Card-Not-Present (CNP) Transaction: What Is It and Why Is It Important?

It’s critical to provide your customers, both in-person and online, with various payment options. To make the buying experience easier for your customers, you must provide them with as many options as possible. Not all payment methods are made equal.

Card-present transactions (CP) and card-not-present transactions (CNP) are the two basic payment types. If you have a shop, you may not be aware of the differences between these two sorts of payments, and which one you accept could have a significant influence on your business.

Types of Card-Not-Present Transactions

The types of Card-Not-Present Transactions include:

• Phone orders
• Website payments
• Mail orders
• Card-on-file transactions
• eCommerce shopping carts
• Online invoices
• Automatic billing

Examples of CNP Transactions

• Online mobile and desktop sales
• Mail order and telephone transactions (MOTO)
• Transactions where a card number is keyed in (even if the cardholder’s there

“Any form of card payment where a card payment is made remotely is considered a card-not-present transaction,” says Libby James, a co-founder of Merchant Advice Services, based in the United Kingdom, which helps business-owners understand card payments.  It may be any payment that doesn’t need the client to enter their pin or authenticate with a facial ID, whether they’re using a credit or debit card in person or on their phone.

It isn’t easy to verify a shopper’s identification on your own as a retailer. For most transactions, you can’t rely on outdated fraud detection technologies because a card’s EMV chip now powers fraud detection. This is one of the reasons why CNP transactions have higher processing costs and are more expensive for merchants to complete.

How to Accept CNP Transactions

Although CNP transactions may appear frightening, they are necessary for many business models to succeed. The approach you must employ to accept CNP transactions is determined by accessing your clients’ credit card information. The following are ways to accept Card-Not-Present Transactions

E-commerce Shopping Carts

Customers can use online Payment gateways for their e-commerce stores to accept payments.

Online Invoices

Users of payment processors can also use the site to set up recurring schedules and automatic billing, which can help you get paid faster.

Virtual Terminal

A virtual terminal is a program that allows any device with a web browser to function as a payment terminal. Start the software and enter the credit card details. Virtual terminals help take credit card payments over the phone or input client payment data (for instance, when they fill out a paper form.)

Virtual terminal options are available from most current payment processors, so make sure to inquire about them.

Payments API

Many organizations find that developing their payment acceptance application is quite productive and beneficial. The Payment API gives your developers the tools and resources they need to build a payment flow tailored to your company’s needs.

CNP transactions are now more than ever a popular option for customers to make payments. That’s why you need to partner with a payment processing business that can help you accept card-not-present payments in a secure and hassle-free manner.

Processing CNP Transactions Properly

Managing and processing your CNP transactions properly is one of the most crucial things you can do to protect yourself and your organization. This entails acquiring sufficient client data, such as:

• Phone number
• Contact information via email
• Billing address
• Address for delivery

You must also ensure that you have all of the necessary credit card information to complete the transaction, which includes:

• Expiration date
• Credit card number
• Name as it appears on the card
• CVV is a security code for credit cards.

While all of these factors are significant, the security code provides an additional layer of protection for your company when handling CNP transactions.

Final Thoughts

Card-not-present transactions have been an important goal for clients to submit payments in today’s industry. As a result, having a payment processing system that enables secure, hassle-free options to take CNP payments has become crucial to running a profitable business. However, to reduce the danger of CNP fraud, remember to take some precautions. You could also hire a professional to assist you.