A huge change under the e-commerce sea in the US is about to happen: credit card transaction liability shift from merchants to issuers.  Europe already shifted over last year.  This time around, its the US.  What I am not sure about is the exact date.

Originally, it was to be April 1st, 2003.  Schedule slipped and its difficult to figure out the real date.  Most trustworthy date is April 5th.  From that date, e-tailers can automatically shift liability to issuers by simeply attempting to verify the transaction using either Visa's Verified-by-Visa or MasterCard's SecureCode programs.

This is a huge event folks.  I wouldn't be surprised if more e-tailers in the US announce profitability in the near future.  That is, until Net Tax becomes a reality and choke online sales.