Gemologica understands your concerns regarding Internet security and has a responsibility to protect from disclosure to unauthorized parties the personally identifiable information (name, address, credit card, etc.) of its website users. Therefore, Gemologica has adopted and implemented a website security policy to protect account information of its website users. Gemologica will not sell, trade, nor disclose the personally identifiable information of its website users to any unauthorized third parties. Gemologica takes security very seriously and has therefore taken every precaution to secure our customers information. In order to secure the user's information, Gemologica has implemented several security measures to prevent loss, theft, or misuse of any customer data. The Internet is as secure as using your credit card in a store or over the phone. However, in the event of any unauthorized use of your credit card, most banks either cover all charges that result from the unauthorized use, or may limit your liability to just $50.00. Under the Fair Credit Billing Act, your bank or Credit Card Company cannot hold you liable for more than $50.00 of unauthorized or fraudulent charges on a credit card. Every order at www.gemologica.com is secure. All data submitted via the checkout form is encrypted using SSL (Secure Sockets Layer), the gold standard in Internet encryption technology.

After you've selected items to purchase, you'll be prompted to continue your order by clicking on the 'checkout', located on your 'shopping cart' page. At this point, your browser looks for a site certificate to confirm that it is communicating with www.gemologica.com. Once a positive ID is made, your order continues.

At this point, your computer and our server begin communicating in secure mode, sending data back and forth in an encrypted format. You will then be prompted to enter your credit card information. The encryption features of browser software are exceptionally powerful and ensure the security of the data as it is transmitted to our server. The standard, unsecured URL address begins http:// . When you enter secure mode, the beginning of the URL address will change to https://; the 's' stands for secure. Most browsers in secure mode also display a blue line along the top of the browser window. Internet Explorer - you'll see a padlock symbol at the bottom of your browser window when the browser is in secure mode.

Netscape Navigator (versions 3.0 and earlier) - displays a broken key symbol in the lower left corner of your browser window when you're not viewing a secure page of a site. This key will become solid when you enter secure mode.

Netscape Communicator 4.0 - uses a padlock, in the same location as the key, to indicate if you're in standard or secure mode. The padlock is open in standard mode and closed in secure mode. Your credit card number is placed in the SQL database on the Gemologica web server. A user must have logon privileges on the web server (requiring a password) to be able to access the database, which also requires a password. The staff at Gemologica retrieves your order information. All communications during these sessions are encrypted again using SSL. No credit card numbers are ever sent via e-mail, due to the fact that e-mail is not secure.We do not maintain any credit card related information for future use. We do keep a copy of your order in case there are ever any questions regarding the order's shipment or contents in the future. The information we do keep on file is in the form of an e-mail receipt of your order (similar to the one you received after you placed the order). It does not contain your credit card number--only your shipping information, what you ordered and the date it was ordered. We keep this information in case there are any questions regarding your shipment. When a user sends e-mail messages to Gemologica, the return address may be used to respond to the inquiry. The content and address contained in the message can be permanently recorded so that it can be referenced in future communications between the customer and Gemologica. Email is not a secure means of transmitting information.