One of my merchants, Sarah, has a tour company. She books tour events months in advance. She needs to reserve buses, restaurants, and hotels months in advance. She has cancellation penalties on those reservations. Her spots are limited on the tour as well, so if someone cancels at the last minute and she doesn’t refill the spot, she loses income. Sarah had a problem with … Read More
Wawa Data Breach Part of ‘Concerning’ Industry Trend
We, at Electronic Money Company, wanted to share this very important article written by Jaclyn Jaeger, Editor with ComplianceWeek.com. We have highlighted a paragraph regarding risk mitigation measures. Unlike many processors, Electronic Money Company protects your business with point-to-point encryption terminals and tokenization for Ecommerce and mobile merchants to prevent hackers from getting at your card holders’ data. We highly recommend PCI compliance, plus we … Read More
What is Interchange?
Interchange rates and fees are established by the issuing bank associations. The rate and transaction fees vary depending on the risk of the transaction. Corporate cards are higher risk than rewards cards, but somebody has to pay for the reward. Rewards cards are higher risk therefore than a regular credit card. Regular types of credit cards have a higher risk than debit cards run as … Read More
Does PayPal Have Your Back on Chargebacks?
PayPal is an aggregator. They pile all of their merchants into one merchant account. When you choose to process with your bank or an independent merchant services provider, you get your own merchant account with a unique merchant identification number, i.e. MID#. This merchant account is in actuality a bank account. You are required to apply for the account. You will be asked to provide … Read More
Want Your Money Fast? Deposit Funding Now in 4 Hours!
People ask all the time, when do I get my credit card deposits in my bank account? In 1950, when the Diner’s club card was established as an alternative to cash, and in particular used when taking business clients out to dinner at restaurants, the turnaround time for deposited funds to the merchant was 60 days! When we first started selling merchant services in the … Read More
Scam Against Merchants from Other Credit Card Processors!
Telemarketing is prevalent in this industry. The telemarketer has a script that reads something like this: ‘This is your credit card processor calling and we have to make an update to your credit card terminal.’ Or they say: ‘This is your credit card processor calling to inform you that your terminal is out of date and it needs to be replaced.’ Or they identify themselves … Read More
Zero Cost Credit Card Processing!
Zero is a BIG DEAL! Zero Cost Credit Card Processing Can Save You 3 to 4%! How can you legitimately pass the credit card processing fees off to the consumer and put that 3 to 4% back in your pocket? Here are the various ways: Raise your prices to cover the overhead cost of payment processing. Charge a “Surcharge” for Visa and MasterCard charges. A … Read More
Merchants Beware!
The Threat of Online Skimming to Payment Security According to the PCI Security Standards Council, and the Retail and Hospitality Information Sharing and Analysis Center (ISAC), a growing threat that merchants and service providers need to be aware of is Web-based, or Online Skimming. What does this mean? ‘Skimming’ is a common method of stealing credit card information by using a small electronic device that … Read More
The Value of “Service” in Merchant Services
Every credit card processing salesperson says they have the best service, and a support line available 24/7/365! Here is the NON-SPIN version of that: You dial the 1-800-number for technical support to ask a question about your statement, or perhaps your credit card terminal has an error on the screen. Step 1: Please enter your merchant ID#. (Oh, you don’t have it and now you … Read More
Understanding Merchant Services from the Viewpoint of a Bank!
Merchant services from the viewpoint of the Bank are complicated. On the one hand it is supposed to spin off a revenue stream. On the other hand, it is challenging to support an add-on service of which you know little about. You get complaints from customers regarding various merchant services issues ranging from slow deposits, complicated contracts, high fees, poor customer service, and so on … Read More