sìloz is proud of the safety features we’ve incorporated.  The core design is, itself, a security feature. We do not permit silos for personal causes, for starters.  We have balanced the interests of the silo administrators against the interests of donors (members), and made the former accountable and transparent to, the latter.  We have similarly balanced the interests of buyers and sellers, with our Voucher Key/Voucher feature.

We share the number of Facebook friends the administrator has, if he/she has chosen to connect with Facebook. 

Another well-known security feature we have incorporated is user monitoring.  We encourage users to notify us (info@siloz.com) if they  see anything inappropriate.

If you are donating an item, you should always conduct your own inquiry into an organization or a silo’s administrator.  Their contact information and website are on their silo page (for public silos).  Private silos are unlisted, and thus there are no compromising connections to the general public, where strangers can donate to a cause they are not personally familiar with.  

We permit any potential member of a personal or community silo to send an one-way blind email to any silo administrator, to investigate the silo.

It is always advisable to skeptically investigate any organization or representative you are donating either money or pledged items to.  

Additional Safety and Security Features

1. We do not permit shipping; we require sales to be transacted locally, in-person;
2. The site is conceptually simple, and, therefore, relatively easy to identify ways members may attempt to defraud others;
3. Because items have been donated, and since the seller is not the beneficiary of a sale, we expect seller fraud to be low.  
4. Because the buyer is in a position to help a local cause, we expect buyer fraud to be low.
5. Because sellers are asked to use real names, and appear in their ‘silo’ with other members in their community who support their cause, we expect fraud and other unfair play to be at a minimum.  
6. The site does not use cash.
7. All silos have an administrator whose contact information is and photo are publicly exhibited.
8. We permit any potential member of a personal or community silo to send an one-way blind email to any silo administrator, to investigate the silo.
9. We hold the silo administrator’s raised funds until the silo has come to completion.
10. We do not not allow the administrator of a community silo that was canceled (either by the administrator, proactively, or due to an abuse of our Terms of Use) to collect any money for a silo.
11. We track whether a community silo has a registered 501(c)3 EIN (employer ID number), and disclose this information on the silo’s detail page.
12. We permit members of any silo to see who other members are, and to see the items pledged.
13. We update all users (on the silo wall) about activity in the silo, fostering transparency.
14. We forbid a silo administrator from running multiple silos at one time.
15. We forbid a silo’s purpose, title, goal and category from being changed.
16. When a silo expires, we require a silo administrator to ‘Thank’ by exhibiting how (read: prove to users that) money was spent.