

Ask HN: what is the point in Billing Address any more? - phoodstuff

more or less universally when ordering online I get asked for my billing address.<p>nine times out of ten when I'm ordering something online I get it delivered to my billing address. however on the rare occasion I get something ordered to work, I get that the billing address adds extra security... however surely the most retarded fraudster if dedicated enough to find out my card number and security code could find out my address and security password.<p>so my question comes down to this... other than stopping the most mentally defunked fraudsters is the extra time entering additional information about your self online really required or useful?
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ScottWhigham
Adding the billing address in is completely optional; it's at the website's
discretion. When you go to a store (in RL), they don't make you enter in a
billing address to buy your groceries, do they? No - they have the physical
card and expect the person accepting the card to ask for your ID (which they
don't). However on the web this is a "Card Not Present" transaction and the
website owner has the choice as to how "deep" they want to match. I force all
purchases to match card, secret number, name, and address down to zip code.
Many times people on the web have just the card number, sometimes just the
card number and name.

No, the "most retarded fraudster" does not always have the billing address.

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phoodstuff
so is billing address for my protection or theirs? because if it's for mine, I
would prefer it to be globally optional.

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ScottWhigham
For yours as the seller. You are welcome to not require it however I suspect
you'll figure out PDQ why "everyone else on the web" asks for it.

