Merchant Account?

Unfortunately, yes — online merchants are out of luck when fraudulent transactions are made on their website. You would think that online merchants are the victims here as well, but that’s how it goes.

If you are selling online and there is a fraudulent transaction, you:

- are out of the item if you have already sent the item to the scammer
- credit company takes out of your bank account the cost of the item; the money of which will be returned to the credit card holder
- worse, you get slapped with a chargeback fee which is typically around $20

And the really bad thing is that if you have a lot of chargebacks, you can even lose your merchant account.

So yes, the business owner is out of money. So as an online merchant you need to be EXTREMELY VIGILANT in terms of watching for fraudulent transactions. To help you sniff out fraudulent transactions:

- use software that could alert you of fraud such as Verisign
- make sure everything matches in the card: the address, zip code, telephone area code, IP address
- be on the lookout for huge transactions that want to be delivered to a PO Box
- or huge transactions that want to be shipped immediately

yes, and aside from the purchase amount, you get a chargeback fee(ouch). so it’s important you take precautions to prevent chargebacks especially if it’s fraud related. you can take small steps to reduce the incidents of fraud on your site (and chargebacks too) like keeping receipts and adding extra security features on your site.

AVS-address verification system,along with the primary phone number,credit card code from the back of the card,
all are safeguards against fraud;however it is still on you, to police your orders.

If you feel weary about a tansaction,notify the processor immediately.

One other thing,wait 3-4 day for card sales to get to your bank before you ship product or provide services,if possible.

Sincerely,
Tom Livsey
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