By using the Bowwow.lk site, you agree to the terms of this privacy policy. Whenever you submit information via our website, you consent to the collection, use, and disclosure of that information in accordance with this privacy policy. If you do not agree with any point on this policy, please do not use our Services or give us your information. This policy applies to all visitors, users and registered members.

Bowwow.lk actively collects information from its visitors directly from you when you: create an online account, create a pet search, sign up to our newsletter, give a rating or review, take a survey, fill out an online form, enter a promotion or engage with us.

Some information you submit may be personally identifiable information that can be uniquely identified with you such as full name, address or location, email address, phone number, etc. Some areas of the Site may require you to submit information in order for you to benefit from a wide range of exclusive features (such as email alerts or information requests). You will be informed at each information collection point on what information is required and optional.

We collect the following information from you and about you:

Contact Information - We may ask about your personal information such as name, address or location, telephone or mobile number, or email address.

Account Login Information - We will require you to provide information to set up an account with us.

Demographic Information - We may collect demographic information such as your gender, age, ethnicity and postcode if and when you fill out an online form or a survey.

Pets and Pet Preferences - We may collect information from you when you inquire about a pet as a registered user on Bowwow.lk; create a saved pet search alert; upload pet photos to our website and other information about your pet.

Information You Share and Submit - We may collect information that you post either publicly or on a channel/platform we provide (e.g. forum, comment section, survey form and social media) for sharing among users.

As you navigate through the website, certain information can be passively collected (gathered without you actively providing the information) using various technologies and methods such as Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, cookies, internet tags, and navigational data collection.

We may also receive information about you from third parties, including our commercial partners, ticketing providers and other service providers, social media platforms and law enforcement agencies.

We use the information collected from you for purposes including the following:

To provide you with the pets you are searching for

To administer competitions or promotions that you enter into

To process payments that you make

For internal administration and record-keeping

To notify you of changes to this Privacy Notice, our terms and conditions or other changes to our services or products

To answer your enquiries which may involve contacting you by post, e-mail or phone

To send you certain types of direct marketing

To manage legal claims and other compliance/regulatory matters

To verify your identity and detect and prevent fraud and security issues

To give you the opportunity to provide us with feedback through reviews and surveys

What is our legal basis for processing your Personal Data?

We use your Personal Data on the following bases:

To perform a contract, such as providing pets that you choose to you

To comply with legal and regulatory obligations

For legitimate business purposes (see “How do we use your Personal Data” section above)

In certain other unspecified cases, with your consent

We may process your Personal Data for more than one lawful basis depending on the specific purpose for which we are using it (N.B. We will only use your Personal Data when the law allows us to).

We will keep your Personal Data for as long as you are a registered user of one of our digital platforms, or for as long as is necessary for us to provide products or services for you, and for a limited period of time afterwards.

Once you no longer wish to be engaged with Bowwow.lk for any prescribed purpose, we may still need to retain your data if there is a legal reason for doing so (such as for tax purposes where you have made purchases through one of our digital platforms or where we need to resolve any disputes with you).

Bowwow.lk may use your IP address to diagnose problems with our server, report aggregate information, determine the fastest route for your computer to use in connecting to our site, and administer improvements to the site.

An IP address is a number assigned to your computer by your internet service provider so you can access the internet, and is generally considered to be non-personally identifiable information because, in most cases, an IP address is dynamic (it changes each time you connect to the internet), rather than static (unique to a particular user’s computer).

Bowwow.lk may use information collected by third parties. We may receive information about you from third parties, which may include information about your device and social media activities (e.g. Facebook likes to one of our website post).

We may share information with our partners, subsidiaries and other third parties. For example, we may share information to vendors that send emails or facilitate promotions on our behalf. We may also share information to other third parties to provide you with products information (e.g. pet insurance) that may interest you.

We may share information to law enforcement agencies involved in fraud prevention and detection as we have a duty to do so, or, if the law allows us to, companies who work in association with us who will provide other services for you. We will not do this without your expressed permission.

We may share information with any successor to all or part of the business. For example, if part of our business is sold to a third party, we may share our user information as part of the transfer and transaction.

When you contact and respond to advertisers via the Bowwow.lk website through our contact forms, your contact details and IP address are stored on our system. In addition, your contact details will be passed on directly to the advertiser so that they can respond straight to your enquiry. You also need to be aware that this procedure serves to allow us to monitor suspicious activities and contact you if needed.

When you sign up on our website to post advertisements, the contact details you provide, as well as your IP address and ISP, are stored on our systems. This information will also be used on your account and utilized by us to monitor suspicious activities so we can contact you if necessary.

We use standard security measures on our site. We will treat your information in strict confidence and endeavor to take all reasonable steps to protect your personal information. However, we cannot guarantee the security of any data you disclose online. You accept inherent security risks of providing information and other internet activities and will not hold us responsible for any breach of security unless it is due to our negligence or wilful default.

We keep personal information as long as it is necessary for the practices described in this Policy. We also keep information as otherwise required by law.

This section describes how we use the cookies, and why these cookies are store to your device. We will also share how you can prevent these cookies from being stored. However, this may downgrade or ‘break’ certain elements of the site’s functionality.

A ‘cookie’ is a bit of information that a website sends to your web browser that helps the site remember information about you and your preferences.

‘Session’ cookies are temporary bits of information that are used to improve navigation, block visitors from providing information that is inappropriate (the site ‘remembers’ previous entries of age or country of origin that were outside the specified parameters and blocks subsequent changes), and collect aggregate statistical information on the site. They are erased once you exit your web browser or otherwise turn off your computer.

‘Persistent’ cookies are more permanent bits of information that are placed on the hard drive of your computer and stay there unless you delete them. Persistent cookies store information on your computer for a number of purposes, such as retrieving certain information you have previously provided (such as passwords), helping to determine what areas of the website visitors find most valuable, and customising the website based on your preferences on an ongoing basis. Persistent cookies placed by this site on your computer may hold personally identifiable information, but only if you have registered or have otherwise consented to the retention of personally identifiable information you have provided at the site. Otherwise, our site’s server only knows that an unidentified visitor with your cookie has returned to the site.

If you create an account with us, we will use cookies for the management of the sign-up process and general administration. We usually store cookies on your computer during the registration process for you to resume where you left off, remembering your registered login, preferences, and other customization functions. These cookies will usually be deleted when you log out; however, in some cases they may remain afterwards to remember your site preferences when logged out.

Our site offers newsletter and email subscription services, cookies may be used to remember if you are already registered and whether to show certain notifications.

In some cases, cookies provided by trusted third parties might be used. The sections below detail which third party cookies you might encounter through this site.

Bowwow.lk uses third-party advertisements to support our site from AdSense. They may use technology such as cookies and web beacons when they advertise on our site, which will also send advertisers (such as Google through the Google AdSense programme) information about your IP address, your ISP, the browser you used to visit our site and, in some cases, whether you have Adobe Flash Player installed. This is generally used for geotargeting purposes (e.g., showing South Asia adverts to someone in Sri Lanka), or showing certain ads based on specific sites visited (such as showing pet ads to someone who frequents pet sites). In order for you to use our website to its fullest extent, some features of the website will also require you to submit your current location.

We also use third-party analytics to help us track and measure usage of the site so that we can continue to produce engaging content. These cookies may track things such as how long you spend on the site, or pages you visit. This will help inform us how to improve the site for you.

Our site also uses social media buttons and/or plugins that allow you to connect with your social platforms in various ways. For these to work, social media sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc., will set cookies through our site that may be used to enhance your profile on their site or contribute to the data they hold for various purposes outlined in their respective privacy policies.

In most cases, there are no industry standard options for disabling cookies without completely disabling the functionality and features of the site. You have the option to disable or selectively turn off our cookies or third-party cookies in your browser settings or manage preferences in internet security programs. However, doing so may affect how you are able to navigate our site. This may include the inability to log in to services or programs, such as logging into your Bowwow.lk account. It is recommended that you leave on all cookies if you are not sure whether you need them or not, in case they are used to provide a service that is useful to you.

At any point whilst Bowwow.lk is in possession of or processing your Personal Data, you may have the following rights:

Right of access – you have the right to request a copy of the Personal Data that we hold about you.

Right of rectification – you have a right to correct Personal Data that we hold about you that is inaccurate or incomplete.

Right to be forgotten – in certain circumstances you can ask for the Personal Data we hold about you to be erased from our records.

Right to restriction of processing – where certain conditions apply you have a right to restrict the processing of your Personal Data.

Right of portability – you have the right to have the Personal Data we hold about you transferred to another organisation.

Right to object – you have the right to object to certain types of processing such as direct marketing, as well as processing we undertake based on our legitimate interests.

Right to object to automated processing, including profiling – you also have the right not to be subject to the legal effects of automated processing or profiling.

If you want to exercise any of these rights, please contact us. You don’t have to pay a fee to exercise your rights, unless your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive or excessive (in which case we can charge a reasonable fee). Alternatively, we may refuse to comply with your request in these circumstances. Where your request is legitimate, we will always respond within one month (unless there is a legal reason to take longer, such as where your request is particularly complex). We may also need you to confirm your identify before we proceed with your request if it is not clear to us who is making the request.

To unsubscribe from any Bowwow.lk newsletters or any other marketing emails that you may receive from time-to-time, you simply need to click on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of the relevant communication you have received or follow the prescribed steps. Alternatively, please contact us (as detailed below) to opt-out of these communications.

Bowwow.lk reserves the right to change, amend, or modify our Privacy Policy without notice. We will post the amended Policy on this page and indicate at the top of the page the date the Policy was revised. Please check our site and this page periodically for updates.

To contact us regarding anything in this privacy policy or how we collect or store your personal data, please get in touch with us by using the ‘Contact Us’ page on our website.