Tag Archives: CenPOS

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.

 

Payware PC End of Life and Replacement Options

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Like PCCharge® Software end of life, Verifone also announced the official End Of Life for PAYware PC in May 2015. Company’s that have PC based payment solutions are quickly shutting them down in order to move to cloud based payment gateways, supporting a wider array of newer technology and compliance needs, including EMV.

What does Payware PC end of life mean?

Product development has ended. Verifone has a timeline to stop selling and stop supporting Payware PC. The product owner does not have to immediately change, but should review the timeline and consequences for future business decisions.

PAYware PC Key Dates:

  • Final Order Date: After May 22, 2015, Verifone will no longer take orders for new PAYware PC licenses for new customers. Existing customers may elect to purchase new MID/TIDs or add on services to existing licenses through September 24, 2015.
  • Final Shipment Date: After May 29, 2015, Verifone will no longer ship orders for new PAYware PC licenses. Verifone will ship to existing customers electing to purchase new MID/TIDs or add on services to existing licenses (as set forth above) no later than October 1, 2015.
  • End of Development Date: Effective immediately, there will be no new Verifone sponsored software development with respect to PAYware PC.
  • End of Support Date: Effective October 1, 2015, subject to the following paragraph, Verifone will no longer provide support for PAYware PC. Until October 1, 2015, support will be limited to phone troubleshooting and suggested changes to configurations or third party components in PAYware PC; support will not extend to product code changes.

“This is an ideal time to examine long term omnichannel payment needs to avoid transitioning to other outdated technology,” according to Christine Speedy, a cloud payments expert. “At their core, all payment gateways enable merchants to process web based transactions securely with cloud solutions. Beyond that, there are many differences, and even bleeding edge solutions could lead to further disruption, if the new technology disappears when ideas don’t catch on or venture capital dries up.”

TIPS FOR NEW PAYMENT GATEWAY VENDOR SELECTION:

Is 3-D Secure (Verified by Visa and MasterCard Secure) for card not present transactions supported?
Does it have any EMV certifications? If not, what is the roap map time frame? (note- EMV certified is not the same as EMV ready or EMV capable)
Is the gateway processor neutral to provide maximum financial flexibility? (Critical for integrations.)
If business to business, for which sales channels does the gateway support level III processing? (mobile, retail, EBPP, kiosk, online payments, ecommerce, other) Can the user bypass submitting level III data on eligible transactions?
Is ACH supported? (If no, this is a red flag as lagging in innovation.)
What type of audit trail is available for PCI 3.0? How long is the data accessible?

CenPOS differentiator examples:

  • Level III processing all sales channels, even retail
  • Least cost routing and interchange management reduces merchant fees
  • US EMV certified signature capture terminals today, including Verifone MX915; works with your processor and a secure web page, or mobile app or integrated solution
  • Available in over 100 countries

Do you need a new payment gateway for your application? Or to replace your Payware PC account? CenPOS is a flexible omnichannel gateway with EMV, 3-D Secure, tokenization, and Level III processing. CenPOS solutions, including virtual terminal, mobile, and electronic bill presentment and payment, can significantly impact EBITDA, PCI Compliance, and efficiencies. Contact Christine Speedy at 954-942-0483 for integrations and new accounts.

Payment Gateway In Australia With Tokenization

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australia payment gatewayNeed an Australian payment gateway with tokenization and online payment capability? 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 is compatible with merchant processors globally so there’s no change to deposits.

CenPOS Australia Payment Options Boost Profits:

Integrated gateway: Integrate any application with our easy to use API’s. With the embedded payment object option, keep your applications out of scope for PCI Compliance.

Hosted pay page / Online Payments: Included free, add online payments to your web page with just a few lines of code.

Virtual Terminal: Login to secure web pay and manually enter transactions, or set up a schedule to automatically charge.

Batch Processing: This interface enables PCI certified 3rd party processors and others to automate transaction processing with a delimited file. Upload for multiple accounts at the same time.

Electronic Bill Presentment & Payment (EBPP): Eliminate phone calls and faxes for credit card numbers by empowering customers to self-pay 24/7; automate reminders for past due accounts receivables.

More Benefits:

  • CenPOS patented cash management solution improves interchange qualification, increasing merchant profits
  • Unlimited tokens for variable, recurring, installment (fixed or variable) billing
  • Available in over 100 countries – one gateway for all your global payment needs
  • PCI Compliant credit card authorization forms automatically generated
  • Multiple payment types supported for omnichannel needs

Is CenPOS the right solution for your Australian or multinational business? Our special expertise in your region is card not present, primarily business to business. No other payment gateway provides the depth of reduced PCI Compliance burden and operational efficiencies as CenPOS.

Contact Christine Speedy via email or Skype today.

Merchants permitted to steer customers from American Express

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The result of a federal antitrust case could change the way merchants treat acceptance of American Express. In short, merchants complained of substantially higher fees to accept American Express, but were not allowed to steer customers to lower cost card brands. A judgement was entered April 30, 2015 in favor of the plaintiff. An open ended stay of the permanent injunction pending appeal was denied.  However, the court allowed for a 30 day temporary stay of the permanent injunction on May 19, which just expired.

Excerpt from the American Express Anti-trust judgement

As reflected in § III.A of the Permanent Injunction, the court has determined that in order to implement an effective remedy in this case—in other words, “to allow Merchants to attempt to influence the General Purpose Cards that a Customer uses by providing choices and information in a competitive market”—merchants must be allowed to steer toward particular brands of debit cards, in addition to steering between brands of credit cards. (Permanent Injunction § III.A.)
The Permanent Injunction does not, however, expressly protect steering to other forms of payment, such as cash and check, although other sources of law provide such protection in certain circumstances…

Finally, the court expressly does not include brands of debit cards within the scope of
§ III.A.7 of the Permanent Injunction. Thus, while a merchant has the right under the Permanent Injunction to communicate to customers the cost of accepting American Express, or the relative costs of accepting different brands of credit cards (and the merchant may do so on an average, rather than transaction-specific, basis), American Express can prohibit merchants from including costs associated with acceptance of debit cards in this calculation, since blending the costs of accepting credit cards and debit cards would likely overstate the difference between the merchant’s overall cost of accepting American Express and its cost of accepting other brands, such as Visa and MasterCard, that have both credit and debit cards.

Keys for merchants who want to adopt steering

  • Merchants can offer discounts or rebates to customers
  • Merchants can display signs stating ‘preferred’ card brand
  • Merchants cannot blend debit and credit rates to communicate cost of acceptance differences
  • Other laws are applicable, including the Durbin Amendment to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010. “Retailers can encourage their customers to use other forms of payment, such as cash and checks, and can discount for PIN debit, cash and checks.”

Merchant Card Brand Steering Challenges

Under the Durbin amendment, customer receipts must include a subtotal, discount amount, and final total. Merchants need a software or cloud based solution that can make the calculations and output the correct receipt.

If offering discounts for steering, removing decision making and calculations from cashiers is critical for both compliance and cash management.

CenPOS Steering Solutions

CenPOS is a merchant centric, cloud based payment engine with fully compliant steering technology, including the ability to identify which cards qualify for discounts, and automatically calculating the discount.

  • Analyze transaction data by user/department, day of week, and hour of day, to determine if and when steering is cost effective.
  • Offer steering discounts only when and where it’s financially beneficial instead of 24/7 in all locations.

 

REFERENCES

United States of America, State of Arizona,    State of Connecticut,    State of Idaho,    State of Illinois,    State of Iowa,    State of Maryland,    State of Michigan,    State of Missouri, State of Montana,    State of Nebraska,    State of New Hampshire,    State of Ohio, State of Rhode Island,    State of Tennessee,    State of Texas,    State of Utah, and    State of Vermont
v.
American Express Company, American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc., MasterCard International Inc., and Visa Inc.
http://www.justice.gov/atr/cases/americanexpress.html

* http://www.justice.gov/atr/cases/f313600/313609.pdf

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/amex-to-stop-merchant-curbs-2015-06-18-231034750

http://www.forbes.com/sites/maggiemcgrath/2015/02/19/antitrust-lawsuit-loss-puts-amex-among-the-dows-worst-performers/

CenPOS certifies for EMV on TSYS

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cenpos payments logoCenPOS certifies for EMV on Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover on the TSYS Processing Platform.

Miami, FL (PRWEB) June 23, 2015

CenPOS, a payment technology provider, announced today that it has certified EMV on Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover on the TSYS network. EMV is an international standard that regulates financial transactions with a smart card chip in replacement of a magnetic stripe. Smart card chips provide a higher level of security than magnetic stripes as they are designed to securely store data and allow secured authentication of the cardholder during the transaction. In the US, the liability shift for merchants is scheduled for October 1st 2015. Given the huge financial risk associated with non-compliance the merchant community is encouraged to independently validate that the payment solution, including the hardware, being sold to them is actually EMV certified with their merchant processor prior to purchasing the solution.

“EMV will change the landscape of the payment processing arena in the United States, we took the card brand announcement very seriously back in the summer 2011 and made this a top priority at our company. Our hard work and unwavering commitment to compliance with all card brand mandates is paying off in a big way for us and our customers as evidenced by our multiple EMV certifications under our belt,” said Jorge Fernandez, Co-Founder and Chairman of CenPOS. “We are educating merchants across the United States on EMV and the risks associated with non-compliance. We are finding that some merchants are being misled in believing that they are ready when in fact the solution that was sold to them is not yet certified. I am sure this will have legal and financial ramifications for payment professionals selling non-certified solutions,” added Fernandez.

About CenPOS

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.

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Contact Christine Speedy, CenPOS Reseller and Integrations Specialist, 954-942-0483 for more information.