How can Credit Card info be verified?

If this is a swiped transaction you can use AVS the address verification system. There are also processors who offer voice authorization. You can also use software on the PC for address verification and authorization.

Other than that, you can have the customer fax you the imprint of the card like ask them them to place a paper on card and use pencil to get the imprint. I know it is nonsense and most customers would not do it but there is no other way. This would not protect you from a fradulent transaction but will help you in a chargeback situation.

Until the credit card companies come up with a better way to verify online orders it is really ugly for businesses, especially small businesses who only do a handful of transactinons each day.

AVS is based on the numbers in the address. Someone who knows the AVS system can create a fake billing address but us the same numbers so the AVS will verify. That's also often done with foreign orders.

Same with a pic or imprint of the card. If it's a stolen or unauthorized card the thief would have it anyway.

(Thanks for the suggestions anyway. )

Basically, I want to call someone at Visa, MC, Amex etc and say "I have recieved credit card number 123456789 from a customer. The billing information they gave is John Doe, 123 Main Street, Somewhereville, Anystate 98765. Is this the name and address of record for this card?" If it's my ID they are concerned about, as an authorized credit card merchant they should be able to either verify my business as authorized to process their card, or at the very least issue merchants some kind of merchant ID# when they get approved for CC processing.

I don't see why it's such a problem to do.

Just swipe the card and place a hold on the funds.
It won't actually take anything off of the card untill you are ready to process the transaction. This will at a minimum ensure that they have enough credit available.

Second...
The credit card fraud ratio is very low, unless you are in a questionable business in where all kinds of villans want to order your product(s)....
So, don't worry so much about transactions, unless a red flag gets thrown up...

For example...

Billing address in one state, shipping in another country!

If you are still worried, contact the customer directly.
I guarantee that they won't be pissed, in fact: They will feel more confident that you took the time to protect their information.

Chris
http://www.imediaservers.com

Thanks chris.

My problem with these charges are customers from other countries. The items the order don't seem "right" for where they are located.

Holding the funds (authorize but no deposit) I don't think will help. If the card is stolen the real owner will see the false charge when they get the bill and we'll still get a charge back.

My hope is fi I can speak to someone (or use a website or VRU) at the CC company to verify the name&address the customer gave me is the same as that registered to the card then at least that will be moe proof of a good order.

I can't imagine all this is soooooo hard to do. I'm a authorized CC merchant. Why can't a merchant confirm the billing address info on a card??

I think the big thing is that you are dealing with overseas accounts.... I myself would stray away from that, because there isn't any laws to protect you.

Also, no online merchant can truley verify a credit card. As far as privacy goes, CC Company's will not give out any personal information about their credit holders as that is against the law.

I'm curious...are you getting alot of false #'s? Also, you can get an updated machine that will ask for Zip Code Verification which may help you out a bit.

Hope this helps some.
Chris.

if i were you , i will use billing company to verify the information

and concentrate myself on my own bussiness.

i once contacted with cc company , it told me if a person want to

fraud , there is no way to prevent him from doing that.

every month i have almost 200 transactions. %0.2 is fraud.

good luck

After a while you'll develop a "nose" for fraudulent transactions... We automatically deny all orders from Malaysia just because of the high fraud rate for that country. You can call the phone number they provide on the account, and get someone to voice-verify... additionally, you can ask them for the 'cvv2' code, or the last 3 digits on the back of the card. This confirms they have the card in their possession. Further, you can make them fax a photo ID along with a signed statement saying to process the order.

It might not stop ALL fraud, but I guarantee if you follow all those steps it will cut down on it by at least 99%. However, it might also pose a hassle to the customer...

Thanks guys.

I don't have a business problem selling to foreign customers. We have several good customers in England, Italy, Israel, Canada, the Bahamas...even Japan. No problems.

And we want to grow our international business (why limit sales to just one country?). We do decline CC orders catagorically from some eastern european countries and the philipines (we ask them to send a money order via BidPay - they never do ).

OTOH, we do get some orders from countries not really known for fraud and we don't want to dismiss them. For example, last month we had 2 orders from Ireland. The items ordered weren't all that unusual. But we wanted to verify the CC info first. We couldn't so we declined the order.

I'm not asking for the CC company to give out the info. I'll give them the info and all they have to do is tell me if it matches their records.

For heaven's sakes, I'm no Joe Shmoe calling from the street! I'm a registered/approved merchant. If I'm good enough to be able to take CC numbers and put through charges why am I not good enough to contact Visa, MC, Amex etc to verify the info the customer has given me matches with their records???

IOW, if I'm too much a security risk to be able to verify the CC billing info, aren't I also therefore too much a security risk to collect the CC info in the first place?!?!?!?

Our current merchant acocunt verifies the users credit card first always.

So someone places an order for say $65. When they put in their CC info, the merchant verifies that their cc is good for that much. Since you are not suppose to charge a user untill you have shipped their product, you hve to wait until the product has been shipped. Once the product has been shipped, I log onto a web site and "capture" the transactions that I have already verified. Hope this helps.

I think we're going in circles here.

Yes, our CC processor uses AVS. And yes, it does check the person has sufficient credit balance for the charge. That's that the probelm.

The issue is: When Joe Shmoe places an order with a CC I want to confirm with the CC company that someone named Joe Shmoe living at 123 Main Street, Nowhereville, Somestate 12345 is infact the name and address on the CC account he gave me before I put through the charge!

AVS only checks the numbers in the address and that can be fudged.

I understand the security issue but again, if I'm good enough to be able to collect CC info and places charges why am I not good enough to get a merchant ID with the CC company and be able to call in or log in and see this info?!