Marketplace Integrity & Anti-Fraud Policy

Sentrick Metals & Minerals is a qualified marketplace, not a free directory. Membership fees, the marketplace commission, and platform fees fund the verification, support, dispute handling, and record-keeping that keep the marketplace credible. Paid access is itself a deliberate integrity control: it makes fake accounts and false orders costly, deterring abuse before it starts.

Buyers and suppliers pass identity and business verification before transacting. Suppliers and products additionally pass a qualification gate before listing. A verification badge reflects only the information Sentrick reviewed — it is not a guarantee of a counterparty's products, conduct, or solvency.

Bank transfer / ACH is the default settlement rail. ACH materially reduces stolen-card fraud and chargeback abuse relative to card rails. Where card payment is used, processing is charged to the payer at actual cost. Commission is computed on the immutable order snapshot and is reversed proportionally on any approved refund — never retained on money that is returned.

Creating orders that do not reflect a genuine arm's-length transaction is prohibited. This includes collusive or self-dealing orders between related parties, transactions whose purpose is to inflate GMV, farm volume-reward tiers, fabricate traction, obtain reviews or badges, or manipulate another party's standing. Volume Rewards apply only to genuine, settled trade.

Sentrick monitors for integrity risks, including repeated reciprocal orders between the same parties, abnormal volume spikes near reward-tier thresholds, and orders cancelled after commission is computed. Sentrick may hold, review, reverse, or refuse a transaction; withhold or claw back volume-reward reductions obtained through prohibited conduct; suspend or terminate accounts; and report unlawful activity. Enforcement actions and immutable commercial history are preserved for audit.

Suspected fraud, manipulation, or abuse can be reported to Sentrick for review. Good-faith reports do not affect a reporting party's standing.