Taking card payments over the phone, the safe way?

[merc_fintail]

We have had a few charge backs from card payments over the phone and are no longer able to accept them due to the loss and charge back cost.

Can somebody please advise the best and safest way to accept card payments without the risk of chargeback?

We use payment sense for the card machine but they tried to put us on to somebody else who wanted far too much money for the service.

Help please..

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

I don't take a card without a landline number and also call it back to ensure it works

 

[wevet]

1. Do not accept cards from anyone other than the customer in whose name the order is.
2. If physical delivery required only to the cardholder's registered address


These simple rules will not eliminate but does help reduce exposure to fraud.

 

[TotalWebSolutions]

There are several ways you can help prevent Credit/Debit card fraud and chargebacks such as 3D Secure and heightened security from the merchant control panel but ultimately if it is a MOTO (Mail Order Telephone Order) payment it will be down to your own feeling on whether it seems like a genuine card holder transaction or not. If you contact the acquiring bank who is providing your merchant account (or payment bureau) prior to performing a suspected transaction they should be able to screen the details for you before you confirm the transaction on system or indeed release the goods/provide the service.

There are several fraud-screening services available such as Experian Fraud Prevention.

Aside from this, if you have a feeling the customer is not the genuine card holder (aggressive and abrupt are tell-tale signs that they might not be who they say they are) you could tell the customer that they need to process an order via your store for any item so that you can verify the details (if you have ECOM). This would use the Anti-Fraud and 3D Secure systems and would give you more information on the legitimacy of the attempt.

For example, you would be able to see where the card was issued and the name entered against the card. If you didn't have their particular items on the website you could get them to order anything from the website and then once checked refund it. You could then decide whether or not you should be performing a MOTO (Customer Not Present) transaction for their order. If they are a legitimate customer then chances are they would be happy to carry out this security step. If they are not, then you have to question why and make the decision as to whether you process the payment or not.

You should also consider upping the security level on your account to high so that the house number/house name have to match. Whilst this will still not 100% guarantee against fraud it will improve your chances of it being a genuine transaction. Also, consider if you should be delivering to a different address to the billing address of the card. Use something like Google Streetview to verify the address. For example, if someone says it is a warehouse they want the delivery to see if it looks like a warehouse. If it looks just like a residential street with no industrial or commercial premises this could be an indication of fraud.

If you accept collection of goods from the premises then ensure you ask to see the card used to perform the transaction before releasing the goods and make this clear to the customer (prior to performing the transaction) that they would need to bring this with them in order to collect from you.