If you’ve been in the business of accepting credit and debit cards for some time now, you are likely aware that the card brands regularly implement fee changes on a bi-annual basis. Your processor should communicate these changes as they happen so you are well prepared when they go into effect. With the next set of fee changes set to happen this week I wanted to share some insight and background on the card brand network enhancements. Card brand fee changes are scheduled to take place in April and October. What do merchants need to be aware of? April and [...]
Tagged as:
American Express,
Credit card,
Debit card,
Discover Card,
MasterCard,
Merchant,
Visa
Last week, on the heels of MRC we continued the security and risk discussion with a Fundamental Friday’s post on the PCI Data Security Standard. This week, let’s take a look at new, emerging technologies that when combined with other PCI approaches and standards significantly bolster data security while lowering costs. The cost of protecting yourself Protecting yourself against a data breach is an expensive endeavor. Merchants encounter direct expenses for both compliance and liability. According to Gartner Research, Level 2 Merchants (those processing between 1 and 6MM Visa or MasterCard transactions per year) can expect to pay $1.1 MM to become [...]
It has been six months since the Durbin Amendment came into effect and we’re still talking about the implications it is having on our industry. In fact, we haven’t stopped talking about it since October of last year. I thought now would be a good time to revisit some of our past blog posts on this topic. Some of the reads will be a good refresher on exactly what the Durbin Amendment entails while others are thought provoking pieces that look at the industry as a whole and the effects of Durbin to date. The Fed Speaks – Durbin + [...]
Tagged as:
Debit card,
Durbin,
Durbin Amendment,
Merchant
In lieu of Merchant Risk Council’s annual ecommerce payments and risk conference in Las Vegas we wanted to take this Friday to continue the risk discussion and focus on the PCI Data Security Standard. Earlier this week we talked about how tokenization technology can help keep your data secure. Today, let’s talk more in-depth about what the PCI data security standards entail. The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, commonly known as “PCI-DSS” or “PCI” for short, is a standard across the major global card brands Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, and JCB to address cardholder account security. PCI was [...]
Tagged as:
American Express,
MasterCard,
Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard,
Visa
With MRC Las Vegas in full swing and all eyes and minds turning to how to protect against risk, we thought there would be value in posing a few questions around fraud. These questions may seem general – and perhaps they are – but what we believe makes them important is not only how you answer but also how you reached each answer. The process of reaching these answers may tell you something about what you know – and don’t know – about the customers you serve. These questions may also look like ones to ask your fraud prevention technology [...]
Tagged as:
Business,
credit card processing,
Fraud,
Risk management
What do Sony, Epsilon, and Zappos all have in common? They have all been subject to recent data breaches exposing valuable and confidential customer information. Data breaches are now a true reality of doing business online, no company is safe from being attacked. Many merchants, regardless of sales channel, keep customer credit card numbers on file. And a true fear for these merchants is someone hacking that information: compromising data, eroding customer loyalty, subjecting them to litigation, and in the case of some merchants, coming under the forensic scrutiny of QSAs charged with auditing PCI compliance. What if you didn’t [...]
Tagged as:
Bank card number,
Credit card,
Merchant,
Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard,
Tokenization
Annual consumer spending through recurring payments is consistently growing. Merchants too have embraced recurring payment models because they make products more affordable and can generate larger, more predictable cash flows. Recurring Payments Recurring payments are used when a consumer agrees to pay for a product or a service at specific intervals over a certain period of time. For example, health club memberships, insurance premiums, utility bills and subscription fees occur predictably over time. The recurrence may be fixed with pre-determined renewal periods or perpetual and might occur monthly, quarterly, or annually. The periodic payments may be equal or may vary [...]
Tagged as:
Address Verification System,
Card security code,
Credit card,
Direct response television,
Payment
With the Merchant Risk Council’s annual ecommerce payments and risk conference next week fraud and security are top of mind, which is why I want to share a recent survey conducted by Internet Retailer on the state of fraud for online retailers. Internet Retailer surveyed 254 companies asking about fraud and the impact it is having on their businesses (The below chart depicts the survey results Internet Retailer is reporting). Most retailers said they feel their fraud rates are manageable with an overwhelming majority reporting fraud rates less than 1.0%. According to Denee Carrington, a senior analyst at Forrester Research [...]
Tagged as:
Credit card,
CyberSource,
Electronic commerce,
Fraud,
Merchant,
Online shopping
We’ve been focusing on the topic of interchange all week in our “Eye” on Interchange series. We wanted to take today’s Fundamental Friday’s post to remain focused on the increasingly complex topic. So, we’ve decided to re-run our Interchange post from Fundamental Fridays a few weeks ago. Today, we’ll look at interchange, assessments, and fee structures to give you a comprehensive look at your credit card processing fees. We hope you enjoyed this week’s series. Do you have any interchange questions left unanswered? If so, post them in the comments section! Interchange Interchange is a fee, mandated by Visa [...]
Tagged as:
Credit card,
Fundamental Fridays,
Interchange fee,
MasterCard,
Merchant,
Payment processor,
Visa
Our focus this week is all about interchange in the week long series An “Eye” on Interchange. Today, we are looking ahead at what the future might hold. I had another opportunity to sit down with Payments Evangelist Tom Pouliot and I wanted to ask him about the increasing complexities that make up interchange and what merchants can expect moving forward. I hope this conversation offers you more insight into the complex interchange world and gives you a better understanding of your interchange costs. Just joining us? Here is what you missed, so far. We kicked off the series with [...]
Tagged as:
Credit card,
Eye on Interchange,
Interchange,
Interchange fee,
Lawyer,
MasterCard,
Merchant,
Tom Pouliot
