Protecting Your Business

When you key in your customer’s information into the physical credit card terminal/smart phone, you’re still going to need to protect yourself if the customer later disputes the transaction.  

AVS – If your business manually keys in the card information, enter the cardholder’s billing address along with the CVV code (3 digit code found on the back of the card).  The AVS response will indicate “AVS Match” or “AVS No Match.” 

Even if the payment is approved, we strongly recommend voiding “AVS No Match” transactions and reentering the sale with the correct information to receive an “AVS Match” response. This will increase the security level of your transactions, but also keep your fees at the transaction rates quoted to you.

IMPRINTS – Any face-to-face transaction which is manually keyed MUST be imprinted.  While a manual imprinter is recommended, you may also elect to utilize the attached Imprint Form.

The chargeback process begins when your customer contacts their credit card company to dispute a charge and you as a merchant are then required to provide proof your product or service was provided and the customer gave authorization to process the transaction. 

A charge back is when the credit card company withdraws the money for a transaction from your merchant account and the funds must be held by the processor until the card companies have resolved the issue. Without proof of the transaction not only could you lose the individual transaction amount but your account will be debited a chargeback fee.

The Risk department may hold your funds if a transaction exceeds your average ticket or monthly volume parameters agreed upon in your merchant contract. By holding the funds it allows us the opportunity to verify the transaction was not processed in error and to ensure you are obtaining the proper documentation to protect yourself in the event of a chargeback.

If your account transaction is held by the Risk department because you’ve exceeded your average transactions and/or monthly volume and you provide face to face service to your customer you may be required to provide any/all of the following:

Sales Draft: Signed receipt during a swiped transaction or an IMPRINT of the credit card provided by the customer.

Invoice: Card holders name, address, and telephone number. A brief description of the goods or services involved, the transaction authorization number, the total amount of the sale including any applicable taxes, and date the services were rendered. 

Supplier Invoice: An invoice showing the most recent purchase of product(s) for business