Tag Archives: hosted pay page

CenPOS Hosted Pay Page vs EBPP

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I’m advising my CenPOS clients with card not present transactions to use either the hosted pay page or Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment (EBPP), also known as electronic invoice presentment and payment (EIPP) due to increasingly complex rules. Plus cardholders are weary about giving out card data over the phone, and paper or digital credit card authorization forms should be abolished. Reducing friction to collect payments, while putting cardholders in control of their data, is proven to increase sales, profits and cashflow so updating procedures is a win win for you and your customers.

What is a hosted pay page?

A hosted pay enables customers to passively pay bills online via a secure web page hosted on a CenPOS server. The form can be embedded on your web site secured with an SSL certificate or you can direct customers to your custom CenPOS URL. The most common payment types CenPOS users enable are credit cards, Paypal, and ACH (echeck).

  • The burden for completing data fields to make a payment is on your customer.
  • Customers can optionally create an account and store and manage all payment methods.
  • Depending on your customer agreement, either you or the customer can use a stored token on file to initiate future transactions.
  • Customers can view prior payment history, but not actual invoices.

What is EBPP?

With EBPP, the payment request is delivered to the customer via email or text. The message includes a custom link to pay a specific bill or invoice and some of the fields are pre-filled. Customers prefer EBPP vs hosted pay page. The most common payment types CenPOS users enable are credit cards, Paypal, ACH (echeck) and wire transfer. The last is very important for international businesses to streamline bank reconciliation and match deposits to invoices.

  • Data fields, including invoice number and amount, are pre-filled to save your customer time.
  • Customers can optionally create an account to store card data, pay multiple invoices, review payment and invoice history in the CenPOS hosted portal.
  • Depending on your agreement with your customer, either you or the customer can use a stored token on file to initiate future transactions.
  • With a CenPOS ERP or accounting software integration, your records are automatically updated with payments, and reminders are automatically delivered.
  • Optional 2-way texting service has many benefits, including communicating with customers via their preferred methods- whether phone, text or email.

What are the benefits of customer initiated payments with hosted pay page or EBPP?

  • Increased efficiency to comply with new stored credential rules.
  • Reduced merchant fees for some cards (3-D Secure cardholder authentication must be enabled.)
  • Increased approvals with cardholder authentication.
  • Mitigate chargeback risk – with cardholder authentication fraud liability shifts to issuer.

In summary, either method of online payments increases security and enables customers to pay 24/7 to increase cash flow. EBPP solutions have significant additional benefits and the cost to implement is virtually nil, with many businesses experiencing an instant ROI.

Christine Speedy, CenPOS authorized reseller, 954-942-0483. CenPOS is a merchant-centric, end-to-end payments engine that drives enterprise-class solutions for businesses, saving them time and money, while improving their customer engagement. CenPOS secure, cloud-based solution optimizes acceptance for all payment types across multiple channels without disrupting the merchant’s banking relationships.

ACH eCheck and Online Payments Solution

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Do you need eCheck services due to mail service disruption from recent disasters like Hurricane Irma and Harvey? Or do you just want to boost cash flow and get paid faster? Online payment solutions are quick, easy, and relatively cheap to implement. Using a third party solution vs bank can be cheaper and provides flexibility to change financial services partners without creating customer friction.

Why use a hosted pay page to accept eChecks?

A payment gateway hosted pay page enables customers to passively pay bills online 24/7 via a secure web page. Payment types may include credit cards, Paypal, ACH (echeck), wire and other methods. Because it’s hosted by a 3rd party PCI level 1 certified service provider, PCI Compliance burden is reduced for merchants that want to accept more than eChecks.

online payments echeckA hosted pay page empowers customers to make secure payments online.

Hosted Pay Page Implementation options:

  1. Direct customers to 3rd party payment gateway custom URL- no change to business web site needed. Just email or text the link.
  2. Link from business web site to 3rd party payment gateway custom URL by updating. Html and pay now graphical button available.
  3. Embed the secure payment object on business web site via iframe html. Customers never leave merchant web site, and even though payment is accepted on the 3rd party web site, an SSL certificate is strongly recommended.

There are other ways to collect ACH and eCheck payments remotely, including our alternative service that enables businesses to push out payment requests via via email or text. This method is proven to increase loyalty as well as reduce time to collect payment and is available for an additional fee. It’s available both integrated or standalone.

eCheck Hosted Pay Page Vendor Selection:

The two key methods to process eChecks are FTP direct to the business bank and 3rd party check processor (Web Payments). With FTP, money is in the bank account when the batch is delivered. With traditional eCheck services money is delivered typically in 2-3 business days. In either case, a payment gateway or technology solution secures the data transmission and facilitates compliance with eCheck processing rules.

Vendor selection checklist- which do you need and which would be nice?

  • ACH with guarantee
  • ACH, no guarantee needed
  • Tokenization for quick repeat payments (no need to enter banking info each time, just select the account)
  • Accounting integration
  • Hosted pay page
  • Other payment types supported
  • Text payment request capability
  • Email payment request capability
  • Hosted pay page (only, no text or email)

Managing Costs with Online Payments:

If you’re just accepting eChecks, you’ll be surprised at just how cheap the service is. If also accepting credit cards, the hosted payment solution selected directly impacts the cost of credit card processing. For example, our solution with Smart Rate Selector automatically optimizes the transaction to qualify for the lowest rate. Compliance with rules are complex and few payment gateways have a solution to comply with every situation. With the right implementation, the cost of card not present transactions are often exactly the same as card present, and can be lower than if employees key enter transactions into a virtual terminal.

Free Hosted Pay Page Info:

  • Quick and easy to set up
  • Optional customer registration to store payment data for repeat purchases
  • Echeck / ACH directly to your bank overnight in most cases
  • Optional ACH with guarantee additional fee
  • If applicable, works with your existing merchant services account
  • Month to month service

Christine Speedy, CenPOS authorized reseller, 954-942-0483 is based out of South Florida and NY. CenPOS is a merchant-centric, end-to-end payments engine that drives enterprise-class solutions for businesses, saving them time and money, while improving their customer engagement. CenPOS secure, cloud-based solution optimizes acceptance for all payment types across multiple channels without disrupting the merchant’s banking relationships.

Free Hosted Pay Page for Irma Business Disaster Relief

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A hosted online web pay page ensures business cash flow and continuity after a disaster like Hurricane Irma by enabling customers to make online payments from wherever they are. With no USPS mail delivery, businesses that depend on checks in the mail need immediate solutions to get paid. A pay page helps solve the problem for both parties.

A hosted pay page enables customers to passively pay bills online via a secure web page. Payment types may include credit cards, Paypal, ACH (echeck), wire and other methods. Because it’s hosted by a 3rd party PCI level 1 certified service provider, PCI Compliance burden is reduced for merchants.

hosted paypage online payments

A hosted pay page empowers customers to make secure payments online.

Hosted Pay Page Implementation options:

  1. Direct customers to 3rd party custom URL- no change to merchant web site needed. Just email or text the link.
  2. Link from merchant web site to 3rd party custom URL by updating web site. Html and pay now graphical button available.
  3. Embed the secure payment object on merchant web site via iframe html. Customers never leave merchant web site, but payment is accepted on the 3rd party web site.

There are other ways to collect payment remotely, including our alternative service that enables businesses to push out payment requests via via email or text. This method is proven to increase loyalty as well as reduce time to collect payment and is available for an additional fee.

Managing Costs with Online Payments:

The hosted payment solution selected directly impacts the cost of credit card processing. For example, our solution with Smart Rate Selector automatically optimizes the transaction to qualify for the lowest rate. Compliance with rules are complex and few payment gateways have a solution to comply with every situation. With the right implementation, the cost of card not present transactions are often exactly the same as card present, and can be lower than if employees key enter transactions into a virtual terminal.

Mitigating Fraud Losses and Chargebacks:

Merchants can reduce risk of lost credit card disputes and resulting chargebacks with a multifaceted approach:

  • Verify address & zip code
  • Verify CVV / CID security code; if using token billing, prior validation is OK
  • 3-D Secure: Verified by Visa (Vbyv) and MasterCard SecureCode – cardholder authentication shifts fraud liability back to issuer.
  • Comply with transaction authorization rules (it’s complicated, especially if performing an authorization now and capture later.

Free Hosted Pay Page Info:

  • Quick and easy to set up
  • Start-up fee waived
  • Works with your existing merchant services account
  • Echeck / ACH directly to your bank overnight in most cases
  • Optional ACH with guarantee additional fee
  • After power is restored, optionally continue with services at predetermined rate (hosted pay page always included with other services)
  • Available to all businesses impacted by Hurricane Irma or Harvey exclusively through Christine Speedy.

Christine Speedy, CenPOS authorized reseller, 954-942-0483. CenPOS is a merchant-centric, end-to-end payments engine that drives enterprise-class solutions for businesses, saving them time and money, while improving their customer engagement. CenPOS secure, cloud-based solution optimizes acceptance for all payment types across multiple channels without disrupting the merchant’s banking relationships.

Online Payment Form Security Alert

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Is your online payment form out of date and a security risk? Securing online payment forms requires an annual review at a minimum. Just because a hosted paypage form still works, doesn’t mean it’s secure or PCI Compliant.

PCI Compliance requirements have steadily tightened since 2014 for pay pages and all ecommerce transactions.

Hosted paypage options:

  1. Merchant hosts the form and collects payment on their web site. Beginning with PCI 3.0, significant additional PCI burden applies. Highest risk.
  2. 3rd party payment gateway hosted pay page; Provide a link directly to customers to pay. The form is served by and submitted by the payment gateway. It significantly reduces the potential for malicious activity that could compromise cardholder data. Lowest risk.
  3. An iframe hosted paypage has the appearance of residing on the merchant web site, but the payment data is captured by the 3rd party directly on their web host. The implementation method using iframes for payments has changed over the years to meet current PCI Compliance requirements, including to combat malicious javascript and Cross-Site Scripting threats.

“If your iframe hosted paypage hasn’t been updated in the last year or so it’s likely not PCI Compliant,” Christine Speedy, Card Not Present Expert.

A payment gateway is a secure transaction engine that facilitates the transfer of sensitive information to the processor, and is required for all online payment forms. Some gateways provide online payment forms at no additional charge. Vendor selection has a significant impact on risk mitigation, payment processing fees, efficiency, and PCI Compliance burden.

A payment gateway can be proprietary to a specific processor, or agnostic and compatible with multiple processors. While one provider for both services may seem to be the best choice, there are significant reasons the opposite may also be true, including risk mitigation. Bots present a significant risk of exploitation of online payment forms and may result in profit loss if additional steps are not implemented to mitigate risk of ‘card testing’, where criminals use online forms to submit fake transactions to determine if cards are good or bad. Every attempted transaction has an associated cost with it, and adding in chargeback fees from resulting  disputes, the result could be tens of thousands in dollars in fees in a matter of hours.

If you don’t want to be the next law firm, CPA firm, hotel or distributor data breach headline, consult with a payments expert that understands the financial and risk ramifications of one payment gateway choice and implementation method over another vs ecommerce consultants or bankers that may have limited in-depth expertise to maximize your profits and mitigate risk exposure.

TIP FOR NON-TECHS: Does your online payment form look good on smart phones and other mobile devices? If not, there’s a pretty good chance your online payment page needs an update and is not PCI Compliant.

RESOURCES:

  • PCI – Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards
  • https://www.us-cert.gov/publications/securing-your-web-browser
  • http://pcisecuritystandards.org

For PCI compliant solutions to collect online payments from your customers, contact Christine Speedy today. Get paid via your preferred methods, including ACH, credit card, wire and Paypal, while increasing security and convenience.

Balancing card not present risk with customer convenience

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Accepting credit cards for card not present customers can be risky, and merchants have long sought solutions to protect themselves from future disputes. The problem is most of those methods are PCI Compliance nightmares, often storing card data in the clear on paper credit card authorization forms. Enabling customers to self pay is one way to mitigate risk.

HOSTED PAY PAGE – ONLINE PAYMENTS

accept payments onlineWith a hosted pay page solution, customers are directed to a secure web page. The ‘host web server’ is the payment gateway, thus reducing merchant PCI Compliance burden. Gateways have different fraud tools for merchants, beyond the usual address and CVV security verification. Examples of hosted pay page solutions:

  1. Link to custom payment processor URL (First Data)
  2. Embedded payment object on merchant web page; the merchant should have an SSL certificate, even though the payment object itself is on a different server. This is usually achieved with an iframe. (CenPOS)
  3. Link to a custom payment gateway URL (CenPOS); this provides continuity when merchants change processors

ELECTRONIC BILL PRESENTMENT & PAYMENT (EBPP)

EBPP Electronic Bill Presentment & PaymentCustomers are sent an electronic invoice, which they can pay remotely. Both merchants and customers have a portal to manage various functions. EBPP used to be costly, upwards of $100,000, but now, there’s solutions for all price ranges based on merchant needs. Examples of EBPP solutions:

  1. Standalone– merchants login to a web based portal and generate an invoice which is delivered electronically to customers. (Paypal, CenPOS)
  2. Integrated, accounting software managed – customers receive electronic invoices with data originating from accounting, ERP, or other software, and the ERP managing the delivery of the invoice, reminders etc (Quickbooks & Intuit merchant services, ERP/CenPOS).
  3. Integrated, gateway managed – customers receive electronic invoices with data originating from accounting, ERP, or other software (Quickbooks & Intuit merchant services, Quickbooks & 3rd party gateway integration/ any merchant account), and the gateway managing the delivery of the invoice, collection reminders etc.

EBPP BENEFITS VS HOSTED PAY PAGE

  • Pushes out to customer- less friction to complete the payment and or sale
  • Reduce risk with additional evidence trail for dispute defense; records of invoice delivery and customer opted to pay strengthen defense; card brand rules include chargeback protection without a signature if bill to address matches the company address and the employee email address was used. (See Visa Merchant Rules for details)
  • Automated reminders if they don’t pay (solutions vary widely how this works)
  • Customer visibility to credit outstanding; ability to self-free up credit to buy more
  • Reduced calls to accounts receivable for questions about what invoices are outstanding

HOSTED PAY PAGE & EBBP VENDOR SELECTION

There are wide differences in payment gateways, and the related solutions. The best solution varies depending on the business type.

Critical needs for business to business:

  • Level III processing supported for all payment channels
  • Collections automation
  • Flexibility – the average merchant changes processors every three years; choose a gateway independent of the processor to avoid business disruptions
  • 3 D Secure (Vbyv and MasterCard Secure) – card not present fraud is expected to rise dramatically with US EMV adoption
  • Tokenization – empower customers to self store and manage payment methods
  • Card Updater – if applicable for recurring service

CenPOS is a merchant centric, end to end payment engine that meets all omnichannel and critical business to business needs. For sales and integrations, contact Christine Speedy 954-942-0483.