Privacy Policy

1. Who we are and what this policy covers

Sage Direct ("Sage Direct", "we", "us") is a tipping service that lets guests send a tip directly to the hospitality worker who served them. This Privacy Policy explains what personal information we collect when you use the Sage Direct website and app, how we use it, who we share it with, and the choices you have.

This policy applies to guests who tip without an account, registered customers, hospitality workers who receive tips, and administrators who operate the service.

2. Information you give us

• Account information — when you create an account we collect your email address and name, and store your sign-in credentials through our authentication provider. You may also sign in with Google, in which case Google shares your name and email address with us. You can add an optional display name and a receipt email address.
• Customer information — when you tip while signed in, the tip is linked to your account so you can see your history and receipts.
• Guest information — you never need an account to tip. When you tip as a guest you may optionally provide your name, an email address for a receipt, and a thank-you message. You may also choose to tip anonymously, in which case the worker does not see your name.
• Worker profile information — hospitality workers provide a phone number, a public display name, a photo, their workplace, their role, a short bio, a thank-you message, their country and currency, and a personal payment-link name.
• Worker identity information — to receive tips, workers provide their legal name, date of birth, home address, the type of government ID they hold, and the last four digits of that ID number. Workers then complete identity verification directly with Stripe Identity (see section 4). Sage Direct never receives or stores images of identity documents.
• Referral information — the referral program is not active, so no referral information is collected at present. Referral records created while the feature was being tested are retained as described in section 11.
• Payment requests — a worker who requests a tip may enter a guest's phone number or email address to create a payment link.

3. Information created when you use Sage Direct

• Transaction records — for every tip we record the amount, currency, service fee and any tax, the payment method type (for example card, Apple Pay or Google Pay), the last four digits of the card, the worker who received it, any guest name, email or message provided, the status of the payment, and the Stripe identifiers needed to reconcile it. We never receive or store your full card number, expiry date or security code.
• Worker earnings and payout records — the tips credited to a worker, and the payout information Stripe reports for their connected account. Sage Direct does not initiate bank withdrawals.
• Stripe account status — for workers, the status of their Stripe connected account, which capabilities are active, whether payouts are enabled, and any outstanding requirement names reported by Stripe. This never includes bank account numbers or documents.
• Notifications and activity — in-app notifications about tips and payouts.
• Administrative records — our administrators may open support cases, add internal notes and take actions such as refunds. Every administrative action is written to an internal audit log that records who did what and when. These records are only visible to authorized administrators.
• Technical information — our hosting platform records the technical information needed to run and secure the service, and may collect basic usage analytics such as page views. We do not run third-party advertising trackers.

4. Stripe: payments, payouts and identity verification

Sage Direct uses Stripe, Inc. and its affiliates to process payments. When you pay, your card or wallet details are entered on a checkout page hosted by Stripe and go directly to Stripe. Stripe may send you an email receipt if you provided an email address.

Workers receive tips through a Stripe connected account (Stripe Connect). During Stripe onboarding, workers give Stripe the information Stripe requires to open the account and pay out to a bank, such as bank account details. That information is collected and held by Stripe, not by Sage Direct.

Workers verify their identity through Stripe Identity. Identity documents and selfies are captured and checked by Stripe. Sage Direct stores only the verification outcome (for example verified, requires input, or failed), a reference to the verification session, and a non-sensitive error code when a check does not pass.

Stripe's handling of your information is described in Stripe's Privacy Policy at stripe.com/privacy. When you use Sage Direct you also agree to Stripe's terms as they apply to you.

5. How we use your information

• To process tips and route each tip to the correct worker.
• To create accounts, sign you in, and keep your account secure.
• To show workers their tips, balance and payout status, and to show customers their tipping history and receipts.
• To check that a worker is eligible to receive tips, using the status reported by Stripe.
• To provide support, investigate problems, process refunds and respond to payment disputes.
• To send you service messages such as email verification codes, password resets and in-app notifications.
• To detect and prevent fraud, abuse and misuse of the service, and to keep an audit trail of administrative actions.
• To comply with legal, tax and regulatory obligations.

6. Information that is public or visible to others

• A worker's public tipping page shows their display name, role, workplace, photo, bio, thank-you message and a verified badge. This page is reachable by anyone who has the link or scans the QR code, and workers who can receive tips appear in the in-app worker search.
• A worker sees the name and message of a guest who tipped them, unless the guest chose to tip anonymously. Workers never see a guest's card details or email address.
• Customers and workers can only see their own history, profile and balance. Nobody can see another user's private account.

7. Who we share information with

• Stripe — to process payments, run payouts to workers and verify worker identity, as described in section 4.
• Our hosting and infrastructure provider — Sage Direct runs on a hosted application platform that stores our data and operates authentication on our behalf.
• OpenStreetMap (Nominatim) — when a worker types their address during onboarding, the text they type is sent from our server to the OpenStreetMap address service to suggest a matching address in the country they selected. Only the typed text is sent; no account details are shared.
• Legal and safety — we may disclose information when required by law, to respond to lawful requests, or to protect the rights, property or safety of Sage Direct, our users or others.
• We do not sell your personal information.

8. How we protect your information

• All traffic between your device, Sage Direct and Stripe is encrypted in transit.
• Card and bank details are handled only by Stripe. Sage Direct does not store them.
• Every record is protected by access rules so that customers and workers can only read their own data, and all administrative access is checked on our servers on every request.
• Payment amounts, fees and worker eligibility are calculated on our servers and confirmed by Stripe, so they cannot be altered from a browser.
• Administrative actions are logged in an audit trail that cannot be edited or deleted.
• Automated security monitoring — we operate server-side security monitoring that reviews platform activity to detect suspicious behavior, unauthorized access, abuse, scraping, automated access, account sharing, and potential Terms-of-Service violations. This monitoring collects only non-sensitive information reasonably necessary for security, fraud prevention, and abuse prevention. It does not track your location, browsing habits, or personal characteristics, and it does not use IP addresses or geographic location as the sole basis for any determination.

9. Cookies, local storage and sessions

When you sign in, a session token is stored in your browser's local storage so you stay signed in until you sign out or the session expires. While a worker completes onboarding, the form progress is saved in local storage so it is not lost during email verification; it is removed once the profile is created. Stripe's hosted checkout and onboarding pages use their own cookies, described in Stripe's cookie policy. We do not use advertising cookies.

10. Communications

We send emails needed to operate your account, such as verification codes and password-reset links. Stripe may send payment receipts to the email address you provide at checkout. Workers receive in-app notifications about tips and payouts. We do not send marketing emails.

11. How long we keep information

Account and profile information is kept for as long as your account exists. Transaction, refund, dispute, payout and audit records are kept for as long as needed to meet our financial, tax, dispute-resolution and legal obligations, even after an account is closed. Security event and monitoring records are retained for as long as needed to meet our security, fraud-prevention, and legal obligations. Information held by Stripe is retained according to Stripe's own policies.

12. Your rights and choices

• Access and correction — you can view and update your display name and receipt email in your profile, and workers can update their public profile details in the app. You can ask us for a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
• Deletion — you can ask us to close your account and delete your personal information. We may need to keep transaction and audit records where the law or a payment dispute requires it.
• Anonymity — you can tip without an account and can choose to tip anonymously.
• Sign out — you can end your session at any time from your profile or dashboard.
• Complaints — if you are in Canada you have the right to raise a concern with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada or your provincial privacy regulator. Where other privacy laws apply to you, you may have additional rights under those laws.

13. Children

Sage Direct is not directed at children. You must be old enough to enter into a binding agreement in your jurisdiction to create an account, and workers must meet Stripe's eligibility requirements to receive payouts.

14. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as Sage Direct changes. We will post the new version here and update the "Last updated" date. Significant changes will be highlighted in the app.

15. Contact us

If you have a question about this policy or want to exercise any of your rights, contact Sage Direct through the Help & Support option in the app or through the contact details published on the Sage Direct website.