Is it possible to process payments without applying 3DS and still remain compliant and protected? Yes — if you know what you’re doing. And we at eComCharge know how to help you do it safely.
Why You Might Want to Skip 3DS
3-D Secure is a great tool for reducing fraud and shifting liability. But in some low-risk scenarios, enabling 3DS by default can actually harm your business:
- It may hurt conversion, especially on mobile.
- It’s often not required for local card schemes or domestic transactions.
- Regulations allow it to be skipped in certain low-risk cases, especially within PSD2-compliant frameworks using transaction risk analysis (TRA).
So how can you define which transactions are safe enough to skip 3DS — and how can you implement that logic?
Meet Smart Routing: Your Anti-Fraud Control Panel
Forget separate anti-fraud modules. At eComCharge, we’ve moved all traffic assessment and transaction logic into Smart Routing — our flexible rule engine embedded directly into the payment processing core.
With Smart Routing, PSPs and merchants can:
- Create custom rules for transaction processing.
- Define exactly when to apply or skip 3DS.
- React to real-time data and historical patterns.
- Maintain full control over risk, conversion, and routing.
You can configure rules based on dozens of fields, including: Card BIN and IP country, Transaction currency and amount, Recurring flag and cardholder history, Smart Check signals: chargebacks, failed transactions, and more.
Real-World Example: Skipping 3DS for Low-Risk Profiles
Let’s say you want to allow card payments without 3DS when:
- The transaction is below a certain amount
- It comes from a trusted region (e.g., Region A)
- The card has a strong history of successful payments and no chargebacks
With Smart Routing, you can combine these conditions into a single rule and fully automate the decision — without sacrificing compliance or safety.
✨ Tip: You can set up these rules directly via our Smart Routing UI or API. Everything is account-based — PSPs, merchants, and even individual shops can define their own logic.
Smart Check: Data-Driven Confidence
Want deeper fraud intelligence? Use Smart Check, our internal scoring engine based on anonymized transactional history across all PSPs using beGateway.
You can include Smart Check parameters in your rules — such as:
- Skip 3DS only for cards with no chargebacks in the last 12 months
- Reject cards with repeated payment failures
This gives you a data-backed way to balance conversion and security.
You’re in Control
With Smart Routing and Smart Check:
- You decide which payments need 3DS
- You define what’s “low-risk” for your business
- You protect your conversion rates without sacrificing safety
Need help building your logic?
We’ve helped 125+ PSPs launch successful, compliant payment businesses worldwide. Let’s talk — request a demo.