Privacy Policy

1. Introduction and scope

Pricemal respects your privacy and is committed to handling personal data fairly, transparently and securely. This Privacy and Cookie Policy explains what information Pricemal collects, how and why it is used, when it may be shared, how cookies and affiliate tracking work, how long information is retained, and the choices and rights available to users.

This Policy applies when you visit pricemal.com, search for products or offers, compare prices, view or copy coupons, follow links to merchants, subscribe to updates, submit the Contact Us form, manage cookie preferences or otherwise interact with Pricemal.

Pricemal is a price-comparison, coupon and shopping-information platform. Pricemal does not directly sell products, process customer payments, deliver goods or manage merchant refunds. Purchases are completed on third-party merchant websites.

2. Information collected

2.1 Information you provide

Pricemal may collect:

First name and last name submitted through a form.
Email address and telephone number.
Contact-form subject, message and correspondence history.
Newsletter subscription and communication preferences.
Cookie and consent choices.
Information included in a privacy request, complaint or other communication.
Any other information you choose to provide.

Please do not submit passwords, payment-card details, identification documents, medical information or other sensitive information through general forms.

2.2 Information collected automatically

When you use Pricemal, the following information may be collected automatically:

IP address, browser, device type, operating system and screen characteristics.
Approximate location derived from the IP address, where available.
Referring page, campaign and traffic source.
Pages viewed, searches, navigation paths and time spent on the website.
Products, categories, brands, stores, coupons, deals and articles viewed.
Buttons and links clicked, including coupon and outbound-retailer interactions.
Cookie identifiers, consent records and analytics identifiers.
Performance, diagnostic, error, security and server-log information.

Application analytics may include an offer or product identifier and name, offer type, whether a coupon code is available, store name, click placement, interaction source, destination domain and page path.

Pricemal does not intend to send raw coupon codes, full destination URLs, URL query strings, passwords, payment information or Contact Us message content to analytics services.

2.3 Affiliate and outbound-click information

When you select a merchant, product, coupon or deal, Pricemal may record the merchant or offer selected, source page, interaction type, date and time, campaign or referral identifier and information needed to measure referrals, prevent duplicate attribution or investigate suspected misuse.

After you leave Pricemal, the merchant or affiliate partner may collect information under its own privacy and cookie policies. Pricemal does not control the external party’s processing.

2.4 Information Pricemal does not intend to collect

Payment-card or bank-account details.
Government identification documents.
Precise real-time location.
Health, biometric or other sensitive personal data.

3. How information is used

Information may be used to:

Provide product-comparison, search, coupon, deal and content features.
Respond to enquiries, complaints and privacy requests.
Send newsletters or promotional communications requested by the user.
Understand website usage and improve navigation, content and performance.
Measure affiliate referrals and reconcile partner reporting.
Prevent fraud, spam, malicious traffic and security incidents.
Maintain records required for legal, operational or dispute purposes.
Comply with applicable laws and lawful authority requests.

4. Basis for processing

The applicable processing ground depends on the activity and applicable law.

Contact Us submissions and privacy requests: Processing requested by the user and necessary to respond, retain an appropriate record and protect the parties’ rights.
Newsletter communications and optional analytics or advertising technologies: Consent, where consent is required.
Security, fraud prevention and service reliability: A permitted operational ground under applicable law, applied only where necessary and proportionate.
Legal records, authority requests and dispute handling: Compliance with law or the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.

Where processing relies on consent, consent may be withdrawn for future processing at any time. Withdrawal does not affect processing that was lawful before consent was withdrawn.

5. Analytics and website measurement

Pricemal uses Google Tag Manager to manage approved website tags and Google Analytics 4 to measure page views, navigation and interactions.

Google Tag Manager is a tag-management tool and may load other approved services according to the active configuration and the user’s consent choices.

Analytics information is used to understand website performance, improve user journeys, identify popular content and diagnose errors.

Where consent is required, optional analytics will not load until the applicable consent choice has been recorded. Rejecting optional analytics will not prevent access to Pricemal’s principal price-comparison and coupon functions.

6. Cookies and similar technologies

6.1 What cookies are

Cookies are small files or identifiers stored on a browser or device. Similar technologies may include local storage, pixels, tags and software tools used to operate, secure, measure or improve a website.

6.2 Cookie categories

Pricemal may use the following categories:

Strictly necessary: Required for security, session continuity, form protection, network management and recording cookie preferences.
Analytics: Used to understand visits, interactions, navigation, performance and errors.
Functional: Used to remember non-essential preferences such as display, language or region.
Affiliate and measurement: Used to record outbound merchant interactions, campaign attribution and referral events.
Advertising: Used only where specifically disclosed through the preference tool and handled under the required consent standard.

6.3 Your choices

Where optional technologies are used, users can accept optional cookies, reject non-essential cookies, select individual categories and subsequently change their choices through a persistent Cookie Preferences control.

Rejecting optional cookies will not prevent access to Pricemal’s principal comparison and coupon functions.

Users may also restrict or delete cookies through their browser settings. Disabling certain technologies may affect non-essential features or saved preferences.

6.4 Cookie inventory

The Cookie Preferences control should identify the technologies currently used, their provider, purpose, category and duration.

The inventory must be updated when the Google Tag Manager container or another deployed service changes.

7. Marketing communications

Pricemal may send newsletters or promotional updates only where the user has affirmatively requested them or where another lawful ground applies.

Newsletter consent is separate from acceptance of the website Terms and is not required to use the comparison or coupon functions. Pricemal may record when and where the subscription was requested.

Users may unsubscribe using the option included in the communication or through the Contact Us page.

A minimal suppression record may be retained so that the opt-out can be respected and marketing communications are not restarted accidentally.

8. Sharing of information

Pricemal may share limited information with providers that support:

Website hosting and cloud infrastructure.
Analytics and tag management.
Email delivery.
Security and monitoring.
Technical support.
Affiliate attribution.
Professional advice.

Information may also be shared with merchants selected by the user, competent authorities where legally required, or a successor involved in a genuine restructuring or transfer of the website.

Providers should receive only the information reasonably necessary for the relevant purpose.

Pricemal does not sell personal data and does not provide personal data to third parties for their independent direct marketing unless this is clearly disclosed and the required consent has been obtained.

9. External merchants and websites

When you select an external merchant link, you leave Pricemal. The external party’s terms and privacy policy then apply.

The merchant may use its own cookies and tracking technologies. Any purchase, payment, delivery, warranty, return or refund is handled by the merchant and not by Pricemal.

10. International transfers

Some technology, analytics, email, hosting or affiliate providers may process information outside the United Arab Emirates.

Where personal data is transferred internationally, Pricemal will take reasonable steps to use an appropriate lawful transfer mechanism and require suitable protection for the transferred information.

11. Retention

Pricemal retains information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the relevant purpose, including legal, security, accounting and dispute requirements.

Subject to confirmation in Pricemal’s live systems, the intended retention periods are:

Contact submissions and correspondence: Up to 24 months after resolution.
Newsletter subscriptions: Until the user unsubscribes or the subscription is no longer active.
Minimal unsubscribe records: As long as reasonably necessary to honour the opt-out.
Analytics event data: Up to 14 months, subject to the active analytics configuration.
Affiliate click and referral records: Up to 24 months.
Cookie-consent records: Up to five years where needed to demonstrate user choices.
Security and server logs: Up to 12 months, unless required for an active investigation.
Temporary backups: Normally overwritten or removed within 90 days.

Information may be retained longer where required by law, necessary for an active investigation or dispute, or temporarily present within a controlled backup cycle.

Information that is no longer required may be deleted, anonymised or aggregated.

12. Security

Pricemal uses reasonable technical and organisational safeguards designed to protect information against unauthorised access, accidental loss, misuse, alteration, disclosure and destruction.

Measures may include access restrictions, authentication controls, encrypted connections, system updates, monitoring, backups, least-privilege access and incident-response procedures.

No website or online transmission can be guaranteed to be completely secure.

13. User rights

Subject to applicable law, a user may request:

Information about the processing of their personal data.
Access to their personal data.
Correction of inaccurate information.
Deletion of eligible information.
Restriction or cessation of certain processing.
Withdrawal of consent.
Objection to certain processing.
Portability of eligible information.
Review of applicable automated decisions.

A user may also submit a complaint to the appropriate authority.

Pricemal may need to verify the requester’s identity and may request information reasonably necessary to locate the relevant records.

A request may be limited where information must be retained for security, legal compliance, dispute resolution or the protection of another person’s rights.

Requests may be submitted through the Contact Us page and will be handled within the period required by applicable law.

Where applicable, a user may complain to the UAE Data Office or another competent authority. Users are encouraged to contact Pricemal first so that concerns can be investigated promptly.

14. Children

Pricemal is intended for adults and is not directed to persons under 18 years of age.

Pricemal does not knowingly request or collect personal data from children. A parent or legal guardian who believes that a child has submitted information may request its deletion through the Contact Us page.

15. Automated processing

Pricemal may use aggregated analytics, popularity information or interactions to organise and improve content.

Pricemal does not intend to make decisions producing legal or similarly significant effects on users solely through automated processing.

16. Personal data breaches

Pricemal maintains procedures to assess and respond to suspected personal-data incidents.

Where a breach requires notification to a competent authority or an affected person, Pricemal will provide the notification required by applicable law.

17. Changes to this Policy

Pricemal may update this Policy to reflect website, service, technology, legal or operational changes.

The effective date, last-updated date and version number will be updated whenever a revised Policy is published.

Material changes will be communicated through an appropriate notice or renewed consent request where required. Previous approved versions should be retained for reference.

18. Contacting Pricemal

Questions, privacy requests, consent withdrawals and complaints may be submitted through the Contact Us page.

Please include enough information to identify the request, but do not include passwords, payment-card information or unnecessary sensitive information.