Credit Card Processing
Best Practices
Your business can help prevent credit card fraud by using the steps below when processing payments, either if the card is present or if a transaction takes place over the phone.
Card-Present Transactions
Card-present transactions are those where both the card and cardholder are present at the point of sale. Merchants are required to take all reasonable steps to ensure that the card, cardholder and transaction are legitimate.
The steps you should take in processing a transaction are:
- Swipe the card to request the transaction authorization. Hold the card
through the entire transaction.
- While the transaction is being processed, check the card’s security
features to make sure the card is valid and has not been altered in any
way.
- Obtain authorization and get the cardholder’s signature on the
transaction receipt.
- Compare the name, number and signature on the card to those on the
transaction receipt.
- If you suspect fraud, make a Code 10 call (see sidebar).
Card-Not-Present Transactions
When you take an order over the phone, don’t be misled! Never ship a valuable order unless it checks out and has been authorized.
Be alert for transactions with several of these characteristics:
- First time shopper
- Larger than normal orders
- Orders consisting of several of the same item
- Orders made up of “big ticket” items
- Order shipped “rush” or “overnight”
- Orders shipped to an international address
