tnova: Build Your Own Box
Effective date: 21 September 2026.
1. Who we are
Gang Chenxue operates tnova: Build Your Own Box as an individual in China. This policy covers our Shopify gift-box application, its product picker, our application website and support communications.
Contact: [email protected]
Postal address: Room 101, No. 10 Haiwan Street, Shahekou District, Dalian, Liaoning, China, 116000.
Merchants determine how customer information is used in their stores. We process store customer information on the merchant's instructions to provide the application. We also determine how merchant account, service-security and support information is used to operate our own service. This policy does not replace the merchant's or Shopify's privacy notice.
2. Information we process
We receive information from Shopify when a merchant authorizes the app, from the merchant and their authorized staff, from interactions with the product picker, and from people who contact support.
| Information | Why we use it |
|---|---|
| Store domain, currency, time zone, installation and subscription status, product variants, inventory, locations and publication settings | Connect the store, configure gift boxes, check availability and administer access to the service |
| Shopify session identifiers, authorization tokens, permissions and account information supplied during authentication, which may include a merchant or staff member's name and email | Authenticate users and perform authorized store operations |
| Box configurations, component identifiers, quantities, cart operation identifiers and reconciliation state | Provide product selection, add complete boxes to the cart and recover interrupted operations |
| Order identifiers and references, dates, line items, amounts, taxes, discounts, payment and refund status, and reconciliation results | Check box orders, reconcile transactions and provide merchant reports |
| Optional source codes, consent choices, and product-picker activity identifiers and events | Measure use and attribute selected activity when the applicable optional measurement is enabled with consent |
| Contact information, messages, diagnostic information and attachments supplied to support | Answer questions, resolve problems and handle privacy requests |
| Technical request and security information, including IP addresses and browser/request metadata processed by infrastructure providers | Deliver the website and app, detect abuse and investigate failures |
Our order queries do not request customer names, customer email addresses, telephone numbers, shipping or billing addresses, or payment-card credentials. We do not request access to all historical orders; automatic reconciliation is limited to orders created within the last 60 days. Order and transaction identifiers can still be personal information. Authentication information and details voluntarily included in support messages are separate from these order-query limits.
Shopify and the merchant's payment providers handle checkout and payment-card processing. Please do not send passwords, access tokens, card details or unnecessary customer information to support.
3. Purposes and choices
We use information to provide and administer the app, maintain its security and reliability, respond to support and privacy requests, and meet applicable legal obligations.
Optional measurement requires the relevant consent. You can decline it or withdraw it through the applicable source or product-picker controls. Withdrawal stops the applicable future measurement and processes the associated withdrawal request; it does not invalidate processing already carried out on the basis of consent. Essential cart and authentication operations are separate from optional measurement.
We do not sell personal information or share it with third parties for targeted advertising.
Where a legal basis is required for our own processing, we rely on performance of our agreement with merchants for account and service administration, legitimate interests in operating and securing the service and responding to requests where permitted, consent for optional measurement, and compliance with applicable legal obligations. Merchant-controlled customer processing follows the merchant's instructions and applicable requirements. Availability of the service is subject to the legal and contractual arrangements required for the relevant processing; an intended worldwide market does not mean every jurisdiction is available before those arrangements are complete.
4. Browser storage and external services
The storefront picker uses browser session storage to preserve a selection or editing state, and local storage to recover interrupted cart changes. Optional measurement may also use a local activity identifier after consent. Browser-held recovery records are distinct from our server retention periods. You can clear site storage in your browser, but doing so can remove selections or interrupt recovery of an unfinished cart operation.
Shopify and the merchant's storefront may use their own cookies and storage under their respective notices. Following a link to our demonstration on YouTube takes you to an external service governed by its own privacy practices. The privacy-policy page itself is designed without analytics scripts, embedded video or external fonts.
5. Recipients
Our currently identified service providers are Shopify for the commerce platform and APIs, Alibaba Cloud for hosting and the database infrastructure, and Cloudflare for delivery and security at the website edge. They process information needed to provide their services. We use Alibaba Cloud email services to send and receive support messages.
We use service providers for the purposes described here. We will update this notice when a change materially affects how personal information is handled. Contact us for further information about the providers relevant to your request.
Authorized support access is limited to the work needed to assist merchants. We may disclose information when required by applicable law or to address unlawful activity or protect legal rights, subject to applicable restrictions and appropriate limits on disclosure.
6. Locations and international processing
The operator is located in China. The current application and PostgreSQL database are hosted in Virginia, United States. Operating the service can therefore involve access or processing in China and the United States. Shopify, Cloudflare and other confirmed providers may process information in additional countries under their service arrangements.
Legal protections for information can differ between countries. The app is being prepared for production use. Before making processing available that requires a specific international-transfer arrangement, we must establish the applicable contractual or other lawful safeguards. This notice does not represent that a particular transfer mechanism or certification is already in place. You can contact [email protected] for information about locations and the arrangements applicable to your proposed use. Installing the app is not treated as consent to unrestricted international transfers.
7. Retention and deletion
The application has the following server-side expiry rules. A background maintenance process removes expired records. Verified deletion requests can require earlier removal. These periods do not determine how long merchants or Shopify retain their own copies.
| Record | Current expiry rule |
|---|---|
| Cart-operation records and optional product-picker sessions | 24 hours |
| Optional source-visit records | 30 days |
| Detailed order reconciliation records and linked historical snapshots | 90 days from order creation |
| Report facts and daily source aggregates | 13 months from the recorded event or date |
| Support attachments | 30 days from upload |
| Support-ticket diagnostic field | Cleared after the ticket is 30 days old |
| Eligibility events | 30 days |
| Audit entries | 180 days |
Uninstall processing removes Shopify sessions, stops sales eligibility and revokes support grants. After 30 days from uninstall, scheduled maintenance removes remaining box configurations, support tickets, readiness checks and order synchronization jobs. A verified Shopify shop-deletion notification triggers broader store deletion. Verified customer-deletion requests remove matching order and report information and conservatively remove store support content that cannot reliably be associated with one customer.
Uninstalling does not instantly erase every record. Other records, including active-store support messages, installation and contract records, infrastructure logs, backups and minimal deletion receipts, are not all covered by one automatic expiry rule.
For those records, retention is assessed against the purpose that still requires them: resolving an open support request, maintaining an active installation or contract, investigating a specific security incident, complying with a relevant recordkeeping duty, or resolving a specific dispute. When those purposes no longer apply, the records should be deleted or irreversibly anonymized. This is an operational retention rule, not a claim that every category already has an automated expiry timer. Contact us for information about a particular record or to request deletion.
Backups can retain an earlier copy until that backup is rotated or removed. Recovery copies must be restricted to recovery and security uses. Minimal deletion receipts are needed while an older backup or repeated data delivery could otherwise reintroduce deleted information. They contain hashed identifiers and request metadata; hashing alone does not make them anonymous. The application restore process replays the deletion ledger before reopening service. We do not describe uninstalling as immediately erasing every backup copy.
8. Security
Current controls include HTTPS for public access, separation of data by store, Shopify webhook signature verification, limited database permissions and access checks for internal support endpoints. Support changes that require additional permissions are subject to specific authorization controls.
We limit access to information for authorized service, support and security work. No system can guarantee absolute security. You can report a suspected issue to [email protected].
9. Privacy requests and rights
Contact [email protected] with a description of your request and, if relevant, the store domain and order reference. Avoid including sensitive identity documents in the initial message. We may request proportionate information to verify identity or authority before disclosing or deleting information.
Shoppers should normally direct store-related requests to the merchant from whom they bought. We assist merchants with requests concerning information processed on their behalf. Requests about information we control directly can be sent to us.
Depending on the laws that apply, you may have rights to access, correct, delete or obtain a copy of personal information, request portability or restriction, object to certain processing, withdraw consent, and complain to the relevant data-protection authority. Applicable exceptions may limit a request. We will explain our response and follow the applicable legal response period, including any permitted extension and required notice. Requests received by email require operator handling; receiving a Shopify data-access notification alone is not evidence that a response has been delivered.
10. Changes and effective date
We will keep this notice aligned with the service and provide additional notice of material changes where required. The effective date shown above identifies this version of the policy.