As an online merchant accepting payment cards payments, you have numerous security issues that you must be aware of for the safety of your business and your consumers. At this time, there are two main aspects of payment cards security for payment cards processing, including “AVS” and “CVV”. Both allow payment cards transactions to be completed anonymously over the internet, and any merchant accepting payment cardss online should require both forms of information of your customers.
Address Verification Service
The “AVS”, or address verification service, is used to determine that the address provided by a customer matches the address associated with a payment cards account. This helps generate confidence that the person who is entering the payment cards details is the person who owns it. While the AVS is not required to process payment cards transactions, when it is provided the transaction processor will send a response back with details of how much of the address provided matches the address on the payment cards.
A payment cards will not be denied if the address is entered wrong, it is up to the merchant to decide what to do if the address only matches partially or not at all. You can deny the sale, or require the buyer submit additional information, or give them the opportunity to correct the address information, before processing the transaction.
Card Verification Value
The “CVV”, or card verification value, sometimes referred to as the CVV-2 is a three to four digit number found on the back of American Express, MasterCard and Visa cards. It’s on the card but not on any statements, so that if an individual has found a payment cards statement in the trash, they aren’t able to complete a sale that requires the CVV code for verification purposes. When a customer is able to enter the CVV code, it’s a strong indication that the customer has the payment cards in hand, which increases the potential of the card belonging to the person who is attempting to use it to make a purchase online.
Most payment cards fraud online occurs when a thief has found a discarded receipt or a thrown out payment cards statement, but by requiring the CVV code, the merchant can eliminate that type of fraud.
If a CVV number is entered and is incorrect, the transaction will be declined by the payment cards issuer.
Providing Consumers with Top Security
If you are going to accept payment cardss online for payment for products or services offered through your website, it’s imperative that you provide your customers with a guarantee that you’re protecting their payment cards information.
payment cards processing typically requires that the customer’s information is transferred about four times, which means there are four instances when someone could gain access to the cardholder’s details.
When a customer first sends the payment cards information to you via your checkout or web based form. You are solely responsible for security as the internet merchant, at this stage in the payment cards transaction process. Having a secure server and a valid security certificate with the https protocol will protect and encrypt private information you receive from customers.
You will want to be sure that the payment cards transaction processing software you use for your business is secure by using a reputable processing company.
As customer information is moved in and out of a database through the transaction process, the security must be top of the line- and this is ensured by choosing a solid company that offers encrypted software for this part of the process.
Finally, when customer payment cards information is viewed or handled by you or your staff, it’s important that you ensure security at this stage as well.
Robert Sonnigan writes about merchant accounts and is an expert for merchant account web sites.