Skip to content
Payments
Using a credit/debit card is the simplest way to arrange payment for orders. It is fast, efficient and any hassles of “exchange rates” are handled by your card issuing company. The debit that we apply to your card is converted into your local currency at the current exchange rate on the day your card company process the transaction.
All credit/debit card payments on our Web site are processed via PayPal. We do not have access to your credit or debit card details.
When you place an order or update your personal details, the forms are loaded via Secure Sockets Layer (SSL for short). Your web browser is then connected directly to PayPal’s secure server. You can see the connection is secure by looking at the padlock or key icon at the bottom of your browser. You’ll also note the address in the URL bar starts https:// rather than just http://.
Your browser may also warn you that you are connecting to a secure server, and if so it will also tell you when you are closing the secure connection once you have submitted your order or other personal information. These “warnings” are for your information only.
Our secure server then communicates with your browser using SSL, so that all the personal information you send (including your credit or debit card details, name and address etc.), is encrypted, a process which takes the words and figures you type and converts them into bits of code that are then securely transmitted over the Internet.
Transaction security
All transaction information passed between our Web site and PayPal’s systems is encrypted using 256-bit SSL certificates. No cardholder information is ever passed unencrypted and any messages sent to our servers from PayPal are signed using MD5 hashing to prevent tampering. You can be completely assured that nothing passed to PayPal’s servers can be examined, used or modified by any third parties attempting to gain access to sensitive information.
Encryption and data storage
Once on PayPal’s systems, all sensitive data is secured using the same internationally recognised 256-bit encryption standards used by, among others, the US Government. The encryption keys are held on state-of-the-art, tamper proof systems in the same family as those used to secure VeriSign’s Global Root certificate, making them all but impossible to extract. PayPal is extremely secure and they are regularly audited by the banks and banking authorities to ensure that they remain so.
Links to banks
Paypal has multiple private links into the banking network that are completely separate from the Internet and which do not cross any publicly accessible networks. Any cardholder information sent to the banks and any authorisation message coming back is secure and cannot be tampered with.
For further information about PayPal’s Security Police, visit www.paypal.com.
