CyberSource D@ve verifies delivery addresses in real-time

[March 24th 1999]

CyberSource has announced that it is expanding its CyberSource eTransaction Suite to include the Internet's first real-time delivery address verification service, CyberSource D@ve. Available now, D@ve enables Web merchants to avoid mis-shipments due to addressing errors that result in millions of dollars of unnecessary costs, loss of goods, and dissatisfied customers.

The market cost of mis-shipments due to errant ship-to address information could exceed $135 million this year, according to a recent report by Forrester Research, a market research firm based in Massachusetts. D@ve minimises this liability by controlling mis-shipments to less than 0.5% -- giving merchants a return on investment of 600% or more.

"We have seen D@ve cut the incidence of returned goods from 3% to well under 1% by identifying undeliverable addresses early in the order flow," said Richard Lancaster, President of CobWeb, Inc., a high-end turnkey e-commerce solution provider. "When you are shipping 100,000 pieces at $20 a piece, that kind of reduction results in huge cost savings. This is a truly valuable service that will provide our E-$torefront merchants with significant financial and customer service benefits."

CyberSource D@ve works by applying database and fuzzy-logic technologies to a consumer's typed address and confirms that the city/state/zip combination is correct as well as the existence of the street and street address. The validation process typically requires only a few seconds to execute and can take place before or concurrent with credit card authorisation. If the address cannot be validated, order processing stops and a decline message is returned to the merchant, along with detailed information that identifies specific problems with non-valid delivery addresses. The merchant then prompts the consumer for a resolution.

"Because D@ve validates the correctness of U.S. and Canadian delivery addresses in real time while the consumer is still online, address errors can be promptly corrected," said Todd Martin, CyberSource product manager. "Not only does this ensure higher customer satisfaction, but it also helps merchants avoid the expenses associated with shipping to an undeliverable address including ship-backs, restocking charges, reshipping and credit card chargebacks."

"As sales increase, online Merchants feel the many hidden impacts automated ordering has on their business," said Albert Pang, Research Manager, E-Commerce Software, at International Data Corporation (IDC). " Merchants find it takes far more than simply automating a payment process; implementing methods to control order errors in real-time also becomes a key consideration. CyberSource D@ve, and future services in this category, offer ways for merchants to address these business challenges."

Links
CyberSource		http://www.cybersource.com