Tag Archives: b2b

B2B credit card processing FREE analysis

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Are increasing merchant services credit card fees annoying you?

While technology can optimize fee management, there are multiple reasons new fees or rising fees may occur. Use the information for a quick self-assessment and determine whether it’s worthwhile to engage with a 3D Merchant Services payments professional for further review. This method is easier than my B2B credit card processing fact check, while still revealing problems that must be resolved.  As a processor neutral payments expert, Christine Speedy offers a unique perspective.

The areas needing most attention are rate qualification and other fees.

Here’s a shortcut to determine if you have authorization problems, which directly impact credit card processing transaction fees. Why is this important? Because unless you fix the underlying problem, switching merchant accounts will only provide partial relief from escalating transaction fees like non-. If you have any of these items below on your merchant statement, there’s a problem that is causing unnecessary extra costs.

  • Mastercard Transaction Processing Excellence Fee – Nominal Authorizations
  • Misuse
  • Integrity
  • Compliance or Non-compliance
  • Standard / STD (any)
  • EIRF
  • Data rate I
  • Data Rate II or Data Rate 2
  • Chargeback: FRAUD TRANS-NO CARDHOLDR AUTH
  • Chargeback reason: Compliance
  • Non-Qualified, NQ

Hint: If you open your merchant statement in Adobe Acrobat, in OSX with command F you can copy and paste the terms above. It’s not foolproof due to varying abbreviations, but you only need to have one of the bad items to know there’s a problem.

For card not present business to business, these are two credit card processing interchange types you should see; many often don’t and that is also a problems resulting in higher costs.

  • Full UCAF
  • Data Rate III, Commercial Level III

I don’t know why, but I get calls from other salespeople in the industry looking for solutions to help customers qualify for Data Rate II. Why wouldn’t you want the customer to qualify at Data Rate III? Makes no sense.

I also hear from merchants how they were told that the new solution would fix their level 3 data problems, but it didn’t. If you do preauthorizations, and the solution doesn’t automatically get new authorizations and manage reversals it’s not going to fix authorization problems. Always ask, “how will the payment gateway manage authorization reversals if we don’t settle for the original preauthorization amount’? That’s one of several critical key questions. If they don’t know the answer instantly, move on.

Due to constant changes in card network rules and data security compliance rules, a review by a neutral payments expert is essential. Did you have any red items? It’s time for a deeper dive into why.  Your FREE report will identify issues impacting profits and security, include action items how to fix them, and rarely requires changing financial partners.

credit card transaction fee checkup form

Call Christine Speedy, to reduce merchant fees with new or existing merchant account at 954-942-0483, 9-5 ET. With Christine as your account manager you’re assured a unique experience to maximize profits and security without business disruption.

3D Merchant Services is now WBE and WOSB certified and is rebranding to Greater Good Tech.

3 Things Accountants Must Advise B2B Clients in 2020

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Credit card processing may be a big part of the revenue stream or a small part. It doesn’t matter. B2B companies all suffer from the same issues that impact EBITDA and risk. Compliance, cost and security. It’s fair to say, most businesses have no idea what the hot buttons or repercussions are.

Three things every B2B company needs to know about credit card processing right now:

  1. If you store credit cards, you must be compliant with Visa Stored Credential Framework. I posted this in 2017. Guess what? Most payment gateways (if you accept payments online from an invoice or any other source, a payment gateway is involved) are still not compliant! There are significant financial and risk consequences for non-compliance, including penalty fees, fines, and issuer generated chargebacks.
  2. Failure to settle transactions with a proper authorization will be even more expensive starting in April 2020. For example, many Visa credit card rates will go to 3.15%, reflecting upwards of 0.75% increase in some cases; that’s strictly interchange fees, nothing more. Instead of assuming you’re already settling properly, go to your merchant statement and look for DATA RATE I (instead of Data Rate III), STD/Standard, and EIRF. Do you have any of these? See also https://3dmerchant.com/blog/merchant-processing-services/credit-card-transaction-fees-checkup
  3. It’s a Visa rules violation to request the card security code on a paper credit card authorization form, or any digital form where the business can decrypt and view it. It can’t be stored, period. Not by the merchant nor service provider, including payment gateway. Yet even the AICPA

Why these 3 things? Because 100% of B2B companies I talk to will fail on at least one, and usually two or three. That includes CPA firms. Among the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants missions is to provide “the most relevant knowledge, resources” etc. Yet as of this writing, AICPA affinity credit card processing partners include a long list of technology solutions that are not compliant with all three of the above.

86% of all data breaches in 2016 were from level 4 merchants, defined as “Any merchant processing fewer than 20,000 Visa e-commerce transactions per year, and all other merchants — regardless of acceptance channel — processing up to 1M Visa transactions per year.” By complying with the three items on my list, B2B companies will harden their systems and increase profits. The latter occurs because compliance with rules reduces fees. 

If your current acquirer could truly fix all the problems above, why haven’t they taken the initiative to help you in the past? By the way, if someone ever says they help you qualify for level 2 rates, run! All B2B companies should have the right technology to qualify for level 3 rates. Why pay more?

Christine Speedy, 954-942-0483. For a fast, free checkup on your merchant account, contact us today for a secure, cloud-based solution optimizing acceptance for all payment types across multiple channels without disrupting banking relationships.

A B2B supplier’s guide to optimizing commercial card payments review

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Mastercard and The Strawhecker Group released A B2B supplier’s guide
to optimizing commercial card payments. Selecting the right merchant acquirer and payment gateway, and optimizing interchange, can help reduce suppliers’ collection efforts and costs associated with commercial card payments. By Marie Elizabeth Aloisi and Peter Michaud. Christine Speedy, blog author, reviews the guide. In my opinion some elements, present an incomplete picture for merchants, especially the business suppliers accepting commercial payments that is the target of the paper.

The executive summary cites research that suppliers can reduce the cost of collecting funds from customers by 31% if they accept credit cards. I googled to find that commercial credit card research data, and though this is not the referenced Mastercard and Kaiser Associates, Commercial Card Acceptance Cost-Benefit Study, of November 2016, it has similar data:

  • This study estimated card acceptance at the point-of-sale to be 37% less costly than using other payment collections methods – yielding savings of $12 on a $500 transaction
  • Card acceptance provides a similar sized net benefit regardless of the funds transfer tool it replaces – e.g. check vs. ACH vs. wire
  • The bulk of value from commercial card acceptance lies in its use as a pre-payment tool – providing revenue assurance against bad debts

 

I have a problem with the next line in the report, “That’s because getting paid by check—or even ACH or wire—involves many manual steps, onerous costs, and potential errors that are a burden to a supplier’s accounting, finance, and treasury functions.”  Checks are still the most onerous even with a scanner, but with electronic bill presentment and payment, any other payment method can be automated for increased efficiency. Our cloud payment processing solutions, including integrated with ERP, automate all types of payment processing, including check/ACH, wire, credit card, and can update journals etc.

The paper goes on to explain why working with your acquirer is critical. While it mentions suppliers can benefit from advanced gateways, most acquirers offer a limited number of payment gateways to merchants. In fact, they may offer suppliers only one solution – they’re own- and it may not be the best for the supplier, it’s just the only one they offer. Independent payment gateways, like CenPOS that I offer, can provide significant advantages to maximize profits, efficiency and flexibility. For example, fulfilling the need to simplify wire transactions and match to invoices.

The three best practices cited to work with acquirers are to automate payments, optimize interchange and negotiate pricing. 

The devil is in the details not cited. For example, “suppliers can only take advantage of lower interchange rates if the payment gateway is set up to pass Data Rate 3 information along with the transaction.” This is true. But the bigger problem is compliance with all the other rules required to qualify the transaction for Data Rate 3. For example, suppliers often do a preauthorization, which expires before settlement (but can still settle) or is not the same as the final settlement amount. These common transaction types will nullify qualifying for the best interchange rates, including MasterCard Data Rate 3. There are many more rules that make it tough to qualify and if the payment gateway does not automatically manage for suppliers, passing Data Rate 3 info doesn’t matter. The reality is most payment gateways do not have a solution to help suppliers comply.

Again, if the acquirer doesn’t have the best solution, should suppliers rely on their advice? A supplier client of mine went to their acquirer (top 5 in USA) and told them what I was offering. They would keep their acquirer but switch to my payment gateway; they’d use our electronic bill presentment and payment solution to eliminate paper credit card authorization forms and employees getting cardholder data over the phone. Customers would self-manage their payment methods, including storing & tokenizing if they chose to. Their acquirer did not want them to use any solution other than their own.  They offered them a substantially worse solution- the silliest I’ve ever heard. The acquirer would give them a new merchant account with virtual terminal exclusively for one large client that they knew was using a commercial card. What about all the other clients? What about eliminating employee access to cardholder data and storing data on paper? Advising to use substandard solutions happens all the time.

In summary, Mastercard and The Strawhecker Group put out some great research data for suppliers. I’m a huge fan of the people at The Strawhecker Group and their work. Suppliers should look to cloud payment processing solution providers like myself at CenPOS for advice. Suppliers need the best payment gateway because without it, the rest doesn’t matter. Combining a robust payment gateway, business solutions, and the flexibility to change acquirers without business disruption can provide significant advantages.

All comments and statements herein are strictly my personal opinion and do not represent that of any company.

Christine Speedy, CenPOS sales 954-942-0483. CenPOS is a cloud business solutions provider with end-to-end payments engine that drives enterprise-class solutions for businesses, saving them time and money, while improving their customer engagement.

Increasing B2B Loyalty With Improved Customer Experience

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b2b einvoiceThe last mile in any business to business transaction, collecting payment, can be a point of friction or a seamless part of a great buying experience. Too often, its the former due to a multiple roadblocks including paper invoicing, and accounts receivable staff availability for time zone differences.

Established family businesses often have the same customers for generations and they’re fiercely loyal. Or are they? In a Bain & Company survey of 290 executives in B2B industries throughout 11 countries, 68% of respondents said customers are less loyal than they used to be. Technology can be a game changer for increasing loyalty.

Common business to business billing scenarios for distributors without ecommerce capabilities:

  • Distributor A sends invoices via text or email and lets their customer choose their experience and how they want to pay. Pay from the email/text or login to a portal? Store and tokenize ACH or credit card or manually enter each time? Send check in the mail?
  • Distributor B sends invoices via email and requires customer to login to a portal to make payments.
  • Distributor C has an online pay page customers can use to pay any amount.
  • Distributor D send invoices via email, and customers send checks in the mail.
  • Distributor E sends invoice and credit card authorization form via email, then gets a fax back, key enters into a virtual terminal.

Which billing strategy delivers the optimal customer experience? Customers want to interact with you in multiple ways, so if you’re still doing business the same way you have for decades, customers have likely shifted some of their business, or maybe all of it, to another vendor. Price is not the likely culprit. In a retail study about millennials, just 15% always purchase from the lowest price retailer, while 38% cited convenience as a reason to not purchase. 58% said they’d take advantage of self-checkout on their own mobile device.

What does this mean for B2B distribution companies? Think like your customers. Are you making it easy to do business? Are you increasing their efficiency? What’s the opportunity cost of not updating? I once sought a new distributor for a product an existing supplier discontinued. I found one, but didn’t place the first order. Why not? They required calling in with my credit card information citing it would be more secure. We were in different time zones and the phone was busy, or the person at lunch, and it was just plain inconvenient to keep trying.

A distributor recently advised me they don’t store anything – they require a credit card authorization form for every single purchase. Talk about driving customers away! Even a simple hosted pay page can alleviate the need for paper forms, immensely increase customer convenience, and increase cash flow to boot. While increasing a credit line is a possibility, some customers use them as a tool to self-manage credit, increasing purchasing without having to interact with anyone.

Invoicing and payment technology updates are critical to garnering customer loyalty, regardless of the payment type. The more flexible the solution, the more likely each customer can interact with your business via their preferred method. Today’s technology supports a myriad of payment types, including ACH, credit card, wire and others, and multiple ways to interact for making payments from email to text and beyond. Delighted customers are more loyal and more likely to refer new business.

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

Why should B2B CFO’s, business consultants and accountants partner with a B2B payments consultant?

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Financial consultants from CPA’s to business advisors can increase profits by partnering with outside experts. A business to business payments consultant will help financial consultants differentiate services offered to win more business and increase retention. Get clients paid faster, cheaper, and more securely, and they’ll reward you with their loyalty and refer you more business.

REAL RESULTS FROM COMPANIES USING MY TECHNOLOGY

  • Reduced DSO from 45 days to 15 days
  • Reduced merchant fees 34%- with the same merchant account
  • Exposed long-term internal fraud by trusted employee at a $2B+ company
  • Reduced internal accounting staff by 20%
  • Reduced cashier staff by 30%
  • Improved customer experience, directly increasing revenue per customer, and manufacturer bonus rebates

My core expertise is cloud-based financial transaction technology critical to staying current with regulatory and compliance changes, and the resulting impact on risk management, cash flow, and EBITDA. Examples of payment acceptance types can include credit card processing, check processing, ACH, wire, and others.

Why Christine Speedy? The industry is loaded with people selling substandard payment acceptance solutions, particularly B2B merchant services because they don’t know any better or they put themselves first. For example,

  • Web developers tell you to use either authorize.net or Payflow Pro payment gateway because they’re ‘reliable’ and they’ve had good results. Yes, they’re reliable, but so are others that provide far better customer and merchant experiences, while also maximizing profits.
  • US banks don’t have retail solutions enabling B2B merchants to qualify for the lowest interchange rate possible for purchasing, business, and corporate cards so they sell substandard alternatives. For example, building supply and distribution companies that cater to businesses pay millions in extra fees because of inadequate technology.
  • Industry associations offer member benefits for services in which they profit share; these ‘exclusive trusted partners’ are kept at all costs, even if it’s not the best service for their members.
  • Merchant salespeople tell you it’s Ok to store credit card authorization forms in a locked file drawer. No, it’s not. It’s never ok to store sensitive cardholder data in any format, but they don’t have a solution to fix your reason for storing it.

You need a trusted, confidential resource.

WHAT I DO: Analyze, recommend, sell new or modify existing solutions

Part 1: What is the revenue picture?

  1. Types and costs of payments accepted
  2. How and where are payments accepted? Who touches? Credit, collections, and treasury management (risk, currency) reviewed.
  3. Software and hardware
  4. Security and PCI Compliance at a glance- I can typically uncover problems in 100% of businesses within 5-10 minutes of probing.

Part 2: What are merchant business priorities in next 3-6-12 months?

These do not have to be related to part 1, but are critical to understanding business.

Part 3: Action items

Based on account review and priorities, what are critical and non-critical action items? How will these impact efficiency, security, profits, customer experience? What vendor, hardware, software changes are recommended?

MERCHANT SERVICES WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW NOW

US EMV chip card implementation is impacting every company that accepts credit cards, retail and card not present. This is the biggest change since Durbin (debit), and again, there’s loads of misinformation and poor recommendations being made.

TARGET MARKETS

Minimum $5M-100 annual revenue, sweet spot; Clients include $1M to $2B. Manufacturer, distribution, technology, dealer, anything B2B.

NO THANK YOU – No supermarkets, restaurants, education, fuel or travel agencies

FREE TEST – While credit card processing may be a small portion of cash flow in target markets, it’s also a pain point I can typically help with immediately. Send 2 consecutive merchant statements for any B2B company you’re satisfied is as profitable as possible. If you like my report, we can go deeper into full analysis.