Card-not-present transaction
A card payment where the card is not physically presented to the merchant, such as online or in-app.
A card-not-present transaction is a card payment in which the card is not physically presented to the merchant, as in online, in-app, mail or telephone orders. Because the merchant cannot inspect the card, these payments carry more fraud risk and rely on other checks, such as EMV 3-D Secure, tokenisation and risk scoring, with liability rules set by the card schemes. Almost every agent purchase by card is card-not-present, which is why schemes are building agent-specific credentials and signals.
Agent Minute explains this term on 14 November 2026.
Related terms
EMV 3-D SecureThe EMVCo protocol for authenticating cardholders in online card payments, with frictionless and challenge flows.Payment tokenA substitute value that replaces a card number, usable only in a defined domain such as one device or merchant.Agent tokenA payment credential issued for use by a specific agent, which can be limited and revoked without replacing the card.ChargebackA card scheme process that reverses a card payment back to the cardholder's issuer after a valid dispute.