How Readings reduced online payment fraud and costs with ArtsPay

Readings is one of Australia's most respected independent booksellers, with multiple stores across Melbourne and a long-established ecommerce presence. The business serves a loyal customer base of readers, authors, and community members, and has built a strong reputation for curating Australian literary culture.

The challenge: protecting ecommerce payments without slowing customers down

As online retail grew as a share of Readings' business, their payments setup needed to keep pace. The team faced two connected challenges: managing fraud risk without disrupting the checkout experience for genuine customers, and reducing the cost of accepting card payments online.

Traditional fraud controls can create a difficult trade-off for retailers. Rules-based screening that triggers additional authentication steps can protect against fraud but interrupt legitimate customers at checkout.

A merchant can increase security but risk adding friction. Or it can keep checkout simple but accept more fraud exposure.

The solution: AI enabled Forter fraud screening

Readings connected its custom ecommerce platform to ArtsPay's online payments infrastructure. The integration supported real-time fraud screening via Forter, which assesses transaction risk in real time without requiring every customer to complete an additional authentication step.

Fraud management is not only about blocking bad actors and fraudulent transactions. It is also about approving genuine customers confidently. Merchants can lose revenue with unnecessary authentication steps and checkout abandonment.

ArtsPay worked with Readings to support its custom ecommerce platform with a payments solution designed around three practical goals.

First, reduce fraud risk.

Second, keep checkout friction low.

Third, reduce operational issues.

Real-time fraud screening via Forter helped reduce fraud exposure while supporting a lower-friction checkout path for genuine customers. Rather than applying the same authentication step to every transaction, the screening assessed risk at the transaction level, helping the team make better decisions about which transactions to approve.

For Readings, this meant fraud screening could happen behind the scenes, and over time, the tool learns who are legitimate customers, finds patterns and delivers bespoke fraud management.

Reducing fraud is only part of the value. By cutting fraudulent transactions, the team also reduced the time spent investigating, managing and resolving fraud related issues by 75%.

Lowering online payment costs with eftpos and Least Cost Routing

The routing of transactions is key to reducing costs. ArtsPay enabled least cost routing, giving Readings access to a lower cost payment network for eligible debit card transactions.

By connecting Readings to eftpos online, ArtsPay helped build a more cost efficient payments setup. Because eftpos transactions can carry lower processing fees, Readings gained access to a payment pathway that can deliver meaningful savings over time.

The outcome

After joining ArtsPay, Readings improved two specific parts of its ecommerce payment setup.

Real-time fraud screening via Forter helped reduce fraud exposure while supporting a lower-friction checkout path for genuine customers. Rather than applying the same authentication step to every transaction, the screening assessed risk at the transaction level, helping the team make better decisions about which transactions to approve.

Access to eftpos routing also helped reduce the cost of eligible debit card transactions processed through the platform. For an established retailer with consistent online sales volumes, that difference in eligible debit routing can add up across the year.

The result was a payments setup that addressed both the fraud problem and the cost problem within Readings' existing ecommerce environment.

“The transition to ArtsPay for Readings’ website was seamless. Our online development team collaborated closely with the ArtsPay team, making the process effortless, including with added benefits of fraud protection and security measures. As a local bookstore deeply rooted in our arts community, Readings is proud to partner with ArtsPay who align perfectly with our values. Great to see some authors receiving funding as well.”
Mark Rubbo
Founder, Readings

Key benefits for Readings

Reduced fraud risk: Forter enabled screening helped Readings identify higher risk transactions while keeping legitimate customers moving through checkout.

Less checkout friction: Fraud checks could happen in the background without requiring second factor authentication for every customer.

Lower payment costs: Access to eftpos and Least Cost Routing helped reduce the cost of eligible online debit card transactions.

Developer friendly integration: ArtsPay’s simple API supported Readings’ custom ecommerce platform.

Values aligned partnership: As an independent bookseller deeply connected to Australia’s arts and literary community, Readings partnered with a payments provider that helps direct funding back into the arts sector.

Build a smarter ecommerce payment setup

ArtsPay helps Australian online retailers reduce payment costs, manage fraud and create better checkout experiences.

For values-led retailers, ArtsPay is also a certified social enterprise. The Impact page explains how 50 per cent of profits from transaction fees go to the arts, which is part of the alignment for businesses like Readings.

To learn more about our features or to discuss your specific platform or payment stack, get in touch with ArtsPay.