Credit Cards & Chargebacks Online
Sunday, May 14, 2006
Players tend to ask us one main question about using their credit card online.
The cardholder submits a tranaction to the merchant, who uses their acquiring bank to settle the transaction with the cardholder's bank. In the middle of all that is Visa or Mastercard - the credit card company. Sounds simple right? It usually is...
Issues arise online when a cardholder claims they did not make a particular transaction. This is known as a 'chargeback'. Visa & Mastercard's rules usually require that a signature is recorded as proof of a valid transaction. But - it's not possible to record a signature online is it....
Because of this loophole, some banks make it very easy for their customers to dispute a transaction that was completed online. The banks and Visa and Mastercard have been very reluctant to adequately address this issue. They have made a couple of half-hearted attempts at it, but for now they leave the responsibility with the merchants. If we, as the merchant don't have a signature, Visa, Mastercard automatically think we are to blame for the dispute and often allow the transaction to be reversed. They also then fine the merchant in the case of any disputes and if there are too many chargebacks in a certain period, they close down your merchant facility, removing your ability to process credit cards.
As you can imagine, this is a potential nightmare for an online poker site. If a player lost their money to another player, then disputed a transaction, we would have to return the amount of the disputed transaction, still pay the player that won AND then pay a fine to Visa. Not to mention the staff time wasted doing all of that and conducting an investigation....
This is why we complete verification on players using a credit card to deposit, and why we encourage players to use payment options other than credit cards. If you are a Poker.com player and have used a credit card you have probably had to complete some form of verification.
Although our verification measures do not always satisfy Visa & Mastercard when it comes to disputed transactions, the lengths we go to ensure we are only dealing with authorized cardholders sure does satisfy most courts & judges around the world.
If a player is stupid enough to dispute a valid transaction made at Poker.com we charge them with fraud and send debt cllectors after them to recover not only the amount of the disputed transactions, but also the amount of any fines and $500 per disputed transaction as an admin fee. Their bank (and Visa) may have allowed them to dispute the transaction, but what many people don't realise is that that their bank and Visa do not make laws. Their guidlines are simply that - guidelines.... Disputing valid credit card transactions is a federal offence in the USA and is actually investigated by the FBI.
Why am I posting about this? Mainly because I want as many people as possible to understand that disputing any online transaction is really no different to disputing any offline transaction. You wouldn't dispute a credit card transaction made at Walmart, where they have you on camera walking out of the store with that new microwave oven. What is the difference, just because a transaction was done online? We have just as much proof of a valid transaction as one caught on camera. IP addresses, PC fingerprints, Phone Numbers - they all prove who made the transaction.
There has been a disturbing trend recently of people think it is okay to dispute online transactions. One lady's bank teller even told her do it! I'm not sure I'd be taking legal advice from a minimum wage teller, but thankfully she saw the light when we explained the true ramifications of her actions and she is now one of Poker.coms most loyal (and credit card savvy) players.
Basically I just wanted to share the reason why we ask for verification of credit card users. Some players don't like to verify their ID details because they are worried about Identity theft etc, but really, all we asking is for them to verify what they have already told us. We never ask for anything new. Everyone tells us their name, address and phone number when they sign up - Is it too much to ask for proof that it's correct? Anyone who refuses to provide verification has their account closed - Poker.com is without doubt THE SAFEST place to play online because of the lengths we go to to prevent fraud.
We are doing our part to protect our existing players and our business from the fraudulent use of credit cards. We are not here to steal anyones identity!
Kris @ Poker.com
- Why do we sometimes ask for verification of their identity when they make a certain number or value of credit card deposits?
The cardholder submits a tranaction to the merchant, who uses their acquiring bank to settle the transaction with the cardholder's bank. In the middle of all that is Visa or Mastercard - the credit card company. Sounds simple right? It usually is...
Issues arise online when a cardholder claims they did not make a particular transaction. This is known as a 'chargeback'. Visa & Mastercard's rules usually require that a signature is recorded as proof of a valid transaction. But - it's not possible to record a signature online is it....
Because of this loophole, some banks make it very easy for their customers to dispute a transaction that was completed online. The banks and Visa and Mastercard have been very reluctant to adequately address this issue. They have made a couple of half-hearted attempts at it, but for now they leave the responsibility with the merchants. If we, as the merchant don't have a signature, Visa, Mastercard automatically think we are to blame for the dispute and often allow the transaction to be reversed. They also then fine the merchant in the case of any disputes and if there are too many chargebacks in a certain period, they close down your merchant facility, removing your ability to process credit cards.
As you can imagine, this is a potential nightmare for an online poker site. If a player lost their money to another player, then disputed a transaction, we would have to return the amount of the disputed transaction, still pay the player that won AND then pay a fine to Visa. Not to mention the staff time wasted doing all of that and conducting an investigation....
This is why we complete verification on players using a credit card to deposit, and why we encourage players to use payment options other than credit cards. If you are a Poker.com player and have used a credit card you have probably had to complete some form of verification.
Although our verification measures do not always satisfy Visa & Mastercard when it comes to disputed transactions, the lengths we go to ensure we are only dealing with authorized cardholders sure does satisfy most courts & judges around the world.
If a player is stupid enough to dispute a valid transaction made at Poker.com we charge them with fraud and send debt cllectors after them to recover not only the amount of the disputed transactions, but also the amount of any fines and $500 per disputed transaction as an admin fee. Their bank (and Visa) may have allowed them to dispute the transaction, but what many people don't realise is that that their bank and Visa do not make laws. Their guidlines are simply that - guidelines.... Disputing valid credit card transactions is a federal offence in the USA and is actually investigated by the FBI.
Why am I posting about this? Mainly because I want as many people as possible to understand that disputing any online transaction is really no different to disputing any offline transaction. You wouldn't dispute a credit card transaction made at Walmart, where they have you on camera walking out of the store with that new microwave oven. What is the difference, just because a transaction was done online? We have just as much proof of a valid transaction as one caught on camera. IP addresses, PC fingerprints, Phone Numbers - they all prove who made the transaction.
There has been a disturbing trend recently of people think it is okay to dispute online transactions. One lady's bank teller even told her do it! I'm not sure I'd be taking legal advice from a minimum wage teller, but thankfully she saw the light when we explained the true ramifications of her actions and she is now one of Poker.coms most loyal (and credit card savvy) players.
Basically I just wanted to share the reason why we ask for verification of credit card users. Some players don't like to verify their ID details because they are worried about Identity theft etc, but really, all we asking is for them to verify what they have already told us. We never ask for anything new. Everyone tells us their name, address and phone number when they sign up - Is it too much to ask for proof that it's correct? Anyone who refuses to provide verification has their account closed - Poker.com is without doubt THE SAFEST place to play online because of the lengths we go to to prevent fraud.
We are doing our part to protect our existing players and our business from the fraudulent use of credit cards. We are not here to steal anyones identity!
Kris @ Poker.com
Posted at 12:52 AM Permalink | Talk on the Poker Forum
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home