The wireless technology is being used extensively across the globe. Technologies such as GSM, GPRS, and Bluetooth are making headway as I write. From cell phones to car kits and now credit card processing, the wireless technology has invaded several aspects of our professional and personal lives. Merchants are taking full advantage of the recent development of cheap, standardized devices, to build a client base they didn’t have access to earlier.

It’s needless to mention the apparent benefits of portability afforded by a wireless credit card terminal. If you are a cab driver, a home delivery person, a plumber, door-to-door salesman, you already know the convenience of your wireless POS terminal. More and more consumers today are favoring plastic money, owing to convenience, safety and swiftness of the payment process. Not wanting to loose on sales to customers who prefer using credit and debit cards, credit card processing became a must. However, there was still a problem for the businessmen and service providers who travel for work. The introduction of wireless credit card processing allows you to process a payment using a wireless credit card terminal from any location, be it your client’s home, office or even on the move!

If you already have a mobile merchant account and are yet to purchase a reliable POS wireless point of sale credit card processing terminal, I suggest you check out the Nurit 8000 wireless credit card machine. It makes processing credit card transactions fast & easy and is perfect for you and all your credit and debit card processing payments.

Nurit 8000 is the latest next-generation Point of Sale (POS) terminal system for your mobile credit card processing. It uses the wireless technology used by cell phone carriers all across the nation. Nurit 8000 portable transactions are faster & you won’t lose a carrier signal for authorization at the Point of Sale. This powerful POS handheld wireless credit card processing machine features an internal Pin pad and an integrated high-speed thermal printer.

The Nurit 8000 wireless credit card machine is a flexible, lightweight, handheld portable machine that enables fast, secure, error-free transactions for on-the-go merchants. The sophisticated multi-application platform supports a range of payment & value-added services - including credit and debit card processing, T&E, EBT, smart cards, prepaid, loyalty, gift & proprietary cards - as well as business management solutions such as inventory control, dispatch, delivery, etc. The times of carrying around an old manual imprinter and later keying in your transactions at a higher rate are over.

The only requirement is that you must get approved for a Mobile Merchant Account & start processing! Apply now and Increase your businesses revenue stream today!

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Online scams and credit card frauds are rampant! Though technology regularly spews out latest methods to curtail the menace, there’s little stopping the fraudulent elements. To ensure security of both the merchants as well as the clients, having a security company to do regular security reviews of merchant websites, is a great idea.

Following are factors that must be checked while conducting these security checks:-

• The CVV or any other critical data must not be stored by the merchant on a disc or otherwise. Also this information must never be transmitted in an unencrypted fashion.
• Secondly, ensure that merchant websites conduct remote network vulnerability scanning and penetration testing and on-site vulnerability assessments.
• Card data that is stored or transmitted must be done so in an encrypted fashion. A god idea would be to use different layers of encryption for transmitting sensitive data over the Internet, especially over insecure channels, such as wireless networks in public places.
• Furthermore, Credit card information must not be stored in any form on any publicly accessible systems.
• Prevent intrusion into your systems that contain client information by maintaining and strategically placing a firewall and intrusion detection/prevention systems.
• Verbose logging must be enabled on all security devices and services that facilitate Card data. Analysis of the logs and system statistics should be reviewed regularly.
• Utilize build/patch, change control and incident response policies built on industry standards.
• User-level access should conform to an industry standard password policy. All remote and administrative access must be encrypted.
• Wireless access points must require authentication and encryption.
• Systems that store and/or transmit Card data must utilize current anti-virus software.

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What probably initiated this incessant growth in the use of plastic money, were the charge cards that Western Union gave out to their best customers, way back in 1914. Who knew then that plastic money would be used to the value of 3 Trillion and more, in times to come? Well, online commerce has progressed with leaps and bounds over the years. It has been nothing short of a boom or an explosion in the credit card industry, with credit cards becoming as ubiquitous as they are!

Businesses probably can’t open their doors to customers if they don’t accept cards. However, the world of merchant services can be confusing, especially for small businesses who have never accepted credit cards before. Especially, if you are a business with low sales volume, credit cards processing may prove expensive; And there’s no way you can turn away customers who choose to pay with their cards. That’s when you must negotiate with your merchant account provider.

If you know that you are not going to make more than a few thousand dollars of electronic payments for your business each month, you can lower the set-up and monthly fees from the merchant providers you’re by negotiating with them.

Firstly, be conservative when you provide an estimate of your monthly sales. This is because your potential credit card processor or merchant account provider would probably ask you to put a certain amount of that money in a fixed account to cover for any possible frauds. If your business accrues large credit card payments with a large sales volume, you may shift your focus at lessening the per-transaction costs is a higher priority.

A particularly good area to focus on is the merchant providers’ discount rate. Be more aggressive in estimating your average sales ticket as that would determine your discount rate.

Educate yourself. Learn what average ticket sizes you need to qualify for even lower electronic payment discount rates from merchant providers. Avoid the following Bait and switch tactics: Do not undertake long-term leases with early termination fees – that will give you the freedom to switch your merchant services provider if you’re not happy and satisfied with the services. Also beware of the tactic in which service providers lure merchants with low introductory rates that bump up after a few months. While all merchant providers will reserve the right to raise prices (MasterCard and Visa often change the rates they charge the providers), do not sign up with one that might go for an increase.

A credit card merchant account is a must! You can wiggle out of that one. What you can do is negotiate with providers for a deal that suits you best!

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Shopping around for a credit card processing company can save you a lot of hassle. You’ll want to find one with features that match your needs. Firstly,

• Learn and Understand the nuances of credit card processing
• Compare the features, services and costs of different credit card processing companies
• Know your rights when using your credit card.
• File a complaint if you have a problem with your credit card.

Credit Card processing companies make it easy for you to accept credit cards from customers while they take care of all the dispensation. The fees involved are higher then having your own merchant account but so is the convenience. The biggest advantage of being able to process credit cards is customer satisfaction. Customers appreciate the ease of being able to swipe their cards and provide some information to make their purchases.

There are a couple of options available to you when it comes to credit card processing. To open a merchant account of your own, you may approach a bank. Then, there are the credit card processors that are third party service providers, who let you, accept credit cards that they process using their merchant account. A fee is charged for their services. Also, a merchant may approach trade organizations to facilitate credit card processing. Even if you decide to get a merchant account with a bank, chances are that you will still be dealing with a third party processor that works in conjunction with the bank to handle authorization, billing, and reporting. Moreover, third party processors work closely with small businesses to set up merchant accounts.

Credit card companies will carry out some investigation procedures before they decide to offer you a merchant account. To establish your eligibility for a merchant account, a credit card processing company may take photos of your office as proof that you do indeed conduct business from a storefront. They will look into your credit history and check your professional references. Since credit card fraud is rampant, processing companies need to protect their investment to make sure that you are a trustworthy merchant before they can issue you an account.

Once your eligibility has been recognized, Credit card processing companies will determine your account rates based on
• how long you have been in same business,
• your sales volume, and
• Revenue.

Lesser known companies may have to pay 2 to 5 percent above larger companies that have existed for a long time. But good personal credit and strong business practices can go a long way. If you have a history of paying your bills in a timely manner and delivering superior goods and services, it shouldn’t be difficult for you to obtain an affordable merchant account.

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A refund is issued when the original transaction amount is returned to the customer in part or full, owing to certain grievances (valid or invalid) expressed by the customer. Refunds can only be issued for transactions that are ‘Charged’ or that previously failed to issue a refund and are now ‘Failed Return’. All the appropriate communication must be sent to the cardholder and the billing information must be kept up-to-date.

What do you do when you receive a chargeback? Whatever you do, do not go ahead and issue a refund! This is because, as soon as a chargeback occurs, the amount of that sale is automatically deducted from your account. On top of that if you go ahead and issue a refund, it means that you are paying the customer twice over for a product he purchased from you, and that’s nothing short of being ridiculous!

No doubt, refunding the customer in case of a lapse at your end is the right thing to do. It makes for great customer service! However, you do need to be careful of certain fraudulent elements out there, who lie and cheat to the extent of issuing a chargeback for no real reason.

As mentioned above, the wheels of the chargeback process begin to grind into motion immediately after the chargeback is issued. In these circumstances you do not need to issue another refund. Instead, get in touch with your processor to explain the situation to them. Also, it takes several days for the refund process to complete. In case you have already issued a second refund, there are chances you can get your money back if you act quickly.

When you receive a chargeback letter for a sale made a couple of months ago, chances are that the refund has already been made. So before acting on the spur of the moment, make sure that you had not issued a refund at an earlier time, and then follow the instructions on the chargeback letter. If the refund has already been made, then simply inform your processor about it.

Also be careful of buyers trying to pull some sort of switch, sending you back a defective item and keeping your working item or replacing defective parts from his unit with those in the unit you sold, and demanding for a refund.

Make sure that the regulations and outlines for a refund are written clearly in your contract, and those are followed religiously. This does not mean that you refuse to refund a customer when you must! Refunds and following a chargeback procedure correctly is very critical for customer satisfaction. A satisfied customer will keep coming back for more, making for a loyal client base!

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More than anything else, its fraud that affects online business. If your online business suffers likewise, its time to make a few changes!

First, lets understand why do chargebacks happen? A chargeback occurs when a cardholder disputes a credit card purchase, for any one or more of the following reasons: -

• The item ordered by the customer was not delivered to him.
• The item delivered to him is damaged or in poor condition.
• The customer feels he hasn’t received what he thought he was buying, or, the customer feels he has been cheating into buying a product that was advertised differently.
• In case the purchase was made on a card lost or stolen from the card holder.
• Sometimes certain customers just use chargebacks to their advantage in order to get out of paying for a product.

So, if the customer is not happy and has initiated a chargeback, the card issuer bank will proceed with the chargeback process on behalf of the card-holder. Sometimes banks do not even inform the merchants about chargebacks, unless it is a clause of their agreement or contract. With the bank being under no obligation to notify the merchant of the chargeback, the bottom-line of the business can get seriously affected, pretty fast!

Chargebacks must be avoided! And to do that, the authenticity and credibility of the cardholder has to be verified. To do that effectively over an online platform, AVS is the best technological tool. AVS stands for Address Verification System; it does not have a 100% guarantee for fraud prevention but is definitely the best that is available today. AVS matches the billing address provided by the customer at the time of purchase with that provided at the time of applying for a credit card. Getting a match for an address and zip code is a good sign. However, if only one of the two matches, it is the merchants’ discretion whether the sale must be authorized or not. If there is no match, then it is in the best interest of the merchant to apologize to the customer and reject the order.

Here is how excessive chargebacks can cause irreparable damage. With every chargeback, not only does a merchant lose the actual inventory and the purchase price, but there are also chargeback fees assessed to the merchant each and every time. Consult your merchant account provider if you do not know what fees you can be hit with. That is not all. Merchants, who have excessive chargebacks, can lose their merchant account without warning. Moreover, they could end up on the MasterCard Match List, a.k.a. Terminated Merchant File, which is looked at by other providers and if you show up on it, this means you will not get a merchant account. You can expect to stay on the list for 5 years too.

Use caution and good judgment while accepting orders. Do not sell to any customer who is unable to complete the verification process. Lesser the chargebacks, better will be your Internet business and merchant account!

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To pick up the threads from where I left last, here’s more about the benefits of credit card acceptance. Having made clear why credit card acceptance is important for businesses, we’ll delve a little deeper into the benefits it delivers. The fact that around $2.5 trillion was charged using credit cards in 2004, speaks volumes for the popularity of plastic money as a means of payment. This popularity has only escalated over the last three years, all thanks to the explosive growth e-commerce has witnessed.

Here are the benefits of Credit card acceptance that you’ll miss out on, if you don’t already have a merchant service account.

• Improvement in Cash flow.
• Payment time is reduced from as much as 90 days to only 3 days or even less.
• Reduced need for sending out late payment notices.
• Also, retail stores with high acceptance of credit cards have been known to witness a 29% increase in cash sales
• Small companies who didn’t get a merchant account until now, thinking that it would not benefit them with their small sales volume need to know that many customers will whip out the plastic for a $5 sandwich

And how do you establish your own credit card acceptance account? Beware of scam artists out there who will try to stick you with unfavorable terms and tricky contracts.
Firstly, contact your bank to inquire about their merchant services. If banks seem too picky, you may contact an Independent Sales Organization, which is essentially a credit card broker. In this case you do not do the actual processing yourself, but simply accept credit card payments. The acceptance process is carried out by the ISO for a fee per transaction and other fees. Also, inquire at the various business associations and trade organizations you belong to for good deals.

Finally, make sure you completely understand the one-time, monthly and per-transaction charges you will incur, before you start accepting credit cards. Get connected with more and more customers through credit card acceptance!

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This post is going to inform you about debit acceptance, and PIN and Signature Debit.

Just like credit cards, Debit cards directly access the cardholders’ bank account to secure and hold the authorization amount against available funds. The difference between the credit and debit networks is in their pricing to merchants. PIN debit works well for merchants with a high average transaction. Also, industries and business that have had a history of high volume of checks are a great candidate for debit service.

Personal Identification number or PIN Debit is one of the fastest growing methods of payment available today. With PIN debit, all a customer has to do is enter his or her Pin, enter the amount of the transaction and hit enter. A receipt is printed out, and that is the end of the story. This transaction can be performed through a credit card terminal or POS Software system with an attached pin pad.

The good part about PIN debit is that only a flat fee per transaction is charged, no matter how large the transaction is. No processing percentage is deducted. The only drawback in the case of PIN Debit is that the majority of banks place daily debit limits for their customers.

Signature Debit is Offline Debit. A debit card may be used just like a credit card over the internet, as long as they have a Visa or MasterCard logo on them. Their fee structure too is in the same format as that of credit cards. A percentage of the transaction is deducted as fee. However, this fee is lesser in comparison to that charged for a credit card transaction.

Both PIN and signature debit have attractive profitability characteristics for issuers. According to a new study conducted by an independent research firm, PIN-based point-of-sale (POS) transactions cost approximately 50 percent less than signature debit transactions. Consumers too prefer to use PIN debit at the point-of-sale and merchants like the added security and guaranteed funds of PIN debit. According to, STAR Consumer Payments Usage Study, Consumers who use both PIN and signature debit make significantly more purchases than those who used one method exclusively.

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You may have read over and again that in today’s time and age, accepting credit cards is important for all businesses, retail, mail/phone order and online. Perhaps no one tells you exactly why and how accepting credit cards can boost your sales. Well…that’s what we are going to talk about today!

There are several collective, demographic and technical factors because of which entrepreneurs and small businesses find it impractical to disregard customers who have turned to plastic as a form of payment. Ever-increasing numbers of people are using what is known as “plastic money”.

Here are the numbers. The standard American cardholder has an average of four bank credit cards. Credit card purchase volume has seen an approximate 15 percent growth per year for the last five years. Debit card purchases are growing even faster, at more than 50 percent per year. Credit and debit cards made up for 33 percent of all purchases by 2004 and for 43 percent by 2005. According to one estimate, businesses are deprived of more or less 80 percent of shopper impulse buys if they don’t accept credit cards.

After going through these figures, the first question that comes to mind is why more and more people are becoming inclined towards shopping via credit cards and debit cards. Several surveys have been conducted to come up with the following answers: -
• Credit cards cancel out the necessity of carrying cash.
• A customer may want to keep the cash in hand for a more important payment or in case of impending emergencies, while a credit card may be used for a whim buy.
• They want to gain loyalty points (such as airline miles)
• Customers making a large purchase prefer a credit card.
• Consumers looking to float money in a bank account prefer to shop using a credit card.
• In making a reimbursable purchase for a company, consumers prefer to use a accredit card.

Also, accepting credit cards is key to e-commerce. While retail shoppers may pay cash or use debit cards, online shopping payment can be done only by way of credit cards or checks. Writing checks for online payments is almost redundant because of the time it takes and the bother involved in writing out and mailing a check, which may be lost, misplaced, incomplete, or damaged. An astounding 85% of online purchases are made using credit cards, while checks are used for a meager 10% of online sales.

Credit cards are also playing a greater and greater role in business-to-business transactions. The future of plastic is brilliant! Credit cards are viewed as lifestyle enhancers and they are a convenient mode of payment for even routine bills such as gas and electricity. The list of benefits, as mentioned above, further extends the use of credit cards and importance of accepting credit card payments.

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Merchants in the US currently have access to 30 different terminals out of which 5 make up for 90% of the usage. While buying a credit card terminal, make sure you buy one with features that best suit your business. DO not pay extra for advanced technology or extra features that you are never going to use.

To start with, the terminal you buy to process credit cards doesn’t necessarily have to be expensive, most recent or even highly advanced. Also, you needn’t buy your terminal from your processor. Companies that have proprietary equipment or those who make a huge profit from equipment sales may want you to buy from them. Do not let your processor force you into purchasing excessively marked-up equipment from them. Processors usually support a wide variety of terminals from different manufacturers, so you can actually go out and get a terminal just right for your business!

To help make your choice easier, here is a classification of these terminals into three categories, Land-line, Ethernet compatible, and Wireless.

Nurit 2085 and Hypercom T7 Plus are two good options in the landline category. These terminals are all easy to use, very reliable, and cheap. The Nurit can handle multiple merchant accounts, and all have thermal printers. You won’t have the ability to process over an IP connection with these, but all support additional peripherals like pin pads, smart card readers, or check scanners. Most small retail businesses will be perfectly content using one of these lower cost terminals.

If you’re not using a phone line, or have your business over the internet, you may use an Ethernet compatible terminal with a broadband internet connection and a router / switch. These terminals all have a built in pin pad for PIN debit processing and a thermal printer. These terminals will cost from $300 - $500 with Ethernet compatibility. Be absolutely sure that your provider supports the terminal you are interested in for IP processing, before you actually go and purchase one.

While the wireless terminals have undergone outstanding development over the last five years, their price has dropped dramatically. Wireless terminals can be easily found between $500 and $700. The Nurit 8000 is really the only well supported full-featured terminal in the market right now.

One of the above mentioned terminals should fit the needs of almost every business. So whenever you purchase a terminal, remember to buy what you need and not the very advanced terminal the salesman says you need.

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