In the Card Not Present, e-commerce environment that 2Checkout and its suppliers actively sell in, a decision had to be made between real time or time delayed fraud protection. With the 60,000+ suppliers currently selling hundreds of thousands of different products and services, this is a topic debated regularly.

Suppliers selling intangible goods/services may find their customers are hoping for instant gratification. During our years in business we have found that the customers’ number one concern while shopping online is the confidence in security. Their second concern of course is to receive what they purchased in a timely manner.

Suppliers selling tangible products can usually allow more time for the processing and analysis of each order. Orders with overnight shipping may be of higher priority but still, we’re talking a few hours verses the few seconds the suppliers who are selling intangible goods are hoping for. The response time that should be more than adequate for our suppliers selling tangibly.

The decision to honor a customer’s order lies on the shoulders of the supplier. 2Checkout puts each order through a security process. This security review is seamless and swift for 86% – 90% of the orders that come through the system.

What this means is 10-14% of all orders are being manually reviewed. The rest have a response rate of anywhere between 1 and 3 hours. The higher risk orders, which need to be reviewed by the experienced 2Checkout fraud detection department, have a longer life cycle before the approval, or rejection of an order. This timetable could be anywhere between 3 and 24 hours. The goal for each order is to have a decision made within 6 hours. As stated above, the response rate for over 90% of all orders is well within the 6 hour mark. The highly suspicious orders take more time so to provide an extensive investigation.

So how does the supplier, while working closely with 2Checkout and the results of each review help to make the customer’s purchasing experience as seamless as possible? If you are selling intangible goods or services, it is suggested you send the customer an email once the order is placed, providing them with instructions and a link to their order. Explaining the link and their purchased goods will be available in a timely manner. The majority of customers understand the importance of putting Internet transactions through a screening process. It is important for suppliers to communicate with the customer and to provide them with easy to understand instructions as to when the fulfillment of their order will be made. Once you (the supplier) receive the approval of an order, the fulfillment can be provided.

Many of our suppliers have been providing services this very way, for a long time. Communicate within the 2Checkout supplier community for insight on the best practices that are being used. Familiarize yourself with your admin area, review the sales in your account, and look for inconsistencies on your orders. A few examples of an inconsistency on a sale would be an IP discrepancy, AVS/CVV failures, a shipping address, which differs from the billing address, and multiple orders in a small amount of time. These are just a few things to look out for when reviewing sales for a suspicious nature. If and when you feel you have found a sale to be of high risk, allow the 2Checkout fraud process take its course. If you still have concerns after receiving our decision on the sale, please contact us directly for clarification of the review result.

Communication is a vital tool for successful growth.