Protecting Data Is Required

First, protecting your customer’s credit card data is required through PCI compliance. If you want to accept credit cards, you need to make sure you are compliant with industry set standards. At the very least you need to make sure the data you keep is on a secure server, encrypted and protected behind a fire wall. As a business owner you want to make sure you update your protection software regularly and test it to make sure it is working properly.

Protecting Customer Data Protects Your Business

Second, protecting your customer’s data is essential in protecting your business name. With the internet and all of the social medium platforms available, if you have a security breach, word is certain to get out and when it does you could be facing financial ruin. While larger businesses may be able to survive adverse publicity, many smaller businesses simply do not have the financial means to do so. Your business could be facing fines and damages and if you don’t have the funds to pay them, your business could go under. If you want to keep customers, you need them to trust you – and keeping their credit card information secure is critical.

Tips To Maximize Credit Card Security

In order to make sure you have the best security in place to protect your customer’s card numbers and personal information you should consider the following.

• Use a trusted credit card processing company with a built in security package.
• Minimize access to customer’s card numbers and personal data. Never think you can trust anyone. The fewer employees that have access to your customer’s data the better.
•  Use extra verification measures when accepting credit cards from your customers. For in person transactions this might include verifying signatures and for on line transactions consider using an address verification service (AVS).
• For on the go transactions use mobile credit card processing. With new technology mobile credit card processing is now easier than ever and more secure than the old fashioned way of collecting credit card numbers by hand and then running the card numbers later on. Mobile processing is also affordable and there are multiple options available that turn your smart phone or tablet into a credit card processing machine.

If your small business accepts credit cards as a form of payment, it is crucial that you take security seriously. Always make sure you are in PCI compliance and whenever possible take additional measures to protect personal data. Bottom line, you want to do everything you possibly can to avoid a security breach.

One of the basic fees that you will have to pay when using a merchant account is the discount rate. This is a specific percentage of each transaction that will go towards the financing company. For example, if you accept a credit card payment, the discount rate may be 2 percent. This means that if someone makes a $1,000 purchase with a credit card, the merchant account provider will automatically get $20 from the transaction. When shopping around for a merchant account provider, the discount rate is one area that you should compare. Finding a provider with a smaller discount rate could save you a significant amount of money in the long-term.

Another way that merchant account providers make money is with transaction fees. Regardless of the size of the purchase, the merchant account provider will typically charge a transaction fee. This is a flat fee that is charged on every transaction. For example, the transaction fee may be $.20 for each purchase. While this may not seem like much, it can add up over time.

In addition to the transaction fee, some merchant account providers also charge an extra fee for accepting a debit card transaction with a PIN pad. This means that if you offer your customers a PIN pad to use with debit card transactions, you’ll probably have to pay another fee for this service. The fee can vary from somewhere between $.50 and $.70 per transaction.

If you’ve ever used a merchant account, you know that at the end of the day, you have to settle the account to get the money into your bank account. Some merchant account providers charge a settlement fee for each day that you do this.

Once you’ve determined what your merchant account provider charges for all of these items, calculating the fees is simple. You will simply multiply the discount rate by the total amount charged. Then you need to add all of the various transaction fees to that amount. For example, on a $100 purchase, you may have to pay a discount fee of $2.00. Then you add a $.20 transaction fee and a $.50 debit card PIN fee. This gives you a total transaction cost of $2.70 on a $100 purchase. To calculate your costs for the day, you would do this with each transaction and then add the settlement fee on top of those costs.

Many business owners fail to take these costs into consideration when opening a merchant account. If you are not careful, these costs can significantly cut into your profit and make it so that your prices are no longer profitable. Some merchants have to raise prices in order to compensate for these costs.

One must consider when choosing a merchant service:

-The level of customer service. Can they be reached 365 days a year?
-The Reputation of the Merchant Provider. Are reviews positive or negative?
-The price of the services and fees
-How reliable. Remember, you’re trusting these people with your hard earned money.

Happy hunting!

What is a payment gateway, and how is it different from a merchant account? A payment gateway is an online equivalent to a physical credit card machine. When consumers pay online, payment info is passed through a secure server to a payment gateway, which serves as a third party between the customers bank and your bank.

Credit card rates depend on the kind of credit card being used, how it is processed, and the duration it takes the merchant to batch the transactions for processing.