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What is SSL (Secure Sockets Layer)?
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We know that shopping securely is a top concern. The security of your credit card information is our priority.
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What do we do with the personal information we gather from you on this site?
- We use the information on the order form for order processing only. We will only contact you if there is a problem with the order. We also try to send an email to let you know when your order ships and when to expect it.
- We will never sell, give away or share any of your information to other companies or use it ourselves for advertising purposes.
- In short, we don't like getting junk email or phone calls ourselves so we would not do anything that would expose our customers to those annoyances.
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We authorize (but do not charge) your card when you first place your order with us. This submits the card information to the
bank to verify that it is a valid card, funds are available and the information on the order matches what the bank has on
file for you. The funds are marked for the future closing of the transaction, however no funds are transferred to us at that
point.
- Please note, that some banks may display the authorization the same as a charge on their transaction detail. If an order is
cancelled or voided it can take several days, depending on your bank, for them to clear the authorization.
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To protect both us and the card holder we use security measures to verify the ownership of the card. This requires that the
address entered on your order matches exactly to the address your card company has on file for you. A rejected order will
still show a temporary authorization for each attempt.
- We are not able to process orders with non-US issued cards as they do not provide the necessary information for
verification.
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We settle the authorization (charge) to your card at the end of each business day.
- However, if an item is out of stock or back-ordered, your credit card will be charged the same day as the order.
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We never see your credit card number, all that is provided to us is the first and last 4 digits of the number. No copy of
your card number is ever printed or viewed or even stored in our local computer systems.
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All your credit card information is encrypted when transmitted to the card processing company. For information on encryption
please click here.
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Our site uses SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) to ensure that your personal and sensitive data -- credit card number, name,
address, and so on -- is transmitted securely, every time. In addition, we use internal security measures to further increase
your data security.
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When you enter your credit card number or other personal information we transfer that information from your computer to the
card processing system via Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). SSL encrypts your data before it is transmitted. If someone "listens
in" on the wire, they'll only get encrypted, unreadable, information.
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All orders that we process have to be submitted to our secure server for credit card processing.
- This means that our sales staff uses the same ordering method as customers; entering all of the customer information into the site online and in real time.
- Keeping a close eye on the latest improvements in online security , we strive to further maximize the utility and convenience of our online ordering system.
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When you give someone your name and credit card over the phone or in person, you run several risks:
- The person on the phone, receiving the order, will have to write down your card number and personal information that then
has to be properly disposed of to ensure security.
- If the person on the phone were not completely honest they could keep a copy of your card number and name and use that
information fraudulently.
- When you order from a place that says “do you want that put on your card that is on file with us?”, ask how and where do
they store your card number. Is it in their regular customer database, accessible by all of their employees?
- If an order is phoned in to a company it is possible that another person will overhear the phone order, either at your
location or where the order is being processed as the information is read back to you.
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How do other companies handle your credit card information when you order over the phone or even online? Where do they store
your information to complete the transaction? Some simply write your full card number right on the invoice where it can be
read by anyone at any time and easily retreived from their system by any employee or person who wonders into their building.
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When you send your credit card over the Internet, you run LESS of a risk than when you read it over the phone to a mail order
company, or hand it to a waiter in a restaurant. Why? Because we don't use carbons. We don't write your information down. We
don't repeat your number aloud in a room full of people. You enter your data and it goes directly into our system, where it
is stored encrypted and password-protected.
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Buying from our site with a credit card is no more risk than paying for dinner out, possibly even less so when you consider
that you often hand your card to the server and they disappear with it for a time.
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