Category Archives: Merchant Services

Best Quickbooks Credit Card Processing – Card Not Present 2017

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Due to new credit card processing mandates effective October 14, 2017, business to business merchants especially need to review practices for card not present transactions. Compliance will boost profits and improve customer experience; non-compliance will increase costs, penalty fees and customer dissatisfaction. Our Quickbooks plugin for all desktop and enterprise versions (except Quickbooks Online) eases the burden of compliance, while improving customer buying experience, cash flow and profits. For business to business (B2B), we have the best solution.

Card Not Present Credit Card Processing Rules & Guidelines:

  1. Never store full card data on paper or digitally.  If you can retrieve it, so can a criminal. Merchants are never, ever allowed to request the security code (Visa Core rule 5.4.2.5) on paper, or via digital methods such as email or text. Paper credit card authorization forms as well as digital signature forms that can be unencrypted to view sensitive cardholder data are prohibited. We fix this problem by delivering electronic invoices and empowering customers to self-store payment methods.
  2. When first storing a credit card, perform a Zero Dollar Authorization with the correct transaction type flag. This process is managed seamlessly in the background if supported and enabled by the payment gateway.  (TIP: Some solutions perform a $1 authorization and then void the transaction- this is non-compliant.) We automate this this process in full compliance.
  3. Perform Cardholder Authentication. The two authentication options are card security code and 3-D secure, such as Verified by Visa. The latter is a global standard that requires the cardholder self-initiate payment, a more secure solution; Merchants using 3-D secure benefit by increased sale approvals, fraud liability shift to issuers, and for some cards, lower rates.
  4. When first storing a credit card, have your customer opt-in via a manual checkbox to return and cancellation policies.
    hosted online paypage

    Hosted online pay page, partial screenshot

    If your gateway does not include this option for customer initiated checkout, including paying invoices, it’s an easy way to identify your payment gateway is not compliant with new rules yet.

  5. Use a payment gateway that supports new authorization rules, including stored card pre-authorization, incremental authorization, final authorization, authorization reversal, partial authorization reversal, and credit authorization.initial authorization

Both the payment gateway provider and processor must support 3-D secure and zero dollar authorization.

Alternative Quickbooks Credit Card Processing Module- features for card not present:

  • EBPP- Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment to send invoices and accept ACH/eCheck, credit card, wire, Paypal
  • Customers self-manage payment methods
  • Unscheduled charge card on file supported
  • 3-D Secure and additional security tweaks
  • Customer portal for 24/7 invoice retrieval and payments
  • Deliver invoices via text and email
  • Automated collections reminders
  • Opt-in checkbox with custom text
  • Optional custom fields
  • Works with all the acquirers, including First Data, Paymentech, Heartland, Global Payments, Elavon, TSYS, Moneris etc.
  • Level III 3 processing supported for reduced merchant fees when applicable for purchasing, business and corporate cards.
  • Smart Rate selector optimizes transactions for lowest qualified rate

Want the best Quickbooks credit card processing plugin for your B2B business? Contact Christine Speedy today for a virtually instant ROI, maximize profits and cash flow while improving your customer buying experience. Quick and easy to adopt, you’ll wish you had found this solution sooner.

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.

B2B Donations Checkout Solution: Accept Donations Anywhere

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Collect charitable donations for your favorite causes wherever your customers pay with our simple donations checkout solution for all sales channels and payment types. Fully compliant with credit card processing rules, such as producing a receipt that lists the subtotal sale of goods and services, a separate line for the donation, and a total for the complete amount.

  • Employees don’t ask- customers never feel uncomfortable. The system automates the donation process via each sales channel. For example, if it’s an e-invoice or hosted pay page, the customer sees a donations field to add an amount if desired.
  • Easy to adopt- Works with multiple accounting, software and financial partners such as First Data.
  • Activate, deactivate and change the beneficiary on demand. You’re in control.

We’re helping your business help others. The donations service is included at no additional cost with our standard services.

Christine Speedy, 954-942-0483, specializes in enterprise-class solutions for businesses, saving them time and money, while improving their customer engagement. Secure, cloud-based solutions optimize acceptance for all payment types across multiple channels without disrupting merchant 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.

Point of Sale for Heavy Equipment Rentals – Credit Card Processing Rules Changes 2017

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Heavy equipment rental companies and dealers must make changes to comply with new Visa credit card acceptance rules. The sweeping changes to rental industry card acceptance rules were announced in October 2016, with April and October 2017 mandates for compliance.  The changes are complex and require cloud technology to automate compliance. Countertop terminals are not capable of compliance, and must be replaced.

fd130 emv terminal

Countertop terminals such as the FD130 and the Verifone VX520 are not capable of compliance for heavy equipment rentals, and must be replaced.

Visa rules changes include:

  • Defining who initiated the transaction (customer self-pay or merchant)
  • Transaction data sent
  • Authorization rules
  • Stored card rules
  • Customer communications.

Compliance will increase approvals and mitigate fraud risk; Failure to comply will increase risk of financial losses and issuer declines while reducing EBIDTA. These changes are significant, impacting chargeback risk and financial penalties to heavy duty equipment rental.

Visa compliant solutions:

The complexity of compliance with both card present and card not present rules requires a solution that can dynamically manage it, removing employees from making decisions that could impact profits. Everyone must change in the ecosystem- card issuer, acquirer (credit card processor),  payment gateway and merchant. Whatever you had in 2016 was not compliant since all the other players were not ready yet.

Merchants should update to a payment gateway that supports at a minimum:

  • Estimated, initial, incremental, and final authorization requests (traditional terminals cannot comply
  • Authorization Reversals for unused authorization (amount changed)
  • Authorization validity periods
  • Stored credential rules
  • Creation and retrieval of customer opt-in records
  • Automated authorization and settlement amount matching (otherwise transaction downgrades to worst rate possible and other repercussions)
  • Verified by Visa, which uses the 3-D Secure protocol to shift fraud liability to the issuer, much like EMV does for retail.

  • verifone MX915 EMV terminal

    The Verifone MX915 EMV chip terminal is an option to use in a compliant rental solution.

If you have a payment gateway, or need one, ask these questions:

  • How will you help us comply with the new Disclosure to Cardholder and Cardholder Consent rules?
  • What does the consent record look like?
  • How will we retrieve records?
  • How long are the records retained?

Contact Christine Speedy to get a compliant solution for your rental services needs. 954-942-0483. The ROI for most businesses is virtually overnight! Month to month risk free solutions.

Another change of note is revisions have been made to split the “Other Fraud” Dispute condition under Enhanced Dispute Resolution into separate conditions for Card-Present and Card-Absent Transactions, and to incorporate changes to the payment
flow related to Disputes. For merchants that comply, it’s all good. For merchants that do not comply, there will be more risk of financial penalties and risk of issuer initiated chargeback. A key component to mitigate chargeback risk is support for Verified by Visa.

There are many nuances to the rules and potential chargeback reason code 72 risk, which were non-existent in the past. Rather than consumer initiating a chargeback, the issuer will be within their rights to initiate a chargeback if the merchant fails to comply with the rules, for example, failing to submit the correct authorization flag for an estimate.

Reference: Visa Core Rules and Visa Product and Service Rules, 15 October 2016. See especially Table 5-14, 5-21, 5-22. https://3dmerchant.com/blog/merchant-bulletins-downloads

Resources:

• https://usa.visa.com/support/merchant/library/visa-merchant-business-news-digest.html see articles on Visa Stored Credentials mandate and updated revisions on Visa Stored Credentials framework

• Some acquirers put out statement alerts on their April, June and or July merchant statements.

See also, Visa Stored Credential Mandate.

Contact Christine Speedy to get a compliant solution for your rental services needs. 954-942-0483. You’ll be more profitable, efficient, and

Installment Prepayments Credit Card Processing Rules Change 2017

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Installment prepayment credit card processing rules change effective October 2017 will impact business profits and chargeback risk. Everyone in the payment ecosystem has or will need to make changes to comply, including acquirer, issuer, payment gateway, merchant, and sometimes software solution.

payment gateway SaaS recurringInstallment prepayment credit card processing best practices:

  • When capturing card data to create a random token replacing sensitive data for the first time, perform an Account Number Verification Transaction via a Zero Dollar Authorization. There’s a payment gateway procedure, including using specific transaction indicator, for this. If the solution you’re using performs a $1 authorization, often with a void or reversal after, that’s because the payment gateway, and or the implementation, are out of date and don’t support current requirements. Ask how yours works and contact us for help now if you cannot do a zero dollar authorization!
  • Payment gateway to identify all future transactions after storing:

– With an indicator that shows that the Transaction is using a Stored Credential
– With the Transaction Identifier of the initial Transaction.

  • The sales receipt must include phrase “recurring transaction”
  • A convenience fee cannot be charged on an Installment Transaction.
  • Transactions cannot be key entered into desktop terminals; a cloud based payment gateway is required

Guidelines and rules vary by card brand, business type and many other factors. Additionally, the rules are complicated. This article may oversimplify such complexities. Merchants are advised to use tools, including intelligent payment gateways, to help comply automatically to maximize profits and mitigate risk.

Reference: For example, read Visa Stored Credential Transaction Mandates and also Visa Core RulesTable 5-21: Requirements for Prepayments and Transactions Using Stored Credentials.

Before selecting a payment gateway for installments, ask these questions:

  • How will it help with new Visa Stored Credential Mandates compliance?
  • Does it support 3-D Secure cardholder authentication, for customer initiated payment?
  • What type of digital record is created at the time of customer opt-in to terms, how is it retrieved, and how long is it retained?
  • Does it support Zero Dollar Authorization?
  • Does the receipt dynamically change based on type of transaction, i.e. cash, credit card single payment, installment payment etc.
  • Does it level 3 processing for commercial cards (if applicable to business type)?
  • If I change banks or payment processors, how will it affect my customers? My business?

TIP: An easy starting point to reduce the list of options is to ask any payment gateway what type of digital record is created at the time of creating an installment agreement, and how will you access it? Need help to get compliant? Contact Christine Speedy to learn more about solutions for your business that are quick and easy to adopt, increasing efficiency and growing profits virtually overnight.