When you make a purchase on our website, the following series of actions occurs.

1. Our computers verify (with your credit card institution) that funds (in the amount of the purchase) are currently available in your credit card account.


2. In response to this query, your credit card institution authorizes the use of, and reserves, these funds — directly in your account.



Please Note: at this stage, the funds have yet to leave your account, and will not leave your account unless the next step is completed, either automatically by our computers or manually by our service personnel. If the next step is not completed, for whatever reason, the allotted funds will remain in your account. However, they will not be made available for your use for, typically, 4-5 days. Your bank will "freeze" the funds for this length of time in order to accommodate any potential delay in the completion of the transaction.



3. If we determine that the purchase is good, that is, not fraudulent or otherwise defective, we remove the funds from your credit card account and end the transaction.



To clarify: your purchase was interrupted between stages 2 and 3 listed above. Your funds have been authorized and set aside, but they remain in your account. Your credit card billing statement, either the online or paper form, may indicate that these funds have been used, but they have not. Within 4-5 days, the attempted purchase should drop from your billing record, and the authorized funds should return to your general pool of credit.