[thelist] how secure to store credit cards

[Jon Hall]

You dont have to keep the card number. You can place a hold for the 
amount of the order on the card, and then push the transaction through 
when the order ships. I forget the terminology, but it works the same 
way when you rent a game console or high dollar item from someone like 
Blockbuster. They secure the deposit on the card, but don't actually 
charge it unless you don't return the item. Also, "shipped" is sort of a 
relative term. If the items have been verified in stock, and the order 
has been sent to the shipping department, it might be considered shipped 
depending on who you are talking to.
Generally a bank is not going to get on the merchant's case about this 
unless it's a new merchant account.

jon

Erik Mattheis wrote:

> This is going to be for orders of products that need to be shipped, 
> and to my understanding it's illegal to charge a card for a purchase 
> before the order has shipped. So my task is to find a way to keep the 
> card number until the order has shipped.