Taking online payments should give you complete peace of mind, not sleepless nights worrying about fraudulent bookings or disputed charges. For guests booking accommodation online, 3D-Secure adds an essential layer of security that verifies their identity. For your property, it provides vital protection against fraud and, in most cases, shields you against chargebacks by ensuring payments are verified directly by the cardholder.
Here is a simple, clear guide to how 3D-Secure payments work, why they protect your revenue, and how to enable them for your property.
Why use 3D-Secure?
We strongly recommend enabling 3D-Secure for all your payments to ensure your property remains protected.
- Two-step identity authentication: When 3D-Secure is enabled, the booker must complete a two-step authentication process. This verifies the cardholder's identity before card details are handed over to the payment gateway for deduction.
- Protection against chargebacks: Because the cardholder must explicitly authorise the transaction, your property is protected against fraudulent disputes and chargebacks.
- Lower card processing fees: In addition to keeping your revenue safe, 3D-Secure transactions benefit from lower transaction commission rates on South African bank cards compared to non-3D Secure payments.
We recommend that you enable 3D secure for all your payments.
Not only are 3D-Secure transactions safer, the also benefit from lower card fees for transacting with South African cards (when compared to non 3D-Secure transactions).
The 3D-Secure transaction process
The verification process is smooth and automated from start to finish:
- Selecting card payment: The guest makes a booking and chooses to pay by credit card.
- Triggering authentication: Once they enter and submit their card details via your NightsBridge Booking Engine or through a credit card payment link, the 3D-Secure process triggers automatically.
- Cardholder verification: The cardholder confirms their identity through their bank in one of two quick ways:
- Entering a one-time pin (OTP) received via SMS text message or email.
- Approving the payment prompt directly inside their mobile banking app.
4. Transaction processed: Once identity is authenticated, the payment transaction is attempted and completed.
5. Instant status notification: You will be notified of the transaction status as soon as it completes. With 3D-Secure enabled, no payment will ever process unless the cardholder authorises it
With 3D-Secure enabled, no payments transactions will be processed unless the card holder authorises the payment.
How to use 3D-Secure for payment links
Activating 3D-Secure when sending a payment link takes just a single click:
- When you generate a credit card link in NightsBridge, the system will ask if you want to create the link with 3D-Secure enabled.
- Simply select Yes to generate the link with the 3D-Secure authentication process activated.
