports such as request volumes, tools used and popular categories | All of the above, combined | Legitimate interests |
| Legal compliance: meeting legal obligations and responding to lawful requests | Any of the above, as required | Legal obligation (POPIA s11(1)(c); GDPR Art. 6(1)(c)) |
Our legitimate interests are running, improving and protecting a free price comparison service. We have weighed them against your privacy: we collect little, don't ask who you are, and use combined data wherever we can.
We do not use Plugin information to:
- sell or rent it to anyone;
- show you, or let others show you, targeted or behavioural ads;
- build a profile of you, or try to work out who you are;
- link your Plugin searches to your activity on the PriceCheck website or elsewhere;
- make automated decisions that have legal or similarly significant effects on you.
We won't use Plugin information for a new purpose without first updating this policy.
8. Combined statistics and trending features
Some tools return statistics built from activity across PriceCheck, such as popular products, trending products, related products and trending searches. That activity includes visits to the PriceCheck website and may include Plugin searches. These statistics are counts and rankings. They never include who searched or viewed something.
Trending searches show search text. The trending searches tool returns popular search terms as people typed them. A search sent through the Plugin may therefore count towards a trending term that other people can see. Trending terms are shown without any information about who searched for them. This is one more reason not to put personal details in your searches.
We may share or publish these combined statistics, for example with retailers or in reports about South African prices. They never include individual request records.
9. Links and visit attribution
Product links in results point to pages on the PriceCheck website. They include standard campaign parameters (UTM tags) that tell the PriceCheck website the visit came from the AI Plugin. The parameters are the same for every user and every search. They contain no identifier for you or for your search.
If you open a link, you leave the Plugin. The PriceCheck website privacy policy, including its cookie practices, applies there. When you go on to a retailer's site, the retailer's own policy applies. We use the campaign parameters only to count how many website visits come from the Plugin.
10. Who receives information
We don't sell Plugin information. These are the only recipients:
| Recipient | What they receive | Why |
|---|---|---|
| The AI platform you use, such as OpenAI or Anthropic | The results of each request (section 5), including any review content | So your assistant can answer you. The platform handles results under its own privacy policy. |
| Our service providers: cloud hosting, networking, content delivery and security providers | Request records and connection data, as needed to run their service | To host and protect the Plugin. They act on our instructions and must keep the data confidential and secure. |
| Other Plugin and PriceCheck users | Combined statistics only, such as trending search terms and popular products | Trending and popular features (section 8) |
| Retailers, partners and the public | Combined statistics only. Never individual searches. | Market insight and price reports |
| Authorities, courts and professional advisers | Specific records, only where required | To comply with the law or a lawful request, or to protect the rights, property or safety of PriceCheck, our users or others |
| A buyer or successor in a merger, acquisition or sale of assets | Plugin records, as part of the business | Business transfer. The records stay protected by this policy or one at least as protective. |
11. How long we keep information
| Information | How long |
|---|---|
| Request records: searches, filters, product and shop IDs, results returned | Up to 24 months. Then deleted, or turned into combined statistics that can't identify anyone. |
| Technical request data, connection data and platform-supplied context | Up to 90 days, unless needed longer to investigate a specific security incident |
| Combined statistics | As long as they are useful. They can't identify anyone. |
| Reviews shown through the Plugin | While they are relevant to the product or shop on PriceCheck, or until the reviewer asks us to remove them |
We may keep specific information longer where the law requires it, or to resolve a dispute or enforce our terms.
12. Security
We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect Plugin information against loss, misuse, and unauthorised access or disclosure, as POPIA section 19 requires. These include:
- encryption in transit (HTTPS/TLS) for all Plugin connections;
- access to stored records limited to staff and providers who need it;
- monitoring for abuse and unusual activity;
- collecting as little as we can in the first place.
No system is completely secure. If a security compromise affects personal information, we will notify the Information Regulator and affected people as POPIA section 22 and other applicable law require.
13. Where information is processed
PriceCheck is based in South Africa. Our service providers, and the AI platform you use, may process information in other countries. Where we transfer personal information outside South Africa, we make sure it is adequately protected, as POPIA section 72 requires. For example, the recipient may be bound by law, binding corporate rules or a contract that gives adequate protection.
14. Your controls and rights
Controls you can use at any time
- Disconnect the Plugin. Remove or turn off the Plugin in your AI assistant's settings. No further requests will reach us.
- Choose what you ask. We receive only what your assistant sends for a request. Keep personal details out of product questions.
- Use your AI platform's privacy settings. Your platform decides what it shares with plugins and keeps in your chat history. Check its settings for location sharing, memory and history.
- Control website cookies. If you open a PriceCheck link, you can manage cookies in your browser or on the PriceCheck website.
Your rights
Under POPIA, and the GDPR where it applies, you have the right to:
- ask whether we hold personal information about you, and get a copy of it;
- ask us to correct or delete it;
- object to how we process it, including processing based on legitimate interests;
- ask us to restrict how we process it (GDPR);
- complain to a data protection authority.
To use these rights, go to our contact page. We don't charge for reasonable requests. We will respond within 30 days.
A practical note. Plugin records aren't linked to your name or an account, so we usually can't tell which records are yours. To help us find them, tell us the exact search wording, the date and approximate time, and the AI platform you used. We will then delete or provide the matching records. We may not be able to find records we can't connect to you. We won't ask for more personal information than we need to deal with your request.
Complaints
If you're unhappy with how we handle your information, please contact us first. You can also complain to the Information Regulator (South Africa). In the EU or UK, you can complain to your local data protection authority.
15. Children
The Plugin is a general shopping tool and is not aimed at children. We don't knowingly collect personal information from children under 18. AI platforms set their own minimum ages. If you think a child has sent us personal information through the Plugin, contact us and we will delete it where we can find it.
16. Changes to this policy
We will update this policy when the Plugin, its tools, our practices or the law change. We will post the new version on this page and change the "Last updated" date. Before a significant change takes effect, such as collecting a new kind of information or using it for a new purpose, we will give clear notice on this page.
17. Contact us
For questions about this policy, or to use your privacy rights, contact our Information Officer through the PriceCheck contact page.