When you go through the checkout on our sites, you may be asked to validate your purchase by your card issuer (Bank, Credit Card company, etc.) This is now required by the card issuer.
3D Secure is a second level of charge authorisation that is used by many credit/debit card merchants (Banks, Building Societies, Credit Card companies, etc.) to validate your purchase.
The Strong Customer Authentication regulation in Europe requires the use of 3D Secure for card payments (within predefined limits). 3D Secure is currently optional in other regions, although this will probably change in 2022, but can still be requested by the card issuer.
Here is some data about it from Stripe (one of the payment processors we use):
What is 3D Secure?
3D Secure requires customers to complete an additional verification step with the card issuer when paying. Typically, the customer is directed to an authentication page on their bank’s website, and they enter a password associated with the card or a code sent to their phone. This process is familiar to customers through the card networks’ brand names, such as Visa Secure and Mastercard Identity Check.
The Strong Customer Authentication regulation in Europe requires the use of 3D Secure for card payments (within predefined limits). 3D Secure is currently optional in other regions, although this will probably change in 2022, but can still be requested by the card issuer.
So, you will usually either see a popup on the browser from your bank or other card issuer (such as the widely used Verified by Visa or Mastercard Identity Check), or you will be asked to approve the purchase on your mobile banking app. If you fail to do either of these (when asked) the order (and payment) will fail.
3D Secure Authentication Failure and What it Means
A 3D Secure authentication failure typically occurs when the transaction cannot be processed and the customer is not charged. Here are the reasons why a 3D Secure Authentication might fail:
The shopper/customer has entered wrong 3D Secure details and failed authentication. During a 3D Secure transaction, the customer is redirected to a page controlled by the issuing bank to either answer additional security questions, such as an OTP (One Time Password) or to enter their 3D Secure pin. If they enter the wrong details, the authentication will fail and the transaction cannot be processed through the merchant’s account.
The customer’s issuing bank does not support 3D Secure authentication. Banks across territories may comply with other authentication protocols rather than 3D Secure. When 3D Secure authentication is applied by default for every transaction, the rule cannot differentiate between issuers that are a part of 3D Secure and those that are not.
There is a technical issue with 3D Secure during the authentication process. There may be occasions when the 3D Secure protocol is not available, therefore the transaction cannot be authenticated and processed. In other-words there may be an issue with the Authentication page or app that the card issuer is responsible for (this type of issue is usually transitory, so trying again later often works).