- 99 per cent of UK online retailers believe they are not responsible for fraud
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87 per cent of small businesses experienced no reduction in the number of fraud related complaints over the course of a year.
Ninety-nine percent of UK's small online businesses believe that fraud is not their responsibility, as a survey commissioned by PayPoint.net, reveals today. The 350 small online businesses surveyed believed liability for fraud lay elsewhere, including:
- Banks (35%)
- Bank and credit card issuers (24%)
- The payment service provider (23%).
The tendency of small business to hold others responsible flies in the face of the fact that consumers associate bad experiences on a site directly with the merchant, regardless of fault. This reveals a worrying disconnect between the retailer's perceptions and their customers' expectations. Additional PayPoint.net research also shows that consumers are willing to vote with their feet: just 3 per cent of online shoppers would trust a small online business with their money, preferring to shop with larger online brands. Furthermore, 81 per cent of consumers are suspicious of the security of small, unknown companies demonstrating that small online retailers have more, not less to prove.
The research supports the launch of PayPoint.net, a leading ‘bank-independent' provider of online payment services, designed to help smaller online businesses level the field with blue chip online brands. With online retail sales defying the credit crunch, leaping 38 per cent to over £26.5 billion in the first half of this year (source: eRetail Sales Index), PayPoint.net offers small businesses all the tools they need to begin trading securely online, minimising fraud and building trust with their customers. What is more, PayPoint.net can provide small businesses with no trading history everything that they need to set up shop online within just five days.
Alessandro Hatami, Managing Director of PayPoint.net explains, "Small online businesses lack the resources of their larger competitors but have an even greater interest in ensuring their customers have the safest possible experience on their site. This situation has led to a haphazard approach to managing fraud - which is in stark contrast to what larger businesses are able to do. We have launched PayPoint.net to help small companies level the playing field with the big brands in terms of customer security and fraud protection: the safer customers feel, the more likely they are to visit again."
PayPoint.net suggests that small online businesses implement a range of measures to secure their site, including:
- PCI DSS - Merchants must now be fully compliant with this new worldwide data security standard or risk losing cardholder data leading to substantial brand damage, loss of customers, fines or even being barred from accepting card payments; using a hosted payment platform means merchants are compliant by default
- 3-D Secure, ("Verified by Visa" and "SecureCode") - this enhanced buyer identification process mitigates risk and removes the liability for fraud entirely from the shoulders of merchants
- Use an Address Verification Service to confirm the identity of the person claiming to own the credit card. This is done by checking the billing address of the credit card provided by the user with the address on file at the credit card company
- Comparing the IP address of the PC at the customer's actual location with billing and shipping addresses
Notes to editors
About the research
PayPoint commissioned independent market research company Dynamic Markets to interview 350 UK online businesses with under 250 employees. All respondents confirmed prior to interview that they were either the owner, CEO, MD or head of finance. Fieldwork took place between 19th-25th June 2008.
Photography of Alessandro Hatami, managing director of PayPoint.net, is available on request.
About PayPoint.net
PayPoint.net is a leading bank-independent online payment service provider which operates one of the most comprehensive, secure and reliable payment platforms in the UK. The product of the merger of specialist providers Metacharge and SECPay, PayPoint.net offers organisations of every size a fast start to trading online, supported by powerful fraud management capabilities and leading-edge security features.
PayPoint.net is a wholly owned subsidiary of PayPoint plc, the leading cash and internet payments company in the UK, with operations in Ireland and Romania. The PayPoint branded retail network numbers over 19,800 terminals located in local shops and is used primarily for the cash payment of bills and services, plus prepayments for mobile telephones and energy meters. PayPoint handles in excess of £7 billion from over 500 million transactions annually for more than 5,000 clients and merchants.
-ENDS-
For further information please contact:
Tom Nutt / Blake Scotland
The Communication Group
020 7630 1411 /
07775 686706 / 07823 886813
paypoint@thecommunicationgroup.co.uk
