Privacy policy

Last updated 12 September 2026.

This explains what Otto records about you when you use this website, why, who else sees it, and what you can ask us to do about it. It describes what the site actually does rather than what a shop of this kind might do.

1. What we record

When you open an account

• Your name, email address and phone number.
• A password, stored as a one-way hash. Nobody can read it back, including us — if you forget it we can only replace it.
• If somebody gave you a referral code, which of our agents introduced you.

When you order

• What you bought, how many, and what you paid.
• The delivery address you entered, or the pickup station you chose.
• A reference from the payment provider confirming the payment.

We never see your card or mobile money details. Payment happens on Flutterwave's or Pesapal's own pages. Card numbers, PINs and mobile money passwords are entered there and never reach this site. All we get back is a reference saying whether the payment succeeded.

While you browse

This part is easy to miss, so it is set out plainly. Whether or not you are signed in, the site records:

• Pages you open, including which products — the time, the page, and which site you arrived from.
• What you search for, and how many results it returned.
• Products you look at, which is what fills the “recently viewed” row.
• Products you save to your wishlist.
• Your device type and browser, and a one-way hash of your IP address — enough to count visitors and notice abuse, not enough to work backwards to an address.

Before you sign in this is tied to a random visitor number kept in a cookie. After you sign in it is tied to your account, including anything recorded earlier in that visit.

Cookies

One cookie, named ottoshop. It keeps you signed in and keeps your basket together between pages. There are no advertising cookies and no third-party trackers on this site.

2. Why we record it

• To fulfil your orders — take the payment, get the goods to you, and answer questions about them afterwards.
• To email you about your order: a confirmation when it is paid for, and a message when it reaches your pickup station. These are part of the service and are not marketing.
• To let you back into your account if you forget your password.
• To run the shop — knowing which products are looked at and searched for is how we decide what to stock.
• To pay our agents, where one introduced you.

3. Who else sees it

Our staff

Office staff can see your account details and your orders. This is recorded: every reset link issued on your behalf is logged against the member of staff who issued it.

Pickup station staff

If you choose to collect an order, the staff at that station see your name, your phone number and what is in that order — they need all three to hand it to the right person. They see nothing about your other orders and nothing about your browsing.

The agent who introduced you

If you signed up with an agent's referral code, that agent is told that you joined and earns a share of the profit on your completed orders. They see the order numbers, the dates and the amounts they earned. They do not see what you bought, and they cannot see your address or your browsing.

Payment providers

Flutterwave and Pesapal receive your name, email, phone and the amount, because a payment cannot be taken without them. They handle that information under their own policies.

Nobody else

We do not sell your information, we do not share it for advertising, and we do not pass it to anybody else except where the law requires it.

4. How it is kept

• Names, email addresses, phone numbers and delivery addresses are stored encrypted, not as readable text.
• Passwords are stored as one-way hashes.
• Password reset codes expire after three hours and work once.
• IP addresses are stored only as one-way hashes.
• The connection between your device and this site is encrypted.

No system is beyond reach. If information here were ever exposed, we would tell the people affected rather than wait to be asked.

5. What you can ask for

• A copy of what we hold about you.
• A correction — you can change your own details on your account page at any time.
• Deletion of your account and personal details.
• To stop marketing email, through the opt-out form. Messages about an order you have placed continue, because they are part of fulfilling it.

Use the data request form, or write to support@otto.ug. There is no charge and we answer within 30 days.

6. How long we keep it

Your account	Until you ask us to delete it
Orders and receipts	Kept after deletion, with your personal details removed — we are required to keep sales records for tax
Password reset codes	Three hours
Pages, searches and products viewed	Kept while it is useful for running the shop; not tied to you once your account is deleted

7. Changes to this policy

We may change this policy. The date at the top says when it last changed, and changes take effect once they appear here. If we ever start using your information for something materially different from what is described above, we will tell you rather than rely on you noticing this page.

8. Contact us

A question or a complaint about any of this:

• Email: support@otto.ug
• Phone: +256 393 001720

If we do not put things right, you can complain to the Personal Data Protection Office of Uganda, which oversees the Data Protection and Privacy Act 2019.

This policy covers the Otto website. The Otto mobile app shares the same accounts and orders and is run on the same terms, but is not described here.