Overall, it is safe to buy from merchants at the various sites. There have been a few cases of copyright violations, but unfortunately there's a bad apple or two in every group. Different sites have different procedures if there is a problem. (Again, it's pretty rare.) When you purchase an item, either your credit card or PayPal account is charged. At Rendie, there's a delay with your first order as they verify your credit card. After verification, your account will have links to download the purchase(s). Every purchase after that goes through normally and you will have access right away. You can use the purchases to create whatever type of images you want, even sell the images you produce using the products. (Obviously making images that are illegal in your area, such as kiddie porn, is a BAD idea.) You can modify anything you purchase, but can not redistribute the items - no matter how much you modify them - without the explicit written permission of the person you purchased the item from. Hope this helps, Cres