Authentication is an important step in card payments to ensure that the person paying is the legitimate cardholder. Typically, 3D Secure authentication is a ‘challenge’ flow where the customer completes an additional verification step when paying. This step improves consumer fraud protection, but can add friction to your checkout. You can use dynamic 3D Secure to reduce friction at checkout and increase your card payment acceptance rate.
Using Dynamic 3D secure
By optimising 3D Secure, you can ensure that trusted customers have a smoother checkout experience, while increasing friction for payments that are suspicious. A customer may experience one of the following authentication flows:
| Authentication flow | 3D Secure initiated? | Additional information required from customer? |
| No 3D Secure | No | No |
| Frictionless | Yes | No |
| Challenge | Yes | Yes |
We decide which authentication flow to request based on payment value, risk score, risk factors, and issuing bank location. However, the exact authentication flow is always decided by the card-issuing bank.
Dynamic 3D Secure is a default setting up to a maximum transaction value of €100. You can opt out of this setting by contacting our Support team.
How do I customise Dynamic 3D Secure?
When you use Acceptance & Risk, you can customise your Dynamic 3D Secure settings in the following ways:
- Apply Dynamic 3D Secure to payments of more than €100.
- write custom rules that match your acceptable risk appetite.
If you choose to disable Dynamic 3D Secure, a challenge flow is always requested when someone makes a card payment.
Financial liability
We protect your business against consumer fraud using screening tools and Acceptance & Risk. Your financial liability for consumer fraud depends on which authentication flow is requested for a card payment. Either the card-issuing bank or you are responsible for reimbursing any financial loss when a payment is reported as fraudulent (see table below).
| Authentication flow requested | Liable for consumer fraud |
| No 3D Secure | Merchant |
| Frictionless | Merchant |
| Challenged | Card-issuing bank |
To see if you’re liable for a specific payment, you can check under the ‘consumer fraud liability’ field in the Payment Details page. If a payment is reported as fraudulent, and you are liable, you will receive a chargeback.
Why can’t I enable Dynamic 3D Secure?
Using Dynamic 3D Secure creates risk for your business, because you may be liable for the financial risks of consumer fraud. To limit these risks, we have a risk-based policy to determine which businesses can enable Dynamic 3D Secure.
You can request an exception to our risk policy by contacting our Support team. However, we reserve the right to disable Dynamic 3D Secure for any account without prior notice.