3D Secure and no one is happy
“The Chip and Pin of the internet…we wont be any ones guinea pigs”
says Richard Longhurst of LoveHoney.co.uk.
“I as a customer I came across it a few days ago, if I did not want the product so badly, I would have given up, we are delaying implementing it, but we cant delay it forever”. Says Hatty Fawcett Director of EBTM.com
“it did cause a lot of problems at first… while it definitely has its problems (namely that there’s been virtually no publicity so our customers are unsurprisingly, very wary of it”. Claire Lewis Director of TruffleShuffle.co.uk
There is a discussion also about 3D secure on e-consultancy.com
3D Secure is a new extra step that all consumers will have to go through in order to check out from online merchants. Its one extra step in the authorisation of the consumer’s credit card, a step taken by visa to reduce credit card fraud.Taken from Wiki ““3-D Secure™ is an XML-based protocol to allow authentication of cardholders of credit card companies in epayment transactions. The 3-D Secure protocol was developed by Visa to improve the security of Internet payments. It was adopted and is offered with the service name Verified by Visa and MasterCard SecureCode. The main difference between Visa and MasterCard implementations resides in the method to generate the AAV (Accountholder Authentication Value): MasterCard uses UCAF (Universal Cardholder Authentication Field) and Visa uses CAVV (Cardholder Authentication Verification Value). The protocol has also been adopted by JCB International under the service called J/Secure.”I first came across 3D secure on merchant xxx I was buying a tshirt for one of my kids friends. Id like to think I am a savvy shopper. I got to check out and filled out the registration details, added my cc details and was expecting the next step to take me to the order processing page, I was caught by surprise when the 3D secure page was presented to me. It looks like a mini registration page with my bank name already pre filled in.My first thoughts… has this company been hacked into? Next thought, what is this and what do I need to do? I decided that the company had not been hacked into as the browser links still showed the SSL. I filled in as much as I could but was completely thrown when I was prompted to enter a username and password. Did they want the user name and password that I had entered for merchant xxx? Did I need to create a new user name and password? Did they want the user name and password for my online banking? There are no help notes. I was a bout to give up. But kiddos friend really wanted that tshirt, so I tried to use a new username and password, and success. All went smoothly there after.
After I contacted merchant xxx to query 3D secure, who were swift with their reply. As it transpires, you only have to register your details once with 3D secure and where ever I shop online in future, I just need to enter the user name and password I created.
So what’s the problem?
1. Its one more step that a consumer has to make before finally checking out.
2. There is nothing explaining what this is, how this works and why it is there.
As Claire Lewis of truffleshuffle.co.uk says
“there’s been virtually no publicity so our customers are unsurprisingly, very wary of it”
3. Had I known that I would need to remember the user name and password for 3D secure I would have chosen something I’d remember. I can’t for the life of me remember what user name and password I have used! So what happens the next time I come across it? If I enter the details incorrectly, will it block my card proventing me from using it at all, until I call my bank up? I knew nothing about 3D secure until I stumbled upon it.
4. I almost abandoned the shopping cart, too many hoops to jump through.
5. What started out as a simple operation that should have taken me max fifteen minutes, turned into 45 minutes? Will other consumers have that kind of patience or that kind of time.There is a general reluctance from merchants to implement 3D secure, even though they were all given deadlines to have this implemented before Christmas. Most merchants are resigned to having to implement 3D secure, but most are waiting to get the Christmas trading out of the way first, which in my personal opinion was a smart move. Also, some merchants have adopted the approach of waiting for others to implement 3D secure first so they can assess the problems that others may have without their sales being directly affected.
Are there any implications for affiliate marketing?As a consumer, if I am having problems placing an order, Im going to pick up the phone and ask customer services. In most cases, customer services can assist in the online transaction and take the order over the phone, Commission leakage?.
How many consumers will abandon the shopping cart? Well if I was prepared to and I’m a savvy online shopper, then for the less savvy or novice, I have concerns on this one for the interim period.
Summery“Yup we do have it in place and have had for a good few months now – it did cause a lot of problems at first but our developer now seems to have ironed out most of the issues, plus our telephone order system bypasses it so a customer can always place the order with us if they’re having problems.
In an ideal world, we wouldn’t have to have it at all but I was under the impression that it’s compulsory or at least will be very soon so your other retailers will have to introduce it at some point. Plus it has started to reduce card fraud so that can only be a good thing?” Claire Lewis TruffleShuffle
I agree with Claire that if 3D secure reduces online fraud, this has to be a good thing. Consumers will take a while to get their head around 3D secure and soon most people will be familiar with this new extra step.
Most of us agree check out should be 1, 2, 3 done, most know that the average steps is around four or five. Now its, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 done. If some one else comes along next year and tells merchants to add another step, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 done.
So what can we do to help ourselves?
Merchants, please pre-warn your customers as to what is coming. Explain in layman’s terms who, what, where and why.
Merchants, your check out should be no longer then 4 steps now, have a look at the just pay and go option for your customers too, this can be as little as
Step 1 got to check out.
Step 2, enter details including CC
Step 3, Enter 3D secure
Step 4 taken to order processing and redirect to order confirmation.
Affiliates, perhaps you can add a note about 3D secure to your visitors, the quicker we get consumers familiar with this the better. 3D secure is happing and quicker we deal with it, the better.
And just so you know, this should not affect any affiliate tracking.
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Comments
The 3D secure is about as much use as a chocolate fire guard. I have wasted 1 hour and forty minutes today trying in vain to kick start my account with the help desk to no avail. Never had a single problem before with on line transactions. 3D secure now shows three successful transactions over the past 2 months, but none of them went through.
Hmmm…I would think if someone went to the trouble of signing up for Verified By Visa or MasterCard SecureCode, etc – they would have done it for a reason. But your point is taken.
Its a tradeoff, I guess, like most things.