EMV chip card transaction video – Verifone MX915 with CenPOS Virtual Terminal

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Merchants will improve their customer experience accepting chip cards by training all users and cashiers. The transaction process is different for EMV than standard swipe transaction, in order to support the different flow for processing chip cards.

In 60 seconds, CenPOS users can view the new screen prompts for the cashier and the consumer to process a chip and signature and a chip and pin transaction.

TIP:  Having an EMV capable terminal does not mean a merchant is ready to accept chip cards. In the CenPOS environment, if a merchant installed a future proof, EMV capable terminal to get ready for EMV, the next step is to convert to EMV enabled. This always requires turning on EMV at the merchant account level, in addition to other steps. CenPOS has completed certifications for multiple terminals and acquirers to enable merchants to become EMV Compliant today. Contact your relationship manager for assistance.

If you’re not a current CenPOS customer, contact Christine Speedy for sales and integrations at 954-942-0483. Don’t just get ready, get EMV Compliant.

Which acquirers are ready to accept chip card transactions on EMV certified terminals today?

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emv smart cardUnofficial list of acquirers for retail merchants who want to be EMV Compliant by October 1. As merchants and industry sales people are discovering, not all processors are ready. For those merchants that want to be EMV Compliant to accept chips cards for the liability shift, this is a huge problem.

This list is to help avoid confusion about getting you ready vs getting you EMV enabled.

Every acquirer,  terminal manufacturer, and industry reseller has language in their marketing materials about ‘getting you ready’. And that’s exactly what will happen. Merchants who install EMV capable terminals or Point of Sale systems will be ‘ready’ for when everyone (equipment manufacturer, acquirer, POS or gateway, as applicable) completes their certification.

EMV Compliant: Merchant has certified EMV terminals and their merchant account has been EMV enabled to accept chip cards.

10 largest merchant acquirers of 2013 were:

1. Bank of America
2. Chase Paymentech Solutions
3. First Data
4. Vantiv
5. Elavon
6. Wells Fargo Merchant Services
7. Citi Merchant Services
8. Global Payments
9. Heartland Payment Systems
10. WorldPay

In no particular order, this is a list of acquirers supporting terminal options for merchants to get EMV enabled. There’s one big provision. Acquirers have multiple transaction processing platforms. A merchant could be on a platform that’s not EMV capable yet, though the acquirer has another EMV capable platform. Additionally, the certified terminal solution may require a third party gateway. If changing processors, confirm with the acquirer, Independent Service Organization (ISO), or bank that they can accept chip cards immediately. To make the list, the terminal must support contact EMV debit and credit at a minimum.

Merchant acquirers with EMV Compliant solution today with countertop terminal:

  • First Data- FD50, FD100, FD200 series with FD35 required; FD130, FD130 DUO with FD35 required. Note, all terminals require specific application revision.

Merchant acquirers with EMV Compliant solution today with multi-lane terminal:

Multi-lane signature capture terminals require a payment gateway. To List of integrated solutions vendors and their certifications:

  • CenPOS certified Verifone MX 915 to First Data
  • CenPOS certified Verifone MX 915 to TSYS

Merchant acquirers with EMV Compliant solution today with mobile terminal:

  • ChargeAnywhere certified Miura Shuttle M006 & M010 to First Data
  • Highline retail cloud software certified VeriFone E315/E335 PINPAD to First Data. Requires using Highline all-in-one- POS software and merchant services.

TSYS offers transaction processing products and solutions to financial institutions, including banks and acquirers, among other services. For example, a bank may use both TSYS and First Data in their merchant services environment. TSYS is available as a connection option to most if not all the big acquirers. Bottom line: if your acquirer does not have the EMV certified terminal desired, TSYS may be the solution to more choices. Ask the EMV solution provider, not the acquirer questions, because the acquirer is less likely to know anything about products and services they don’t sell.

Resources:

Acquirer, Payment Gateway and POS Solutions Provider EMV Roadmap- Links to the related EMV certification list and or schedule for EMV certification. Bookmark this page now!

  • authorize.net – scroll down the page ETA support dates are 2016; no equipment specifics listed. Note: NFC payments also not supported yet.
  • Shift4 emv roadmap – the 3rd graphic is completed certifications; none in US to date.

Sales contacts: 3D Merchant Services offers EMV compliant solutions, including CenPOS, for retail merchants with $1M minimum annual processing; new merchant account may not be required.

Data Source: Web sites, acquirer bulletins to industry, Linkedin –  I maintain this subject for open comment on the Linkedin US EMW discussion board with over 3,500 members, mostly industry insiders. Recommended reading- EMV handbook for merchants by Verifone. It has a great Q&A section.

Have an addition or update? Please add your comments!

Level 3 Gateway

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Level 3 payment processing requires a level 3 gateway, but most merchants don’t realize how big an impact gateway selection has on merchant fees paid.

Merchants selling to other businesses or the government benefit from Level 3 processing and the savings this provides on commercial, purchasing and government transactions by processing level 3 Data. What gateway companies won’t tell you, is that not only do you need to send special data, but there are a bunch of rules to qualify for Data Rate III interchange rates as shown in the image below. Don’t follow the rules, and you’ll pay Data Rate I or Standard.

level 3 interchange ratesWhat are the rules? For starters, there are additional fields that must be submitted with the transaction. All the level 3 gateways support submitting the data, though they may do it in different ways. There are other rules such as the authorization and settlement amount must match. It’s unrealistic to expect any user to know all the rules for any transaction to qualify at the lowest interchange rate, so a payment gateway that automates that process is critical. This is where most payment gateways fail. They can submit data, but have no intelligence to help merchants comply with qualification rules.

What gateway supports level 3 for retail, kiosk, mobile or any swiped transaction? CenPOS.

Gateways must certify level 3 to each acquirer, also known as payment processor, or credit card processor. The certifications can include for retail, retail EMV, MOTO (Mail Order Telephone Order), and ecommerce. Very few gateways certify level 3 for all sales channels. The only one I’m aware of that’s certified retail and retail EMV is CenPOS.

Gateways supporting level 3 for MOTO:

What level 3 gateway is compatible with First Data? CenPOS, First Data Global Gateway e4 – now called Payeezy. While CenPOS automates level III processing, First Data has multiple optional steps after the sale, leaving compliance up to the individual user; additionally, their method does not guarantee that all rules will be met to qualify for level III interchange rates. Authorize.net and Payflow Pro offer level III with certain API’s only.

What level 3 gateway is compatible with Vantiv or NPC? CenPOS

What level 3 gateway is compatible with Chase Paymentech? CenPOS, Paymentech Orbital, PayTrace. Paymentech and Paytrace have optional extra steps, leaving compliance up to the individual user; additionally, their methods do not guarantee that all rules will be met to qualify for level III interchange rates. Authorize.net and Payflow Pro offer level III with certain API’s only.

What level 3 gateway is compatible with Tsys? CenPOS, eProcessing Network, Authorize.net and Payflow Pro offer level III with certain API’s only

What level 3 gateway is compatible with Moneris? CenPOS

What about Revolution Payments, Vantage Card Services and other gateways not listed here? In most cases, the company is a reseller of a gateway listed above, not a gateway manufacturer. Network Merchants, LLC (NMI) distributes a white label solution that supports level 3 data, but there’s no public information about acquirer certification; BluePay and 3DSI also offer level 3, but it’s unclear what acquirers. Please add your suggestions in comments.

As of September 15, 2015, of the brands listed in this post, only CenPOS has both certified EMV terminals to accept chip cards with their gateway, and has also certified level 3 processing for all sales channels via any method, including API, virtual terminal, and online payments.

 

 

EMV handbook for merchants by Verifone

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emv guide verifone merchant terminalVerifone’s EMV handbook is a comprehensive guide for both retail and card not present merchants. It’s hardware agnostic and the Question and Answer section is especially useful.

Two questions on page 17 about hardware need to be read together. To clarify the liability shift going into effect October 1, the merchant’s hardware (terminal) needs to be more than capable of processing chip card transactions.  It needs to be certified on the processor platform and EMV must be enabled on the merchant account. This is an important distinction.

There may be thousands of terminals in use technically capable of accepting chip cards, but either the terminal is not yet certified for EMV chip card transactions, or the processor has not certified the terminal to their platform.

Beware purchasing terminals that will ‘get you ready’ to be EMV compliant. Will the seller guarantee the terminal will be certified for the acquirer platform you need? For example, acquirers usually have multiple platforms but not all merchants can switch between them. With the liability shift just weeks away, merchants wanting to be EMV compliant should not wait another minute:

  • Buy only EMV certified terminals acquirer confirms can be enabled.
  • Verify firmware and or software is current before buying
  • Request an EMV TID from acquirer
  • Download file, usually required for countertop terminals
  • Install new software driver, if applicable, for virtual terminals

Christine Speedy – Thanks for reading! If your business needs EMV certified terminals or Card Not Present risk mitigation solutions today, contact me at 954-942-0483 or 3Dmerchant.com/contact. I specialize in business to business and mid-market payment solutions.

Need an EMV terminal? The problem with desktop terminals for mixed retail & card not present

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For mixed retail and card not present merchants, especially with a business to business customer component, a traditional desktop terminal can cause problems including failed PCI compliance, higher merchant fees, and increased losses from customer disputes  – the dreaded chargeback. To comply with EMV, now is the time to address multiple business needs to maximize profits.

Why is a traditional desktop terminal bad for mixed customer base?

Verifone VX520 VX805 EMV terminal

Verifone VX520 with VX805 EMV terminal

  1. Merchants have retail merchant accounts with their swiped terminal. When a transaction is key entered, it’s automatically qualifies for the worst non-qualified rate for the card type, because expected magnetic stripe data is not received.
  2. Key entered or card not present (CNP or MOTO/ mail order telephone order) transactions require additional data to protect against fraud losses. Users can bypass prompts if asked, but more importantly, the transaction is still presented as RETAIL, so retail rules apply for responding to disputes.
  3. Internal paperwork such as credit card authorization forms are PCI compliance nightmares and often don’t meet requirements to win disputes.
  4. For any business with a commercial account aspect, there is NO desktop terminal capable of qualifying merchants for the lowest fees, available only by supplying level III data.

What’s the alternative to a desktop terminal?

verifone MX915 EMV terminal

Verifone MX915 multilane signature capture terminal

Desktop software like PCCharge and ICVerify have all announced end of life because they cannot support new payment technologies like EMV. The swiper wedge that many small businesses have used do not support EMV and that won’t be changing, so they too will disappear. The alternative is a payment gateway with virtual terminal; a cloud based solution. Buyer beware. There are significant differences between gateways; many of them are not much better than a desktop terminal.

Virtual Terminal with EMV Buyer Tips:

  • Choose an agnostic gateway. That way if you want to change processors in the future, it’s not disruptive to operations.
  • Verify the gateway has an EMV certified terminal for your processor today. For example, First Data publishes their list of certified solutions here: First Data Integrated Partner Solutions Certified Listing.
  • Beware language such as, ‘EMV ready’ for both gateway and desktop solutions. EMV certified terminal is not the same as a certified solution that can be EMV enabled today with your processor.
  • Ask if the gateway supports level 3 processing for retail.
  • If the gateway cannot dynamically change transaction representment from retail to MOTO – and virtually none do- key entered transactions have the same risk as a desktop terminal.

What about mobile? Mobile EMV will largely be rolled out next year, as hardware needs to first be certified, and then all the other certification components will follow.

The only payment solution today that is supports level 3 processing for retail is CenPOS, which also has the most EMV terminal certifications of any gateways to date.

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. CenPOS is available globally. For additional information, contact Christine Speedy, 954-942-0483.