Privacy Policy

In plain English

Saamman is a classified ads website for Pakistan. You can browse listings, post an ad, save favourites, chat with a buyer or seller, and manage a profile. This page is the honest version of what happens to your information while you do that.

We are not a shop. We do not take the buyer’s money and pass it to the seller. If you buy a phone or a car through an ad on Saamman, that deal is between you and the other person. We store the account, the ad, and the messages that make that possible.

Who we are

Saamman is operated from G9 Markaz, Islamabad, Pakistan. When this page says “we” or “us”, it means the people behind saamman.com.

Questions about privacy go to privacy@saamman.com. Everyday support goes to the Contact Us page.

What you give us

Most of what we hold is information you typed in yourself.

When you create an account

You can register with email or continue with Google or Facebook. Depending on how you sign up, we may store:

• First name, last name, and gender
• Email address and a Pakistan mobile number (03XX-XXXXXXX)
• A password, stored in hashed form — we cannot read the original
• A profile photo, if you upload one
• Date of birth, bio, timezone, and display preferences, if you add them later

If you join with Google or Facebook, those companies send us enough to recognise you — usually your name and email. What they keep on their side is covered by their own policies, not this one.

When you post an ad

A listing can include a title, description, price, category, condition, photos, and a location. For some categories we also ask for extra detail — for example PTA status on a mobile, or rooms on a property. That content is stored so other people can find and read the ad.

When you use chat, contact us, or subscribe

• Chat messages between you and another user, tied to the listing you were talking about
• Name, email, subject, and message if you write to us through Contact Us or the report form
• An email address if you subscribe to the newsletter from the footer or from your profile
• Notification choices: email, SMS, and which newsletter topics you want

If you turn on two-factor authentication, we store a secret used only to check the codes from your authenticator app. We do not see those codes unless you type one to turn 2FA on or off.

What we collect ourselves

Some records are created by the site as you use it, not by a form you filled in.

• Login session. Access and refresh tokens, plus a small snapshot of your account, are saved in your browser’s local storage so you stay signed in.
• Recently viewed ads. Kept in your browser so the “recently viewed” strip can work. That list does not go to our servers.
• Favourites. Which ads you saved, stored against your account if you are signed in.
• Visit records. On some API requests we store the IP address that reached our servers, a rough location (city, region, country — not your street), the address that was called, the time, and how often that IP has shown up. We use this to understand traffic and to look into abuse. Location is looked up from the IP using MaxMind GeoLite2 data.
• Chat reports. If you report someone from a conversation, we keep who reported whom, and the reason.

This product includes GeoLite2 data created by MaxMind, available from https://www.maxmind.com. Some place names come from GeoNames, licensed under CC BY 4.0.

How we use it

We use this information to:

• Run the marketplace — accounts, ads, photos, search, favourites, and chat
• Show your public listing to other people, including your name, photo, location, and phone number if you added one
• Send account emails such as verification and password reset
• Send newsletters and optional notifications, only where you asked for them
• Reply when you contact us or report an ad
• Filter offensive language on contact and support messages
• Spot spam, fake ads, and other abuse
• Keep the site working and understand which parts people actually use
• Comply with Pakistani law if we are required to

We do not sell your personal information. We do not rent your phone number to marketers.

What other people can see

An ad is public. Anyone on the internet can read the title, photos, price, description, and the area you listed. They can also see the name and photo on the seller card, and they can reveal the phone number you attached to the listing.

Chat is not public. Only you, the other person in that thread, and — if a report is filed — our team can see those messages.

When we share it

We share information only in these situations:

• With other users, as described above — that is the point of a classified ad.
• With companies that help us run the site, such as Google or Facebook for sign-in, email delivery, and hosting. They get only what they need to do that job.
• With Pakistani authorities, if the law requires it — for example a lawful request under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016, or a court order.
• If Saamman is sold or merged, account and listing data would move with the business. We would still expect the new owner to treat it with the same care.

Cookies and your browser

We rely mainly on local storage in your browser for login and recently viewed ads. Facebook’s sign-in script may set its own cookie when you use “Continue with Facebook”.

You can clear site data in your browser. That will sign you out and wipe the recently viewed list on that device. The ads and account on our servers stay until you change or delete them.

How long we keep it

We keep your account and ads while the account is open. If you delete an ad, it is removed from public view. If you ask us to close the account, we delete or anonymise what we no longer need, unless we have to keep a record — for example a fraud report or a legal hold.

Visit records and support messages are kept only as long as they are useful for running the site and handling complaints.

How we look after it

Passwords are hashed. You can add two-factor authentication from your profile. Access to our systems is limited to people who need it to do their job.

No website is perfectly safe. If you think someone else is using your account, change your password and write to us. Turn on 2FA if you have not already.

Your choices

You can:

• Edit your name, phone, photo, and address from your profile
• Turn email, SMS, and newsletter topics on or off in Settings
• Unsubscribe from a newsletter using the link in the email
• Delete or edit your own ads
• Block or report a user from chat
• Ask us for a copy of what we hold, or ask us to correct it
• Ask us to close your account by emailing privacy@saamman.com

We will need to confirm it is really you before we delete an account. Some records may remain if the law says we must keep them.

Under 18

Saamman is for adults. You must be 18 or older to create an account or post an ad. If you believe a child has given us personal information, email privacy@saamman.com and we will look into it.

Pakistan law

Saamman is based in Pakistan. This policy is meant to be read with Pakistani law, including the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016 (as amended). That law deals with things like unauthorised access, identity theft, and certain kinds of harmful online content. It is a criminal statute, not a full privacy code.

Pakistan does not yet have a standalone personal data protection act in force. We still tell you what we collect and we still let you ask for access, correction, or deletion, because that is the decent way to run a marketplace — not because a European-style privacy statute currently applies to us.

If a Pakistani court or a lawful authority asks for information, we may have to provide it. This policy is governed by the laws of Pakistan. The courts in Islamabad have jurisdiction over disputes about it.

If this page changes

If we change how we handle information in a way that actually matters, we will update this page and the date at the top. Keep an eye on it if you use Saamman regularly.