Card transactions by proxy

[Roland Perry]

In article <A5684A2A189849B49DF9A1D5FA86644E at MaryPC>, Mary Hawking 
<maryhawking at tigers.demon.co.uk> writes
>Every online transaction I make seems to ask for the security code - I'd
>supposed it was in place of the PIN.
>Is it just asked for on Visa cards?

It's unlikely to depend on the card being used, some of the clunkier 
in-house online systems just don't have that field.

I presume its because they haven't bothered (or don't qualify) to obtain 
the status with the bank to process Not-Present transactions, and aren't 
using one of the third-party gateways.

So they can still accept credit cards, but entirely at their own risk. 
Many hotels (as one example of this kind of trader) only take a print 
off the card when you check in, they don't try to make a transaction to 
either reserve a credit limit or verify the card's credentials.
-- 
Roland Perry