Do you accept International orders on your website ?

[artistry in bloom]

I have accepted International orders since I started my website.I get a lot or orders from Australia, Great Britain, Italy, and Japan but other countries as well. I have a drop down menu where people can select their country when filling in their address. I have never had any problems with this up until now. I had a lady email me from South Africa irate because she wanted to order but "South Africa" was not on the country list so she couldn't order online.
I had a good look at my country list and noticed there were a lot of countries missing so I checked my google analytics since I started the website to see where people were clicking on my website in countries that were not on the list and added several more countries to the drop down menu.I did this after first checking with my cc prosessing company to see if there were any countries I should avoid. I also added address verification and cvv to my website at the same time.
This was only three days ago but now I am getting several "declined cc" transactions where people try to order but their cc is declined.They were declined not because they were fraud or they didn't have enough funds. When I checked with my cc processing company they said that it is not specific countries but specific cc companies that are protecting their customers and won't authorize transactions that are not in the country where the customer lives.If the customer were to phone the cc company and explain they are trying to order flowers for someone in another country the cc company would probably authorize the charge but most people don't think of phoning their cc company to ask before ordering.
Now my dilema is should I just accept that I will loose a lot of International orders or should I mention something about checking with your credit company first before ordering? If I do mention this where where should I mention it?On my home page or on the first shopping cart page or on the payment page?
Have any of you encountered this problem with International orders?

Dianne

 

[OB1]

I have never had a problem with an international order.
If you decide to add a reminder to check with your cc company, I would do it on the first shopping cart page, or even on the home page. That way they have everything in place before they fall in love with something, and then get declined.
JP

 

[dlnfloral]

Yes I do. I get quite a few orders on my site from England,Italy,Germany. Money is money

 

[artistry in bloom]

I have never had problems before either. I had a long talk with my sister last night who works in the suspicious transactions department of a credit union. She said banks are really starting to crack down on transactions that are out of the norm for their customer. My brother in law decided to use his cc to purchase a new TV. He was shocked when the transaction was declined because he has excellent credit and didn't owe a cent on the cc. When he got home there was a message from the bank telling him to call because there was some "suspicious" activity on his credit card. He called them and they told him that because he had only used the credit card to buy gas in the past they didn't think it was really him trying to buy the TV so they declined it.Its unfortunate that because of all the crime going on legitimate customers are having trouble using their cc. What really shocked me is that my sister said debit card fraud is even worse. She has access to lists of stores that have been compromised and told me several large chain stores,restaurants, and gas stations where I should not use my debit card in Victoria .
She suggested adding this comment to my website. "It is recommended that foreign purchasers check their financial institution's policy regarding out of country authorizations."

Dianne

 

[Gracie]

We often get the "declined cc" with American orders, and then we get the customer to call their credit card company to add us to their approved list. Pain in the butt. Haven't had it happen with other countries yet, but wouldn't be surprised if & when it does. Amex never seems to be a problem, but VISA & MC -- yup.