Internet buying with Credit Card

Lyncroft

Just out of curiosity, when you buy something on line with a credit card on a protected site it gets encrypted. Who actually gets to see your card details?Is it visible to someone from the site you're purchasing from or does it go straight through to the bank?

TFD_2

Lyncroft wrote: »

Just out of curiosity, when you buy something on line with a credit card on a protected site it gets encrypted. Who actually gets to see your card details?Is it visible to someone from the site you're purchasing from or does it go straight through to the bank?

Depends on how they process the card details. Some methods such as ePDQ mean the process is handled entirely by merchant services provider, and the merchant will never see the card details. Some methods are as simple as sending the details securely to the merchant to process themselves.

The https page purely means the information sent between your PC and the web server is secure.

Lyncroft

Thanks for the reply TFD. In terms of fraud I guess it's quite important. If the number goes to the company it's possibly any old Tom, !!!!!! or Harry could get hold of your details or am I missing something?

Mozette

Lyncroft wrote: »

Thanks for the reply TFD. In terms of fraud I guess it's quite important. If the number goes to the company it's possibly any old Tom, !!!!!! or Harry could get hold of your details or am I missing something?

Wel it is, but it's no different to handing your card over in a physical transaction - the retailer has access to your details then.

TFD_2

Exactly - buying online is not necessarily any safer than buying over the phone mail order.

I made a purchase through Majestic Wine a couple of years back - by the looks of things, they pass the card details on to the local store who process it there. A week later my card details were used on an online gambling site. I knew it was down to Majestic as that particular card had never been used to purchase from anywhere else! Barclaycard picked up on it very quickly though, refunded the transaction and changed the card over pretty quickly.

But there are companies out there that do it properly - my company operates an online shop, maybe processing 200 transactions a month - the card details are processed through a regular PDQ machine. The card details are encrypted on the server, and only accessed by my sales staff. Of course there is opportunity for fraud, but this is the case with any company that handles your credit card details.