We have added support for Verified by Visa and MasterCard SecureCode (aka 3-D Secure) to our site; increasingly, card schemes are requiring support for these authentication systems, and in fact it is no longer possible to accept some Maestro cards without them.

We realise that some customers may find their card issuer’s implementation of these schemes frustrating, but it is important to realise that any complaints should be addressed to your card issuer. In an ideal world, your issuer will supply you with a “hardware token” or a smart card reader of some description (as some U.K. banks are already doing) and the prompt from your card issuer will either automatically verify the physical presence of your card, or will prompt for a generated PIN that you can read off the device they have given you.

Most issuers presently are using passwords, which is perhaps not the ideal user experience. If you have difficulty with or dislike your card issuer’s implementation of 3-D Secure, we suggest that you get in touch with them directly and inquire about the possibility of them using hardware tokens or smart card readers.