CVV (Card Verification Value) is a system that matches the credit card number with a 3 digit security code that appears on the back of the credit card. Requiring customers to enter this additional field provides an extra level of cardholder verification. Effective March 6, 2008, CID (Card Identification) codes used by American Express credit cards are also supported. Note: Merchants who accept American Express as a payment method and wish to activate CID verification for their store must first contact their American Express account manager. Learn more.

When a customer enters the CVV number appearing on their credit card along with the credit card number, the system will check this number against the information from the issuing bank. CVV returns codes that match CVV Rules.

CVV Rules are based on the codes returned by the Card Verification Value (CVV). The codes used by CVV Rules and the default settings are outlined in Table 1:

CVV Rules, Codes and Settings

Additional Codes

Detailed CVV Codes

Based on the codes returned for a particular credit card authorization, you can set the CVV Rules to automatically flag orders. Flagged orders will appear "flagged" with a "pending review" status on the Order pages. The CVV code information will also appear with the credit card information in the Payment section of the individual order screen.

CVV Rules serve as a means for merchants to assess the risk associated with a transaction and determine the appropriate course of action whether it is to process the transaction, follow up with the customer or issuing bank, or cancel the order.

To set CVV Rules:

1. From the Store Manager, click "Risk Tools".
2. Click "Settings".
3. Enter an amount at which you wish to apply AVS and CVV Rules:
   • Enter $0 if you wish to apply AVS and CVV Rules to all transactions.
   • Enter a specific dollar amount at which to apply AVS and CVV Rules.
4. Select whether you wish to flag orders for the various rules based on the information entered by the customer or the system availability during checkout.
5. Click "Done".
6. Click the "Store Manager" link.
7. Click "Publish Order Settings".

Note: You must have your online payment processing set to perform real-time authorizations in order to use AVS and CVV Rules to flag orders based on response codes as part of Risk Tools. Without real-time authorization, Risk Tools cannot check the address and card verification value provided by customers during checkout. View instructions for enabling real-time authorization of orders.

Learn more about what you and your customers will see with Risk Tools enabled.

Detailed CVV Codes

See Also

• How do I activate American Express CID verification for my store?
• AVS Codes
• Setting AVS Rules
• Setting a Minimum Order Amount for AVS and CVV Rules
• Making CVV a Required Field
• Risk Tools Overview
• Enabling and Disabling Risk Tools
• Viewing and Sorting Risk Statistics