One thing I can't understand is that a credit card processor shouldn't build in sufficient security measures to prevent credit card fraud. I believe there should become a lwa that they should provide this level of service.

Last week we had 2 charge backs again - one of which I could have predicted, since there was a non-matching security code (mastercard) - worldpay.com however simply accepted the payment, and waited untill they received an RFI, so they will do a chargeback with all additional costs as a result.

So I'm looking for a possibility to make sure we will not have to go through this AGAIN. That's why I was thinking about having all new customers fax us a copy of a signed "contract" between them and us. Now my question is - is it possible to have a credit card processor check this signature with the one held with the bank to see whether this is actually his/her credit card?

What other measurements have you worked out to prevent chargebacks on your account? I've read that the avarage of online credit card fraud seems to be at about 1% of all transactions. I'm afraid we're far above that average, so any help / information would certainly be appreciated!



Kind regards,
David Heremans.

One thing you could try is to make contact customers by phone to verify the purchase or to do the fax thing, you could even fed-ex them a contract to send back. This is somewhat effective because fraudsters wont use their real info, unless they are really stupid and want to get caught. It would be easier for a law-enforcement agency to track somebody down if you knew their working phone number.

The problem with faxing the contract is that most people dont have fax machine or easy access to one- i know i dont - and some customers could see this as a turn off.

And the bank does not have a copy of the person's sig that you can compare to, you have to compare it to the sig on the back of the card.

I hope this has been usefull to you.

Thanks for the info - it is indeed helpful to me.

So the best thing to do is to actually call them, but is that even going to be helpful to me? I mean, even if he uses his own details, the credit card owner will not accept the payment as soon as he sees it appearing on his statement, and there will be a chargeback.

I could file a complaint against the frauder, because I have an actual telephone number, but that does not return my money, does it?

The fax problem is indeed a turn off for customers, which is one of the main reasons I did not want to go through with that, but I'm not willing to loose money because online fraud, so I'm still looking for other suggestions other companies might have.

Thank you all for your input!

If your not ready to accept the reality of chargebacks and how to deal with them, you don't have all your eggs in a row.

We get new customers, we require them to fax a authorization form, we don't loose customers, those who say and think it are ridiculous. Likely 1 out of 200 customers turn away or cancel their account after they signup just to find out you require them to fax something

Instead of yapping about it "i wonder.........what if........." just do it. Trial and Error, its how business is born. If it doesnt work, change it. If it works, keep it.

What a hostility...

Of course it's all about trial and error, but I believe this forum jhas a reason - what is wrong about me trying to find out what others experiences are...?

Of course, there is always a risk involved re chargebacks - that doesn't mean I can ask for your experience...