Privacy Policy
Last updated: 28 Oct 2026. Applies to www.bymarkit.com, app.bymarkit.com and the MARKIT marketplace.
In short
- We collect business contact and company information to run the MARKIT marketplace and to contact you about it.
- We never sell your personal data.
- We never ask for card or bank details on our registration forms.
- You can ask us to access, correct or delete your data at any time by emailing [email protected].
1. Who we are
This policy explains how Markit FZC LLC, Business Center, Sharjah Publishing City Free Zone, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates (“MARKIT”, “we”, “us”) handles personal data. MARKIT is the controller of the personal data described here. It covers our websites, the factory registration form, the Founding Vendor offer page, the MARKIT marketplace, and meetings and events such as trade fairs.
MARKIT is a business-to-business platform, so most of the data we hold relates to people acting for companies. Questions about this policy go to [email protected].
2. What we collect
What you give us
- Registration form: company name, your name and position, WeChat or WhatsApp ID, email address, phone number, website or catalogue link, company type, product categories, export experience, Canton Fair booth number, your language, your consent, and the MARKIT team member who invited you if you came through their QR code.
- Your account: login email, password (stored in protected form), profile and company details.
- Verification: business licence and registration documents, factory photos or video, certificates, export references and details of authorised representatives.
- Marketplace activity: catalogues, product information, RFQs, quotes, orders, messages, project documents and inspection reports.
- Billing and payments: company name, invoice address and tax number. Vendors also give us bank account details for payouts. Payments are collected and held by our licensed payment partner, which collects the identity and payment details it needs. To use the payment service, we or our payment partner also collect identity and company-ownership details of authorised signatories and owners, and run sanctions and fraud checks. We receive confirmation of each payment and payout.
- Meetings and events: business cards and notes taken by our team or representatives.
- Support: the messages you send us.
What we collect automatically
- Device and browser type, IP address, pages visited and technical logs. We also use your IP address briefly to limit repeated form submissions.
- Your language choice, which the registration page stores in your browser so it remembers your preference.
- Cookies and similar technologies, described in section 8.
From other sources
- Our authorised representatives, who may pass us details of companies they meet.
- Other users, for example a Buyer naming a Vendor in an RFQ.
- Public business sources, such as company websites and registries, to verify a company.
We do not ask for sensitive personal data, such as health, religion or government ID numbers. Please do not send it to us.
3. How we use your data and why
| Purpose | Legal basis |
|---|---|
| Respond to your registration and contact you about the Founding Vendor Offer | Your consent, and our legitimate interest in business outreach |
| Create and manage your account, and review and verify your company | Contract, steps you ask us to take before a contract, and our legitimate interest in a trusted marketplace |
| Run the marketplace: RFQs, quotes, orders, coordination, inspection and documents | Contract |
| Billing, payments and payouts, accounting and tax | Contract and legal obligation |
| Security, fraud prevention, identity verification, sanctions and compliance checks | Legitimate interests and legal obligation |
| Improve and analyse the Platform | Legitimate interests, or consent where cookie rules require it |
| Send marketing emails and messages | Consent, or legitimate interest where the law allows, with an easy opt-out |
| Establish, exercise or defend legal claims | Legitimate interests and legal obligation |
- Purpose
- Respond to your registration and contact you about the Founding Vendor Offer
- Legal basis
- Your consent, and our legitimate interest in business outreach
- Purpose
- Create and manage your account, and review and verify your company
- Legal basis
- Contract, steps you ask us to take before a contract, and our legitimate interest in a trusted marketplace
- Purpose
- Run the marketplace: RFQs, quotes, orders, coordination, inspection and documents
- Legal basis
- Contract
- Purpose
- Billing, payments and payouts, accounting and tax
- Legal basis
- Contract and legal obligation
- Purpose
- Security, fraud prevention, identity verification, sanctions and compliance checks
- Legal basis
- Legitimate interests and legal obligation
- Purpose
- Improve and analyse the Platform
- Legal basis
- Legitimate interests, or consent where cookie rules require it
- Purpose
- Send marketing emails and messages
- Legal basis
- Consent, or legitimate interest where the law allows, with an easy opt-out
- Purpose
- Establish, exercise or defend legal claims
- Legal basis
- Legitimate interests and legal obligation
The names of legal bases vary between laws. In every case we rely on a basis that your local law accepts, and we ask for your consent where the law requires it. We do not make decisions about you based solely on automated processing that have legal or similarly significant effects.
4. Who we share your data with
- Other users. A Vendor’s company name, profile and catalogue can be seen by Buyers only after the Vendor completes its account and MARKIT approves its profile. A Buyer’s RFQ is shown to the Vendors it is sent to. We share contact details only as needed to move a quote or order forward.
- Authorised representatives. Agencies and representatives who act for MARKIT, including in China, help with registration and onboarding. They act under contract, with confidentiality duties, and only for these purposes.
- Service providers. Companies that provide hosting, email delivery, forms and customer records, analytics, communication tools and translation. They process data on our instructions. Our licensed payment and escrow partner and the banks that move the money may also act as independent controllers under their own privacy notices and legal duties.
- Advisers and authorities. Lawyers, accountants, auditors and insurers, and courts, regulators or law enforcement when the law requires.
- Business changes. A buyer or successor if MARKIT is involved in a merger, financing or sale, with the same protections for your data.
We do not sell personal data.
5. International transfers
MARKIT works with users in China, the GCC, Turkey and elsewhere, so your data may be processed in other countries than yours, including France, where our servers are hosted, the United States, where our email delivery and machine-translation providers process data, the data centres of our cloud storage and content delivery provider, and the countries where our payment partner and its banks operate. When we transfer personal data across borders, including from mainland China, we use the safeguards your local law requires, such as your specific consent, standard contractual clauses, or a security assessment or filing. Where the law requires your separate consent for a transfer, we will ask for it before we transfer your data.
6. How long we keep your data
| Data | How long |
|---|---|
| Registration enquiries that do not become accounts | Up to 24 months after our last contact, then deleted or anonymised |
| Account data | While your account is open, and up to 6 years afterwards for legal claims and tax |
| Verification documents | While your account is open and up to 2 years afterwards. 12 months for declined applications |
| Orders, invoices, payment records and project records | Up to 6 years, or longer if the law requires |
| Technical logs | Up to 12 months |
| Marketing opt-outs | Kept so that we can respect your choice |
- Data
- Registration enquiries that do not become accounts
- How long
- Up to 24 months after our last contact, then deleted or anonymised
- Data
- Account data
- How long
- While your account is open, and up to 6 years afterwards for legal claims and tax
- Data
- Verification documents
- How long
- While your account is open and up to 2 years afterwards. 12 months for declined applications
- Data
- Orders, invoices, payment records and project records
- How long
- Up to 6 years, or longer if the law requires
- Data
- Technical logs
- How long
- Up to 12 months
- Data
- Marketing opt-outs
- How long
- Kept so that we can respect your choice
We delete or anonymise data when it is no longer needed, unless the law requires us to keep it.
7. Your rights
Depending on the laws that apply to you, you can:
- ask for access to the personal data we hold about you;
- ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data;
- ask us to delete your data;
- ask us to restrict or object to certain processing, including direct marketing;
- ask for a copy of your data in a portable format;
- withdraw your consent at any time, without affecting what we did before; and
- complain to the data protection authority in your country.
To use these rights, email [email protected]. We may need to confirm your identity. We reply within 30 days, or sooner if the law requires. To delete the details you sent through the registration form, email us from the address you used, or tell us your company name and WeChat or WhatsApp ID.
8. Cookies and similar technologies
- Essential: needed for login, security and to remember your language. These do not need consent.
- Analytics: Where the law requires, we set these only after you agree.
You can control cookies in your browser settings. Blocking essential cookies may stop parts of the Platform from working.
9. Marketing and messages
We send service emails, such as the email to confirm your address and complete your account, and one reminder if you have not. Our team also receives a notice of each registration so that we can follow up. We may send marketing by email, WeChat or WhatsApp where you have given us that contact detail for this purpose. You can opt out at any time with the unsubscribe link, by replying “STOP”, or by emailing [email protected].
10. Security
We protect personal data with measures that include encryption in transit, access limited to our staff and authorised representatives who need it, and regular reviews of our systems and providers. No system is completely secure. If a breach affects your data in a way that creates risk for you, we will tell you and the authorities as the law requires.
11. Children
The Platform is for businesses and professionals. It is not directed at anyone under 18, and we do not knowingly collect data from them.
12. Links to other sites
Our websites may link to other sites. We are not responsible for their privacy practices, so please read their policies.
13. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy. We will post the new version with a new date and, for material changes, tell you by email or on the Platform.
14. Contact
Markit FZC LLC, Business Center, Sharjah Publishing City Free Zone, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, [email protected], www.bymarkit.com.