The detailed Butha Privacy Notice explains personal information collection, purposes, sharing, service providers, cross-border processing, retention, security, rights and complaint channels. It applies alongside this participation policy. If this policy summarises privacy differently, the more specific Privacy Notice should be consulted.
Individual members and business buyers may apply from anywhere in South Africa. During the pilot, supplier businesses must be based in Gonubie, Beacon Bay, Midrand, Durban or Cape Town. Approved supplier offers may serve or deliver to customers anywhere in South Africa, including through nationwide or online services.
A supplier selects its pilot business base during its application and separately states the service coverage of its profile and listings. Supplier location limits do not restrict where approved members and buyers may live or where customers may use an offer.
The configured owner has an operational dashboard covering account, application, marketplace, engagement, alert, support and sandbox commerce totals, plus bounded recent-record lists. Existing review queues remain the place for decisions and access to request details.
The dashboard excludes income bands, residential information, application statements, enquiry messages, support descriptions, quotation terms and participant identifiers from its summaries. Commercial amounts remain fictional sandbox figures and must not be represented as revenue, verified purchases or evidence of buying power.
Approved supplier businesses may rate members only after a two-way Butha enquiry. Ratings cover communication, reliability and professionalism, plus an optional like. One business contributes one rating per member and personal or business buying context. Members can see their aggregate reputation. Businesses see an aggregate only when they already have an enquiry with that buyer.
No earnings, suburb, application details or identities of other rating businesses are disclosed. Written comments are not collected in this pilot. Suspended businesses no longer contribute to aggregates. Ratings may be reported through the related conversation and do not establish wealth, creditworthiness or verified purchasing behaviour.
Service quotations specify deliverables, exclusions, location, timing and completion criteria. Clients can accept submitted work or request changes within the agreed scope. Suppliers can revise and resubmit, with a private participant timeline. Price and scope remain fixed. Additional work needs a separately agreed quotation. Product orders retain delivery and receipt confirmation. This is a sandbox pilot with no real payments.
Approved participants can follow suppliers and unfollow through Marketplace, Following. New first-approved listings after following generate in-app alerts for members with matching personal or business buying access. A followed business can see the follower display name and aggregate member reputation, but not email addresses or private application details. Following does not establish buying power or opt anyone into marketing email. No email or browser push alerts are sent. Unfollow stops future updates; existing alerts remain in history. Refollow starts from the current point.
Signed-in participants land in Marketplace. Browse, Saved offers and Following support grid and list layouts, sorting, listing approval dates, reaction totals, published-review totals and average ratings. Reaction buttons appear on each listing card and add, change or remove the signed-in participant’s reaction immediately. Ratings use a one-to-five-star control, while participation and feedback context use descriptive visual choices. Written reviews remain separately saved and moderated.
Following shows approved business logos, follower totals and Like totals. Approved suppliers can open Followers to see follower display names, follow dates and aggregate member reputation. Email addresses, application details, income information and residential information are not exposed.
A standalone Privacy Notice is presented before sign-in, at account creation, in the documents area and in the footer. It distinguishes required processing from optional choices, describes service providers and cross-border processing, sets current pilot retention criteria, explains security safeguards and provides access, correction, deletion, objection, consent-withdrawal and complaint routes. Existing accounts are shown material notice changes for acknowledgement. Acknowledgement does not waive rights or provide blanket consent.
Approved business profiles and listings are visible within the private marketplace after content review. Supplier approval alone does not publish an offer. Editing a published profile or offer requires another review. An enquiry shares the buyer's display name or approved business trading name, buying context and message with the selected supplier. It does not share the underlying application, income band, email address or residential details. Replies stay within Butha; either participant may close the conversation. This pilot has no uploads, payments or email alerts. Business representative declarations remain part of the restricted application record. Use fictional test data until final terms, evidence and retention rules are approved.
Business logos and listing photos now support content review. Uploaded images are resized and metadata is removed; only approved content is visible to approved marketplace participants. In-app alerts and optional email preferences are available. Email delivery is currently disabled pending provider and verified-sender setup.
Subscriptions and order payments are sandbox simulations only. R300 monthly, a three-month trial and 5% commission are provisional test assumptions, not active commercial charges. No real subscription, purchase commitment, customer payment, supplier payout or refund is created by sandbox controls. Live commercial terms, processing fees and tax treatment will be disclosed before real billing begins.
Saved offers and support reports are private. A report shares the reporter's description and the reported content identifier with the administrator; it does not automatically expose private conversations or remove content. Responses are visible to the reporter.
Approved buyers may express interest and rate a listing or their enquiry experience. Suppliers may not rate their own offer. Written reviews are published without account names after administrator review; users should avoid identifying details in the text. Ratings and reactions do not establish a purchase or purchasing capacity.
Including an approved application category in supplier analysis is optional and requires a separate choice when giving feedback. No earnings amount, residential details or member identity is included in category breakdowns. A minimum of five consenting accounts applies to each occupied category; related small counts are withheld. Consent can be withdrawn and feedback removed. These safeguards do not replace the privacy review required before using real financial evidence or advanced audience targeting.
Quotation acceptance, order progress and buyer confirmation are available for testing. The buyer reviews the proposed scope, conditions and total before acceptance and simulated payment. The supplier records progress and submits completion; the buyer confirms receipt or service completion. Shared notes and timestamps remain in the participants' order history.
These actions create fictional sandbox records, not a real purchase agreement, payment or independent delivery verification. Keep an order awaiting confirmation if there is an issue, and use the conversation or private reporting tools. Live order terms, cancellation and dispute procedures will be finalised before real transactions.
Butha, by Qubitron, is a private marketplace connecting verified individual members and businesses with relevant products, services and controlled introductions.
The platform supports business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) relationships. The founding pilot covers East London and Midrand, Johannesburg, including Glen Austin.
Membership is application-based and subject to manual approval. An invitation permits an application; it does not guarantee admission.
Applicants must be at least 18, verify their identity and contact details, and qualify through at least one route:
| Route | Qualification |
|---|---|
| Income | Meet an approved income threshold, supported by proportionate verification. |
| Professional standing | Demonstrate an eligible occupation or professional registration. |
| Business ownership | Demonstrate ownership of an active business. |
| Purchasing activity | Demonstrate relevant spending within an approved period. |
Income thresholds, eligible occupations and purchasing criteria must be approved before applications open. Income information is required only for the income route. Professional standing and business ownership do not constitute verified income.
Payment alone does not qualify someone for membership.
Approved businesses may participate as buyers, suppliers or both. Businesses must verify their identity, trading details, contact information and authorised representatives. Sole proprietors may apply through an appropriate verification route.
Suppliers must also meet applicable category-specific credential and listing requirements. Business verification does not establish purchasing capacity or creditworthiness.
A person may participate in both a personal and business capacity. Approval in one capacity does not automatically grant approval in the other. Personal and business profiles, enquiries and contact permissions remain separate.
Suppliers must identify whether each offer serves individual members (B2C), businesses (B2B), or both.
Listings must accurately describe the offering, provide a meaningful member benefit, and disclose applicable prices, taxes, quantities, minimum orders, quotation requirements and conditions. Where B2C and B2B terms differ, those differences must be clear.
Offers require approval before publication. A verification badge identifies the checks completed; it does not guarantee service quality.
Business enquiries must identify the purchasing organisation and its authorised representative.
Butha collects only information needed for defined admission, matching and service purposes. Verification evidence has restricted access and an approved retention period.
Businesses cannot browse individual members’ earnings, verification documents or residential street addresses. Individual members and authorised business representatives control which contact details are shared with a selected supplier for a particular enquiry.
Personal and business contact permissions are recorded separately. Promotional communications are optional. Permission for future contact may be withdrawn, although information already disclosed cannot be recalled.
Members, businesses and their representatives must provide truthful information, act within their authority, communicate respectfully and avoid spam, fraud, misleading offers and unauthorised use of personal information.
Butha may decline applications, remove listings or suspend access for documented reasons. Affected applicants and users may request correction or reconsideration. Urgent restrictions may be applied while a report is investigated.
Individual membership and approved business buying access are free during the pilot.
Supplier selling and promotion packages are separate from buying access. Businesses that join during the pilot, including existing pilot businesses, receive three months of free subscription starting when the pilot ends, not when they register. Admission and listing approval still apply. This offer covers subscription fees only. The pilot end date will be announced before paid subscriptions begin. After the free period, the South African subscription price is R300 per month including VAT. The approximately US$18 equivalent is indicative and may change with exchange rates. International billing currencies and applicable local taxes will be confirmed before rollout outside South Africa. Sandbox trial dates do not start or reduce this benefit.
Paying for a supplier package does not bypass admission or listing requirements. Butha does not guarantee enquiries, sales or customer spending.
Before accepting real applications, Butha will finalise admission criteria, evidence requirements, retention rules, business and representative checks, membership terms and privacy notices, with appropriate legal review.
This draft is a product policy for review, not final contractual terms.