In message , at 10:27:13 on Sun, 26 Feb
2012, Stephen Sprunk remarked:
Like I said before, I had a $300 transaction in the USA which resulted
in the retailer having to make a phone call,

I'm almost certain that's because your bank flagged it as a potentially
fraudulent transaction due to being from a foreign (for you) country,
not due to the amount.

I use credit cards in foreign countries regularly. This was due to it
being an electrical retailer without C&P (which you would not expect in
the USA anyway), and not either the amount or the location.

and subsequently asking me for ID (which I thought wasn't allowed, but
there you are).

I'm not sure whether it's allowed or not, but it's common at merchants
with high chargeback rates. You can always refuse to show ID, but
they're not required to accept the card anyway.

I did think about trying a different card.

And your hypothesis is that stolen/skimmed cards will turn up equally
likely in retail electronics outlets in the good and bad parts of town?

It's not _my_ hypothesis; it's a statistical fact determined by the card
processors.

I'm not sure about "equally likely" either, but retail electronics
merchants even in "good" parts of town have "unacceptable" chargeback
rates and are required to take extra steps that other merchants in those
areas are not required to take. It's possible such merchants in "bad"
parts of town are even worse.

And yet I can routinely buy things (expensive as well as cheap) in the
UK from electrical retailers, without any referral to the card company.
--
Roland Perry