Verification plays a role in members safety and is also a big part of supporting Trip Hopping.
When you make a payment with your credit or debit card, we can verify your identity and put an icon on your profile that let's other members know you are who you say you are. We'll send you a letter in the mail with a code, once you receive it you'll see instructions to enter the code on the site, therefore verifying your address and identity further.
Along with the letter we'll include Trip Hopping bumper stickers and a patch as a thank you. These are cool, as other drivers and folks on the road will recognize you as a Trip Hopper. For you hitchhiking folks, a patch on your backpack might just get you recognized and score you a ride down the road.
Like we said, this helps support Trip Hopping in a huge way! We use the money we get from verifications to keep our servers up and pay for the various expenses that make Trip Hopping awesome.
Verification is now donation based! You can pay as little as $25, or as much as $50, $100, or one billion dollars! We hope this encourages more people to get verified. Thanks!