Protecting consumers and merchants online

For more than thirty years, Visa has helped to set industry standards for secure payments between consumers and merchants. Verified by Visa protects online merchants in the following ways:

• You are not liable for fraud resulting from the unauthorized use of Visa cards.
• Fraud on your site is reduced.
• Your customers enjoy a safer place to shop.
• Transaction discount fees are lower in many cases.

How merchants are protected

Verified by Visa can provide merchants with significant savings in fraud-related costs. Merchants who use Verified by Visa are protected from fraud-related chargebacks on all personal Visa cards—credit or debit, domestic, or international—whether or not the issuer or cardholder is participating in Verified by Visa, with limited exceptions.

Preventing online fraud is a key consumer concern

Security and protection against fraud are especially important to online consumers. In fact, payment card security is cited as an important reason why consumers do not make purchases online*.

By participating in Verified by Visa, you’ll give your customers reassurance they’re safe when they shop in your site. Moreover, more than 70 percent of consumers surveyed** indicated that they would be more likely to make purchases at Web sites that support Verified by Visa.

*The UCLA Internet Report, “Survey the Digital Future. Year Three”, February 2003.

**Visa Tracking Study, Wave 6, September, 2005

VbV transactions are subject to lower transaction fees

You could qualify for a lower transaction discount fee on electronic commerce transactions that use Verified by Visa than on transactions that do not, depending upon the processing arrangements with your financial institution and payment provider.

Merchants and consumer benefits

The Verified by Visa benefits to merchants are clear: even if the cardholder isn’t enrolled in the program, or the issuer isn’t participating, the merchant is not liable for certain fraud-related chargebacks.

Learn more in How It Works.

With Verified by Visa, consumers benefit from:

A new level of confidence when they shop online: At checkout, software installed on the merchant server recognizes the Visa card and prompts a password entry field to appear. Consumers enter their Verified by Visa password, the password is verified and the transaction completes.

No special software or digital wallet required: Unlike other services that promise online security, with Verified by Visa, shoppers don’t have to load special software or open a digital wallet. A seamless customer shopping experience is maintained.

Added safety and protection: Verified by Visa meets key consumer concerns regarding safety and protection, which are important factors in a consumer’s choice of where to shop online*.

For additional information select from the resources in the column at right.

*The UCLA Internet Report, "Survey the Digital Future. Year Three", February 2003.

Recent changes to the Verified by Visa symbol

The Verified by Visa symbol has been updated.

Visa is informing cardholders about the new symbol on the Verified by Visa activation during shopping and password screens with updates on visa.com.

All merchants should update the Verified by Visa symbol on their web sites. This will ensure that your customers see the symbol they are looking for, and are presented with a consistent look for Verified by Visa across our merchant network.

Download the newly updated Verified by Visa Merchant Toolkit to get the tools you need to update your web site. Please update your site with this new symbol no later than 6/30/2007. Get the symbol.

Learn more

For more information about Verified by Visa, download the resource documents to the right, and visit the following sections:

• Benefits
• How It Works
• Marketing Support