Merchandise is damaged in transit and arrives broken, or fails to arrive at all, and the cardholder demands for a refund- this is one of the most common reasons for a chargeback. A chargeback begins when a buyer contacts their bank to dispute a transaction. The chargeback is passed through the credit card networks to the merchant. Your account will be charged at the time the chargeback is received.

In some cases, chargebacks can be “re-presented”, which means that the information can be presented back to the Cardholders bank disputing the chargeback. For instance, if the chargeback reason is “non-receipt of merchandise” and proof of delivery is available, the chargeback can be re-presented with a copy of the delivery confirmation.

First of all, to ensure safe receipt of merchandise, use a form of shipping that provides proof of delivery. For higher ticket items, require a signature for delivery. Pay attention to the Address Verification System (AVS) response received. Don’t accept numbers and information that don’t match and use common sense in shipping to an address other than the buyer’s billing address. If delivery of merchandise is to be delayed, notify the customer in writing of the delay and the expected delivery date.

Non-receipt of goods or services has been given a reason code 30 by Visa. Chargeback code 30 usually occurs when the merchant

• fails to provide services,
• fails to send the merchandise,
• bills the customer before shipping the merchandise, or
• does not send the merchandise by the agreed-upon delivery date.

If you are a merchant who has been notified of a chargeback, check at your end to verify whether the merchandise was in fact delivered and you have some proof corroborating the same. If you do, you may contact your merchant service provider with all the details of the transaction in question. Secondly, if you do not due to the nature of your products or services, specify a delivery date to your customers, then you may dispute the chargeback with a claim that 30 days from the transaction date have not yet elapsed. If the specified delivery date has not yet passed, return the chargeback to your merchant bank with either information or a copy of the documentation showing the expected delivery date. Also, in future avoid depositing the sales receipts before the shipment of merchandise.

Prevent Chargeback Reason Code 30 by informing the customer in case of a delay, in writing; always ask for proof of delivery such as a certified mail or a carrier’s certification that the merchandise was delivered to the correct address and signed for by the cardholder. Furthermore, you may utilize extra scrubbing techniques like Verified By Visa and MasterCard Secure Code and use any other fraud protection services.

For more, visit Credit Card Processing and Merchant Account Services

The big deal about handling large orders is that they are a sign of danger! And that’s because, large orders mean more risk of fraud, and a greater amount of loss if the transaction goes haywire because of fraudulent elements. The order must be verified to prove its legitimacy. A large order would be one that exceeds by far your average ticket amount. For instance, if usually your ticket amounts to $350 and all of a sudden you are approached with an opportunity of a single sale of $5,000.00, it is a cause for concern.

Conduct address verification (AVS) and Card Verification Value 2 (CVV2). However, these verifications by no means protect a merchant from a customer using stolen credit cards. In such scenarios, vetting the transaction becomes necessary.

Vetting: This terms refers to background checks conducted with the purpose of examining and evaluating someone before offering them employment or banking services. This originally “horse-racing” term has taken the general meaning “to check”.

In case of Merchant accounts, vetting a transaction is important, especially when the amount is unusually large. A thief customer will ask that the merchandise be shipped to a different address than the one on the credit card, so a good place to start is to look at the Internet Protocol (IP) address of the consumer to see if it is close to the credit card billing address. Some merchants have a service built into their shopping cart software that will verify this automatically.

Your next step must be to contact the customer at a given phone number if any, or at the e-mail address provided. Most of the time, if the transaction is not genuine, the customer using a stolen credit card will not leave his contact number or e-mail address. A great idea to contact the card owner is by approaching the credit card issuing bank and explaining the entire matter to them, who may then either provide you the contact details or agree to contact their customer on your behalf. If there is a number to reach the customer, make sure to ask for a fax of the signed credit card authorization form

Also, make sure to ask for signature on delivery. You will have to request the shipper to do that for you. For good measure, inform your customer that it would be required of him to sign a receipt to receive the merchandise.

Once you’re through with vetting your transaction, verifying all details and documenting your actions, it is time to call your merchant account provider. Do this before your daily batch is uploaded. That is because, seeing such a huge transaction will become a cause for worry to the processor, who too is at risk in case the transaction turns out be fraudulent. Most processors will place funds on hold if they have not been intimate in advance and if the amount is significantly larger than the typical ticket size for your account.

Inform you merchant account provider about all the steps you have taken to establish the authenticity and credibility of the customer. Also, ask if any other steps need to be taken. Once the transaction is approved from the credit card processors end, you may continue with your big sale!

For more, visit Credit Card Processing and Merchant Account Services

Cash advance for merchant accounts is the same as advancement of loan to any business or individual, that is to be returned within a short and preset time-frame. The difference in case of Merchant accounts is that the cash advance is offered to them on their credit card processing volume. Which means that a Merchant Cash Advance Provider purchases a percentage of their future Visa/MasterCard/American Express and Discover receipts and provides them with a cash advance upfront. Hence, the merchant cash advance is not really a loan at all. It is the purchase of specified amount of card sales that are yet to come.

The cash advance availed by any merchant is usually directed as working capital for
Advertising

• Equipment
• Renovations
• Expansion
• Inventory
• Taxes
• Working Capital
• Emergencies

The cash advance provider contracts with the merchant account provider, so as to receive paybacks from the merchant. However, some merchants may not be eligible for a cash advance owing to their low sales volume, time processing with their merchant account provider, or services that they offer.

The cash advance provider receives payments from the merchant service either via Automated Clearing House (ACH) or “batch-splitting”. In ACH, the amount corresponding to the percentage of sales pledged to the cash advance provider, is transferred by the merchant account provider from the merchant’s bank account. In batch-splitting, the merchant allows the Merchant Account Provider to forward the agreed upon percentage directly to the Merchant Cash Advance Provider’s account. The rest of the money is then deposited into the merchant’s bank account.

The repayment plan of merchant cash advance is such that the Merchant Cash Advance Provider will receive their money usually on a daily basis, as the percentage of sales is transferred on a daily basis. The drawback is only that if agreed upon retrieval percentage rate is more than your mark -up rate, you will not be able to meet expenses. This in turn will put you in the risk of going out of business.

Merchant Cash Advance Providers offer the convenience of not requiring a lot of paperwork. No personal collateral is required either, and the entire process of application to receiving funds takes no more than a week. Also, a merchant will not be allowed to switch merchant service providers during the term of the cash advance.

Before signing up, verify with your merchant account provider about their regulations, when it comes to Merchant Cash Advance Providers.

For more, visit Credit Card Processing and Merchant Account Services

Wireless processing on a PC is now made easy with a processing software that can be easily set up on a laptop with a card reader, and a wireless or cellular PC card. The end-result is a processing solution with advanced abilities than any other off the shelf wireless terminal.

Here are the pre-requisites for setting up PC Charge Pro powered wireless solution. You need:

• A Computer or laptop
• PC Charge Pro software
• PC compatible card reader
• Wireless LAN PC card or cellular PC card
• Merchant account that can incorporate PC Charge for processing over the Internet.

Known for its powerful features and performance, PC Charge Pro is the best PC based processing program on the market. Priced quite reasonably, it is very easy to use, and is compatible with just about every processing platform out there. The merchant has the option of either manually entering customer information into the program, or the same is made possible by simply swiping customers’ cards into the program by using the card reader. PC Charge is also PCI / CISP compliant with good support for one year, which is now included with each license.

The System requirements for PC Charge Pro include:

• PC with Microsoft Windows 98, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, or Windows 2003 Server
• 64 MB minimum of RAM, 256 MB preferred
• 30 MB free space on hard drive, 100 MB recommended
  CD-ROM drive
• Merchant Account
• 400 MHz or higher processor
• Microsoft Internet Explorer v.6 or higher installed
• Latest Microsoft service pack updates installed.

The important features of PC Charge Pro are as follows:

• It is certified with all major credit/debit/gift card and check processors.
• The software solution accepts all major Credit Cards, Debit Cards, EBT, Purchasing Cards (Level II),
• Gift/Loyalty Cards, and Check Verification, Guarantee & Conversion.
• Can be used with Dial-up Modem (Direct Connection), TCP /IP (Leased Line), TCP/IP (Internet), TCP/IP (ISDN).
• It supports customer database capabilities, card readers, PIN pads, and check readers
• It allows you to schedule payment processing according to your specific business requirements.
• It supports single or multiple users
• It may be used for stand-alone, client-server or integrated solutions.
• Robust and customizable reporting features

A wireless set-up with PC Charge Pro is perfect in speed and usability. It is an excellent processing method that works great for all business types, including brick-and-mortar merchants, e-Stores, and (mail-order/telephone order) shops .

For more, visit Credit Card Processing and Merchant Account Services

Whatever be your business, you may experience employee theft, where the wrongful taking of information and even customers is not uncommon. It is your job to control the same. However, with the help of technological advancements, unscrupulous employees do not miss a chance to do away with the credit information of customers. It has been discovered that 30% of all bankruptcies are due to employee theft. Employment screening can go a long way in avoiding employment of thieves. A clearly stated policy on both theft and on the disposition of rejected or scrap product should reduce theft within your company. It is probably impossible, however, to eliminate it altogether.

Read on to learn about some typical ways employees can perpetrate credit card fraud:

An employee accepting credit cards at the payment counter may commit fraud by issuing credits to his own credit card or to that of an accomplice’s.

Secondly, it is very easy for employees to simply pocket receipts left behind by cardholders or to simply make a note of the card numbers on a piece of paper. Try using credit card processing terminals that truncate the card number on the customer’s receipt. this will be a great help in avoiding credit card fraud.

Dishonest employees have been known to use a small battery operated device called a “card skimmer”, that allows one to steal valuable information right off a customer’s card. This hand-held device reads a card’s magnetic stripe and records the cardholders data for late download to a computer. From there, the numbers can be used to make unauthorized purchases or create counterfeit cards.

Tips to minimize Employee Fraud

Active supervision of credit card processing on a daily basis.
use password protection for the credit function on the credit card processing terminal.
Keep the credit card terminal out of reach of employees during non-business hours.
File all credits with their respective internal documentation of customer information (name, and contact information) and reason for return or dispute.
Match credits to returned or disputed goods or services, verify with customers that they did actually return / dispute goods or services.

Instead of just one person reviewing monthly merchant service provider and bank statements, have an entire team scrutinize everything.

Review any credit card processing batches with negative dollar amounts (more credits than sales).
Track credits by card number, terminal number, employee, frequency, and dollar amount (exception based reporting).

Review any volume spikes in credit / return / dispute activity.
Inquire about additional products or reports available for review of credit card processing transaction detail, i.e., Merchant Connect Premium.
Protect your passwords and verify internal access controls for online account reporting, and checking account change requests.

For more, visit Credit Card Processing and Merchant Account Services

An ISO or an Independent Sales Organization, is an entity that acts more or less as middle men, helping formulate a Bank or Bank/Processor alliance. Within such an arrangement, an ISO has an agreement to sell the services of the Bank or Bank/Processor alliance, and is allowed to mark up the Fees and sign up merchants. Also known as a Member Service Provider (MSP), an ISO procures new merchant relationships for the specific bank. ISOs generally recruit Merchant Level Salespeople (MLS) to solicit merchants. MLS comprise of independent contractors who work for upfront commissions and the right to receive ongoing monthly residuals for the accounts they refer to the ISO.

Most merchants buy their processing services from an ISO and the ISOs buy their processing services from a backend processor. However, depending on the situation there can be a very different split between the responsibilities of the ISO and the processor. Each ISO is classified depending on how much of the responsibility they take:

Tier I ISO: Also known as Super ISO, Wholesale ISO, Full Liability ISO, and Full Service ISO, a Tier I ISO always does its own underwriting and risk-assessment and bears full chargeback liability for their merchants and provide full technical support to their merchants. Tier I ISOs usually have at least 10 salespeople and a few support staff.

Tier II ISO: These are shared liability ISOs. More often than not, they do not do their own underwriting, or at least are subject to underwriting approval from the ISO or processor with which they are contracted. With considerable technical support capabilities, they also have the support from the ISO or processor with which they are contracted. They are called a shared-risk ISO because they usually bear a portion of the chargeback risk of their merchants.

Tier III ISO: These usually comprise of only a few salespeople. With no technical support to provide to merchants, Tier III ISOs also do not not bear any chargeback risk. Since they don’t bear any chargeback risk, they are subject to the underwriting guidelines of the ISO or processor with which they have contracted.

Implications:

1. Do not go with a Tier I ISO only because they offer their own technical support and underwriting. Instead, your business might be better off going with a Tier III ISO that really cares about your business and contracts with a Tier I ISO for technical support. So, while you’re paying Tier III for services , you still get the technical support usually associated with Tier I.

2. While Tier I ISOs do more work, in exchange, they tend to keep a larger portion of each transaction for themselves than the Tier II ISOs. Similarly, Tier II ISOs keep a large portion of the transaction in comparison to the Tier III ISOs. Tier I and Tier II ISOs have more room to negotiate lower pricing, especially for larger clients.

For more, visit Credit Card Processing and Merchant Account Services

Internet merchant account is today an integral part of e-commerce, central to the building of any successful online business, yet it remains the least understood and perhaps the most delicate component. Anyone running an online business for some time can vouch for the importance of a merchant account and tell you from experience what all is at stake in selecting a merchant account provider. One wrong move or lousy selection, and you may just get tangled in a plethora of complications and unexpected log-terms costs. Remember that in case of accepting credit cards online, there is always more than what meets the eye. The effort to understand the wider issues before committing with a provider will reap rich pay-offs.

More often than not, retail business owners, wanting to move online, do not bother to study the differences in selling in a storefront and in an online enterprise. They simply want to jump on the bandwagon and start selling. This ignorance makes them focus on one merchant account issue-discount rate. The discount rate is the flat percentage taken from each credit card transaction by your merchant account provider. A reasonable rate is important. Unfortunately, many merchants never look beyond the discount rate to analyze other charges, fees and limits. Also, online selling demands high levels of customer service. A merchant needs to constantly be on a look out for reputable providers and focus on issues like how the provider of choice performs risk assessment on your business.

Shady solutions offered by providers are common on the Internet. Credit card processing services may try to sell the one-size-fits-all merchant accounts, something you should be careful of. Every business has it’s special requisites, and your merchant account must fulfill them all. Hence, selecting the right provider-one that balances integrity and affordability- can be a daunting task.

Complaints lodged against merchant account providers all have a familiar ring: sudden rate increases, long-term lock-in contracts, undisclosed fees and add-on charges, high monthly minimums, heavy rolling chargeback reserves, punishing chargeback fees, and surprise limits imposed upon your monthly revenue intake. A common adjunct to these problems is, quite logically, the inability to contact a customer service department when limits or complications grind business to a halt.

Ultra-low rates do not necessarily make for merchant friendly policies. If you come across an offer that seems surprisingly cheap, scrutinize the rates critically and look at the total picture-from chargeback policies to monthly minimums to transaction fees. Read the small print to locate any hidden charges and look for ways a provider can ‘pad your bill’ with add-on fraud protection charges or ‘gateway’ fees. And make sure their structure corresponds comfortably with your business model and pricing strategy. Overnight approval, unsolicited e-mails ads and greedy pop-up application forms should also serve as warning signals.

For more, visit Credit Card Processing and Merchant Account Services

Equipment and payment terminals are required to meet the needs of merchants everywhere. You can choose among countertop, integrated and stand-alone payment terminal models, each offering support for a variety of payment options to fit into specific merchant environments. Go for equipment that is fast, efficient, capable of capturing payment information at the point of sale and quickly transferring it from the merchant counter to the payment network for approval.

Here is some advice for you to consider before making a decision on your credit card processing equipment:

Avoid terminal leases – Avoid leasing credit card terminals as they are almost always a bad deal. The times when credit card processing had just started, credit card terminals were expensive and small and mid-sized business did not have a choice but to lease the required piece of machinery. These days, the simple kinds of credit card terminals that most merchants need only cost a few hundred dollars. When you lease you usually end up paying about 4 times the actual price.

Terminals can be reprogrammed to match different Merchant Account providers- If for some reason you decide to change your merchant account provider, it does not mean that you have to invest another lump sum in purchasing a credit card terminal. Almost all terminals that are in use today can be easily reprogrammed over the phone for free to get them up and running with the new processor. So, there is no reason for you to feel locked-in and not change your provider only because of the false notion that you will have to spend extra on new equipment. The old one shall work just fine!

Invest in a PIN-pad and encourage your customers to use it as much as possible. Most credit card terminals have easy and cheap ($100) add-ons that allow you to accept customer PIN numbers. When the customer types in the PIN it becomes an “Online Debit” transaction and travels over a different (cheaper) network. By getting the customer to type in their PIN you will reduce your transaction cost by about 50%, which will quickly pay for the cost of the PIN-pad.

Merchant Account Providers that are advertising free terminals - Be very skeptical of Merchant Account Providers that are advertising free terminals. Nothing in life is truly free and these deals always come with a catcmaih. Such contracts will have a higher cancellation fee, higher startup fee, higher discount rate, or something.

For more, visit Credit Card Processing and Merchant Account Services

Dealings with credit cards is very risky in which one needs to be really careful while undertaking such deals. A little mistake can even land you in a major problem. Credit Card Verification confirms whether your customer is authorized to use a credit card account or not. It authenticates the user’s link to the card in real time to avoid transaction processing delays and potential fraud. Credit Card Verification is the only tool that verifies a complete credit card number against a consumer’s full name and address.

The Card Verification Method, or CVM comprises of a 3 or 4-digit numeric code that is printed at the back of the credit card along with the credit card number, where the card holder signs in his signature on the card. This additional 3 or 4 digit numeric code is not embossed on the card nor available in the magnetic stripe. This additional 3 or 4 digit is code is featured / incorporated on all Master Cards and Visa cards issued worldwide, including cards ‘Valid only in India and Nepal’.

It is the Credit Card Verification that ensures a balance transfer request is legitimate and that the account receiving funds actually belongs to the person requesting the balance transfer or not. Credit card verification is safe, easy to use method for safe credit card transmissions.

In the process of credit card verification, the customer is required to give the information to the merchant. The merchant then transmits the data along with the merchant ID code to a clearing house. The data is transmitted by reading the card and merchant numbers over the phone, by using a credit card POS terminal, or by using CCVS or some other piece of software to transmit the information from a computer.

The clearing house acts as a bank that verifies that the charge is accepted or not. In case it is accepted, the clearing house then sends a confirmation message to the merchant. At the same time, the available credit from the customer’s card is frozen by the amount of the transaction. Once the merchant and the clearinghouse agree on the day’s transactions, the clearinghouse starts the process of transferring the money from the credit card bank to the merchant’s bank account.

For more, visit Credit Card Processing and Merchant Account Services

With technological growth and advancement, there has undoubtedly been much progress when it comes to credit card terminals. However, do we really need to upgrade our credit card terminals just because there are new features available, regardless of whether we need them or not? I think not! It does not take much technology to process credit cards.

Unless you are processing credit cards over an Ethernet / IP connection, the simplest terminals are still the best choice for most businesses. The latest terminals with loads of features and abilities also come at a high price. Unless all those features are going to be of good use to you, a huge investment close to $500 is a sheer waste of money. Instead, older and simpler terminals that are available for less than $200 cater to almost all credit card processing requirements, are durable and perfectly acceptable. These terminals all have thermal printer, can accept PIN pads, smart card readers, check readers, contact-less readers, and just about any other peripheral that you need.

Here are two terminals under $200 that can do everything except processing over an IP connection,handling some more advanced processing applications which most businesses will never need.

Nurit 2085:The Nurit 2085 is exceptionally user friendly and very fast due to its high-speed built-in thermal printer that eliminates the need for costly ribbon replacement, thus substantially reducing mechanical malfunction and increasing transaction speed. The NURIT’s large, high-contrast alphanumeric LCD display and menu-driven software, together with four programmable function keys, allow the user to access every feature of the terminal easily and quickly.

Hypercom T7P / T7 Plus: The HypercomT7P is designed for merchants moving to data capture and debit applications. It features an integrated modular impact or quiet thermal printer. The T7P can read all types of credit, debit, check and charge cards and an external PIN pad can be attached for supporting cardholder entry of PIN numbers. Dedicated function keys allow one-step operation of everyday processes. The price/performance benefits of the T7P include savings on user training, reduced telephone line costs and shorter processing and settlement times. The T7P also accommodates new software applications demanded by the marketplace which can be remotely downloaded from a sophisticated Terminal Management System.

For more, visit Credit Card Processing and Merchant Account Services