• We use ONE cookie on our site, for our shopping cart and only because the cart won't work without it.  NONE of the collected data is shared or sold.  Ever.
• Your name and address WILL be added to our in-house order management system.  We MAY use this information to send you a print copy of our new catalog each January.  It will contain all the new items we've added, and perhaps a special offer or two.
• Your email address will be added to our system as well, but it will ONLY be used BY US to contact you regarding your order.  We do send an email newsletter to those of you who sign up when you create an account when ordering, and sometimes we may send you a coupon code to use at out site to get a great deal...free shipping, 10% off, that sort of thing. 

We take great pride in keeping your information safe & secure.

• ONLINE: Once you hit the 'checkout' button you are transferred to a secure server.  How can you tell?  Easy...look in the 'Address' bar of your browser and you'll see that the URL starts with 'https'.  Also, on the right hand side of the checkout page you'll see a little 'Secured by SSL' logo.  SSL stands for Secure Socket Layer...how it works, according to www.worldstart.com 

  "When you log onto a secure server (indicated by https) it communicates with your browser for a few seconds. During this communication, it sends your browser encryption information that only it and your browser can read. Once this encryption is set, it acts like a normal web page, except that all info coming or going is encrypted. This encryption makes it extremely difficult for any third party who would intercept the transaction to decipher it."

  Your credit card information is stored on the server until we print it out...then it is promptly deleted.

• OFFLINE:  We DO store your credit card number in our order management system in truncated format.  Once processed, a copy of the slip is sent to you and your printed order is kept in a file cabinet in our alarm-protected office.  ALL our computers (also in the protected office) and order management programs are password protected to prevent unauthorized access to files that contain your address and order information.  We use a firewall to keep your data safe from online intrusion, too.