Terms of Service

1. Acceptance of Terms

By registering for or using the LocalSeek Biz platform (“Service”), you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service. If you are using the Service on behalf of a business, you represent that you have authority to bind that business. If you do not agree to these Terms, do not use the Service. LocalSeek is a registered business name of VIP TUTOR INC., an Ontario corporation. In this document “LocalSeek”, “we”, “us” and “our” refer to VIP TUTOR INC. o/a LocalSeek.

2. Service Description

LocalSeek Biz is a SaaS platform for independent restaurants and other local businesses — including food, services and appointment-based businesses (such as salons, spas, fitness and recreation studios, tutoring, pet, and photography businesses), and retail stores — that provides loyalty campaign management, order and booking management, inventory, customer database, AI-powered menu and product tools, digital waivers, push notifications, QR scan terminals, team management, analytics, an optional Payment Options directory that lets you display your own third-party payment links (such as Stripe, Square, PayPal, Interac e-Transfer, WeChat Pay, Alipay, or Moneris) to consumers, and optional in-app payment and deposit features. LocalSeek is not a payment processor and does not collect, hold, or have access to consumer card data or funds. Where you display your own payment links, payments flow directly between the consumer and the payment provider you choose. Where you connect a payment processor and enable in-app payment or deposits, payments are processed directly into your own connected account and you are the seller and merchant of record (see Section 16). The Service is provided on a monthly subscription basis.

3. Subscription and Billing

• Payment Method: A valid payment card is required at registration. It is stored with our payment processor, Stripe (we never see or store your full card number), so that billing is automatic.
• Free Period: Every account that activates before January 1, 2027 (00:00 Eastern Time) has full access free of charge until January 1, 2027, and its card is first charged on that date (the charge may post on the next business day), then monthly on the 1st. If such an account cancels before January 1, 2027, it is never charged.
• No Free Trial After January 1, 2027: Accounts that activate on or after January 1, 2027 (00:00 Eastern Time) receive no free trial or free period. The first month's fee is charged to the card at registration, and the subscription then renews monthly on that date.
• Subscription Fee: $100 USD per month per location (per store), plus applicable taxes. Each store you operate is billed at the same $100/month, including stores in a franchise network. A Franchise HQ account is billed a separate flat $100 USD per month HQ subscription, in addition to each member store's own per-location subscription — see Franchise HQ Terms §8.
• Billing: Billed monthly via Stripe. The subscription renews automatically each month until you cancel.
• Cancellation: Cancel anytime in the LocalSeek Biz app (Settings → Subscription). Except as described under Refunds, cancellation stops all future charges and the Service remains active until the end of the current billing period.
• No Commissions: LocalSeek Biz charges a flat monthly fee only. We take 0% commission on any orders, transactions, or customer spending at your business.
• Refunds: If any account, whenever it activated, cancels within 14 days of its first successful subscription payment, that payment is refunded in full and the subscription ends immediately. After those 14 days, subscription fees already paid are non-refundable except as required by law; cancellation stops all future charges and the Service remains active until the end of the paid period.

4. Account Requirements

• You must be 18+ years old and operate a legitimate business (food, services, or retail).
• Your business must be verifiable via Google Places during onboarding.
• You must hold all licenses, permits, registrations, and insurance required to operate your business and offer your goods or services.
• You are responsible for maintaining the security of your account credentials.
• You must promptly remove staff access when they leave your business.

5. Campaign Rules

• Campaign discount rates (instant discount, store credit, referral bonus) are locked upon publishing and cannot be modified.
• You set your own discount, store-credit, and referral-bonus rates. The platform does not cap promotion generosity; only data-integrity limits apply (for example, a percentage discount cannot exceed 100%). You are solely responsible for the cost of the promotions you configure, and you may cancel a promotion at any time to stop it.
• Campaigns must not overlap in time slots. The platform enforces this automatically.
• You must honor all campaign rates shown to customers when they place orders during active campaign periods.
• Fraudulent or deceptive campaigns violate these Terms and may result in account termination.

6. Customer Data

You may access customer data (order history, credit balances, visit frequency) for business management purposes only. You may not export, sell, or use this data for purposes outside the LocalSeek platform. Customer phone numbers are masked after 7 days. Customer email addresses are never visible.

7. No-Show and Strike Policy

LocalSeek applies its no-show rules to consumers, not to merchants. Order no-shows follow the consumer order strike system. For bookings, cancelling is always free for consumers; a booking no-show counts only when you mark it and the guest is more than 30 minutes late (or the time you set, at least 15 minutes); the first three counted no-shows in 12 months bring a warning, and from the fourth the consumer's bookings are paused for 30 days. You can undo a no-show marked in error within 24 hours. You may not charge late-cancellation or no-show fees; keeping a deposit you required and disclosed is the only charge allowed. Merchants must not abuse the void, refund, or no-show systems. Voiding transactions outside the 24-hour window or systematic credit manipulation may result in account suspension.

8. Prohibited Uses

• Using the platform to process fictitious orders or fraudulently generate credits
• Attempting to reverse-engineer, scrape, or circumvent platform security
• Using customer contact information for purposes outside the LocalSeek platform
• Operating multiple accounts for the same business location
• Violating any applicable laws or regulations

9. Service Availability

We strive for 99.9% uptime but do not guarantee uninterrupted service. We are not liable for losses resulting from service downtime, data loss, or third-party service failures (Stripe, Google, Firebase, Twilio). Planned maintenance windows will be announced in advance.

10. Intellectual Property

You retain ownership of your business content (photos, menu items, descriptions). By uploading content, you grant LocalSeek a license to display it within the platform. LocalSeek retains all rights to the platform software, design, and technology.

11. Termination

We may suspend or terminate accounts that violate these Terms, engage in fraudulent activity, or fail to pay subscription fees. Upon termination, data is retained per our Privacy Policy's retention schedule and then anonymized or deleted on that schedule.

12. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, LocalSeek's liability is limited to the amount you paid in subscription fees during the 12 months preceding the claim. We are not liable for indirect, incidental, or consequential damages, lost profits, or data loss.

13. Changes to Terms

We may modify these Terms at any time. Continued use of the Service after changes constitutes acceptance. We will provide 30 days' notice for material changes affecting your billing or rights.

14. Services, Bookings, and Reservations

If you offer bookable services, appointments, or reservations through the Service, you are solely responsible for: providing the service competently and safely; honoring confirmed bookings; clearly disclosing your booking, cancellation, and deposit terms (cancelling is always free for consumers, and keeping a deposit you required is the only charge you may apply to a late-cancelled or missed booking); setting party-size limits, time windows, and any surcharges; and complying with all licensing, health, safety, consumer-protection, and tax laws applicable to your services. LocalSeek facilitates the booking only and is not a party to the service contract between you and the consumer. You must not discriminate against consumers on any basis prohibited by applicable law.

15. Activity Waivers and Releases

The Service includes an optional tool that lets you present a liability waiver or release for a consumer to agree to before a service, either in-app or via an on-site QR or kiosk page. Any waiver is an agreement solely between you and the consumer. You are solely responsible for the content, accuracy, adequacy, and legal enforceability of your waiver and for ensuring it complies with the laws of your jurisdiction; you should obtain your own legal advice. LocalSeek provides the waiver tool “as is”, is not a party to your waiver, does not draft, review, or guarantee any waiver, and makes no representation that any waiver is valid or enforceable. You remain solely responsible for the safety of your activities, equipment, and premises. You agree to indemnify and hold LocalSeek harmless from any claim, injury, loss, or expense arising from your services, activities, or waivers.

16. In-App Payments, Deposits, and Payouts

If you connect a third-party payment processor (such as Stripe, PayPal, or Square) and enable in-app payment, deposits, or prepayment, you are the seller and merchant of record for those transactions. Payments are processed directly into your own connected account; LocalSeek does not collect, hold, or have access to consumer card data or your funds, and charges no commission on them. You are responsible for: your agreement with the payment processor and compliance with its rules; the accuracy of the amounts, deposits, and fees you configure; fulfilling paid orders and bookings; and handling all refunds, chargebacks, disputes, and tax obligations. Where the Service provides a refund control, it transmits your refund instruction to the processor on your connected account and records it; the funds and the decision are yours. You agree to indemnify and hold LocalSeek harmless from any claim or loss arising from payments you accept.

17. Retail and Inventory

If you sell physical goods, you are responsible for accurate product descriptions, pricing, availability, and inventory, and for compliance with all product-safety, labeling, and consumer-protection laws. If you import product or menu content from your own or a third-party website, you represent that you own or have the right to use that content and that importing and displaying it does not infringe any third-party rights or violate any third-party platform's terms; you are responsible for reviewing imported content for accuracy. Returns, exchanges, and product complaints are your responsibility.

18. Seller of Record; Product and Service Responsibility

For all food, goods, and services offered through the Service, you are the seller of record. You are solely responsible for: preparation, quality, and safety; accurate descriptions, ingredients, allergens, and nutritional and dietary information; compliance with all food-safety, health, licensing, product-safety, and consumer-protection laws; and the accuracy of prices, hours, and availability. LocalSeek does not prepare, handle, inspect, deliver, or take title to any item and is not responsible for any illness, injury, allergic reaction, defect, or loss arising from your items, services, or inaccurate information. You agree to indemnify and hold LocalSeek harmless from any related claim.

19. Merchant-Posted Payment Links

If you enable the optional Payment Options feature and post one or more third-party payment links (Stripe Payment Link, Square Checkout, PayPal.me, Interac e-Transfer, WeChat Pay QR, Alipay QR, Moneris, or any “Other” provider) to your business profile, you represent and warrant that: (a) you are the legal account holder for each linked destination and have the right to accept payments through it; (b) the URL, email address, or QR code you provide is accurate and currently active; (c) you will keep the linked information up to date and remove it promptly when it is no longer valid; and (d) you are solely responsible for all aspects of any payment made through your posted links, including delivery of goods and services, refunds, chargebacks, disputes, taxes, sales-tax remittance, and compliance with the applicable payment provider's terms and with all applicable law. LocalSeek does not process, route, hold, or have visibility into any payment made through your posted links, and does not charge a commission on, nor receive any percentage of, those payments. LocalSeek displays your payment links as a directory service only and may refuse to display, mark as unverified, or remove any link that it believes is fraudulent, deceptive, infringes third-party rights, or violates these Terms. You agree to indemnify and hold harmless LocalSeek from any claim, loss, or expense (including reasonable legal fees) arising from a consumer's use of your posted payment links.

20. Governing Law and Dispute Resolution

These Terms are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Province of Ontario and the federal laws of Canada applicable therein, without regard to conflict-of-laws principles. Subject to the arbitration provision below, you and LocalSeek submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts located in Ontario, Canada for any dispute arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Service.

United States merchants: to the fullest extent permitted by law, any dispute arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Service will be resolved by binding individual arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association under its Commercial Arbitration Rules, on an individual basis only. You and LocalSeek each waive any right to participate in a class, collective, or representative action. The Federal Arbitration Act governs the interpretation and enforcement of this provision.

21. Contact

Questions about these Terms? Contact us at support@localseek.app. VIP TUTOR INC. o/a LocalSeek, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.