Privacy Policy

Effective date: \[insert on publication\]
Last revised: \[same\]

This Privacy Policy explains how Tau Beauty Inc (“Tau Beauty,” “Company,” “we,” or “us”), a California corporation in Temecula, California, collects, uses, discloses, and otherwise processes personal information in connection with TauBeautyPOS (the “Service”).

It covers two situations:

1. Your information as a merchant (the salon or business that signs up for TauBeautyPOS, and its staff). For that information, Tau Beauty is typically the business that decides how the account is run.
2. Your clients’ and staff’s information that you store in the Service. For that information, we act as a service provider (and, under California law, a service provider / contractor) on behalf of the merchant. The merchant is responsible for its own privacy notice to clients and staff.

This policy is not a substitute for the merchant’s own privacy notice. In a conflict between this policy and a signed customer agreement, the customer agreement controls to the extent the law allows.

Clover Network, LLC and its affiliates (“Clover”) have their own privacy notice at https://www.clover.com/privacy-policy. Stripe, Inc. has its own notice at https://stripe.com/privacy. We are not Clover and we are not Stripe.

1. Information we collect

Merchants decide what they enter about their clients and staff. The information we receive therefore varies. It typically includes the following.

1.1 Information about the merchant and staff

• Account details: salon name, address, phone, email, sign-in identifiers, role (owner, manager, staff), and authentication data (we store password hashes, not passwords; owners may also use an optional extra sign-in code).
• Business settings: hours, service menu, taxes, tipping settings, device names, and billing contact details.
• Billing for the software: if the salon pays the $79/month plan or the $40/month AI add-on, our payment processor (planned: Stripe) receives the payment method and invoice details. We receive limited results (paid, failed, last four digits of a card if the processor provides them). We do not store full payment-card numbers for software billing.
• If the salon connects Clover: Clover merchant ID, device serial, app identifiers, and OAuth tokens (stored encrypted). We do not ask the merchant to type their bank account or card number into TauBeautyPOS for Clover payouts.

1.2 Information about clients (collected on behalf of the merchant)

• Identity and contact details the salon or the client enters: name, phone, email, notes, photos the salon uploads, appointment history, and service history.
• Booking details: date, time, technician, services, party size, and related messages.
• In-salon checkout: ticket lines, discounts, taxes, tips, tenders (cash, gift card, card via Clover), receipts, refunds, and voids.
• When a client pays by card on a Clover device: transaction amount, time, Clover payment identifiers, card brand, last four digits, and authorization result. Full card numbers, magnetic-stripe data, and CVV are not collected or stored by TauBeautyPOS. That information is entered on the Clover device and processed by Clover / Fiserv.
• SMS and email content the merchant sends (appointment confirmations, reminders, review requests if the merchant turns that feature on), delivery status, and opt-out records (for example, a STOP reply).
• Optional review feedback the client submits through a link the merchant sends, and whether a public review link was opened. Review requests are off unless the merchant enables them. We do not gate reviews on a positive score.

1.3 Information collected automatically

• Device and log information reasonably needed to operate the Service: IP address, browser or app type, device identifiers we issue (for example, which iPad is the main checkout device — we store a hash, not a raw secret), approximate location derived from IP if a host provides it, and timestamps.
• Cookies or similar local storage for sign-in and preferences on the website or app.

1.4 Information we do not intentionally collect

We do not ask for Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, or medical information as part of ordinary salon booking. If a merchant types such information into a notes field, it is stored as the merchant entered it. We ask merchants not to do that.

2. How we use information

On behalf of the merchant, and to operate the Service, we use personal information to:

• Provide booking, POS, receipts, reporting, staff tools, and customer support.
• Take and record payments as the merchant directs (Clover for in-person cards; software fees through our software billing processor when a fee applies).
• Send SMS, email, or AI phone and text messages the merchant enables, including honoring STOP and similar opt-outs.
• Secure the Service (fraud and abuse prevention, audit logs, access control).
• Bill and collect software fees when they apply (see Fees, below), send invoices and payment notices, and determine whether the $79/month subscription is waived because the salon processes cards with Clover.
• Improve reliability and features, including aggregated and de-identified metrics.
• Comply with law, enforce our terms, and protect the rights, safety, and property of merchants, clients, staff, and Tau Beauty.

We do not sell personal information, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising as those terms are used in the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA / CPRA).

We do not use client personal information for our own marketing to those clients. We may contact the merchant about the Service, billing, security, and product updates.

3. How we share information

We may share personal information with:

• The merchant that owns the salon account (owners and managers may see client contact details; ordinary staff are not shown client contact details in the product design).
• Clover / Fiserv, when the merchant connects a Clover account, so the Flex can take card payments and so Clover can process, receipt, refund, or void those payments.
• Stripe, when the merchant pays software subscription or add-on fees (or if a future feature uses Stripe with the merchant’s instruction).
• Communications providers, when the merchant sends messages: currently planned Twilio for SMS/voice (when the merchant has this configured) and Resend (or another email provider) for email.
• Hosting, backup, and operations providers, for example the host that runs the servers (planned: Railway) and backup storage (planned: Google Drive for encrypted or archival salon backups, if enabled).
• Our service providers who assist with support, accounting, or security, under contracts that limit their use of the data.
• Authorities or other parties when we believe the law requires it, or to protect rights and safety.
• A buyer or successor, if we sell or transfer all or part of the business, in which case we will require the recipient to honor this policy or provide notice if it will not.

We may also share information with a third party if the merchant directs us to (for example, a Google calendar connection the merchant turns on).

We do not share personal information with Clover so that Clover becomes the provider of TauBeautyPOS. Clover is a processor / platform for card payments and, if applicable, Clover app billing.

4. Fees, Clover, and Stripe (what this means for data)

• If the salon processes card payments with Clover in TauBeautyPOS, the $79/month software subscription is waived. We still process the technical connection data described above. Clover processes the client’s card transaction.
• If the salon does not use Clover as its card processor in TauBeautyPOS, the salon pays $79/month after a 30-day trial, billed by our software payment processor (planned: Stripe).
• The optional $40/month AI add-on is not waived. Usage data (minutes and texts) is processed so we can bill included amounts and overage caps.
• Client card data for in-salon sales is not sent to Stripe.

5. Retention

Subject to our agreement with the merchant and the law, we keep personal information while the salon account is active and for a reasonable period afterward so the merchant can access historical tickets, and so we can meet tax, dispute, security, and legal obligations. Backups may last for a longer, limited period. After a merchant closes the account and any required retention ends, we delete or de-identify remaining personal information, except where we must keep it (for example, a legal hold or an unpaid invoice).

Merchants can ask us to export or delete salon data, subject to the law and to our need to keep records of transactions.

6. Security

We use reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards, including encryption of Clover tokens and other secrets at rest, access controls by role, HTTPS for the hosted service, and audit logs of sensitive actions. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure. We do not promise that the Service cannot be compromised.

7. Your rights and choices

7.1 Merchants and staff

Merchants can review and update salon profile, staff, and many settings in the Service. For access, correction, or deletion requests, email [email protected]. Staff should usually start with their salon owner.

7.2 Clients

Clients should contact the salon (the merchant) to access, correct, or delete information the salon stored about them, or to opt out of the salon’s marketing. We will reasonably help the merchant respond, including CCPA/CPRA requests, taking into account the data we hold.

Clients can opt out of SMS by replying STOP (and similar words the Service honors). Marketing emails, when sent, will include a way to unsubscribe in the published product. Review-request texts are sent only if the merchant enables them and only under the merchant’s settings (including rate limits).

7.3 Do Not Track

The Service does not currently respond to browser Do Not Track signals. We do not allow third parties to collect personal information about Service users across third-party websites over time for their own advertising, except as a payment or communications provider may do under its own policy when you are sent to that provider to complete a payment or sign-in.

7.4 California privacy rights (CCPA / CPRA)

If you are a California resident, you may have the right to request: (a) the categories and specific pieces of personal information we have collected about you, the categories of sources, the business or commercial purpose, and the categories of third parties with whom we share it; (b) a copy of the personal information we maintain; (c) deletion or correction, subject to exceptions; (d) to opt out of “sale” or “sharing” for cross-context behavioral advertising (we do not sell or share in those senses); and (e) not to be discriminated against for exercising these rights.

We do not sell personal information, and in the twelve months before the date of this policy we have not sold personal information.

To make a request, email [email protected] or write to Tau Beauty Inc, Temecula, California. We will need enough information to verify the requester. An authorized agent may submit a request with proof of authority. If the request concerns data we hold only as a service provider to a salon, we may direct you to that salon or handle the request in cooperation with the salon.

Categories collected and shared for business purposes (last 12 months):

8. Children

The Service is built for salons and adult staff. It is not directed at children under 13. Merchants should not enter a child’s personal information except as needed for a booking, and they are responsible for any consent the law requires.

9. International transfers

Servers are expected to be in the United States. If we transfer personal information from another country, we will use a lawful mechanism. The Service is initially offered to US merchants.

10. Changes

We may update this policy. We will change the “last revised” date and, for material changes, provide additional notice (for example, email to the merchant owner or a notice in the Service). If a revised policy will appear in a Clover listing, we will follow Clover’s approval rules for amended documents.

11. Contact

Tau Beauty Inc
Temecula, California, United States
Email: [email protected]

Questions, complaints, or privacy requests may use the same contact details.