Re: [uk-netmarketing] Re: Offline Verification of Credit Cards

[Ben Thompson]

On Mon, Feb 12, 2001 at 09:58:19AM -0000, Robin Edwards wrote:

> Definitely great stuff if you can make it apply to you.

> 

> Obviously this is a big problem for merchants trying to ship goods for next

> day delivery. I wonder if they are hit by a higher percentage of fraudulent

> transactions as a result? 

> 


By default the answer must be yes but I suppose its part of the cost of providing next day delivery.


> Also, the high volume guys, such as Amazon, would

> find it very difficult to manually check every name, address and phone

> number against the electoral register. 


It depends if everything looks fine after running the check you can still despatch the order that day. If the order is for a large amount and the address doesn't tally you can always invent a daily and who's to say that Amazon don't do that anyway.


> I know they use fraud screening

> services, such as Cybersource, but can that validate name against address

> and telephone number automatically?


Cybersource checks some bits and not others. It checks far more in the States then it can in the UK. Experian is probably a better bet in the UK. However, these schemes work on scoring systems but with which is watching other transactions as they take place and shouting if they occur rapidly in a short period of time.


Hence they are perfect if your the 10th site down the line but not really much use if you're the first. Also certain settings can generate one hell of a proportion of false negatives (i.e. turning away a large proportion of perfectly valid customers).


Finally, it is possible to verify name and address information in real time. I'm not sure who currently does it at the moment but its definitely doable. If anyones interested I'd happily investagate it for you.


Ben


-- 

Ben Thompson

babyhippo.com


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