Card association Visa is reporting a 200% increase in online transactions using Verified by Visa authentication technology for the quarter ending September 2004, compared to the same period last year. In addition, total VbV card volume for the first nine months of 2004 was $5.4 billion.
The upswing in transaction volume comes as the online industry prepares for the critical festive shopping season.
In anticipation, several key Internet retailers and aggregators have recently launched the Verified by Visa service, including Hotwire, NewEgg, Cooking.com, Beach Camera, as well as aggregators such as Alliance Entertainment, GSI Commerce, and Official Payments, which processes payments for 24 states and 1,500 local governments. In total, says Visa, more than 17,000 US-based Internet retailers, and millions of Visa cardholders, will rely on the PIN-based security protocol to guard against fraud when shopping online.
For participating merchants, nearly three out of every ten dollars spent on Visa cards come from authenticated transactions, says Visa, with values rising to $175 on average compared to $90 for non-VbV transactions.