Privacy policy

Mabuku is run by Mabuku Store Limited, Gabon Area Along Katima Mulilo Road Plot 18/81, Lusaka, Zambia. We decide how your personal information is used, and we follow the Data Protection Act No. 3 of 2021 of Zambia. You can contact us about your information at samuelkapansa@gmail.com.

• Your account: your name and email. If you sign in with Google, Google shares your name, email and profile picture with us; we never see your Google password.
• If you sell books: your pen name, bio, the mobile money number we pay you on, your books and their files, and your sales and payouts.
• Payments: the number you paid from, the network, the amount and the payment reference. We never receive your mobile money PIN.
• Printed-copy orders: the town or area, delivery notes and the phone number you give for delivery.
• Your phones: a random ID the app creates for each phone, its model name, and a notification token, so we can limit e-books to two phones and send you notifications.
• What you do on Mabuku: books you buy, save and review.
• Technical information: your IP address and browser or app version, kept briefly in our server logs to keep the service secure.

• To run your account, deliver the books you buy and handle orders (because we have a contract with you).
• To take payments and pay authors, and to keep financial records the law requires.
• To protect authors from piracy and our users from fraud (our legitimate interest).
• To send you notifications about your orders, sales and books. You can turn notifications off in your phone's settings.

Every e-book copy you buy has your name and phone number built into it. We do this so authors feel safe selling on Mabuku, and so we can find out who shared a copy if one appears outside the app. We only look at this information when we're investigating a shared copy.

We don't sell your information. We share it only where needed:

• Authors: when an author accepts your printed-copy order, they see your name, delivery details and phone number, and you see theirs. Authors don't see who bought their e-books.
• Lenco and the mobile networks (Airtel, MTN) to process payments and payouts.
• Our service providers who store data and files (database and file storage hosting), let you sign in with Google, send emails such as receipts and password resets (Resend), and deliver notifications (Expo and Google Firebase). They may only use it to provide their service to us.
• Authorities when Zambian law requires us to.

Some of our service providers store information on servers outside Zambia. When this happens we use providers with strong security, and we put the safeguards in place that the Data Protection Act requires.

• Your account information, for as long as you have an account.
• Payment, sales and payout records, for as long as Zambian tax and financial law requires, even after you close your account.
• Server logs, for a short time only.

Information travels encrypted between your phone and our servers. E-books on your phone are stored encrypted, so other apps can't read them. Only staff who need it can see personal information, and their actions are logged.

Under the Data Protection Act you can ask us to:

• tell you what information we hold about you and give you a copy;
• correct information that's wrong;
• delete your information, where we don't have to keep it by law;
• stop using your information for a particular purpose.

Email samuelkapansa@gmail.com. We'll answer within 30 days. If you're not happy with our answer, you can complain to the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner of Zambia.

You can delete your account at any time: in the app, go to Profile → Delete my account, or on the website go to mabuku/account/delete. If you can't sign in, email samuelkapansa@gmail.com from the email or phone number on your account.

We delete your name, contact details, saved books, reviews and phones straight away. We keep payment, sales and payout records, without your contact details, for as long as the law requires. E-books you bought will no longer be available to you. Authors must withdraw their earnings first, and books they listed are taken off Mabuku; readers who bought them keep them.

Mabuku is for people aged 18 and over, or younger readers with a parent or guardian's permission. If you think a child is using Mabuku without permission, contact us.

If we change how we use your information, we'll update this page and tell you in the app before the change applies.