TipBop for employers

What it is

A member of your team wears or carries a small NFC tag. A guest who wants to tip that person taps it with their phone, a web page opens, and they choose an amount. The guest needs no app and no account. The money goes straight to a Stripe account in the team member’s own name. TipBop never holds it, and neither does your business.

What it does for your business

• It costs you nothing. No subscription, no set-up fee, no minimum, no contract. The guest pays a small fee on top of the tip, so your team member receives exactly the amount chosen.
• There is nothing to run. No employer account, no login, no dashboard, no till integration and nothing to administer. Nobody from TipBop will contact you unless you ask them to.
• No money passes through the business. It does not go through the till, a tronc, or payroll, so there is nothing for you to receive, hold, or share out.
• Your service charge and card tips are untouched. Your tronc carries on exactly as it is. This is only for the times a guest wants to hand something to a person and has no cash on them.
• A guest without cash can still say thank you. Good service should not go unthanked because nobody is carrying notes. The people who look after your guests are recognised, and that is good for keeping them.
• Your team is protected from unwanted contact. The page a guest sees shows a first name and a photo and nothing else: no surname, no phone number, no email, no social media, no message button, and no way to find anyone again. TipBop has committed to never adding a contact field to that page.

On the law

The government’s statutory Code of Practice on tipping says that digital tipping, where a customer uses an app to tip staff directly and bypasses the employer, is out of scope of the Tips Act. HMRC’s own guidance treats it the same as a cash tip. This is not tax or legal advice, and what applies to your business depends on how you handle your own tips and service charge, so take advice if you are unsure.

If it helps to have it in writing, TipBop will send you a one-page participation note confirming that the business receives nothing and takes on no obligation. Email hello@tipbop.com.

What stays yours

Whether your team may wear or carry a tag on shift is your decision, and TipBop asks every team member to ask first. If you say no, that is a real answer and TipBop will not help anyone work around it. There is nothing to cancel or switch off.

Getting tags for your team

Each team member signs up for free and orders their own tag inside the app, so the tag is tied to them and the money goes to them. You can choose a standard fob, a retractable fob, a keychain or a card. TipBop confirms the total and how to pay by email before anything is posted.

Not sure yet? Email us and we will show you the tag and the page it opens before anyone signs up.

Why you are reading this

One of your team has asked whether they can use TipBop at work, and gave you a short letter. It says the same things as this page. Their answer is yours to give, and the questions page covers what an employer can and cannot see.