Card-Not-Present

Any transaction where the card is not physically present at the point of sale, e-commerce, MoTo, recurring billing. CNP transactions carry higher interchange, higher chargeback rates, and stricter authentication requirements (3DS, SCA) than card-present.

In practice.

Card-not-present is the default state of e-commerce and the reason online merchants carry higher pricing and tighter monitoring than shops. Without the card physically present, fraud liability largely sits with the merchant unless 3DS shifts it. Everything in online payments risk management exists because of CNP.

Related terms: Card-Present · MoTo · 3D Secure · Interchange