Privacy Policy — Vautier Store

1. Who is responsible

1.1 The controller for the processing described in this policy is James Vautier, self-employed sole proprietor, trading under the business name "Agence Vautier", Avenue Cardinal Mermillod 36, 1227 Carouge, Switzerland ("Vautier", "we").

1.2 For any question relating to data protection or to exercise your rights: contact@agencevautier.ch, +41 22 300 08 29.

1.3 Vautier has not appointed a data protection advisor; such an appointment is optional under Swiss law.

2. Scope

2.1 This policy applies to the vautier.store site, to the accounts of merchants and of their team members, to the use of the Vautier Store dashboard and to requests sent to us.

2.2 When a person buys from a store hosted on Vautier Store, it is the merchant operating the store who decides which data is collected and for what purposes: the merchant is the controller and must inform its customers (each store has pages provided for its own privacy policy, the content of which the merchant writes). Vautier processes this data as a processor, on behalf of and in accordance with the instructions of the merchant (section 9).

2.3 Vautier also processes, on its own account, the data necessary for the security of the platform and for compliance with its legal obligations.

3. What data we process

Account data: e-mail address; name (if provided or transmitted by Google); role in the team (Owner, Admin, Staff); date of creation and of verification of the account; language.
Sign-in data: one-time sign-in codes, stored only in a non-reversible form; passwords of team members who use them, stored only in hashed form; session cookies; for sign-in with Google: Google account identifier and e-mail address.
Store and business data: name of the store and of the business, address, contact details, business identifiers entered, published content, settings.
Invitation data: e-mail address of invited persons, role and status of the invitation.
Subscription data, as soon as online subscription is open: plan, billing period, status, references of the customer and subscription records at Stripe, invoices. Card data is entered at Stripe and is not stored by Vautier.
Messages: content of the contact form (name, e-mail, business, subject, message) or of your e-mails.
Acceptance of documents: version of the terms of service accepted and date of acceptance; version of this policy presented at sign-up.
Technical and security data: IP address, browser type, pages and features requested, date and time (server access logs); counters of sign-in attempts per IP address and per e-mail address; log of administrative actions, with the IP address of the person who performed them; error logs.

4. Why we process this data

Providing the service: creating and managing your account and your store, managing your team, providing the features of your plan (performance of the contract; art. 6(1)(b) GDPR where the GDPR applies).
Identifying you securely: verifying your e-mail address, sending sign-in codes, linking a Google account after confirmation by code (contract; legitimate interest in security, art. 6(1)(f) GDPR).
Billing, as soon as online subscription is open: managing subscriptions, payments and invoices and keeping the accounts (contract; legal obligation, art. 6(1)(c) GDPR).
Communicating with you: replying to your messages and informing you of changes to the service, to the terms or to this policy (legitimate interest; contract).
Security and abuse prevention: limiting sign-in attempts, detecting and handling incidents, logging administrative actions (legitimate interest; legal obligation).
Evidence and legal obligations: recording acceptance of the terms, retaining accounting records, responding to authorities (legal obligation; legitimate interest).

Under Swiss law, processing that complies with the principles of the Federal Act on Data Protection (FADP) does not require a ground for justification; where one is needed, the performance of the contract or an overriding interest provides it. Acceptance of the terms of service does not constitute consent to each processing operation described here; we only ask for consent where the law requires it. We do not send advertising communications.

5. Sign-in by e-mail code

5.1 When you sign in or sign up, we send a 6-digit code to your e-mail address. The code is valid for 5 minutes, can be used only once and works only in the browser that requested it; after 5 incorrect attempts, it is invalidated. We store only a non-reversible form of the code; it is deleted one day after expiry.

5.2 A merchant account is created only after the address has been confirmed by the code. Sign-ups started with an old verification link and never confirmed are deleted after 7 days.

5.3 If an address does not correspond to any account, we send an e-mail stating that no account exists, so as not to reveal to third parties which addresses are registered.

6. Sign-in with Google

6.1 If you choose "Continue with Google", Google confirms your identity to us. We request only your basic profile: Google account identifier, e-mail address (and confirmation of its verification by Google) and name. We do not receive your Google password and do not request any access to your e-mails, files or contacts.

6.2 We store the Google account identifier and the e-mail address with your account in order to recognise you at subsequent sign-ins; your name is copied into your profile. If the e-mail address already belongs to a Vautier Store account, we ask you to confirm by means of a code sent to that address before linking the two.

6.3 Google processes the data in accordance with its own privacy policy (policies.google.com/privacy).

7. Cookies and browser storage

7.1 We use only cookies and storage necessary for the operation of the site and of the dashboard. We do not use any analytics, advertising or tracking cookies, or any third-party tracking tools; fonts are served from our own servers.

7.2 Cookies and storage used:

sid and associated session cookies (dashboard): keeping you signed in; expire at the latest 170 hours after last use or on sign-out.
__Host-vx_auth (dashboard): linking a sign-in code to the browser that requested it; 30 minutes.
__Host-vx_gstate (dashboard): protecting the round trip to Google; 10 minutes.
vautier_locale (vautier.store site): remembering the chosen language; 1 year.
vautier.lang (local storage, sign-in and sign-up screens): remembering the language; until deleted in the browser.
vautier.sidebar (local storage, dashboard): remembering the state of the side menu; until deleted in the browser.

7.3 You can delete or block these items in your browser; signing in to the dashboard will then no longer work. The cookies used in merchants' stores must be described by each merchant in its own policy.

8. Recipients and service providers

8.1 We use the following service providers, which process data on our behalf or, for their own services, as independent controllers:

Amazon Web Services (AWS): hosting of the platform, its database and its files, on servers located in Frankfurt (Germany).
Hostinger: e-mail service (sending of the platform's e-mails, @vautier.store mailboxes) and DNS service.
Google: sign-in with Google, if you choose it; public DNS resolution for the verification of custom domains (domain names only).
Cloudflare: public DNS resolution for the verification of custom domains (domain names only, no personal data).
Let's Encrypt (Internet Security Research Group): security certificates for the platform's addresses and custom domains (domain names only).
The provider of the inbox for the contact address given in section 1.2: receipt of messages from the contact form and of e-mails sent to us.
Stripe, only once online subscription or online payment in stores is open: payment of subscriptions and online payments to the merchant's own Stripe account.

8.2 We do not sell personal data. We disclose data to authorities only where the law obliges us to do so.

9. Data of store customers

9.1 For merchants' stores, Vautier processes in particular, on behalf of the merchant: customers' names, e-mail addresses and telephone numbers; their delivery addresses; their orders and baskets; customers' sign-in codes, in non-reversible form; stores' session cookies. This data is kept separate from that of all other stores.

9.2 Customers of a store must address their requests concerning their data to the merchant. If a request reaches us directly, we forward it to the merchant.

10. Storage location and disclosure abroad

10.1 The platform's database and files are stored on servers located in Frankfurt (Germany). Germany is among the States whose legislation ensures an adequate level of protection according to the Federal Council.

10.2 Encrypted backup copies are also kept outside this server by the operator.

10.3 Certain service providers, in particular Google and Cloudflare and, once activated, Stripe, may process data in the United States or in other countries. Under Swiss law, the United States ensures an adequate level of protection only for companies certified under the Swiss-US Data Privacy Framework. You can obtain information on the country of processing and on the safeguards applicable to each service provider at the address given in section 1.2.

11. Retention period

Account and store data: for the lifetime of the account. When the account is closed, deletion is carried out manually by Vautier within a reasonable time, subject to legal retention obligations.
Sign-in codes (merchants and store customers): deleted one day after their expiry.
Google sign-in round trips: 10 minutes.
Unconfirmed sign-ups from old links: 7 days.
Data export files: 72 hours.
E-mails sent by the platform (sending queue, including contact form messages): 30 days.
Error logs: 14 days.
Activity log (sign-ins): 90 days.
Log of administrative actions: no time limit; it contains technical identifiers and the IP address of the person who performed the action, but no data of store customers.
Server access logs: rotated automatically according to their size.
Invoices and accounting records: for the period prescribed by law.
Acceptance of the terms: for the lifetime of the account and, beyond that, for as long as it is necessary as evidence.
Backups: routine backups on the server are replaced after 14 days; copies made before maintenance work and encrypted off-server copies are kept for as long as they are necessary for a restoration, and then deleted.

Deleted data may persist in backups until those backups are deleted.

12. Security

We protect data by means of technical and organisational measures appropriate to the risk, in particular: encrypted connections (HTTPS); sign-in codes and passwords stored only in protected form; secrets stored encrypted; strict separation of each store's data; administrative access limited to authorised personnel, on a dedicated address, with logging of modification actions; limitation of sign-in attempts; encrypted off-server backup copies. No system is completely secure. In the event of a data security breach likely to result in a high risk, we notify the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC) and, where necessary, the data subjects, in accordance with the law.

13. Application of the GDPR

Vautier is established in Switzerland. The European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) may apply to certain processing operations where we offer our services to persons located in the European Union; to that extent, the rights provided for by the GDPR are also guaranteed to you. The European Commission recognises that Switzerland ensures an adequate level of protection.

14. Your rights

14.1 Under the FADP, you may in particular request access to your personal data (free of charge, with a reply in principle within 30 days), its rectification or its deletion, or object to processing, subject to legal retention obligations; receive the data you have provided to us in a commonly used electronic format; and request that disputed data be marked as such.

14.2 Where the GDPR applies, you also have the right to restriction of processing and the right to withdraw consent at any time, without affecting the lawfulness of processing carried out before its withdrawal.

14.3 To exercise your rights, write to us at the address given in section 1.2. We may ask you to prove your identity. The holder of the Owner role may also export the store's data themselves from the dashboard.

14.4 You may lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority: in Switzerland, the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC, www.edoeb.admin.ch); in the European Union, the authority of your place of residence or work.

15. Automated decisions

We do not take decisions based solely on automated processing that would produce legal effects concerning you or significantly affect you. Automatic limitations on sign-in attempts are temporary and serve security purposes only.

16. Changes to this policy

Vautier Store is a constantly evolving platform. This policy may be updated to reflect changes in our services, in our processing or in legal requirements; it always describes our current processing. Each version is dated; the version presented when you signed up is recorded with your account. We inform you of material changes by e-mail before they take effect and ask for your consent where the law requires it.