Information on Merchant Accounts,
Ecommerce and Credit Card Processing

October 6th, 2022 by J B

Tis the season, for seasonal businesses

Filed in: Merchant Accounts | 1 comment

The seasonal ramp-up is about to begin and for many businesses that means opening for the first time in months, or even expanding operations for seasonal events. If you are a seasonal business or looking to expand your existing business for trade shows and events over the coming months now is the time to start getting prepared. It seems that every year there are many businesses caught off guard by the rapidly approaching sales cycle, so we wanted to put out a reminder to get your payments system tested and operational before its crunch time.

Where to start:

We recommend that you start doing these things at least 2 weeks before you plan to start processing. Finding out that you have payment issues a few days before an event may not be enough time for an adequate resolution. If you find out that your account has been closed due to inactivity, or that a payment device has decided it’s taken its last transaction, you want to have extra time.

If your business is seasonal and your processor supports seasonal closures, or you fully close your account at the end of your season, you will want to touch base with your provider and make sure your account is seasonally opened and ready for transactions.

Once you believe your account to be ready to process then it’s time to test the specific devices that you will be using for events and seasonal expansion. The idea is to test not only if the device works, but also your and your employee’s understanding of the device so you can work out any issues ahead of game time.

Device Testing:

We recommend powering up your devices and connecting them at your business or home and processing a few test transactions and a couple of batches. It’s important to not just run a few sales and a batch and then call it a day. Run a couple of sales, process a void, then settle. Then start again with a couple of sales and process a return, then settle. You want to keep these under $1.00 per transaction. Personally, I prefer to start with a $0.01 transaction and increase that transaction by $0.01 on each additional sale. I know it will cost you a dollar or two in testing, but better to spend a couple of dollars confirming everything now, than scrambling at the last minute.

Next is testing your ability to connect your device to different networks whether that’s your own network, wireless hot spot, phone network, or a connection provided by a venue. Setting up at an event or prepping for a seasonal rush is exciting yet nerve-racking and is generally enough to deal with on its own. You don’t want to be calling tech support on top of everything else you will be handling.

You will want to confirm with any venue what connectivity options are available and make sure your device supports at least one of those options. When at an event I always recommend getting an ethernet drop if they give you the option and your device supports ethernet. I know sometimes the venues charge ridiculous rates for a data drop, however, I have seen it time and time again when a venue overloads a WiFi network, and some devices are just not able to process.

Once you know what connectivity option(s) you have, you need to make sure you understand how to set your devices to communicate on each of those options. Again, a couple of weeks before the event is the best time to contact tech support and confirm what connectivity options your devices have and learn how to quickly and effectively switch between connectivity options.

Ethernet and/or WiFi Devices:

Ethernet is normally the easiest as you just plug a cable into your device. That said, if your device normally operates on Wifi, you need to know how to switch between the two connection types as needed. You should practice connecting to different WiFi and Ethernet networks, so that you are not trying to figure it out while at an event. This is a small thing that catches many merchants off guard every year. At the office their device is plugged into ethernet, then they get to an event and can’t figure out how to connect to WiFi or vice versa. Having this down will prevent a lot of trouble for you.

Dial-up only Devices:

It’s time for a new device. Dial-up is a handy backup to other connectivity types. Dial-up has its own unique sets of issues and is arguably the worst possible connection. I know a few hundred dollars can be a lot for a new device, but it could be the difference between a successful show and a complete failure.

That said, if you are short on time and you have to go with a dial-only device, confirm what settings your device will need to communicate. Some venues will require your device to dial a 9 before the phone number to reach an outside line. Some venues may have other requirements that you need to know prior to the event how to have your terminal configured so it works when you arrive.

Cellular Devices:

For merchants using a cellular device, go to the venue and make sure your device works at the venue prior to the event if at all possible. If you can get inside the venue and get to where your booth is before testing, that is ideal. Keep in mind that cellular networks can get congested when you have a ton of people in one area, so if the venue offers some other form of data connection we recommend taking them up on that offer. You want additional communication options available to you if the cell networks get congested. You will also need to know how to change your terminal from Celluar to WiFi or Ethernet before going to the event. If you don’t know how to do that, call tech support prior to going to the event and practice changing that setting in the terminal so you know what to do if the need arises.

Backup Plan:

Have a backup plan or two or three. Things are going to come up, terminals are going to die, and cell networks are going to be overloaded. You can’t plan for every possibility but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be planning at all. Keep in mind most any processor would love to help you plan prior to being at an event, so take your ideas to your processor if you need help implementing them. Below are a few backup plan ideas.

Have a second terminal or device that is ready to process.

A backup device won’t fix communication issues, but it can save you if your terminal goes down. It doesn’t have to be a new device, if you have an older device just laying around ask your processor if it can be set up as a backup.

Establish an account with an additional processor.

This comes back down to options. Setting up a secondary processing platform can be a game changer. Don’t feel like you need to set up with two full-service processors. If you are a full-service customer that’s great, but there are many other services you can have at the ready that don’t cost you much or anything monthly to have ready. PayPal, Venmo, Cash App, Square, etc. are all great options. Even if you use one of those vendors as a primary vendor, set up a second one as a backup.

If you are with a full-service merchant provider for improved pricing, then yes sales you run on your backup system are probably going to cost you more. That said it’s better to spend a little more on each transaction to get through an event than to miss out on opportunities.

The more connectivity options the better:

It was stated earlier, but make sure you have as many connectivity options as possible. One overlooked option that can work with WiFi and sometimes with Ethernet devices is a wireless hotspot. Most smartphones today can act as a wireless hotspot. If the venue’s network goes down, switch your terminal over to your phone’s wireless hotspot.

You can also go to your wireless carrier a purchase a dedicated wireless hotspot.

Seasonal Recap:

Seasonal business comes down to preparation, and while you won’t ever be prepared for everything, you can certainly set yourself up for success. When it comes to your payment systems you need to remember 4 main things. 1. Confirm your account is in good standing and that your device(s) are performing properly. 2. Make sure you know how to switch between communication modes and networks. 3. Know what communication options will be available at an event. 4. Always have some backup plans.

Our next blog entry is our annual fraud prevention tips to remind businesses what they can do to protect themselves from the few bad actors out there who like to take advantage of the holiday rush.

We hope you all have a successful and joyous holiday season.


September 14th, 2022 by J B

ACH Debit – A payment method that many businesses are missing out on.

Filed in: Merchant Accounts |

ACH Debit? Just hear me out.

I understand that most businesses don’t accept checks or any sort of bank drafting as payments right now. That said with its affordability I think it’s an option to be aware of. If you can work it into your payment options you can see a sizeable drop in your total processing costs when compared to credit cards.

For retail brick-and-motor stores this may not be a fit, however, I have seen several companies come up with unique ways of using ACH Debits. One such store offers a monthly payment option to their top customers, allowing them to run a tab at the store. Similarly, I have seen small independent gas stations offer this option to near buy businesses to allow those businesses to pay monthly for the fuel costs of their fleet. I am not recommending you offer monthly payment options to your customers, I am just using the above as one creative idea that works for a few businesses.

There are certainly businesses that ACH would be an easy fit for. Any business that invoices their customers can easily add ACH as an option for their customers. Any business with recurring payments can quickly and easily add recurring ACH as a payment option.

Even we use recurring ACH to offer same-as-cash payment options to our merchant base when they are purchasing point-of-sale equipment.

ACH Debit is a cost-effective tool in your payments tool chest. If you get creative with it you might find ways to use it to lower your overall payment costs while providing your customers with additional options.

What can I do with ACH Debit?

You can debit your customer’s bank accounts. These can be one-time or recurring payments of any length. You can also store your customer’s bank records securely in your account so you don’t have to ask for payment details for future transactions. You can even send invoices to customers and allow them to pay that invoice by ACH directly from the invoice.

How Inexpensive?

Depending on what options you want available you are looking at a monthly cost of between $10.00 and $25.00. From there processing fees are probably around 1.00% + $0.30 per transaction. Even lower in many cases. Compare that to your credit card fees.

What do I need to look out for?

You are going to have to figure out if and how this could fit into your business. For some that is going to be easy and obvious for others, it also just might not be a fit.

You also have to realize that processing bank-to-bank transactions are not the same as a credit card payment. There are different rules, they may be differences in funding times, and there will be differences in dispute resolutions. That is something we can go over in detail prior to the setup process.

There are also add-on services that can make you check or ACH service cost more than credit cards. For instance, processing using a Guarantee service may be cost-prohibitive. Guarantee is where the processor guarantees the funds on any check they approve and will handle the collection of checks that do not clear. As you can imagine this service can get costly.

You also need to be aware of other potential fees like Returned Items Fees, Reversal Fees, and Settlement Fees. These are generally flat transaction fees like $0.30 per occurrence. These fees are small but should be clearly outlined in any agreement.

Conclusion

ACH Debit has an intriguing price point, and the setup is quite easy. If it’s a good fit for your business then you should really look into adding this payment option especially if you can move at least $1000 per month in volume to ACH.


August 16th, 2022 by J B

Where do my processing fees go?

Filed in: Merchant Accounts |

Did you know that generally speaking most of your credit card processing fees go to the bank that issued your customer’s credit card? Some of your fees go to the systems and platforms that help you process those payments. Finally, another portion of those fees goes directly to the card brands, like Visa and MasterCard. Most businesses receive their monthly statement and never realize where their fees are going or why.

Let’s start with the banks that issue credit cards. There is an underlying cost that issuers charge processors for moving money called Interchange. In the simplest terms interchange is a matrix of more than 800 card and charge type combinations each possibly having different rates. Those rates range from 0.05% + $0.21 to 3.25% & $0.10 per transaction. This pricing is the same for all processors industry-wide and is normally adjusted twice per year. Interchange makes up the vast majority of all transactional costs for processors and merchants. For a more complete explanation of interchange check out our What is Interchange blog post.

Likely the second highest set of costs to a merchant are the fees from the processor. While these fees seem like they go with just one single entity that is not always the case. There are generally multiple platforms involved in the authorization and settlement portions of a transaction as well as those systems assisting in the transaction process. Each system, even if it’s owned by the same company, takes a small part of each transaction. What’s left after Interchange, platform fees, and card brand costs is what the processor retains. Then that money is often split between multiple entities, however, for this example, we are going to consider them all as just the processor.

Finally, we get to the card brand fees, which are mostly covered in the interchange tables however they are considered separate by people in the industry since there are potentialy other fees that are not included and because depending on an accounts setup these fees may be passed through or eaten by the processor. These fees are likely to be the smallest portion of the processing costs that a merchant will experience. While these fees are relatively small they still make up a decent portion of your processing fees. In some cases, a processor might have these fees bundled into your cost so they are not displayed on your monthly statement however they are factored into your cost as a merchant.

Those are the basics of where your money is going when you pay processing fees. Many merchants assume that their processor has the most control over lowering their cost, and in a way they are correct. The processor seems to have control over what the merchants’ costs are. That said there are things merchants can do in a lot of cases to reduce their processing fees without even contacting their processor. Check out our article on how to lower fees without contacting your payment processor. Do keep in mind that flat rates and some tiered structures may prevent you from receiving the maximum potential savings. For more information on processor fees, you might want to take a look at our article on how to tell if your processing fees are out of control.


August 2nd, 2022 by J B

Is PCI Compliance Worth it?

Filed in: Merchant Accounts |

At its heart PCI requirements are a set of standards designed to make sure all companies in the payment chain are handling cardholder data in a secure environment. Having a structured requirement like PCI can feel like a burden to many small businesses however it pails in comparison to the burden of operating in a world without it. PCI was once explained to me as something that can’t make a business completely secure, however, it will assist businesses to take small incremental steps in securing their businesses. Sure a business might get through the Self Assessment Questionaire the first year and still not have implemented most of the best practices, however, if they implement a few each year they are going to be big strides over time.

At the time I thought that was a fair point, however, the person telling me worked for the company getting paid to handle compliance. That said over the years we have seen our customer base become much savvier about securing their customer’s data. Sure there are still questions in the Self Assessment Questionnaire(SAQ) that seem to stump everyone, but the fact they get stumped means they are thinking about the questions. People who blindly guess at answers don’t tend to get stumped.

Over the years PCI has prevented fraud, which is something you can’t really quantify. I know for many PCI seems like a pain, but have a breach as a small business and see how your customers respond to it… See how burdensome your payment processing becomes with fines and additional requirements. Most businesses don’t realize that PCI has likely already prevented an issue in their business. Maybe you can find a merchant who claims to have never done PCI and they don’t know a thing about it, but I bet you can still find ways that PCI has helped that merchant. From changes made in computer network hardware, the merchant’s own payment device(s), how the other businesses in the area operate, and of course, changes made at the processor level.

To this day I am still not thrilled about the PCI process. The SAQs are generally to long, some questions incomprehensible, and the vulnerability scan is way outside the scope of many merchants. I wish all of those things would change for the better, however, looking back on PCI since it originally came out in late 2004 I have to say even as complicated as it is, it seems to have done a lot of good.

If you are one of the businesses that gave up on trying to complete your PCI, I recommend you give it another go. PCI support as improved industry-wide and the benefits over time greatly outway the hour or two of annoyance. I agree it’s definitely not as good as it could be for small businesses, but it still beats the alternative.


July 14th, 2022 by J B

What is interchange?

Filed in: Merchant Accounts | 1 comment

If you have a merchant account then you have likely heard the term interchange, but many don’t quite understand what it is, how it works, and why it matters. We are going to generally cover the basics of interchange so everyone has a basic understanding of what it is and how it works. First, let’s start off simple.

Simple Explanation:

Interchange defines what card issuing banks charge payment processors for moving funds. It is set across the payments industry so all payment providers have the same interchange costs. It is also the prevailing cost to payment providers when looking at transactional expenses. Rates and fees merchants pay may not explicitly state the interchange cost however it is baked into the fees charged to merchants when processing payments.

Let’s dig in some more:

Interchange is best represented as a matrix and is made up of more than 800 different card types and card type combinations. Each combination may have its own rate generally speaking between 0.05% + $0.21 to 3.25% + $0.10 per transaction.

Card types refer to not only the band the card is associated with, like Visa or MasterCard, but also include it is credit or debit, or what program the card is associated with. MasterCard World Elite and MasterCard Business World Elite are two different card types and their transactions may be processed at different interchange costs.

Charge types refer to the different factors involved when running a particular transaction. There are many factors that can come into play, the most basic being, if a transaction was keyed in or processed via EMV, or if address verification was attempted. That said it could include the type of business processing the card as well as how old the authorization was before it settled. You can imagine where this could get very complicated. For example, you could take the same card twice and the interchange cost on that transaction could be different each time just due to differences in how you had to accept that card. Or two different businesses could accept the same card the same way and end up with different interchange rates. Couple that with all of the different card types and you end up with a mess of combinations.

There are some interchange combinations that do not appear at first glance to fit into the rate range mentioned above. For example, GSA Large Ticket has an interchange rate of 1.20% + $39.00 that said it’s a very specific type of government transaction, and while a $39 transaction fee seems crazy you have to note that it only applies to sales over $5,900 which is equivalent to 0.66% on top of the 1.20%.

Costs Trickle Down:

What many merchants seem to miss is that the interchange costs trickle down. It doesn’t matter what pricing structure a merchant has, the interchange fees are covered by the merchant. Sure you may have a flat percentage fee for EMV transactions, but rest assured interchange was already calculated in. Also if a large enough group of merchants is doing things that cause the effective interchange cost to increase enough the payment provider will just adjust the pricing accordingly. At the end of the day, it’s in everyone’s best interest to process payments effectively as reasonably possible.

If you can accept payments in person EMV and NFC-based transactions are going to get you started down the most cost-effective road. Make sure you are settling your transactions at the end of each day, as authorization that has aged over 24 hours may result in a higher interchange cost.

If you are eCommerce or a business that keys all of its sales you will want to make sure you are using address verification and CVV.

In addition, make sure your processor is doing what it can to help you lower your interchange costs. Some processing systems, like our own, look at the transaction data to see if it can provide additional information at the time of settlement to shift transactions into a lower-cost interchange category. For some merchants, this can generate significant savings.

Interchange Padding

While the interchange tables are the same for all processors the cost to the merchant isn’t always the same. Some payment providers use a technique that many refer to as interchange padding. This questionable practice is used to make the fees charged by the processor appear smaller. Basically, the processor makes it look like they are passing interchange costs directly to the merchant, but in reality, they are inflating those costs on the merchant’s statement. To the merchant, it looks like they are paying true interchange when they are not. This is most commonly seen on interchange plus, or cost plus, fee structures. While it is somewhat rare to run into this these days it still happens.

In order to see if there is interchange padding on your account, you have to look up each card and charge type you were billed for and compare it against the current interchange table.

If you find discrepancies its worth a call to your processor to ask about it. It could be you are not looking at the correct card and charge type. This is common as the merchant statements generally use vague descriptions of the charge type which can make things difficult to look up. If you find the processor is padding interchange I would recommend shopping around.

Keep in mind this is generally not something your sales agent would have control of and may not even realize is going on. If you have an agent you have been working with it’s a good idea to point these practices out to them. At the end of the day, most agents don’t want to be associated with such practices, and bringing it to their attention will help them in the long run. Plus if you have a good agent you have been working with they likely will be able to assist you in shopping around.

Visa and MasterCard’s Interchange Tables

The interchange tables are published publicly for everyone to see. Here are the most recent Visa and MasterCard tables I was able to find with a quick web search.

https://www.mastercard.us/content/dam/public/mastercardcom/na/us/en/documents/merchant-rates-2022-2023-apr22-2022.pdf

https://usa.visa.com/content/dam/VCOM/download/merchants/visa-usa-interchange-reimbursement-fees.pdf


June 28th, 2022 by J B

Let’s get back to basics. The basics of a payment device.

Filed in: Merchant Accounts |

Over the years I have trained thousands of merchants on the basic functions of their payment devices. In many cases I found myself training people who had been using the payment device for years not knowing the difference between a void and a return. Looking back at our past blog posts I realized that we had never covered the four basic functions of a payment device. So that is exactly what we are going to cover today, and you might just learn something new that will save you time and a few dollars on your processing fees.

We are not going to get into the specifics of any one credit card terminal or Point of Sale system, since the operations of each system are different. However, these core functions of a payment device are so fundamental to payment processing that these operations should be easily accessible on your own device. The goal is to help you have an understanding of what these functions are and how, why, and when to use them.

The following are the training basics that I provided every merchant during my time in customer service and technical support. This information is a great place to start when training the people in your business.

The Basics:

There are 4 basic functions of every payment device: Sales, Voids, Settlements (batching), and Returns. In order to learn how and when to use each of these functions, first, we also need to understand the transaction life cycle.

Sales: When processing credit cards, there are two steps to the transaction: authorization and capture. When you select the Sale function on your payment device and process a transaction, the device communicates through the network to obtain an approval. If an approval is received, the device will store the approval code and flag that transaction for capture later in the day. At this point funds have not yet been moved, they have just been reserved for the business. This is typically the time when a cardholder might see a transaction as pending when looking at their online banking.

Voids: The merchant has the ability to make adjustments to any transactions that have been authorized but not yet captured. This is primarily used by restaurants with a tip line on the receipt, however, this also allows the merchants a chance to void a transaction if a mistake was made. The benefit to voiding is that funds are not transferred and therefore you are not charged the discount rate for that transaction. Keep in mind you will still have to pay the transaction fees, however, you will avoid paying the percentage charged on that transaction.

Settlements: At the end of the day, your terminal will need to be Settled (batched). This is the function that captures and finalizes the transaction in your payment device and starts the process of moving funds between the cardholders and your bank. Once settled, a transaction cannot be changed in any way. In most retail businesses the settlement process is automatic, however, you still need to review your settlement reports daily to verify that the settlement was closed successfully. This process is not always automatic and for some industry types, it is normal for a processor to not allow auto settlement. Whether automatic or manual, you should be verifying that the settlement report shows it has been successfully completed as this is what starts moving the funds to your account.

If there is any sort of error, or you are unsure if a batch closed, you need to reach out to your payment processor as this will cause delays in funding. It is also important to keep in mind that the settlement date is the date that will ultimately show up on the card holder’s statement and that any authorization over 24 hours old could be considered a higher risk by the issuer and may cause the cost of any such transaction to increase.

Returns: Think of a return as a reverse sale. Processing a return will pull money from your current batch or bank account and send those funds to a cardholder. Just like a Sale, the return must be settled before the funds begin to move. And subsequently, you can also void a return in the instance that there was a mistake entering the return. Keep in mind most processors will not charge you a percentage rate for the returned amount, however, you have already assessed a percentage on the original sale. A few interchange categories will automatically credit you back for the original sale after a return is processed.

Quick Recap:

  • A Sale authorizes the transaction and stores it for capture.
  • A Void deletes a transaction as if it never happened, used only prior to Settlement.
  • Settlement finalizes your transactions and starts moving money.
  • A Return is the reverse of a Sale, used any time you cannot void a transaction.

Important Tips:

There are many other functions on the standard payment device, however, for most businesses, these four basics are the only ones you will likely ever use outside of talking with your payment provider. Below are a few things to remember when using your payment device and why they are important to the security of your business.

friendly shop assistant ready to take orders on pos terminal
  • Customer-facing equipment is designed to give people outside of your business the options they need to complete a transaction. The business-facing device should not be accessed by anyone outside of your business.
    • There are a few bad actors out there who could cause all kinds of issues for you if they get ahold of your device even for a moment.
  • If anyone outside of your payment provider asks you to use a function that you do not normally use, that is a HUGE signal that you need to stop the transaction or contact your payment processor immediately.
    • There is one way to run a Sale, there are multiple ways to make it appear like you ran a sale when you didn’t.
  • Do not use your payment device to accept payments on anyone else’s behalf.
    • This makes you financially responsible for not only the fees generated but for any risk or fraud-related issues.
  • If at any time during a transaction you feel like something isn’t right, it is perfectly fine to tell your customer your credit card machine is not working and to call your processor’s support team for advice.
    • You know your customers, how they act, what they purchase… It’s common to hear a merchant say “Something about that sale didn’t feel right” when we are assisting them after they have been the victims of fraud. If it doesn’t feel right, pause and consult your processor.
  • Do not run your own card for more than $1.00.
    • I know there are some legitimate times when someone might be tempted to use their own credit card at their business. The problem is it could also be viewed as using a credit card to advance your business money, which breaks all kinds of rules that could be an article on its own.

A Brief Note on Liability:

When it comes to EMV(dipped) and NFC (Current Contactless) transactions, if the business accepts a stolen credit card, the issuer assumes the liability to repay the cardholder. If a transaction is swiped or keyed, the business assumes the liability to repay the cardholder. Avoid accepting swipe and keyed sales whenever possible. While this is not going to be an option for some businesses, you need to at least be aware of the risks. Cardholder protection comes at the cost of the businesses that either issue the cards or accept the payments, and that is strictly based on how the payment was accepted.

Terminal How-To Videos

If you are looking for more information on how to use specific lines of terminals, check out our video playlists linked below.

Dejavoo Z Series Playlist

FirstData FD Series Playlist

Verifone VX Series Playlist


May 17th, 2022 by J B

Cash Discounting

Filed in: Merchant Accounts |

Many merchants have been looking to cash discounting to lower their payment processing costs because it’s a far easier way to offset processing costs than meeting the surcharging requirements. Today we are going to go over how cash discounting works and how it can help you offset your processing costs.

It may sound counter-intuitive that discounting a form of payment would help offset the setup costs of another and that’s because it is. The reality behind cash discounting is it allows the business to increase their prices across the board and then not pass that increase on to their cash-paying customers. Effectively when the merchant rings up a sale it gives them the opportunity to promote cash payments by offering a discount to the consumer. For those consumers who pay with another form of payment, they will be paying the increased prices of the goods effectively offsetting the additional cost of their form of payment.

Not only is cash a less expensive way of accepting payments, but cash payments also offer other benefits to the business. As mentioned before it gives the business an opportunity to offer a discount to their customers. Being able to offer a discount is always favorable to the consumer even if they are unable to take advantage of the discount at that time. It also promotes the use of cash by those same customers in the future helping increase the total amount of cash sales. Furthermore, gives more control of the transaction back to the business as consumers paying with cash don’t have the same protections as they would when paying with a credit card.

That doesn’t mean cash discounting is right for all businesses as there are some other sides of the coin that need to be thought about. For one thing, you are going to be increasing your prices slightly which may be a negative for some customers. Your business will be handling more cash which can mean additional bank drops, and/or a higher risk of theft. You will also need to train your staff to communicate the change effectively so cardholders don’t feel like they are being punished due to their form of payment.

Only you can decide if it’s a good fit for your business. If it is then setting up a cash discounting program is pretty simple. These days most point-of-sale systems have the ability to support it, and it’s just a matter of working with your payments and/or point-of-sale provider to set up the software correctly. Most payment providers have programs that help businesses set up and automate a cash discounting program. While this has always been an option for merchants in the past, the truth is for many it was a very manual process.

Please remember cash discounting is different than surcharging and that surcharging has very specific rules behind it. Please see our old article on Surcharging for more information. Also keep in mind that some things may have changed since the writing of the article, but the main idea of surcharging is well outlined.

If you have questions have Cash Discounting or Surcharging we are always here to assist you in any way we can. Feel free to reach out by phone or email.


May 4th, 2022 by J B

Are you breaking these credit card processing rules?

Filed in: Merchant Accounts |

When it comes to accepting credit cards there are a lot of rules and a lot of drab documentation to go with them. Many times businesses are breaking rules that they don’t even know exist. In this article, we are going to take a look at a few key rules, why they exist, and how they can affect your business.

For those of you who love really digging into rules and regulations, I have you covered as well. I have linked to the more than 1,300 pages of Visa and MasterCard rules to get you started. Spoiler alert, you will be asleep before you get through Visa’s 41-page table of contents.

Let’s jump in…

Accept All Cards

This is a band-related rule. If you accept Visa cards you must accept all types of Visa cards. The same goes for MasterCard and other card brands. Now there is some nuance depending on what country you are in, but for the most part, the rule is to accept one card from a brand you accept all cards from a brand.

It’s not good for anyone if businesses are checking cards and denying payments by customers with certain cards. Some of you might be wondering why on earth a business would do such a thing, and the truth different is cards can have higher interchange chargers than others increasing a business’s cost. Different card types may carry additional chargeback or fraud risks. While most of these are mitigated by contactless and EMV payment acceptance, not all businesses have the ability to accept payments in person.

From what I have seen merchants who try to avoid cards that they think cause higher interchange fees still end up accepting the same mix of cards, and all they have done is irritated some of their customers.

Surcharges

This is kind of a No No… The card brands would really rather you not surcharge the cardholders and it’s currently not allowed outside of the US, Australia, New Zealand, and Europe. Even where it is allowed there are conditions that have to be met before you are actually allowed to surcharge.

Here are the main requirements.

  1. Surcharging must not be prohibited in your state.
  2. You must notify the card brands and your processor 30 days prior to surcharging.
  3. You can only surcharge credit-based transactions.
  4. You can not charge more than your cost to accept the payment.
  5. You must have proper signage and notification to your customers.

If you feel like surcharging is something you want to do I would start by reviewing your current payment processing setup and understand the fees you are being charged. From there reach out to your processor, or to us, and have a discussion about the requirements, and how you can comply properly. Then think about what effect that may have on the business both from an expense and customer perspective. At that point, you will know if it’s right for you.

There are also alternative ways to offset your transaction costs that are not considered surcharging. We will go over one such option in our next article.

Minimum Transaction Amount

In the past, this was not allowed, however for the US merchants are now allowed to have a minimum transaction amount as long as it doesn’t exceed $10. Again like with Surcharges this only applies to credit transactions. You cannot put a minimum on debit transactions.

Generally, it is not a good idea to put minimums on credit card transactions, it increases friction with your customers. That said for merchants who have many small ticket items this can help to greatly reduce their effective transaction cost. Imagine someone buying a pack of gum for $0.89, and the merchant paying as much as $0.43 just to accept the payment, when a $10 transaction might cost them $0.57. The $0.89 transaction has an effective cost of almost 50% whereas the $10 charge has a cost of 5.7%. Now yes both of these scenarios are exaggerated, but they really are not unrealistic for some small ticket businesses.

Don’t Run your own credit card

I can’t stress this one enough, just don’t do it…

Why? From the perspective of the card issuer and processor, they don’t know if you are buying something from your business or if you are loaning the business money from your credit card. If it was a loan to the business then it would be subject to other rules and at minimum have to be processed as a Cash Advance. Because of this uncertainty, it’s not allowed at all, with the exception of test sales at $1.00 or less.

There is also the potential for a merchant to attempt to dispute their own credit card transaction after either depleting the bank account or taking the product. This has come up a couple of times in businesses with multiple partners or owners, where one tries to steal from the business by using the credit card network. I can assure you that it doesn’t turn out well for anyone. From held funds to termination by processors and issuers, to potentially serious legal action.

For that matter, you shouldn’t be running anyone’s card outside of your day-to-day sales operations… If you need funding for your business there are other options that are legal and don’t jeopardize your business’s ability to accept payments.

Finally, Do not run credit cards for anything for anyone else

This tends to come up when a new business wants to use another business’s payment processing because their own sales are currently too low to support a merchant account of their own. At first glance, it doesn’t seem like there would be any harm done, but the devil is in the details. For one thing, the two businesses are likely selling different products and services which changes the risk profile of the business with the merchant account. Even if they sell the same products or services some of the transactions they process will show up with the wrong business name on them causing confusion for cardholders and increasing chargeback risk. Then there are processing fees, two businesses mixing funds, and potential disputes between the two businesses sharing this account.

But those are small potatoes compared to the real risk. If you are the business owner who personally guaranteed the merchant account you carry 100% of the liability. So if the person/business that is using your merchant account starts dealing in high-risk or illegal transactions it doesn’t matter if they were the one running the cards. You and your business are the only financially responsible parties. You may even run into some personal criminal charges as well.

Please avoid this at all costs.

Are you ready for the Rules?

As promised above, 1,300+ captivating pages. All joking aside it’s actually a really good idea to know what’s in these, at least the ones that pertain to your business. There is some really good information in these documents and a lot of time and effort has been put into them. Unfortunately, the topic just isn’t very exciting.

Visa Core Rules and Visa Product and Service Rules

Mastercard Rules 2021

If you have any questions about any payment processing rules, you at least have a place a start looking. If you find your processor isn’t a great resource we are more than willing to answer or give direction on any questions that you have.


April 13th, 2022 by J B

Terminal Overview – Dejavoo QD Series

Filed in: Merchant Accounts |

Dejavoo recently released the QD series of Android-based credit card terminals and we figured it was about time to put together a brief overview.

These new QD devices use Android as their operating system, that said Dejavoo did a great job of keeping the functionality of these devices the same as the Z line of terminals. Someone can easily switch between the two different series of devices and feel right at home.

QD Family of Devices:

Dejavoo has released 5 new devices so far in this line up as listed below. While each has its specialty these devices appear to be very flexible and could work in multiple business types.

DevicePrimary FocusCommunicationAcceptance Type
QD1Rigid WirelessBluetooth, WiFi, & 4GEMV/Contactless/Swipe
QD2Mobile WirelessBluetooth, WiFi, IP, & 4G EMV/Contactless/Swipe
QD3mPOSBluetooth, WiFi, & 4G EMV/Contactless/Swipe
QD4Countertop TerminalBluetooth, WiFi, & IP EMV/Contactless/Swipe
QD5Customer Facing PINPadBluetooth, WiFi, USB, & WiFi EMV/Contactless/Swipe

First Look Thoughts: Dejavoo QD2

The QD2s that we purchased for testing are stout terminals in a form factor that is similar to the Dejavoo Z line and most of the industry. Where this device really stands out is its 5.5″ screen size. The Dejavoo software doesn’t feel cramped on smaller machines, but on this one there is so much more space. The additional space and button sizes are nice to have on a full touch screen system, especially one that you are not holding close to your face.

Battery life definitely feels like it would last all day even under load, however, I didn’t have time to run a day’s worth of business through the device. My unit came set up with the power cable and Ethernet adapter screwed in place, which is not something I would expect for a mobile device. Nevertheless, it was easy to remove a few screws and clips to set this machine up for my use case.

It’s also nice to see Dejavoo has been thinking about cable routing and management. In some of their product slicks, linked below, you can see where they are routing cables in different ways depending on the device’s purpose. From what I am seeing on the QD2 you are not just stuck with cables that are forced to come out one side of the terminal. This will make it much easier for those of you trying to keep a clean counter.

You can see in this picture I have already removed the screws, I just had not removed the cables yet.

Link: Dejavoo DQ Line Brochure

Payment Acceptance:

There isn’t much to say here, because the device has everything you need. EMV, Contactless, Swipe, Debit, and EBT if it’s a mainstream acceptance type you can process it.

I also like to point out that the contactless area is clearly identified for the consumer, as opposed to some devices that show they are contactless but you can’t ever seem to find where the reader is.

Communications:

Communication options on the entire line are wonderful. It has everything you want to see, however, there are a couple of things to note.

There is no phone port or Ethernet port integrated into the device, or at least in the QD2 I was working with. The Ethernet connection is via a USB dongle, which has its pros and cons. Yes, it’s another dongle you have to keep up with, however, it appears to be a standard USB Ethernet dongle. We purchased a random TPLink USB dongle from the local computer store and tried it on the QD2. Worked like a charm. That said not all USB dongles are going to be supported natively by Android OS.

Conclusion:

I feel like Dejavoo has another homerun device line with the QD series. These are robust payment devices that are loaded with the feature sets that businesses today need. The move to an Android-based system also opens up Dejavoo to additional options in the future, while delivering a SMART phone-style user experience. If you are in the market for a new payment device this lineup is something you definitely take a look at.

Interesting Techie Fact: Which I’m sure are not supported use cases.

Since the terminal has a single USB A connector for its USB dongle. For laughs, I connected my Logitech mouse and keyboard to it, and as expected both worked. For some reason, I couldn’t terminal to accept input from my keyboard’s 10-key.

I also tried plugging in a USB hub and was able to successfully process sales using a mouse/keyboard while also connecting via the USB Ethernet adapter.

Then I tried using the supplied Ethernet dongle on a test PC we have running windows 11. It was plug and play, Ethernet worked as soon as I plugged it in.


March 24th, 2022 by J B

Unintended consequences of a stopped payment

Filed in: Merchant Accounts |

Would you place a stop payment on your previous merchant account provider if you found out you had some absurd early termination fee?

We recently set up a new client that was referred to us. He operates a very small business that manufactures and sells a unique product that fits a growing niche. He had previously been processing with a payments provider that either set up his account incorrectly or that was purposely charging him outrageous fees. As an example when we started talking to him about signing up with us he was effectively being charged 30% in payment fees.

He was clearly not happy with that situation and was ready to find a better solution. We promptly got him set up and operational. What we found out later is his previous provider was trying to charge him a $2,000 early termination fee. When he heard about this fee he opted to do a stop payment on the couple hundred dollars in monthly fees they were charging him. Unfortunately, he didn’t realize that many payment providers use the same backend services that handle funding. So placing a stop payment on his old provider effectively placed a stop payment on us. A downside with placing a stop payment on a corporate bank account is whoever was accessing your account is no longer allowed to re-attempt any transaction to that account. It’s designed to prevent re-attempted charges which makes a lot of sense. Unfortunately, that includes deposits as well. As soon as the stop payment was received we were no longer allowed to fund that bank account.

We worked with the merchant and his bank to get this resolved as quickly as possible, but the bank was unwilling to lift the stop payment as it would allow his previous provider to access his account as well. He eventually ended up having to go through the cancelation process with his old provider and pay the early termination fee. Again during this process, we were not made aware of this early termination fee nor that he was going to place a stop payment on them. If we had been aware we may have been able to coach him on maybe getting that early termination fee lowered or removed. At the very least we could have helped him confirm if placing a stop payment would have affected our ability to make deposits into his account. Between all the hoops he ended up jumping through closing out his old account, it took 25 days for his bank to give us written permission to access his bank account.

Stop payments have their place, but should really be used as a last resort if at all possible. You should also reach out to your payments provider and ask for advice especially when it comes to another payment processor. We see all kinds of scenarios concerning bank accounts that most businesses never run into. While most people see our primary function as access to card payments a lot of what we do behind the scenes is focused on making sure our customers can stay focused on their business. Any time we can help prevent a bank issue from occurring is an excellent use of our time.

When working with payment providers feel free to be upfront and let your provider know what you are facing. A great merchant account provider will that the experience to at minimum make sure you are pointed in the right direction and can help steer your away from any pitfalls.