It's also too complex to describe here. So far it has made no impact on consumers because it requires them to hold and manage digital certificates, while many have trouble just hanging on to their Net access password. It will continue to make no impact until it can be used from any location in the form of a smartcard. This places it several years down the line. As an online vendor, your exposure to credit card fraud depends to a large extent on what you're selling.
Intangibles are the easiest target.
Top of the list by far are adult sex sites. Although there are no published figures, anecdotal evidence suggests companies handling sex site signups often set swipe commission rates as high as 50 per cent, using the income generated to hide chargebacks. Software sales, pay per view sites, gambling sites, informational sites and so on are equally at risk. Indeed, many will no longer take orders from free email account holders or overseas customers. Large ticket item sales are just as risky.