Interchange fee” is a term used in the payment card industry to describe a fee that a merchant’s bank (the “acquiring bank”) pays a customer’s bank (the “issuing bank”) when merchants accept cards using card networks, such as Visa and MasterCard, for purchases. Although Visa and MasterCard determine Interchange rates, the fees are not retained […]
Category: Rates and Fees
Terms to Know When Shopping for a Merchant Account
Over the past couple of weeks I have run into many merchants that feel ripped off by their merchant sales representative. Time and time again I hear “I just didn’t know what to ask for.” Like with any other purchase for your business, it is important to learn about your product. Here is a list […]
What are Non-Qualified Transactions and How Can Merchants Avoid Them
Non-Qualified: I frequently get calls from merchants who say they were quoted one rate, but claim different rates are showing up on their statements. Unfortunately, merchants can experience a rate increase or surcharge because of the type of card your customers are using, such as sky miles cards and rewards cards. Another cause of increased […]
Is Your Merchant Account Considered High Risk?
Merchant Account Considered High Risk Many financial institutions are tightening up guidelines and raising fees. These days even acquiring banks are cracking down on various business types. No company wants to take on a possible financial loss. There are merchant services providers out there that specialize in high risk business, but you have to be […]
What is PCI DSS?
Many merchants ask me this question and want to know how it will affect their business. The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is a set of requirements developed by the major credit card companies to enhance credit card data security. These requirements only apply to e-commerce merchants or merchants that are using […]
POS Security Poodle Warning!
PCI Compliance is Coming Soon June 2018 SSL encryption is a standard encryption method used for decades. A vulnerability named POODLE has been detected within SSL and is no longer PCI compliant. POODLE (Padding Oracle On Downgraded Legacy Encryption) is a vulnerability in SSL that could allow a hacker to extract data from secure online […]
Understanding Merchant Account Fees and Their Terminology
Over the past couple of weeks I have run into many merchants that feel ripped off by their merchant sales representative with regards to their merchant account fees. Time and time again I hear “I just didn’t know what to ask for.” Like with any other purchase for your business, it is important to learn […]
Preventing Chargebacks
Preventing Chargebacks, How to Do It! Even if you manage to keep your chargebacks below the 1/2 – 1% threshold, any chargeback claims – whether remedied or not – take up precious time researching what happened. I’m sure there are other ways you’d rather spend your time (like focusing on new sales). The best way to […]
What Hidden Merchant Account Fees Should You Watch Out For?
We all frequently read about various types of scams to look out for, warnings of Packet Sniffing, and stolen card numbers. The real scams to look for are the ones that are directly on your merchant account application. Merchant Account Fees seem to suddenly pop up after you have signed your agreement. One of the […]
Visa and MasterCard Make Their Money on PIN-based Debit Transactions
In previous posts I have talked about Visa and MasterCard turning to Debit and prepaid cards to re-coop money lost on defaulted credit cards. PIN-based debit transactions type of cards used to be the cheapest form of electronic payment a merchant could accept – that seems to be changing these days. It is estimated that PIN-based debit […]