Credit Card Validation Policy for DiamondTalk.com

I. NEED FOR CREDIT CARD VERIFICATION

1.1. Consumer Protection.

Our number one goal at Diamond Talk is to protect the end consumer. That is our "raison d'etre". There are several activities occurring regularly on our site that compel us to verify the identity of our membership prior to allowing new members to post messages on Diamond Talk. Wedding Talk is not under this restriction. Although most people understand the risk of doing business online with strangers and do take precautions, it is a far safer environment to do so in a community of verified membership than with anonymous users. We do not want to make it easy for people to create one fake username after another to pump up their reputation. The following are some examples of activities and relationships that would be prone to a potential abuse of our membership if there was not a credit card verification system in place:

1.1.1. Vendor to Consumer. Consumers buy Jewelry with values in the thousands of dollars from Vendors they have found through Diamond Talk.

1.1.2. Consumer to Consumer. Diamond Talk members post personal items of Jewelry for sale in our Jewelry Classifieds section.

1.1.3. Appraiser to Consumer. Consumers find Local Appraisers through Diamond Talk and may send them merchandise to inspect even if they never bought a thing through a Diamond Talk vendor. Appraisers operating in small regional locales are less likely to be well known than those who operate nationally.

1.1.4. Personal Meetings. There have been numerous instances where DT'ers have gotten together to meet in person and discuss their Jewelry hobby. We would not like people to be able to contact our members or to be invited to such get togethers unless they provided some basic information about themselves.

1.1.5. False Testimonials. Vendors sometimes get overzealous in their "marketing" and feel the need to pump up their business by posing as a consumer and giving themselves a glowing customer testimonial. Since consumers often buy on the basis of such testimonials, verification severely cuts down on this practice.

1.2. Vendor Protection.

1.2.1. Although vendors tend to have their own system of security in dealing with end consumers, particularly on the internet, many have been bitten in the past.

1.2.2. Another issue that comes up from time to time is that a competitor of a vendor may come in with a fake username, posing as a consumer to either falsely pump up one vendor over another carrying the same line, or even to go through the motions of inquiring about a purchase in order to use the competitor's words against him. All without ever providing any infromation beyond a yahoo email address and a fake name. Then the entire fake story appears on Diamond Talk and no one is the wiser.

1.3. Summary.

Although the above events and scenarios are for illustration purposes, they are based on events that have either occurred at Diamond Talk, or have been attempted unsuccessfully.

II. PRIVACY CONCERNS

Although you can garner further information from our Guidelines page and Privacy Policy, we would like to reiterate that none of the information provided by our members will ever be sold to anyone. We take great pains to ensure the security of your data. All data is transmitted and stored in an encrypted fashion. As soon as the credit card is validated we take the data off our servers.

III. LIMIT OF LIABILITY

Although we are obviously taking what reasonable measures we can in order to protect our membership, fraud is always possible despite the precautions we have taken. If you choose to do business with anyone you have met through our site, we urge you to be cautious and we remind you that the risks you are taking are your own. Thank you.