What is the difference between eBay and PayPal Payflow gateways?

An editor at AuctionBytes Ina Steiner was clarifying the question about the difference between eBay’s Payflow Gateway Service and the same Payflow gateway at PayPal. As it is known eBay requires sellers who have credit card merchant accounts to use its Payflow Gateway Service (at no extra cost) to allow buyers to enter their credit card information directly and securely in eBay checkout.

Recently a merchant wrote to AuctionBytes with concerns about what eBay and PayPal were telling him about the security features of the system.

He wrote, "What seems to me to be not widely known is that the Payflow gateway PayPal setup to be able to offer a charge card processing gateway for eBay sellers is not same Payflow gateway PayPal is already offering (in fact, many PayPal Payflow representatives are woefully unfamiliar with the eBay version; see below). It is a stripped down version, meaning the gateway has no fraud detection or prevention features and those features cannot be added even if an eBay Payflow user wanted to add them for a fee. Apparently, eBay did not spec those features as requirements or eBay and PayPal decided the eBay version of the gateway did not need them. That means, at the very least, eBay sellers that use the eBay PayPal Payflow gateway cannot require CVC numbers and use AVS on the transactions that flow through the eBay Payflow gateway.”

Having contacted PayPal Ina Steiner obtain the following information. PayPal Payflow gateway for eBay sellers is the same Payflow gateway PayPal is already offering, but the Payflow gateway for eBay offer doesn’t offer the same fraud detection and prevention features.

PayPal representative said: “eBay provides a set of strong fraud control features that best suit the individual seller. These are the same set of fraud detection and prevention features that we use for credit card fee payments to eBay. This includes velocity checks, eBay credit card blacklists, and account limits. Please note that the seller also benefits from any fraud detection and prevention features offered by his/her credit card processor.”

Answering the question if merchants can require CVC numbers and use AVS on the transactions that flow through the eBay Payflow gateway, PayPal official said that by the end of June, sellers using the Payflow gateway for eBay will be able to block credit card payments that don't pass CVV2 or AVS checks.

Source: AuctionBytes