The Malaksword Association has one central focus: to preserve security and trust online, for both the consumer and the merchant. In doing so, it has implemented these systems: Merchant Membership Merchants are certified according to strict requirements, and are classified in our database accordingly. A merchant's rating is dependent on how many of our requirements it meets, as well as consumer input (both positive and negative). This is broken into a score of two parts, the first number being how well each merchant meets our requirements, and the second number being the merchant's overall consumer rating. Our requirements include: Privacy Policy, Spam Policy, Consumer Accessibility, and Product Guarantee, among others. Merchants who meet these requirements are given one point in our rating system for each. Secondly, the consumer rating is averaged to complete the last half of the score. (A score of 10/10 is perfect.)
Consumer Database We also maintain a database of consumer ratings. Members may access this information free of charge and without limitation. Non-members may request a search if they have a consumer's full name plus city and state (a phone number, e-mail address, or social security number may also be required). Searches for members will include all contact information for a given individual, as well as his or her rating and supplementary information, if any. Searches for non-members will yield a rating and supplementary information, but no contact information. For this reason, we encourage non-members to exercise caution with said information, as more than one individual by the same name may appear in a given city.
To maintain confidentiality, we do not sell, trade, or share the contact information in our database (or membership list) with non-members. (In addition, members are required to sign a confidentiality agreement to protect the same.) The sole purpose of the database is to track consumers who have engaged in less than scrupulous practices, such as bouncing checks, ordering products without subsequent payment, and credit card fraud. All consumer complaints are investigated prior that consumer's rating in our database; however, consumers under investigation do appear in the database and may be listed in subsequent searches. By keeping this information current, we hope to protect both consumers and merchants from fraud, dishonesty, and unnecessary financial loss.
Merchant Database
We will soon establish a database with the names, ratings, and business addresses of non-member merchants who have engaged in less than scrupulous business practices. Please monitor this page for updates.
2-17-02 Update: An rudimentary list of "sites to avoid" is now available at the bottom of our Links page. This list will grow over time, until it evolves into the database.
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