Privacy Policy

Who we are

Honeysmith Bees & Gardens ("we," "us," "our") operates the garden center, apiary, and Honeysmith Market at 1241 Generals Highway, Crownsville, MD 21032, and the website at honeysmithbees.com. This Privacy Policy describes what we collect, how we use it, and the choices you have.

Information we collect

From you, when you give it to us:

• Contact and order details — name, phone number, email address, billing and shipping address, items purchased, and any notes you add at checkout.
• Payment information — processed directly by Square. We never see or store your full card number. We do receive the last four digits and a payment confirmation.
• Subscription enrollment — if you sign up for a recurring product (e.g. Body Velvet), we store the subscription schedule and the payment method token Square gives us.
• Hive loyalty enrollment — phone number, optional name and email, and a record of your consent choices (whether you opted in to SMS marketing, whether you opted in to email marketing, the date, and the version of the disclosure you saw).
• Hydro Harvest waitlist — if you sign up for the Hydro Harvest founding-member waitlist, we collect your name, email, phone number, optional ZIP or town, whether you're already a Hive member, the days you'd be available for pickup, your interest level, and any notes you add.
• Messages — anything you send by email, phone, or text.

Collected automatically when you use the site:

• Standard log information (IP address, user agent, referring page, timestamps) used for security and abuse prevention.
• Page-view counts, country-level location, device class, and referrer via Vercel Analytics, which is cookieless.
• A small set of essential cookies / local storage used to keep your cart contents and remember tab choices on the site.

How we use it

• To process and fulfill orders, subscriptions, and pickups.
• To send transactional messages — order confirmations, pickup ready-notices, shipping updates, subscription renewal notices, refund confirmations, and replies to your questions.
• To run The Hive loyalty program — track points, send rewards, and (only if you opt in) send Hive marketing texts and emails.
• To respond to Hydro Harvest waitlist interest and let you know when founding-member spots open up.
• To prevent fraud, secure the site, and enforce our Terms.
• To improve the site and understand which pages people use.

SMS marketing (The Hive)

When you sign up for The Hive on this website, you can opt in to receive recurring automated text messages from us about your loyalty rewards, points balance, available rewards, and occasional promotions. SMS opt-in is never required to make a purchase or to receive transactional messages like an order or pickup confirmation.

• Message frequency varies. Message and data rates from your carrier may apply.
• Reply STOP to any Hive text message to unsubscribe. Reply HELP for help.
• Mobile carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages.
• SMS messages are sent through Square. We do not sell, rent, or share your mobile number or SMS opt-in data with any third party for their marketing purposes.

Email marketing

If you give us your email address when joining The Hive and check the email marketing box, we may send occasional marketing emails — updates about the apiary, the garden center, seasonal products, and Hive perks. You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in any marketing email, or by emailing us. Order confirmations, pickup-ready notices, and other transactional messages are not marketing and will continue regardless.

Service providers we share data with

We share information only with vendors who need it to run the business. We do not sell your personal information.

• Square — payments, customer profiles, subscriptions, The Hive loyalty program, and SMS delivery. Square's privacy notice governs how Square handles the data they process for us.
• Vercel — website hosting and cookieless analytics.
• Upstash — rate-limiting and the cache that tracks Hive sign-up dates for the anniversary bonus. Stores a hashed phone number and a date (retained up to 24 months), nothing else.
• Google Workspace — Hydro Harvest waitlist submissions are recorded in a Google Sheet via Google Apps Script. Used only to manage the waitlist.
• Shipping carriers — USPS, UPS, or other carriers we use to deliver shipped orders.
• Law enforcement and others — only when required by law, court order, or to protect the safety of people or property.

Your choices

• Unsubscribe from Hive texts — reply STOP to any message.
• Unsubscribe from marketing email — click the unsubscribe link in any marketing email, or email us.
• Access, correct, or delete your information — email us using the address below and we'll respond within 30 days. We may need to verify your identity first.
• State-law rights — if you live in California, Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut, Utah, or another state with a comprehensive privacy law, you have rights to access, delete, correct, and opt out of certain processing. Email us to exercise them. We do not sell your data and do not engage in cross-context behavioral advertising.

Cookies and tracking

We use a small number of essential cookies and browser storage to keep your cart and remember UI preferences. Our analytics (Vercel Analytics) is cookieless and does not track you across sites. We do not use advertising pixels (Meta, Google, TikTok, or otherwise). If that changes, we will update this policy and add a consent banner where the law requires one.

Data retention

We keep order records as long as needed for tax, accounting, and dispute purposes (typically seven years). Loyalty enrollment and consent records are retained for as long as the account is active. You can request deletion at any time, subject to legal-retention requirements.

Children

The site is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided us information, contact us and we will delete it.

Changes

We may update this policy from time to time. When we do, we'll update the "last updated" date above and, for material changes, give notice on the site.

Contact

Questions about this policy or your information:
Honeysmith Bees & Gardens
1241 Generals Highway, Crownsville, MD 21032
(410) 923-9800
info@honeysmithbees.com