Review these best practices for card-present and card-not-present environments, along with section IV of our Terms of Service to help you navigate the responsibilities and expectations of accepting card payments in your shop.

Understand the relationship established between you and your customer, along with the relationship between you and Shopmonkey, to help you protect your business.

Card Present Vs Card-Not-Present

Review the risks associated with Card-Present and Card-Not-Present transactions.

Card-Present Transactions

Card-present transactions mean the customer is present when making a card payment (swiped/EMV).

• Carries the lowest risk

• Have your customer insert the chip-enabled card (EMV) into the POS. If the card does not have a chip, proceed to swipe the card. EMV transactions are the lowest form of risk as it is more secure than swiped/magstripe transactions.

  • The liability shift from the EMV initiative means that if you swipe a chip card rather than using a chip reader, you are automatically liable for any fraudulent transactions.

Mitigate your risk by matching the name on the card to the customer's ID. Additionally, having the cardholder sign the invoice/receipt will serve as a record and an acknowledgment/authorization of the transaction.

Card-Not-Present Transactions

Card-not-present transactions mean the customer is not physically present when making a card payment (text to pay/over the phone).

• Carries higher risk

• Utilize Address Verification Service (AVS) to verify the billing address of the cardholder

• Utilize the CVV/CVC functionality to verify that the customer has a card in hand at the time of payment. The CVV/CVC is the three-digit code that is printed on the signature panel of the card

Mitigate your risk by obtaining adequate cardholder information. Display this information on the invoice and estimate. Pay close attention to the order details and nature of the conversation to detect potential fraud.

Terms of Service

Understanding the terms and conditions surrounding card payments will help set expectations from beginning to end.

Payment Disputes Involving Shopmonkey Payments

You may only submit Charges through Shopmonkey Payments that are authorized by your end customers. To enable us to process transactions through Stripe or your Other Processor, as applicable, you authorize and direct us, our affiliates, to cause Stripe or your Other Processor to receive and settle any payment processing proceeds owed or owning through Shopmonkey Payments. You may not grant or assign any interest in payment processing proceeds to any third party. You appoint us as your agent for the limited purpose of facilitating the direction, receipt, holding and settling of proceeds by Stripe or your Other Processor. You agree that Stripe’s or your Other Processor’s receipt of such proceeds satisfies the relevant end customer’s obligations to make payments to you.

Except where we have otherwise agreed, Shops maintain the direct relationship with end customers and are responsible for: (i) acquiring appropriate consent to submit Charges through Shopmonkey Payments on an end customer’s behalf, as applicable; (ii) providing confirmation or receipts to end customers for each Charge; (iii) verifying end customers’ identities; and (iv) determining an end customer’s eligibility and authority to complete transactions.

Disputes may only be initiated through (i) Stripe and pursuant to the Stripe Services Agreement or (ii) pursuant to your agreement with your Other Processor. We are not responsible for or liable to you for authorized and completed Charges that are later the subject of a Dispute, Refund, or Reversal, are submitted without authorization or in error, or violate any laws. You are immediately responsible to us for all amounts paid to you through Shopmonkey Payments that subsequently become subject to Disputes, Refunds, Reversals, Returns, or Fines regardless of the reason or timing and hereby agree to indemnify us for any such amounts and any charges, expenses, liabilities, losses or costs incurred by us in connection with the foregoing, including amounts claimed against Shopmonkey by your end customers and including reasonable attorneys’ fees and other costs we incur in order to collect such amounts. In accordance with your indemnification obligations pursuant to this Agreement, Shopmonkey has the right to deduct from and offset from any payments which you may otherwise be entitled to receive any and all (i) fees owed to us in connection with or related to the Services or (ii) charges, expenses, losses, claims or damages incurred by Shopmonkey from your use of Shopmonkey Payments. We have the right to charge any of a Shop’s financial accounts on file with us the full amount of any such amounts, charges, and costs incurred in connection with any Dispute, Refund, Reversal, Return, or Fine, and you hereby consent to such charge. If, for whatever reason, you do not have a financial account on file with us, we reserve the right to collect any amounts due in connection with the foregoing through any other channels we deem appropriate or necessary.

In many but not all cases, you may have the ability to challenge a Dispute through Stripe or your Other Processor. We encourage you to review the Stripe Services Agreement or your agreement with your Other Processor to understand the process for doing so. Shops are liable for all losses they incur when lost or stolen payment credentials or accounts are used to purchase products or services from them. Shopmonkey does not and will not insure any Shop against losses caused by fraud under any circumstances. For example, if someone pretends to be a legitimate buyer but is a fraudster, you will be responsible for any resulting costs, including Disputes, even if you do not recover the fraudulently purchased products or services.

Head back to Best Practices for Accepting Card Payments for more information.

We recommend that you read through all three linked articles as they will help you better understand card payments through Shopmonkey Payments.

We are here to help! Feel free to reach out to the Risk Department at risk@shopmonkey.io and the Dispute Team at disputes@shopmonkey.io.

*We provide integrated payments - we do not provide business advice or legal advice.