credit card details online

[jimi-the-jive]

hi i'm from Ireland, I recently ordered an item from KEH and got an email from them asking for a fax of the front and back of my credit card and of my passport, now they backed off when i informed them that i had already ordered from them with no hassle,

i got the same thing from B&H but i assumed that was because i was buying on my fathers card so the billing and shipping address were different, i didn't get it when i ordered on my own card,

Is this a standard request in america? it just sounds a bit suspicious and doesn't really occur in the EU to the best of my knowledge.

thanx for reading
Jimi

[IanMazursky]

It SOP for many vendors with international transactions.
The credit card processing company will sometimes require it as proof that the card isnt stolen. Some companies will require it regardless to protect themselves just in case.
When we do international transactions, we require it for credit cards, checks and money orders. Better safe than sorry.

[Ash]

If I buy, I have to enter the billing address for the card. Many retailers will only ship to the billing address.

[The Dread Pirate Robins]

As a part-owner of a retail business, I buy it.

The credit card companies are really putting the hammer down on vendors because there have been a few bad folks out there.

If we can physically swipe the card we don't have much difficulty, but if we have to punch in the number (because, say, the strip won't work, or because someone is ordering over the phone) we frequently have to enter the billing address ZIP code (we don't get many international orders, so it's pretty much all U.S.) and sometimes even the billing address phone number or the V code (the last three digits) on the back. That whole business with wanting the back was probably to get the V code.

Some customers think we're just trying to hassle them. We aren't. It's hard to convey that. I had one particularly snippy customer once to which I suggested that we don't get that much trouble with cash. We were book vendors at an event away from our card-swiping set up, so I had to use the knuckle-buster. She objected to me writing down her V code. I told her that without it I couldn't make the sale. She said that this was absurd. I said that if I have to enter her card using the ten-key method that her issuer was going to want the number from me or I wouldn't get paid. She started getting even more worked up to which I suggested that we don't have any such info needs with cash (her total was about $7 US for crying out loud).

I don't know where some people get off. She probably wasted $5 worth of my time and chased off one potential sale just by having her little protest.

I offered to give her one of our bookmarks with our contact information on it so that she could call us up if we "screwed up" her charge card.

This is what I hate about retail.