3D Secure (3DS)
3D Secure is the authentication layer that verifies a cardholder during an online purchase, through the card networks’ programmes such as Visa Secure and Mastercard Identity Check. Under EU rules it underpins strong customer authentication, and it can shift chargeback liability from the merchant to the issuer.
For a high-risk merchant, 3DS is a lever on the chargeback ratio that governs whether an acquirer keeps you: authenticated transactions move fraud-based dispute liability to the issuer, which can cut chargebacks materially. Tuning 3DS so it protects the ratio without killing conversion is a core part of staying under threshold.
Chargeback ratio is the share of transactions disputed by cardholders against total transaction count in a given month.
Authorisation rate is the share of attempted transactions that issuing banks approve rather than decline.
Chargeback representment is the process of contesting a disputed transaction by submitting evidence to the issuing bank that the charge was valid: proof of delivery, authentication records, and terms accepted.
An acquirer is the bank or financial institution that processes card payments on a merchant’s behalf, settling funds from the card networks into the merchant’s account.