Terms of Service

These Terms apply when you use a Storefront, the Finder or your Cuscato account. By creating an account you accept them. Please also read the Privacy Policy. They apply wherever you are; clause 19 adds what the law of some countries gives you, and where it gives you more, it applies.

1. Definitions

These words have the same meaning in every Cuscato legal document:

• Cuscato, we, us: Cuscato, the provider of the Platform.
• Platform: the Cuscato software and the hosted services behind it.
• Merchant: a business that subscribes to the Platform to run its own Storefront. Each Merchant is a separate business from Cuscato.
• Storefront: a Merchant's own ordering and booking site, at its own web address, run on the Platform.
• Finder: the Cuscato page that lists Merchants using the Platform and links to their Storefronts.
• Customer, you: a person who uses a Storefront, the Finder or a Cuscato account.
• Cuscato account: the one account a person uses with every Storefront, identified by an email address or mobile number they have verified (clause 4.3).
• Order: a request by a Customer to a Merchant for goods or services (including food and drink), for pickup, delivery or, where the Merchant offers it, dine-in. Booking: a reservation of one or more places at a Merchant's outlet for a set time (a sitting) - for example seats at a table, an appointment, or places at a class or event.
• Invoice: the tax invoice or bill of supply generated on the Platform for an Order, in the Merchant's name (clause 5.4), or, for a Merchant established outside India, the bill generated for it (clause 5.9).

2. Who you are dealing with

2.1 The Merchant is the seller. It decides what it offers, its prices and taxes, when it trades and whether to accept your Order or Booking. Any contract for an Order or Booking is between you and the Merchant only.

2.2 Cuscato provides software only. We are not the seller, not a party to your Order or Booking, and not an agent of you or the Merchant. We do not prepare, price, sell, deliver or serve anything, and we are not responsible for the quality, safety, description, availability, pricing, delivery, cancellation or refund of anything a Merchant supplies.

2.3 Merchants pay us a subscription for the software. We take no commission and receive no part of what you pay a Merchant. A Merchant's plan payment is not refundable, except as the Merchant Agreement (clause 7.4) says.

2.4 Cuscato as an intermediary. The information on each Storefront is published by the Merchant that owns it. We do not start its transmission, choose who receives it, or choose or change what it says, except to disable access to it where the law or our terms require. For that information Cuscato is an intermediary under section 79 of the Information Technology Act, 2000, and, as far as the law allows, is not liable for it or for anything a Merchant sells or does. Where you use the Platform from outside India, we also rely on the protections the law of your country gives to intermediaries and hosting services. Nothing in this clause takes away a right you have under consumer protection law.

2.5 Disputes are between you and the Merchant. If something goes wrong with an Order or Booking - it did not arrive, was not provided, was not as described, or you want your money back - take it up with the Merchant, which is responsible for it. Likewise, a Merchant's claim against you, such as an unpaid Order or a Booking you did not attend, is between you and the Merchant. Cuscato does not investigate, decide or settle disputes between Customers and Merchants, and cannot make a Merchant deliver, provide a service or give a refund, or make you pay a Merchant. If you complain to us, we may pass your complaint to the Merchant and ask it to respond, and we may act under these Terms against an account that breaks them, for example by suspending it. Your rights under consumer protection law against the Merchant, including complaining to a consumer commission, are not affected.

3. The Finder

3.1 The Finder is a directory of businesses that use the Platform. It helps you find a Merchant and follow a link to its Storefront. It does not show, compare or sell any Merchant's products, and you cannot place an Order through it. Each product a Merchant lists has its own web address on the Merchant's Storefront, which search engines may show.

3.2 How businesses are listed. A Merchant appears while its Storefront is open to the public, whether or not we have verified it (clause 3A); it does not appear before it has finished signing up, while its name is waiting for a brand check before it is verified, while its Storefront is paused until a plan is paid, or while its account is suspended, frozen, locked or closed. A tick marks a Merchant we have verified. Listed Merchants are shown in alphabetical order of business name. No Merchant can pay for a position, and we do not rank by sales, ratings or any other measure. You can narrow the list by name, kind of business or country; it starts at the country your connection comes from when a Merchant is listed there, and you can choose All Countries.

3.3 A listing is not an endorsement. Apart from the documents described in clause 3A, we do not inspect Merchants' premises, products or licences. Product details, including any label details and packaged-goods declarations (MRP, net quantity, maker, packer or importer, country of origin, unit price, ingredients, allergen information, FSSAI number, batch, dates and storage instructions) and photos of the label, are given by the Merchant that sells the product, which is responsible for them; we do not verify them.

3A. The Verified business badge and seller information

3A.1 A Verified business badge on a Storefront means that we checked the documents shown in the badge (such as the Merchant's GST registration, trade licence and FSSAI licence) against the issuing authority's records, and that the business name matches them. Open the badge to see the business's legal name, the city and State of its registered address or principal place of business, and each document's number (never a PAN, an Aadhaar or an Importer-Exporter Code), status and dates. A business that is not registered for GST may be verified with its PAN or a masked Aadhaar instead; that document is checked but never shown.

3A.2 The badge does not mean that we have checked, approve or guarantee the Merchant's food, goods, services, prices, hygiene or conduct. We verify only Merchants established in India, so a Merchant established elsewhere does not carry the badge. A Storefront without the badge has not been verified by us - we have not finished checking it, could not confirm its documents, a document we checked has expired, or we removed its verification - and says so; a Merchant may sell through its Storefront before it is verified. A business loses the badge the day after a document the badge shows expires (on the valid-until date we hold), until we have checked the renewed one, and at once if we remove its verification (for example because a document or detail turned out to be untrue or no longer valid). An outlet may have its own documents (such as its own FSSAI licence) instead of the business's; such an outlet carries the badge only while the business is verified and every document of that outlet we checked is in date, and the badge shown on a Storefront is the one of the outlet being ordered from. Each Merchant is responsible for its own documents being genuine and current.

3A.3 Seller information. Every Storefront shows "Seller information": the Merchant's name, legal name (once verified, the one we checked), registered address, GSTIN (or that it is not GST-registered, or is on the composition scheme), FSSAI number where it sells food and, where recorded, CIN; the phone and email it gives for Customers and any customer-care contact; the name and contact details of the Merchant's grievance officer, where the Merchant has named one; for the outlet you choose, its own legal name, address, GSTIN, trade licence and (where that outlet sells food) FSSAI number where it has its own (otherwise it uses the Merchant's); and the Merchant's cancellation policy and what it says about refunds. These are given by the Merchant; we publish them but do not check them, except as the Verified business badge says. Refunds are the Merchant's to give: we do not receive your payment and do not make refunds.

3A.4 Exports and imports. A Storefront may show that the Merchant exports or imports, and that its Importer-Exporter Code is on record or has been checked by us against its certificate. That mark means only that; we do not check what it exports or imports, or that it may lawfully send something to your country, and we do not ship, clear customs or handle any part of an export or import.

4. Your account

4.1 You must be 18 or over to create an account, place an Order or make a Booking. When you create an account you confirm this, and we record that confirmation with your acceptance of these Terms and the Privacy Policy. The account is created only when you enter the code we email to the address you give and, on a Storefront, the code we send to your mobile number where we can send one (by SMS in India, by WhatsApp elsewhere); addresses from temporary or disposable email services, addresses with a "+" alias (such as name+shop@), and addresses that cannot receive mail, are not accepted. You can browse a Storefront without an account, and order on it as a guest without one (4.3B). Creating an account, and ordering or booking through the Platform, are free: Cuscato charges you nothing, and you pay the Merchant only what its Storefront shows.

4.2 Sign-in codes. There is no password. You sign in with a one-time code sent by email from noreply@cuscato.com, or, where offered, by SMS or WhatsApp to a mobile number you have verified in your account (a number you have not verified is never a way to sign in, and if someone else later verifies the same number - for example after it is reassigned - it stops signing you in). Each code is random (the one exception: Cuscato's own test accounts on its demo shops, which a reviewer we invite signs in to with a fixed code for as long as we run the demo), works once and expires after a short time; a code takes five tries, and after five wrong codes for the same email address or number from one network you wait before trying again, a little longer each time. Never share a code with anyone. Anyone who can read your email or messages can receive your codes, so keep them secure and tell us at support@cuscato.com if you think someone else has used your account.

4.2A Messages about your Orders. If you choose, in your account on a Storefront, to get order updates by SMS or WhatsApp, we send them for that Merchant to your verified mobile number, for Orders you place yourself in your account: when the Merchant confirms, readies, sends, delivers or cancels an Order, and the delivery code a rider asks for at the door (which is also emailed to you, as before). They are service messages, never marketing. Changing your number switches them off until you choose them again. Switch them off in your account at any time; your Orders stay on the Platform either way. Cuscato does not charge for them; your mobile operator's own charges, such as roaming, are yours.

4.3 One account, many Storefronts. You create one Cuscato account and use it with any Storefront, without signing up again. The first time you sign in at a Storefront, we ask whether to share your name, email address and mobile number with that Merchant; if you agree, you are linked to it and it can see those details and your Orders and Bookings with it. When you sign in inside a Storefront's checkout, that question is the line shown directly above Place Order, and placing the Order is your agreement. Signing up on a Storefront, on its signup page or in its checkout, shares them with that Merchant, as the form says. A Merchant sees only what you share with it, and never your activity with other Merchants, and Merchants cannot see each other's customers.

4.3B Ordering as a guest. On a Storefront you may also order without an account. You give your name and mobile number (and, outside India, your email address), and confirm them with one code: by SMS to a mobile number in India where we can send one, otherwise by email (your email address is then needed too). The code follows 4.2: it is random, works once for one Order, expires after a short time and takes five tries. No Cuscato account is created and nothing signs you in. Your name, phone number and email address go to that Merchant with the Order, as the line above Place Order says, and the Merchant keeps them as its customer record; you are not linked to it as in 4.3, and the Order does not appear in any account. Keep the Order number: the Merchant contacts you about the Order, and an Order you are to pay for by UPI has its own pay page. Placing an Order as a guest is your confirmation of 4.1's age requirement and your agreement to these Terms for that Order, as the line above Place Order says; we record which version you agreed to with the Order. Everything else in these Terms about Orders applies to a guest's Order.

4.3A Your account on cuscato.com. You may also create your Cuscato account, and sign in to it, on cuscato.com itself; that links you to no Merchant. Your account is with Cuscato. There you can see your profile, the Storefronts you are linked to and the Orders you have placed at them, each with a link to that Storefront's own site. This list is your own record, shown only to you; it is not a catalogue, and you cannot order from it. To order, open the Merchant's Storefront, sign in there and share your details with it (4.3). Each Order is still with that Merchant alone (clause 2).

4.4 Keep your details accurate, including the phone number and address a Merchant will use to reach you or deliver to you.

4.5 noreply@cuscato.com does not accept replies and is not monitored; write to support@cuscato.com instead.

4.6 Records of what you accepted. Each time you accept these Terms or the Privacy Policy, or agree to share your details with a Merchant, we record what you accepted and the circumstances described in the Privacy Policy, sign that record digitally, and email you a receipt. You agree that the record and the receipt are evidence of your acceptance, of the version you accepted and of when you accepted it. You can see and check your receipts under Your Account, and anyone holding a receipt can check it on our receipt check page.

5. Orders

5.1 Price. The price shown on a Storefront is the final price, including applicable taxes (where the Merchant charges GST, it shows the rate, for example "Incl. 5% GST"); for a delivery, any delivery charge the outlet sets (clause 5.2) is added and shown before you confirm. A Merchant may also set a Shipping charge (on a delivery) and a Handling charge per item, or on its quote for a custom order; they are part of that item's price for GST, at its rate, and are shown with the item and before you confirm. Before you confirm, the Storefront shows the subtotal, the tax, any Shipping, Handling and delivery charge and the total; no fee is added afterwards. At a table (clause 5.3), each dish's price is shown before you order it, and the bill's total, with its tax, is shown on Your Bill. The Merchant sets its prices and decides the tax that applies to them. A basket kept from earlier in your visit, or an earlier Order you repeat, is priced from the Merchant's catalogue as it is when you order; anything no longer offered is removed, and you are told which. If you are signed in and leave items in your basket without ordering, the Merchant can see them after a time it sets (one hour unless it changes it) and may contact you about them (Privacy Policy section 2.4), unless the business has turned basket leads off. A copy of a Storefront's catalogue shown while you are offline is for reference only; prices, taxes and availability are those shown when you order online.

5.2 Your details. When you order you choose, from what the Merchant offers, the outlet and whether the Order is for pickup, delivery or dine-in, and you give the billing and delivery details the Merchant needs. For delivery, an outlet may charge a delivery fee (with GST where the Merchant charges GST), waive it above an amount it sets, ask for a minimum order (counted on the items, with tax), deliver only to PIN codes it lists and, if you share your location, only within a distance it sets. All of these are shown before you order; the fee is part of what you pay the Merchant and does not change any advance; and an Order below the minimum, outside the PIN codes, or beyond the distance when you have shared your location, is refused. To check it you may tap "I'm at the Delivery Address - Check the Distance"; your browser then asks for your location (a shop's page may also use it, on your device only, to show how far its places are: Privacy Policy, section 3), you are told only whether the outlet delivers there, and you never have to share it. Check them: the Merchant relies on them to fulfil the Order and to prepare the Invoice. In India, an Order the Merchant may not supply to your State is refused, and you are told before you order: a delivery of goods to another State by a Merchant without a GSTIN we have checked, or any supply to another State by a Merchant on the composition scheme. When the Merchant charges GST, items that GST places in different States must be ordered separately.

5.3 An Order is an offer to the Merchant. The Merchant may accept or decline it, for example if an item has run out; it may also mark an item sold out until a time it chooses, and while it is, the item cannot be ordered. For a dine-in Order you may give your table number, or the table's QR code may give it for you, so the Merchant can bring the Order to you. A table's QR code opens the Merchant's menu for that table; to order from it you must be signed in, the Order is a dine-in Order at that table's outlet, and it records the table. The Merchant chooses what its table menu offers and may replace a table's code, or remove the table, at any time, after which the old code no longer works. Ordering from a table's QR code runs one bill for the table's visit: the first Place Order opens it, and the person who opens it is responsible for it and for the guests they let join it. While the bill is open nobody else can sign in to it or order on it: others at the table join it only with a join code that its opener (or the Merchant's staff) gives them, which works once and for five minutes; a guest who joins this way needs no account. The Merchant's staff may also open a table's bill themselves (for example a waiter taking your order on a tablet) and add to any open bill; such a bill is under no guest's sign-in, and you join it only with the code the staff give you. Every Place Order by anyone on the bill adds to the same bill, each one an Order made on it. Everyone on the bill sees its items, its total and what has been paid, but never another person's name or contact details, and, once the Merchant has marked a first dish ready, any of them may ask for the bill (Pay Now). Once the bill is asked for, nothing more can be added to it, and anyone on it may pay all of it. Until it is paid, or the Merchant ends it, they cannot open another bill at that table; anyone else who orders there opens a new one.

5.4 Invoice. When you place an Order, the Platform generates an Invoice in the Merchant's name from the details the Merchant and you provide: a tax invoice if the Merchant is registered for GST, we have checked its GSTIN, and it charges GST, otherwise a bill of supply (for example, when the Merchant is on the composition scheme, which does not allow it to charge you GST, or before we have checked its GSTIN). The Merchant is its issuer and is responsible for it and for the tax on it. Whether CGST and SGST or IGST applies depends on the place of supply (for a service sold by a shop, the State of the GSTIN or billing address you give; for goods delivered to you when you give a GSTIN, the State of that GSTIN, the goods being billed to you and shipped to the delivery address). If the Merchant records an Order for you that it handles itself outside the Platform (for example one you placed by phone and pay for on delivery), the Platform generates an Invoice for it only if the Merchant asks it to, in the Merchant's name and from the details the Merchant recorded; otherwise the Merchant bills you directly. The Merchant may still record your payments for it on the Platform; it gives you no receipt voucher on the Platform for money paid in advance.

5.4A Price changes, credit and debit notes. The Merchant's staff may charge you a price for an item other than the one listed, lower or higher, but never above the MRP of a pre-packaged product. They may do this when they take an Order for you, or after you have ordered. GST is charged on the price charged. Your Order, its history and your Invoice show the listed price, the change and the price charged, and the Merchant's reason if it gives one. You are told of a change as for any change to your Order. If the Platform generated an Invoice for the Order, the Invoice is not altered. Instead the Platform issues, in the Merchant's name and against that Invoice, a credit note when the price goes down or a debit note when it goes up. You can see and print it with your Invoice, and the Merchant is its issuer. A credit note cannot be issued after 30 November following the end of the financial year of the Invoice, so the Platform does not lower a price after that. If the new price is below what you have paid, your Order shows how much you paid above the total; whether any of it is given back is between you and the Merchant, which refunds you directly (clause 5.5), not Cuscato. If it is higher, you owe the Merchant the difference. The price of a sample is never changed this way.

5.4B Invoices for later Orders, and advances. An Order for a later date is invoiced when the Merchant hands it over (to its rider or a courier for delivery, or to you), not when you place it. The Merchant's GST details on it are normally those of that day. If it is cancelled before then, it has no Invoice. Money you pay before the Invoice is an advance; the Merchant may give you a receipt voucher for it, and a refund voucher if it is given back. A table's bill (clause 5.3) is invoiced in the name of the person who opened it, with every Order on it, when the bill is asked for or the Merchant marks it served, whichever comes first; money paid on it before then is an advance. The payment line on an Invoice ("Not paid", "Paid X, balance Y", "Fully paid", "Paid X more than the total") shows the payments recorded when you view it; it is not a promise of a refund.

5.5 Cancellations and refunds are governed by the Merchant's own policy and the law. You can cancel your own Order on the Platform while the Merchant has not yet confirmed it and no payment has been recorded for it; after that, ask the Merchant. A table's bill (clause 5.3) holds the Orders of everyone at the table, so only the Merchant can cancel it: ask its staff. An Order you placed yourself that the Merchant has not confirmed, and for which no payment has been recorded, is cancelled automatically after a period (a shorter one when it holds places at a sitting), and you are told. Refunds are not made through the Platform; any refund is made to you by the Merchant, which may record on the Platform that it gave it. Where the Merchant publishes its own cancellation and refund policy, it is shown on its Storefront and before you place an Order. Cuscato charges no cancellation fee.

5.5A How you pay. You pay the Merchant directly, in the way the Merchant offers: at the counter, on delivery, or - when you choose UPI or another prepaid method - to the Merchant's own UPI ID, UPI QR code or payment link (the business's, its outlet's, or one it attaches to your Order) shown after you order. A payment link opens the Merchant's own payment provider's page, shown with its address. Cuscato is never the payee, does not receive, hold or pass on your payment, does not check where a Merchant's link leads and is not responsible for it; check the address before you pay. Likewise a tracking link opens the carrier's own website, which we do not control, and delivery updates and tracking details are provided by the Merchant. While the Merchant's own delivery person has your Order and shares their position, you may see it on a map with an arrival time; that time is an estimate from the distance, not a promise, and the map, from a free map service, may sometimes be unavailable.

5.6 Food information. Where a Merchant sells food, allergen, vegetarian or non-vegetarian and ingredient information is declared by the Merchant, and we do not verify it. If an allergy or diet matters to you, confirm it with the Merchant before ordering. The "Veg only" filter shows only items the Merchant has marked vegetarian or vegan that can be ordered without a choice the Merchant has marked egg or non-vegetarian, and hides those choices; an item with no marking is hidden by it, not assumed to be vegetarian. A choice the Merchant has not marked is still offered; once you choose it, the item shows that a choice you made is not declared. Check the choices you make. A badge the Merchant shows (such as Pure Veg or Vegan), the kinds of food an outlet serves, and an item's Seafood, Jain or Halal label are the Merchant's declarations too, and we do not verify them.

5.7 Advances. A Merchant may ask for part of the price in advance, for an item or for a Booking. When you order or book on the Storefront yourself, it shows the amount, and the Merchant's note on how to pay it, before you confirm; if the Merchant's staff take your Order or Booking for you, the Merchant tells you. You pay it to the Merchant directly, never to Cuscato. It is not an extra charge: the Merchant must count it towards what you owe it for that Order or Booking. The Platform does not collect, hold or enforce it: whether an Order or Booking goes ahead without it, and whether it is returned if you or the Merchant cancel, are for the Merchant under its own policy and the law.

5.8 A Merchant's monthly limit. A Merchant's plan on the Platform may limit how many Orders and Bookings it takes in a month. When it reaches that limit, its Storefront stops taking Orders (or Bookings) online until the next month or until the Merchant changes its plan, and says so before you start. Orders and Bookings already placed are not affected.

5.9 Merchants and Customers in different countries. Merchants on the Platform are businesses established in India or in other countries. A Merchant's prices, Orders and Invoices are in its own currency: Indian rupees for a Merchant established in India, otherwise the currency its Storefront shows. What these Terms say about GST, GSTINs, the place of supply, bills of supply, FSSAI numbers and the UPI pay page (clause 7.2A) concerns Merchants established in India. A Merchant established elsewhere shows the tax it charges as one line for each rate, under the name it sets (for example "VAT 20%"); that tax, and the bill it gives you, are the Merchant's responsibility under the law of its country, not Cuscato's. You may browse and order from anywhere. Whether a Merchant serves or delivers to you, how it sends an Order to another country, and any customs duty, import tax, restriction or permission your country applies, are between you and the Merchant; your bank or card provider may charge you for paying in another currency. Cuscato does not ship, clear customs or exchange currency.

5.10 Custom orders. Where a Merchant's outlet takes custom orders, you may ask it to make something that is not in its catalogue: describe it, add pictures, and give the date you need it by and a budget if you wish. A request is not an Order and commits neither you nor the Merchant. The Merchant may decline it or send a quote - the price, its GST rate, any advance (clause 5.7) and how long the quote holds - and may change the quote before you accept it; only the latest one can be accepted. Accepting it places an Order at the quote's total, which is exactly what you pay for the item, with any delivery fee the outlet charges, and these Terms then apply to it as to any other Order. A request with no quote expires after 30 days without a new note, and a quote on the date it holds until; you may withdraw a request at any time before you accept. Pictures and notes on a request follow clauses 8 and 9.2, and move to the Order when you accept; a request that does not become an Order is deleted with them 90 days after it closes. You may have at most three requests open with one Merchant at a time and send it at most five a day.

5.11 Offers, limits and seasons. A Merchant may offer a discount on a product, always or at set times; whether it applies is decided for the time the Order is for (when you place it, or the day and time you order for), on the Merchant's clock, and your Invoice shows the list price, the discount and what you pay. A Merchant may offer a product as a sample until a date, free or at a sample price below its usual price: one per Order, as it comes (choices that cost extra are not part of a sample), and once per customer account at that Merchant on Orders you place yourself (a cancelled Order does not count; the Merchant's team may give more when it enters an Order). A paid sample is charged at its sample price with any GST on it, no discount applies to it, and your Invoice shows the list price and the sample price. A Merchant may set the least and the most of a product one Order can hold, counting all the Order's lines of that product together, for a product or for its whole business; where it sets no most, one Order can hold at most 5,000 of a product, and never more than 10,000. It may also set a season outside which a product is not sold. The Platform refuses an Order that does not meet them.

5.12 Orders for later. Where an outlet allows it, you may order for a later day and time: at least as far ahead as the Order needs to be ready (and delivered), inside the outlet's opening hours, and no further ahead than the outlet allows. The Merchant must still confirm it and may ask for an advance (clause 5.7); an Order it does not confirm in time expires. Prices and stock are those when you place the Order; discounts, samples and seasons are judged for the day and time you order for. A business may close for holidays or other times it sets; while closed you cannot order or book for a time inside the closure, and it may also pause orders for later until it reopens.

6. Bookings

6.1 Bookings are free. Neither Cuscato nor the Platform charges a booking fee. A Merchant may ask you for a deposit or an advance for a Booking (clause 5.7); you pay it to the Merchant directly, the Merchant must count it towards your bill, and the Merchant may record it on the Platform.

6.2 Confirmation. The Merchant confirms or declines your Booking, or may have it confirmed automatically when you make it (one that asks for a deposit or advance still waits for the Merchant). If an unconfirmed Booking is not confirmed within the period shown when you book, it is released automatically and its places become available to others. A Booking with a payment recorded for it (clause 7.2) is not released this way: it keeps its places until the Merchant confirms or declines it, and it can still be cancelled or recorded as a no-show (clauses 6.3 and 6.4).

6.3 The Merchant may cancel a Booking. If your party has not arrived shortly after the booking time, the Merchant may record the Booking as a no-show. How the Merchant handles late arrival is its decision.

6.4 You can cancel your own Booking, and move a Booking for a service to another free time, until it starts. Only the Merchant records a Booking as seated, completed or a no-show. The Merchant may give a service Booking to another person on its team or move it, and you see the change on your Bookings. A reminder before a Booking is a courtesy: if one does not reach you, the Booking stands as made.

6.5 Anything you pre-order with a Booking (for example food for your table) is an Order from the Merchant, and clause 5 applies to it.

6.6 Wait estimates. Before and after you book, the Platform may show when your table is expected to be ready and how long it is usually held. These are estimates, worked out when they are shown from how long a party usually sits there (as the Merchant sets it or, once there are enough, as the Merchant's completed Bookings there show) and from the other Bookings for that area; they do not count guests without a Booking or anyone arriving late or leaving early. They are not a promise by the Merchant or by Cuscato: the Merchant decides when you are seated and how long you may stay.

6.7 Who is coming and areas without kids. When you book, you may say how many of your party are men, women and kids; if you do, the numbers must add up to the number of people. A Merchant may mark a seating or booking area as not taking kids (shown as "No Kids"); the Platform does not take a Booking there that includes kids. The Merchant's own rules on who may enter still apply when you arrive.

7. Payment

7.1 You pay the Merchant, not Cuscato. Depending on what the Merchant accepts, you pay in cash, by cash on delivery, or in advance to the Merchant by UPI, card or net banking through the Merchant's own payment arrangements, including a UPI ID, UPI QR code or payment link the Merchant shows you (clause 5.5A). Cuscato does not collect, hold or pass on your money.

7.2 The Platform keeps a record of each payment recorded for your Order or Booking - the amount, the method, when it was received and any payment reference (for a card, its last four digits, issuer and authorisation code) - so that it can be reconciled. The Merchant enters it, or, if the Merchant has connected its own payment provider, a payment the provider reports may be recorded; the provider pays the Merchant, not Cuscato. Where the Merchant has connected Razorpay, Cashfree, PhonePe, Paytm or Stripe, you may pay through a payment link the Platform makes on the Merchant's account for your Order: you pay on the provider's own page, under the provider's terms. A payment the provider reports for that link may be recorded on your Order, but the Platform does not promise that every payment is recorded, or when. If a payment you made does not show, ask the Merchant, who can check its provider's records and record it; keep the provider's receipt. The Platform never asks for or keeps your card number, card expiry date, CVV, UPI PIN, UPI ID or bank account number, other than what a screenshot you choose to send under clause 7.2A shows. If Cuscato ever offers online payment itself, it will be provided by a licensed payment provider under its own terms, and these Terms and the Privacy Policy will be updated under a new version first.

7.2A Pay page links and the payment details you send. A Merchant may send you a link to a pay page for your Order. It shows the Merchant's name, the Order number, the amount to pay and the Merchant's UPI ID, with a UPI QR code; anyone who has the link sees the same, so do not pass it on. You pay in your own UPI app, to the Merchant. After paying, you may send the payment's UPI reference (the 12-digit number your UPI app shows as UPI Ref No., UTR or UPI transaction ID) on that page, or, signed in, on your Order, where you may also add a screenshot of the payment. Sending these details does not mark your Order paid: the Merchant checks its own UPI app or bank and records the payment, or tells you why it could not find it. If the Merchant has not checked them within 7 days, the details close unchecked and you may send them again or contact the Merchant; if the Order is cancelled, they close with it and you should contact the Merchant about any payment you made. Sending details does not keep an unconfirmed Order open: if the Merchant has not confirmed it within the period in clause 5.5, it may be cancelled automatically, and you should contact the Merchant about any payment you made. Cuscato does not check a reference with any bank, NPCI or UPI app. A reference can be recorded only once with each Merchant; one already recorded for an Order cannot be sent again for that Order. Send only the details of a payment you made. A screenshot is kept as a picture on your Order under clause 9.2 and can show your name, UPI ID and bank, so add only what the Merchant needs. Where the Merchant has connected Razorpay or PhonePe, you may also be shown a UPI QR code made on the Merchant's account for your Order, and with Cashfree a link that offers UPI only; a payment on either is recorded like a payment link under clause 7.2, when the provider reports it.

7.3 Payments and refunds are between you and the Merchant. Because Cuscato never receives your money, it cannot refund you, reverse or recover a payment, or make good a payment that failed, was taken twice or was not passed on. Cuscato is not responsible for any payment, refund, chargeback or payment dispute between you and a Merchant. Ask the Merchant, and for a problem with the payment itself, your bank or payment app. Your rights under consumer protection law against the Merchant are not affected.

7.4 Orders through Swiggy or Zomato. An order you place with a business through Swiggy or Zomato is also governed by that platform's terms; the platform takes your payment and handles refunds and complaints about delivery, and the business sees the order in Cuscato.

8. Acceptable use

You must not:

• try to reach any data or part of the Platform you have not been given access to;
• interfere with, overload, scrape or automate requests to the Platform, or get round its rate limits or security;
• place Orders or Bookings you do not intend to honour, or give false billing or delivery details;
• use an email address or phone number that is not yours, or impersonate anyone;
• make a notice under our Notice and Takedown Policy that you know is false;
• upload or send anything unlawful, or anything you have no right to share;
• upload or send anything that is obscene, pornographic or sexual; invades someone's privacy or shows a person without their consent; harasses or insults anyone, including for their gender, race, religion or caste; encourages gambling or money laundering; harms a child; infringes a trade mark, copyright, patent or other right; is false or misleading about who made it or where it comes from; impersonates anyone; threatens India's unity, sovereignty, security, public order or relations with other countries; or carries malware or other harmful code.

Breaking these rules or the law may lead to your access being suspended or ended under clause 13, may carry penalties under the law, and where we are required to report an act to the authorities we will.

Merchants may sell any lawful goods or services, but not the prohibited items listed in clause 6.5 of the Merchant Agreement, such as narcotic drugs, prescription medicines, alcoholic drinks, tobacco, arms, explosives and counterfeit goods. The Platform checks each item a Merchant saves against a list of such items. The check is automatic and does not mean we have reviewed a Merchant's catalogue; if you see a prohibited item, tell us through our report page.

9. Content and intellectual property

9.1 Cuscato owns the Platform, including its software, design and the Cuscato name. Each Merchant owns its catalogue, images and other content on its Storefront. These Terms give you permission to use the Platform for your own personal use and nothing more.

9.2 Anything you write or attach in an Order or Booking, such as a note, a special request or, on an Order, a picture, is stored and shown to the Merchant so it can serve you. Only attach what you have the right to share. You can attach at most five pictures of your own to an Order or a custom order request (clause 5.10), and a limited number to one Merchant's Orders in any 24 hours and in any 30 days, to prevent misuse; uploads may also be paused for a time to protect the Platform. A picture you add to an Order stays with it and cannot be removed afterwards, by you or by the Merchant, until it is deleted one year after the later of the day you added it and the day the Order ends (completed, delivered or cancelled; for an Order that never ends, the day it was placed), or later while a complaint to us about the Order is open; to correct or add to it, add a note, or another picture if the limits above allow. You and the Merchant can add notes to an Order at any time, and a note cannot be changed or deleted either. The exceptions: deleting your account (clause 13) removes the pictures and notes you added; the Merchant closing its business on the Platform, or asking us to erase them, removes that Merchant's Order pictures and notes; and the law may require it.

9.3 Every picture you upload is saved as a new copy made from the picture alone, without hidden details such as where it was taken. A profile photo is also checked automatically before it is saved, and refused if it appears to show nudity, gore, weapons or drugs, or if words in it are offensive. The check can be wrong; if yours is refused wrongly, write to support@cuscato.com.

10. Links and other services

A Storefront may link to websites or services, including a Merchant's payment arrangements, that neither we nor the Platform control. We are not responsible for them; their own terms apply.

11. Your data

The Privacy Policy explains what the Platform collects, why, and how long it is kept, including how artificial intelligence is used (its section 4.3). It forms part of these Terms.

12. Availability

12.1 The Platform is provided as it is and as available. We do not promise that it will always be available or free of errors. A Merchant may close its Storefront or change what it offers at any time. If a Merchant's subscription lapses, its Storefront may be paused and show that it is not taking orders; Orders and Bookings already placed are not affected. A Storefront also shows that it is not taking Orders or Bookings until its Merchant has accepted the current Merchant Agreement.

12.2 We are not responsible for a failure or delay caused by events beyond our reasonable control, such as natural disasters, epidemics, war, government action, or the failure of a hosting, network or power provider.

12.3 Changes to Cuscato are our decision. How the Platform works, what it offers and what it costs are decided by us alone. We may add, change, limit, suspend or remove any part of it - features, screens, plans, prices, integrations and supported devices - at any time, for any reason, with or without notice. You have no right to be consulted about, to approve or to object to such a decision, or to require us to keep any feature. Where a change removes something you actively use we will try to tell you beforehand, but we need not when the change is needed for security, to stop fraud or abuse, or to comply with the law or an order of a court or authority. A change never alters an Order you have already placed: the total shown when you confirm it is what you pay. Nothing in this clause removes a right you have by law that a contract cannot take away.

12.4 A service we keep improving. Cuscato is a live service: Orders, Bookings and payments made through it are real. We keep building and improving it, so features may change, appear or be withdrawn, and some may not work as expected. If something does not work as it should, tell us at support@cuscato.com. This changes none of these Terms or our policies, does not reduce a Merchant's responsibility for what it sells, and does not reduce any right you have by law.

13. Suspension and deleting your account

13.1 You can stop using the Platform at any time. To stop sharing with a Merchant, open Your Account on its Storefront, under Stop Sharing With the business choose Stop Sharing and Delete My Details, and confirm with the code we email you (or write to support@cuscato.com). This ends your link with that Merchant and deletes your personal details in its records linked to it; your Cuscato account and your links with other Merchants are not affected, and you can link again later. To close your Cuscato account altogether, delete it in your account on cuscato.com, or write to support@cuscato.com; that ends your link with every Merchant in the same way. You cannot close it while you own a business on Cuscato: close the business first (Merchant Agreement). Each Order's items, amounts, taxes and Invoice are kept exactly as issued, because the law requires it, and so is the record of what you accepted. Stopping sharing does not cancel an Order already placed.

13.2 We may suspend or close an account that breaks clause 8, is used unlawfully, or where the law requires it.

14. Liability

14.1 Cuscato is not liable for anything arising from an Order, a Booking, an Invoice or your dealings with a Merchant, including the quality, safety, hygiene, allergen content, pricing, tax, delivery, cancellation or refund of anything supplied. Your remedy for those matters is against the Merchant. Cuscato is also not responsible for anything unlawful that a Merchant, a Customer or anyone else does, including anything you and a Merchant arrange between yourselves on or off the Platform - for example selling a prohibited item, taking a payment by fraud or refusing a refund the law requires. Whoever does it is responsible for it; we may suspend the accounts involved and report it where the law requires.

14.2 As far as the law allows, we are not liable for indirect or consequential loss, or for loss of profit, business, opportunity or data. We are liable only for direct loss caused by our own breach of these Terms.

14.3 Nothing in these Terms limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud, for gross negligence or wilful misconduct, or for anything else the law does not allow to be limited. Nothing in these Terms removes any right you have under consumer protection law.

15. Indemnity

You will compensate Cuscato for loss and reasonable costs caused by your breach of clause 8, your unlawful use of the Platform, or your infringement of someone else's rights. This does not apply to loss caused by our own breach, negligence or wilful misconduct.

16. Changes to these Terms

16.1 These Terms are ours to write, and we may change them at any time and for any reason; you have no right to be consulted about or to approve a change. Each version carries a number at the top of this page in the form major.minor.patch (for example 1.0.0), and a changed text is never published under an old number. The major number goes up when a change materially affects you; the minor number for a clarification, and the patch number for a correction such as a typo, neither of which changes what you agreed to. Before the Platform's public launch, every change, whatever its size, was published as a patch; since the launch, each change takes the number its size calls for.

16.2 If a change materially affects you, we will ask you to read and accept the new version the next time you use your account, before you carry on. A change required by law or to deal with fraud, abuse or a security risk may take effect immediately. Changes do not apply to an Order already placed unless the law requires it. If you do not accept a change, you may close your account.

17. Complaints and contact

Write to support@cuscato.com, or use our contact form. To complain about a Merchant, use our complaint form; you may attach up to five pictures or documents. How to raise each kind of complaint is on the Grievance Officer page. To report a Storefront that impersonates a business, uses a brand it has no right to, or publishes unlawful or misleading information, use Report this shop on the Storefront or follow our Notice and Takedown Policy. A complaint about goods, food, a service, a price, an Invoice or a refund is a complaint about the Merchant; contact the Merchant first, and if you cannot reach it we will pass your complaint on, as clause 2.5 describes.

18. General

18.1 Law and disputes. These Terms are governed by the laws of India, and disputes about them are decided by the courts in India that have jurisdiction. Nothing in these Terms affects your right to complain to a consumer commission, including the one where you live or work. If you are a consumer living outside India, this choice of law does not take away the protection of the rules of the country where you live that cannot be excluded by agreement, and where the law of that country lets you bring proceedings in its courts, you may.

18.2 Notices. We may send you notices about these Terms or your account by email to the address on your account or by showing them on the Platform.

18.3 If any part of these Terms is unenforceable, the rest still applies. Not enforcing a clause is not a waiver of it. These Terms give no rights to anyone else, including a Merchant. These Terms and the Privacy Policy are the whole agreement between you and Cuscato about the Platform; they are not the Merchant's terms of sale. The English text governs.

19. If you are in a particular country

These Terms apply wherever you are. This clause adds what the law of some countries gives you. Nothing in these Terms takes away a right that the law of the country where you live gives you as a consumer and that cannot be excluded by agreement, whether against Cuscato or against a Merchant.

19.1 India. Your rights under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 and its rules, including complaining to a consumer commission where you live or work, are not affected (clauses 2.5, 7.3, 14.3 and 18.1). Complaints and appeals about content follow the Information Technology Rules, as the Grievance Officer page explains.

19.2 The European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland. Your contract for an Order is with the Merchant, a business established in India or in another country (clauses 2 and 5.9). Where the law of the country where you live gives you a right to withdraw from a distance contract, or other rights over what you buy, those rights apply against the Merchant; the right to withdraw generally does not apply to food and other goods that spoil quickly, to food and drink services for a set date, or to a service that has been fully performed. Cuscato charges you nothing for using the Platform. Where the law of your country makes a term of these Terms unfair or unenforceable against you, that term does not apply to you, and the rest does.

19.3 The United States. Where the law of your state does not allow a limit on implied warranties, or the exclusion or limitation of certain damages, the limits in clauses 12 and 14 apply to you only as far as that law allows.

19.4 The United Arab Emirates. Your rights under the consumer protection law of the country where you live that cannot be excluded by agreement are not affected, whether against Cuscato or a Merchant.

19.5 Your data. The Privacy Policy, section 18, says what the data-protection law of each of these places adds.