Originally Posted by @ORD
Now does the credit card company eat the rest? Does any of the merchants pay for anything at all?
My understanding is that for card-present transactions (retail/in-person), the merchant is not liable for any loss from fraud, unless a procedure was not followed (e.g. in a transaction where a signature was requested, the signature wasn't checked properly). However, for card-absent transactions (catalog, phone, online), the merchant usually eats the loss, although Visa merchants using
Verified by Visa (a system that requires a password for online purchases) are protected.