Any tips for verifying customer identity for online sales?

[dofoogan]

I have been using Square + Weebly for selling products online.  Most of our customers purchase online and pick-up in store, but we do have the option to ship to customers all over the USA.

The last few months, I have been charged back for several online disputes. It turns out they were cases of fraud where someone used another person's credit card to order something. The red flag I should have caught was the fact the SHIPPING ZIP CODE did NOT match up to the BILLING ZIP CODE. So now we keep an eye out for that.

But just recently I received several large orders for the same item, but shipping to different states. This time the BILLING and SHIPPING codes match up, but I am still suspicious.

Any ideas on how I could verify the customer identity? How do I make sure the person I am shipping to is indeed the real card holder?

[MJD]

If you have checked zip codes and they match, I can't think of much more you could do, have you tried maybe even reaching out to the customer and just explaining that you have recently had many suspicious orders on your website and you would like for them to verify their identity before you ship the order, preferably by a type of government approved ID? There is not much more you can do, but I'd recommend taking a look at this thread  which can help you to learn about fraudulent payments and scams, as well as how to avoid them, as it does say major groups of large orders in a short time span can be a hazard.

[Minion]

Hey @dofoogan . 

Adding to the good info that @MJD  gave.  Whenever you suspect a suspicious charge you can most definitely contact the customer(s) either via email or phone to verify information.  I would also add a note/information to your privacy policy and "hold" orders for 48 hours for suspicious activity.  We live in the age of buy it now want it yesterday, so after 24 hours of "no activity" someone who placed an order may just get in touch with you.

I'm not sure if it's of any help or different tools but you can try out Risk Manager free for 90 days as well.