Your Key to Safe Shopping
Your Key to Safe Shopping |
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In answer to the internet shopping security issues listed below, various encryption and "trusted third party" schemes have been devised to protect both the buyer and the seller. 21st Century Goods uses encryption to encode your credit card details separately from your order for secure transmission to our computers. We make every effort to keep our customer files secure and we do not pass on your credit card details to third parties other than to seek authorization for payment from your credit card company. If you still have any concerns about the security of your transactions, please feel free to contact us.
You can always use the 21st Century Goods Web site as a catalogue and make your purchases in one of the traditional ways. We accept credit card and checks for orders placed by Fax, telephone (866 999 8422), E-mail (orders@21st-century-goods.com) or using regular mail.
Apart from the security issues, we are conscious of how annoying it can be to receive unsolicited e-mail from people you do not know. 21st Century Goods does not under any circumstances pass on customer details to third parties.
The two most obvious worries about possible credit card fraud on the Internet concern misuse of the card by the seller or interception of credit card details in transit between the buyer and the seller. In both cases the risks involved in buying and selling on the Internet are not significantly different from those involved in the traditional alternatives.
This is purely a question of the reputation of the seller not the mode of transmission of the data or the security of the Internet. A transaction over the Internet in this respect is no different from any other purchasing transaction. Misuse of credit card details is much more likely to come from unscrupulous traders than from interception of the information in transit. As with mail order your suspicions should be aroused if the seller remains anonymous and does not provide a satisfactory contact address. This should include email, physical address and phone numbers. At 21st Century Goods we provide all of these forms of contact information.
The second concern stems from the fact that in passing credit card details over the Internet, the information may be held temporarily on a computer somewhere between the buyer and the seller and hence vulnerable to interception. These computers or "servers" are generally held in secure environments and interception is difficult, requiring a high degree of technical skill. Someone determined to steal credit card information would have a much easier task to intercept the alternative methods of transmitting the information such as the mail, faxes or telephone calls. Just think of all the letters piled up in a sorting office and all the people with access to them en route. However, to reduce the risk of interception both your computer and our 21st Century Goods servers communicate in a secure encrypted fashion when you are placing an order. The encryption mechanism scrambles the data during transmission so even if it is intercepted the true data cannot be determined.
This is misuse of your credit card, or the information on it by some other dishonest person who pretends to be you. Again this is not peculiar to the Internet nor does it just involve stolen cards. Sales assistants, accounting clerks or waiters in restaurants can copy details from your credit card. Credit card receipts left in supermarket carts or otherwise discarded contain your credit card details. This information can be used by others to purchase goods in your name either by telephone, mail order or on the Internet. The Internet lends itself to anonymous transactions and using ill gotten information obtained elsewhere is probably the greatest source of Internet fraud. Boycotting the Internet yourself is of no help whatsoever in these cases. The answer is to keep your credit card details safe at all times, not just the card itself, but also all the credit card receipts it has been used to create.
At 21st Century goods we report all misuse of credit cards to the appropriate authorities and verify all billing information with the credit card issuers records. We use Verisign for our secure credit card verification and gateway processor.
You will find 21st Century Goods contact information on the Contact Us page.