Category Archives: Merchant Services

Level 3 Credit Card Processing Solutions

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Level 3 processing requires payment solutions that can both send level data and dynamically optimize transactions to qualify for level 3 rates. Learn the secrets to higher profits right now. Were you told your last solution would fix your problems so you’d qualify properly? Have you been told with more training you could fix the problems to hit level 3? Hogwash! It’s not your fault, you just didn’t have an insider perspective until now.

Many payment gateways can send level 3 data, but the requirements to qualify for level III interchange rates are much more complicated than that. Do you perform preauthorizations? You know what happens when the preauth expires? Or when the final settlement is not the same as the preauthorization? These are just two of many reason merchants fail to qualify for level 3.

New rules for storing cards and using stored cards can also impact profits. Hint: If you haven’t made big changes to how you do this since October 2017, you’ve got a problem. Failure to comply with any rules negates rate qualification. If issuers are not sophisticated enough to catch all the rule breakers now, it’s only a matter of time. In the future, cardholders will be able to login to their bank and view all the companies that are storing their cards. So if you haven’t made the changes needed per new stored card requirements, including the new Unscheduled Credential On File (UCOF) transaction indicator, that creates a problem for the long term goals in financial industry. Compliance enforcement can include penalties and assessments.

I’ve seen demo’s, heard sales pitches, and read the documentation on many payment gateways and virtual terminals. It’s not what’s there, but what’s not there that is most revealing. Before choosing a level 3 processing solution, get a demo. If you’ll be using a virtual terminal, use that for the demo. If you’ll be using an integrated solution, view the integrated solution demo.

The demo:

  • Store a regular card and business card. What methods are used to capture the initial card data? Then charge each card. Note the steps for each.
  • How does the solution manage reversals on preauthorizations?
  • What’s the process to identify and renew an expired authorization?
  • How can buyer complete a transaction with 3-D Secure?
  • Pull report to retrieve transaction.
  • Pull report with level 3 data.
  • Ask if the gateway supports Recurring, Installment, or UCOF depending on your needs; virtually all support Recurring, but not the others.

Note how much of the process is automated, how much relies on people making decisions, and if any items are not available. Take screenshots. On a Mac it’s command + shift+ 4.

Want a payments expert as a silent observer? Ask me to sit in on the call for unbiased feedback.

Call Christine Speedy, PCI Council QIR certified, for simple solutions to complex payment transaction problems, 954-942-0483, 9-5 ET. CenPOS authorized reseller based out of South Florida and NY. CenPOS is an integrated commerce technology platform driving innovative, omnichannel solutions tailored to meet a merchant’s market needs. Providing a single point of integration, the CenPOS platform combines payment, commerce and value-added functionality enabling merchants to transform their commerce experience, eliminate the need to manage complex integrations, reduce the burden of accepting payments and create deeper customer relationships.

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Visa Stored Credential Mandate Overview

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How can merchants get compliant with the Visa Stored Credential Transaction framework and mandates effective October 14, 2017? Most companies are under the false impression that their acquirer and or payment gateway manages compliance. Not true. While some technical aspects are managed by the payment gateway, the merchant also has to make some changes for compliance.

What is a Stored Credential? A stored credential is information (including, but not limited to, an account number or payment token) that is stored to process future purchases for a cardholder.

What is the Visa Stored Credential framework and mandate? It outlines the rules related to storing and using stored credentials. Since it’s 15 pages long, I’ll only highlight a few important items here.

  • Merchant initiated or customer initiated transactions? Make sure your payment gateway is sending the correct code. For example, an ecommerce store checkout would be customer initiated. A recurring billing transaction is merchant initiated.
  • Get customer consent for terms and conditions of storing and using stored card.
  • Advise how the cardholder will be notified of any changes to the consent agreement.
  • For a transaction using a stored credential initiated by the cardholder, the merchant or its agent must validate the cardholder’s identity before processing. The only valid methods are 3-D Secure Verified by Visa and the security code.
  • Receipt must be provided for the initial cardholder validation ($0 dollar transaction or actual amount.)
  • All stored credential transactions must be submitted with a value of “10” in the POS Entry Mode Code field; this is for both newly stored cards and all prior transactions using stored credential. This is managed by the payment gateway. (Confirm your gateway is doing this.)

What about the other card brands? Mastercard rolled out their version in June 2018. If you comply with the Visa mandate, you’ll be in compliance with any others at this time.

What if I don’t comply?

  • You’ll be non-compliant with Visa’s rules and risk Non Compliance Assessments
  • No benefit from expected improved authorization rate
  • Increased customer complaints and poor cardholder experience
  • Cannot use Real Time Visa Account Updater service
  • Risk issuer generated chargebacks for all transactions using the stored credential within the allowable chargeback timeframe under reason code 72, invalid authorization. A valid authorization is needed to qualify for the lowest interchange rates.

What are the benefits of compliance? Increased authorizations, better customer experience, more profits.

See Improving Authorization Management for Transactions with Stored Credentials https://usa.visa.com/dam/VCOM/global/support-legal/documents/stored-credential-transaction-framework-vbs-10-may-17.pdf . Are you going to manage documenting everything or are you going to use technology to help you manage it?

partial stored credit card authorizationform

Partial CenPOS PCI Compliant stored credential authorization form.

Verify if you have a system to manage authorization validity. What the heck does that mean? Many companies have complex needs including pre-authorizations, incremental authorizations, delayed shipping etc. While you may get issuer approvals, that doesn’t mean the authorization is valid. Are you compliant now? Look at your merchant statement ‘pending interchange fees. If you see  EIRF or STD or misuse of authorization fee, there’s a problem.

Replace paper credit card authorization forms, and any digital form that you can decrypt and view sensitive card data. Offer your customers a way to self-manage their own wallet with either a hosted online pay page or Electronic Bill Presentment & Payment.

New to online payments? See Visa best practices to prevent brute force attacks. https://usa.visa.com/support/merchant/library/visa-merchant-business-news-digest.html. CenPOS includes recaptcha and client managed velocity and other rules as part of a layered security approach.

Register for 3-D Secure, including Verified by Visa, with your acquirer. Don’t do this until you know which payment gateway will be used and get their instructions if applicable.

interchange rate qualification

The same transaction can process at different rates as shown above, depending on which rules you follow. CenPOS Smart Rate Selector automates compliance to qualify transactions at the lowest rate possible. Which rates are on your merchant statement now?

Where can I buy CenPOS or learn more? You’ve already found one of the top salespeople, Christine Speedy. All agreements are direct with CenPOS, no middle man.

Resources and documentation https://3dmerchant.com/blog/merchant-bulletins-downloads – bookmark it!.  Join Christine Speedy’s email list.

DISCLAIMER: condensed and incomplete information! Information may be quickly outdated.

With the fast pace of changing rules, companies need a technology partner to automate compliance. Did you know?

  • CenPOS has a suite of solutions for companies just like yours, solving common problems and increasing profits virtually overnight.
  • For those not ready to give up paper, CenPOS creates a printable PCI Compliant credit card authorization form for every stored card.
  • CenPOS has ERP, ecommerce shopping cart, accounting and other plug-in modules available for quick and easy implementation.
  • I’ve been selling for CenPOS since day 1. Though I have other payment gateways available in my arsenal, nothing else compares.

Call Christine Speedy for global sales. 954-942-0483, 9-5 ET, CenPOS authorized reseller based out of South Florida and NY. CenPOS is an integrated commerce technology platform driving innovative, omnichannel solutions tailored to meet a merchant’s market needs. Providing a single point of integration, the CenPOS platform combines payment, commerce and value-added functionality enabling merchants to transform their commerce experience, eliminate the need to manage complex integrations, reduce the burden of accepting payments and create deeper customer relationships.

3 Ecommerce Checkout Payment Problems

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Use of a PCI compliant payment gateway does not make a company PCI compliant, compliant with card network acceptance rules, or compliant with best practices to maximize profits. In other words, if you follow best practices and comply with all the rules, you’ll have a more secure and profitable company. A key ingredient to compliance is the payment gateway, however, the payment gateway has no specific requirement to ensure your compliance with all the card network rules and best practices, just those that pertain to Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards.Here’s a few costly merchant problems:

  1. Lack of brute force attack tools. These help prevent bots from testing thousands or millions of cards on your checkout form. The merchant is liable for all of the attempted transaction fees on the payment gateway and on the acquiring. A simple first line of defense is adding recaptcha. See Visa best practices to prevent brute force attacks. https://usa.visa.com/support/merchant/library/visa-merchant-business-news-digest.html.
  2. Non-compliance with Visa Stored Credential Mandate, effective October 14, 2017? I’ve written extensively on this, for example here’s a B2B steps to compliance article. There are multiple elements, and many payment gateways do not yet have solutions, especially for ‘Unscheduled credential on file’. Do you have a checkbox in the sequence of checkout opting in to terms? https://usa.visa.com/dam/VCOM/global/support-legal/documents/stored-credential-transaction-framework-vbs-10-may-17.pdf.
  3. Invalid authorizations. This is the most costly as it can lead to consumer generated chargeback, issuer chargeback, non-qualified interchange rates and penalty fees. Here’s a story about the new .25% MasterCard integrity fee. Do you have Standard/STD, EIRF, or Data Rate I on your merchant statement under interchange fees? Then you have an authorization problem.
  4. Cardholder authentication limitations. The security code has historically not been enough evidence to win customer disputes about unauthorized charges. With 3-D secure, fraud liability shifts to the issuer. Effective April 2019 based on region and industry, Visa mandates many merchants use Visa 3D Secure 2.0. Reference Table 5-18: Acquirer Support of Verified by Visa, Visa Public Rules.

The solution to all of the above is replacing outdated payment gateway technology with new technology that will help automate compliance with card network rules, while reducing PCI Compliance burden.

Why comply? Here’s an example of the cost difference between valid and invalid authorization.

interchange rate qualification

Resources and documentation /blog/merchant-bulletins-downloads – bookmark it!.  Join Christine Speedy’s email list.

DISCLAIMER: condensed and incomplete information! Information may be quickly outdated.

Need a solution? Call Christine Speedy, 954-942-0483, 9-5 ET, CenPOS authorized global reseller based out of South Florida and New York. CenPOS is an integrated commerce technology platform driving innovative, omnichannel solutions tailored to meet a merchant’s market needs. Providing a single point of integration, the CenPOS platform combines payment, commerce and value-added functionality enabling merchants to transform their commerce experience, eliminate the need to manage complex integrations, reduce the burden of accepting payments and create deeper customer relationships.