When you add an item to your cart, you will be directed to the Select Purchase Option page.  As a new customer you can choose either
the Proceed Directly to Checkout or the Create Account option.  With either option you will be asked to enter your name and address
information.  With the Create Account option, you will also be asked to make up a password, just for use at this online store (it is totally
unrelated to any other passwords you might have).  The primary difference is that if you create an account, when you return to shop in the future,
you will only need to re-enter your password instead of all your name and address information.  Note that even with an account we will not store your
credit card information, so it will always need to be re-entered. 

When you add an item to your cart, before you get to an order page, or personal information page, your browser is directed to our
dedicated secure "Katrina proof" server*.  This means that before your browser sends information out over the Internet, it
first encrypts what you have typed. ( By encrypt, we mean, jumble up in a very sophisticated way so neither human nor machine
can make sense of it without a de-encryption key).  Note: the web address of secure pages starts with https: instead of the usual
http:.  The change to the secure server and use of encryption both happen automatically. 

Your browser sends the encrypted information
to our servers, and our servers send the financial portion on to the bank that issued your credit card over what is termed a
payment gateway.  We do not retain your credit card information on our servers, or in any of our files. 

A payment gateway is an Internet entity setup with the sole purpose of securely sending financial information from online
merchants to banks, and back.  Payment gateways are one of the behind the scenes industries of which most people outside the
online commerce business are unaware.  We use the premier payment gateway, Authorize.net.  On a busy day, Authorize.net alone will
process over a million secure transactions. 

Next we receive an acknowledgement back from the credit card bank telling us that all the information checked out, and we can proceed
with the sale.  This happens in a matter of a few seconds.  You will then see a confirmation page, and we will send you an email confirming
your order.  Then, usually on the next business day, we will ship your order, and send you another email letting you know your toothpaste is on
the way.  That is all there is to it. 

For more information, click PRIVACY &amp SECURITY. 
* Our web site is hosted by Zipa.com,
located in an ultra-modern facility New Orleans.  The datacenter is so rock solid that throughout Hurricane Katrina and the aftermath,
the client servers stayed up and running.  We thought getting great reliability and supporting a New Orleans based company sounded like a
good idea.