We recent upgraded our SSL certificate to a Verisign certificate from Geocerts. I have purchased SSL certificates from several different companies over the years, and I must say that the Verisign process is something different.

One of the main reasons people use Verisign for a SSL certificate is that they are very well trusted and you get to display a Verisign logo on your website. This is also one of the main reasons that we installed the certificate, trust. As far as SSL certificates go, 128 Bit encryption is the same whether you issue the certificate on your own server, or Verisign issues it to you.

The Verisign Process:
In this case we opted for the most basic Class 3 certificate that Verisign offers. The initial process of applying for the certificate was easy enough. Generate a CSR (Certificate Signing Request) on your own web server, fill out a few information forms on the Verisign website, pay a small fortune, and hit the process button. Once the charge is completed, Verisign goes to work on validating your business and then generating your certificate.

Coming from always using instant SSL certificates, I thought the certificate would arrive in my email in about 10 minutes. I did know that Verisign had a business verification process, but I had no idea how involved it really was. Verisign checks several things to verify that your business exists, and you are who you say you are. First, your domain registration is checked to ensure it matches your business information. Next, they check phone directories to ensure that your listed phone number is registered to the company, and is a listed number. Lastly, they check to ensure that your business actually exists, and is legally registered. Only when you have meet all of their verification, will they issue a certificate.

I personally though that we had all of our ducks in a row, but I had to fax Verisign about 5 different documents before we were fully validated. After the faxes and about two days of being verified we were issued the certificate.

Overall the process was fairly smooth, and the ease of getting setup is directly dependent on having your domain name registered to your exact business name, having your business’ contact number as a listed number in phone directories, and having your business legally registered.

I will post in a few months, whether I think the certificate is worth the extra cost. We track our sales very carefully, and should have an accurate model to the any increased or decreased sales within a few months.

Something new I learned today was that newer Verifone Omni 3750 credit card terminals can come with a mobile version of McAfee virus scan installed on them. While I have never heard of a credit card terminal virus, nor have I personally seen a McAfee installed Omni, I think this is a really interesting feature that is showing someone is looking toward the future.

The way this particular virus scanning system works, is similar to the computer based McAfee. A local scanning utility is installed on the terminal, which automatically watched for viruses and other malicious scripts. This software on the terminal is automatically updated from a central McAfee server. Because of the nature of the software, it would only be necessary for Omni’s processing over a broadband connection. In this case, the terminal could be vulnerable to anything that exists on the internet. Again, I have never hear of a credit card terminal virus, but as advanced as the Omni 3750 is, I think that it could be possible for someone to target these terminals with a virus.

I will post any updates on Credit Card Terminal virus scanning if I come across them.

Link to Verifone’s McAfee information page

A new tool is now available in the tools area. The advanced merchant account fee calculator takes downgrade and other charges into account and should provide a fairly accurate estimate of the cost of processing credit cards.

Link to The Advanced Merchant Account Fee Calculator

The Verifone Omni 3740 and 3750 are able to process over the internet using a dual comm or Ethernet module. This allows the terminal to process transactions extremely quickly, and allows businesses to utilize existing internet capabilities and to avoid tying up a dedicated phone line.

This post is a simple guide to setting up a network allowing a Omni to process through it. The Omni can process on a network with just about any other hardware on it as long as the network is setup correctly. While it is fairly simple to setup the network, it can be tricky to get the omni to work smoothly right from the start. The biggest cause of failure is the Omni having an outdated software version. Once the correct software version is installed on the Omni, and the downloads are complete (may take up to 7 separate downloads for the terminal to be configured correctly), it is normally as simple as plugging the Omni in.

Requirements:
IP Based Connection (Cable Internet, DSL, T1, T3, etc)
Internet Router or Switch
Appropriate Cat 5 / Cat 5E / Cat 6 cables
Verifone Omni with Dual Comm or Ethernet Module

A simple knowledge of computer networking is helpful in setting the Omni up to process over an IP connection. Also, most processors do not have the ability to program the Omni over an IP connection, so the Dual Comm module is necessary to setup the Omni. This way, the Omni is programmed over a standard phone line, and then switched to the IP connection once it is properly programmed.

If you have broadband internet, all you really need to hook up the Omni is a router with an open port, and an Ethernet cable to connect the Omni to the router with.

Depending on the specific network, the Omni can be configured to connect to the router using DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) or with a static IP address. DHCP allows the router to assign an address to the Omni and can make setting up the entire network much easier. The IP address type and value are set in the Omni Communications Menu. This is something that should be set with the help of your processor’s tech support to avoid any problems.

As long as the Omni has the correct software versions and the downloads are completed successfully, processing over an IP connection is virtually a plug and go process. Outdated software versions, incomplete downloads and network misconfiguration can create a troubleshooting nightmare trying to get the Omni to process.

Another thing to keep in mind, is that back end processing networks still use analog technologies. An Ethernet connection is a digital connection. Your processor uses a 3rd party service to convert the digital omni transaction into an analog transaction on their end. Because of this, every omni has a unique signature and must be individually programmed with the processor and the 3rd party conversion service. While this setup is normally transparent, it can cause problems onthe back end, which your processor must clear up before the Omni can process.

Related Posts:
Convert an Omni 3740 or 3750 for Ethernet Processing
Tested routers for the Omni 3750 and other Verifone ethernet terminals

Related Information:
Setting up a simple computer network – solution 3 is recommended!

We are putting together a program so that business owners can get a breakdown of exactly what they are paying for their credit card processing from an industry professional.

Processing statements are confusing at best, and they often make absolutely no sense at all. We are providing a free, professional, objective breakdown of any businesses processing statements. We will show you exactly how much you are being charged and where you are being charged. This is a great way to find out exactly what fees you are paying and find out any miscellaneous fees, monthly fees, unnecessary fees, downgrade charges and everything else that you may not have known about.

You will need to fill out the rate analysis form and then email or fax a copy of your statements in. The location to email or fax your statements is provided once you fill out the rate analysis request.

I was clued into a great tool made by google in the google lab, by Rand of Seomoz. It’s called Google Trends and it is a system that will let a user view a graph of the search volume for a given search term over time.

Naturally, I wanted to see how the top terms relating to credit card processing look. I would consider the top terms to be: Merchant Account, Accept Credit Cards, Credit Card Machines, and Credit Card Processing. For this article I searched for the first three.

What I found was an extremely troubling and unexpected graph.

Not only was this line sloping in the exact opposite direction that I was expecting, but the slope is much steeper than I ever could have expected. I added the red line to show a linear path of the slope of the line.

Since the beginning of the chart (2004), until now (2006), there has been a linear 50% reduction in search traffic for terms relating to credit card processing. The beginning of 2004 is coincidentally when we started actively competing for these related terms, and we also began advertising with Google and Overture pay per click programs. Since the time we started, the average cost per click across all terms in our industry has at least doubled. Pay per click adversing costs, are also a decent indicator, of the amount of competition for natural traffic.

What this means for websites relating to credit card processing is that the potential customers are searching on the internet 50% less now than 2 years ago, and the competition has increased by 100% or a factor of 2. Putting this all together, the merchant services field on the internet is now 400% more competitive than it was 2 years.

I’m not sure how accurate this graph is from google, and it is in a testing area of their services. The data itself is against everything I have read and calculated about the trends of traffic on the internet. But, it is a very interesting look into two ways that competition increases in business. I am interested to see if other industries experience the same trend.

Paypal is now offering a system that lets members send payments via their mobile telephone. The system operates securely, and transactions still carry Paypal’s limited protection. There are several companies that already accept paypal mobile payments, and there are also a number of charitable organizations ready to accept donations.

What a great idea right?

Actually, I cant really see any use for a mobile payment system like this, neither as a pier to pier or a consumer to business system. Obviously, businesses that operate in mobile environments make great use or mobile processing. But as for a consumer, breaking out a cell phone, calling paypal, entering the transaction information, waiting for their confirmation phone call, entering your pin number, and then hoping that everything goes through correctly just seems like excessively complicated for most people to want to do. Secondly people are never quick to adapt to a new idea, no matter how great it may seem. If the internet were a bit less convenient, then maybe this system could have a running chance, but In my opinion, this is a flop. Time will tell..

News Article: Paypal launches Paypal Mobile

Well, the blog has finally started to rank in the search engines. It has been drawing traffic from small obscure search terms for a while, and I just found it climbing the ranks for a much more competitive search term, ‘merchant account’ and ‘merchant accounts’. Looks like its ranking 45 and 66 right now, and since it was nowhere a month ago, that’s a huge improvement. Anyway, thank you to anyone who is linking here, and thank you to anyone who stops by the blog.

As always, let me know if there are any topics you would like to see on the blog.

Thanks
Jamie

There are so many merchant service providing companies in the US, that searching for a good one can seem like an overwhelming task. Nearly every provider you encounter will be offering their version (or the same version) of what they can do for your business. In the world of merchant services, there are a few good companies and there are a lot of bad companies. A bad company is what I would define as a company that is looking to rip off unsuspecting businesses. New business owners are often so busy planning the other parts of their business, they become an easy target.

How do you find out if the company that you are going to trust your money to is a good company?

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About a day after I published the article about PCI and CISP compliance, Nigel Ravenhill, the Marketing Director for Scan Alert contacted me about the article.

A Little about Scan Alert:
Scan Alert is by far the leader in PCI / CISP scanning. They offer PCI / CISP scanning for just about every type of online business imaginable. Scan Alert serves 72 countries and offers packages for anything from non-profit, to mega websites. Scan alert customers also get to display a hacker-safe logo on their websites letting visitors know that their website is scanned daily and the transfer of information is secure.

Nigel also sent me last years Digital Window Shopping Report, which is a study involving shopping cart abandonment on ecommerce websites.

I have personally heard positives and negatives to using any Scan Alert like program, but their Digital Window Shopping Report has some great statistics about visitor behaviors and website usability.

Download the Digital Window Shopping Report

This is last years report. This years is scheduled to be released any day as I have been told.