It’s true Visa intends to acquire the largest payment gateway company Cybersource and its subsidery Authorize.net. What will this do for the credit card processing industry and how will it benefit merchants?

According to Michael Walsh in an interview with Practical eCommerce Walsh Says: “This deal is about driving growth in ecommerce and delivering value to merchants and financial institutions in the ecommerce ecosystem. By joining forces with the largest payment brand in the world we’ll be able to deliver more innovation to the ecommerce marketplace than we have ever before.”

Practical eCommerce Says: The press release that was issued by both companies alluded to Visa’s financial strength as a factor in accelerating the growth of CyberSource and its Authorize.Net division. What investments do you see Visa making to accelerate CyberSource’s growth?

Walsh Says: “Well, I think the investments are really going to align to the CyberSource strategy with perhaps one or two additions. That strategy is around a few key areas: expanding the ecommerce marketplace globally; enhancing fraud capabilities (we feel like the combination is going to provide a lot of opportunities to continue to innovate in the area of fraud management); and payment data security, which is an area of focus for CyberSource, and we believe this combination will allow us to innovate in that area in some significant ways. Another possible addition that we have talked about is innovating around the mobile payment space. We’re looking at opportunities there as well.”

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This is big news for Visa and I look forward to seeing how this will work globally. Authorize.net is the payment gateway system I prefer to use and if it works even better under Visa then other payment gateways may have something to worry about. This will surely affect pricing and demands for better solutions in the payment gateway industry.

It is extremely important to save as much money as possible and that is why our office decided to offer you some money saving tips with your merchant account. You will save hundreds if not thousands of dollars on your merchant account fees, so take a few minutes and read.

STEP 1

Take a look at your merchant statement and look at the total fee amount deducted from your account and get out your calculator. Ok, now put in the total fee amount and divide that into your gross credit card volume for Visa, MasterCard and Discover. Once you have figured our your overall percentage deducted, now you can figure out on a monthly bases how much money you’re really saving. No matter what your rates are look at your total fees and follow this formula as some payment processors will tell you everything you want to hear including the lowest rate pitch…

Example:

Total Merchant Fees = $2,455.76

Total Gross Credit Card Sales = $101,322.02

2,455.76 / 101,322.02 = .0242371 or 2.42% (percentage deducted)

STEP 2

Now figure out what kind rate scale you’re on. You have tiered rates (qualified, mid-qualified, and non-qualified), flat rates (all bundled into one rate), and interchange plus which gives merchants true rate cost per card type plus a flat mark-up. Merchant statements are very complex today and hard to understand mainly because your current processor doesn’t want you or competitors to figure out the fees. If you still cannot figure out your rate scale then call you payment processor and ask for customer service or the billing department they have to by law disclose this information to you.

STEP 3

Once you have figured out the above information now you are ready to start saving money. No matter how you accept each credit card sale we’ve got you covered. Take a look below and determine what fits your transaction acceptance.

Face-to-Face Merchants

Interchange Debit vs Pin Pad Debit on a $29 dollar sale

Does your business accept pin debit based cards, if not this payment solution could save you a ton of money and add check cards without the Visa and MasterCard logo. Pin pad sales are the safest transactions to accept in the electronic payment world, so not only will you save money you will have a high level of security that almost eliminates any kind of fraud and unnecessary chargebacks. As long as your debit card sale is over $25 dollars you will save money on each transaction.

Visa Debit Interchange Plus: 1.03% + $0.15 (interchange) + .0925% (dues & assessments) + .29% + $0.09 (ubc and communication) = $0.65

NYCE Pin Debit Plus: .75% + $0.15 (network cost) + $0.15 (ubc and communication) = $0.52

SAVING YOU $0.13 PER TRANSACTION

PLEASE NOTE: Every payment processor shares the same interchange rates and debit network cost. Now some payment processors try to manipulate debit fees by showing only the transaction fee over network cost and describing network fees as something else to confuse competitors and the merchant. Click Here (pdf) for debit network cost.

Why is my system asking for the tax amount?

Most credit card systems today are set-up with all of the necessary prompts and security parameters. When your system asks you what the tax amount is what do you do? Most merchants press enter and bypass this prompt which can be a costly mistake. It seems like you are adding money on to the card holder, but your not. As a matter of fact you’re saving money by adding the tax amount and you are not adding any extra money on to the transaction all you are doing is recording corporate and business credit card transactions. By adding the tax amount everytime even if the tax amount is zero fill it in and you will qualify for the lower interchange rate as long as you are using interchange plus (aka cost plus). You will save an average of .20% (20 basis points) per transaction which can add up. So the next time you see your system ask for the tax amount add it and save.

These are some saving money tips for merchants that transact face-to-face sales. If you have any questions click here.

Pay At The Pump Merchants

SIC Code vs Typical Set-up

Merchants and even agents overlook this set-up and often select a retail application. This can be a costly mistake, because pay at the pump merchants make very little profit so the set-up needs to be correct. Make sure your payment processor sets you up as a pay at the pump merchant by SIC code. Also ask for Zip Code AVS as this will add a security feature to your system and help prevent fraud.

These are some saving money tips for merchants that transact pay at the pump sales. If you have any questions click here..

Key Entry Merchants

AVS vs CVV2 Code

AVS (Address Verification System or Address Verification Service) is a vital
service that all key entry merchants should use. The AVS service verifies the card holders address using the billing address box number and zip code, sometimes just the zip code is prompt and that still qualifies as AVS. By using AVS you will cut the risk of fraud down substantially, however you can still bypass the prompt if you trust the customer and the address is a mismatch. You will save money everytime the address is a match when using interchange plus rates. The average savings is .20 – .30% (20 to 30 basis points) per sale when AVS is a match. CVV2 Code adds security to your transaction and cuts down on chargebacks and fraud, but it does not qualify you for better interchange rates, it only verifies the last 3 or 4 digits of the back of each credit card. It is added security so it is worth it and it can save you time and money on disputed charges.

How to stop unnecessary chargebacks?

Before you ship or provide any services for your orders, you should require a signature on the credit card receipt itself or on an invoice. By getting the card holders signature you have proof that they did indeed order your product or service. You can fax, scan, and/ or send your receipt / invoice by mail and if the card holder refuses this option that should give you a good indication that something is wrong. Keep in mind it only takes a few bad sales to wreck your business or do substantial damage to your cash flow.

These are some saving money tips for merchants that transact key entry sales. If you have any questions click here..

Online Merchants

Stop fraud before it happens

Before your order goes to the final checkout from your shopping cart add a warning message, but make sure you have the necessary features to do so. Enable IP Address logging to verify where sale came from then make sure you enable AVS, CVV2, and other security parameters if available to protect yourself and the rightful card holders information. When you enable these security features you will save money per credit card sale and almost make fraud impossible from happening.

Make sure your payment system is PCI (Payment Card Industry) Compliant because your business maybe held accountable for any security breaches if they should happen. PCI Compliance is what the Payment Card Industry uses to manage fraud risk and it makes the payment processors accountable per product and service. All payment processors have to be a member of PCI-DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) and pass on the information to its clients to help them become compliant.

These are some saving money tips for merchants that transact online sales. If you have any questions click here..

The right Merchant Account set-up is key when it comes to Micro Payment Acceptance. If your average credit card sale is $10 dollars or less per transaction you’ll want to listen to this blog.

More and more people are using debit cards on lower purchase items and when the merchant accepts them as pin based (debit card with a pin number authorization) it can really hurt the profitability on the transaction. You, should never reject a sale pin based or offline (swiped like a credit card without pin number), but if the average sale were below $20 dollars you should swipe it like a regular credit card without a pin number.

Small Ticket merchants really need to take a hard look at Interchange Plus Rates (aka Cost Plus) it is the lowest cost bar none. Whether you decide to do business with United Bank Card or not Interchange Plus will save you so much money on transaction cost which is really the most expensive part of accepting credit and debit cards for small ticket merchants.

Example Swipe Sales:

Based on a $7 dollar average sale and 200 credit and 600 debit card transactions.

Industry Average: 2.00% + $0.25 = $0.39 (Credit)
Industry Average: 1.90% + $0.30 = $0.43 (Debit)

Interchange Plus: 1.65% + $0.04 + 0.11% + 0.19% + $0.06 = $0.24 (Credit)
Interchange Plus: 1.55% + $0.04 + 0.11% + 0.19% + $0.06 = $0.23 (Debit)

Savings = $0.15 per transaction x 200 = $30 (Credit)
Savings = $0.20 per transaction x 600 = $120 (Debit)

Total Monthly Savings = $150.00
Total Annual Savings = $1,800.00
Total Ten Year Savings = $18,000.00

Small Ticket Interchage 101

Interchange Rate: 1.65% (Credit)
Interchange Rate: 1.55% (Debit)
Interchange Transaction: $0.04 (Credit or Debit)
Dues & Assessments: 0.11% (Visa, MasterCard, and Discover)
Processor Profit: 0.19% + $0.06 (Credit or Debit)

See where your business can benefit and create more profitabilty with interchange plus. We used the example above to show you that the transaction cost is subtantially less with an interchange plus fee schedule. Even though the competition may offer interchange plus it doesn’t mean they are as competitive as shown above, this is our fee schedule.

Bottom line if your average sale is $15 dollars or less you should really consider interchange plus as your new billing schedule. It is very rare to find payment processing companies willing to give out this kind of information and we hope you found this useful and recommendable. Thanks, for tuning in to the United Bank Card blog.

United Bank Card’s National Sales Office UBCNorth.com added a new look and feel to its website. It is easier to navigate and has more information including printable price sheets and options for almost every type of business.

Printable Documents For Merchants

• Credit Card Processing Rates (rates by industry)
• Product Price Sheet (hardware, software, and supplies)
• Gift Card Price Sheet (pre-designed, custom design, and service fees)
• Authorize.Net Price Sheet

We’ve made our online application process much faster and easier to apply for a merchant account. We even offer application instructions and a merchant checklist to make sure this is a smooth transition for everyone.

We really appreciate the people that contacted us in regards to our SSL certificate issue on our merchant application. The issue is now fixed and ready for new merchant account applicants.

To apply for a merchant account visit https://www.ubcnorth.com/securemerchantapplication.html.

Though our interchange plus rates were extremely competitive we’ve decided to give merchants an additional reason to do business with us. So, Effective Immediately our United Bank Card’s office has reduced it’s credit card processing rates and fees.

For more information on our new schedule of fees visit http://ubcnorth.com/creditcardprocessingrates.html

Due to the new increases of Interchange we’ve decided to help businesses save money and not increase but decrease our profits. We’ll even provide a free cost benefit analysis and show you how much you would have and will save on your merchant account fees.

Merchant Cash Advance is not a loan, but it does help business owners get the funding they need to pay for payroll, inventory, advertising, products and services that are necessary. Instead of waiting 30 days for a bank loan a merchant cash advance usually will fund businesses within 5 to 7 business days.

Payback of a merchant cash advance is a percentage (20% to 30%) deducted from your credit card batch amount. In other words if you do not batch out any credit card sales for the day you don’t pay anything.

The merchant cash advance is betting that your future credit card transactions will be higher which is good for both parties. Business owners really need to be smart about a merchant cash advance, because the payback on an advance is a lot quicker than a loan.

Typical businesses that use a merchant cash advance are brick and mortar. Restaurants, retail stores, automotive businesses, and other type’s service companies are examples of merchants that would use a merchant cash advance.

To qualify for a merchant cash advance usually your business needs to have an established merchant account for at least 6 months and monthly credit card volume of at least $5,000 with consistency. The credit acceptance depends on your type of business, if you are brick and mortar you may qualify with bad credit. This funding system is designed to help business owners with credit issues and/ or cash flow problems.

The only differences between competitors are the amounts deducted and credit acceptance. The advance amounts and funding times are pretty much the same

For more information about merchant cash advances call toll free (888)246-0972 or click here.

Let’s say this small auto repair shop has never accepted credit card payments and refuses too. The community it does business in isn’t very big maybe about 5,000 in population. This auto repair shop is pretty much the only place around except for one other place and it is very well known throughout the community. Almost everyone knows that cash is the only method of payment it will accept. Well, Mrs. Jones is not aware of the auto shop payment methods and needs some major service done to her car it needs a clutch, brake pads, rotors, and a tune-up the estimate came up to $1,589.44 for parts and labor. Mrs. Jones only has $500 dollars in cash, but said she could put the rest of the repair cost on her credit card, the auto repair shop says to Mrs. Jones I’m sorry all we can accept is cash. Mrs. Jones needs this car for work and taking her kids to school, wow I wonder what she’s going to do? Yes, exactly she’s going to go down the road to the other auto repair shop that does accept credit cards and build a loyal relationship with them.

Guess how much business the auto repair shop lost on just one customer? They lost 100% of that sale and probably any future sales from that one customer as opposed to gaining 97% to 98.4% of a sale and all future sales which may or may not be cash. So, out of that $1,589.44 the auto shop would’ve lost $34.97 based on the industry’s average transaction cost instead of losing all of it. The point of this blog is not to insult merchants that are from the old school ways, but to open up minds from the customers prospective.

For whatever reason business people from the old school ways tend to forget that lending has been around for a very long time even way before they were born. All a credit card is is small loan with protection. People just don’t want to carry around cash anymore because if they lose cash it’s gone, if they lose a credit card they can report it stolen. Bottom line it is convenient for your customers, if you’re from the old school then you know how important customer satisfaction is. In a bad economy like this you need to think of ways to keep you business alive.

This is a blog based on actual events, however the actual business name, owner, and customer are not revealed in this blog.

In the past year or so a few merchant service providers were and still are calling on merchants and actually saying they are representing Visa or MasterCard to make sales pitches more convincing. I mean what business wouldn’t want to listen to a representative from Visa or MasterCard trying to help them reduce rates and fees after all the economy is still in bad shape and business owners need to save as much money as possible.

It is too bad that a few merchant service providers have to stoop to a new low and mislead merchants into believing they are actually representing Visa or MasterCard in order to bring in sales. Most merchants that switch over to these deceptive merchant service providers end up paying much higher fees then before and the cancellation fees are so high that merchant just cannot justify switching back or even to another merchant service provider.

These types of merchant service providers usually do not stay in business very long, most of the time what they do is build up a decent cliental and sell it off to big credit card processing companies, then they use that money to start a new merchant service company with the same deceptive tactics. So, in other words it is very hard to stop this unethical business practice, but hopefully you will read this blog before these awful merchant service providers get a hold of your business.

Any merchant service provider stating that they are representing or even leading you to believe they are from Visa or MasterCard and want reduce your rates, just hang-up. If you would like to report these deceptive merchant service providers visit the Visa and MasterCard websites for necessary contact information. Make sure if you report these companies that you get the representatives name, extension, and a call back phone number, because it isn’t always the merchant service providers fault sometimes they just have bad representatives.

If you are already doing business with one of these deceptive merchant service providers and you need help getting out of your contract give us a call toll free (888)246-0972. We may be able to help you and even recover unnecessary fees that you paid.

We’re covering some very important information about PCI Compliance how to prevent fraud from happening to your business.

1. What is PCI? The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCIDSS) is a set of regulations detailing security requirements for merchants and merchant service providers regarding the storing, processing and transmission of cardholder data. They are a combination of technical and operational requirements intended to prevent credit card fraud, hacking and various other security vulnerabilities. This standard is meant to safeguard consumer data as well as provide a more secure processing environment at every merchant location. This is a global initiative being implemented across the industry.

2. Why is it important? The last decade has seen some of the worst compromises of consumer data in history. Fortunately, United Bank Card’s systems have never been breached, but we must embrace the PCI standards and take a proactive approach in order to provide the highest level of security for our customers’ payment information. The process is not limited to United Bank Card; it requires the compliance and best practices on the merchant level as well, including the use of PCI compliant credit card terminals. In this technological age, it is critical that we maintain maximum protection of consumer data and specifically credit and debit card numbers.

3. What do I need to do? Most importantly, you need to keep educated about the PCI standards and how to remain compliant. This website will help you accomplish this goal. It provides many valuable resources, including complimentary self assessment questionnaires and system scans. However, there is only so much United Bank Card can do on your behalf. The majority of PCI compliance relies on our merchants using best practices and keeping themselves educated. Together we can make sure that our customers’ payment information is as safe and secure as possible.

4. If I do nothing, is that okay? The major credit card networks have implemented substantial fines and penalties for failing to remain PCI compliant. The consequences can be tremendous, especially in the event of a cardholder compromise.

5. Is this why I was charged a PCI fee? Virtually all processors are now assessing PCI fees. The expense of PCI compliance for United Bank Card goes well beyond making this website; in addition to the expense of remote PCI system scans, these guidelines have required us to make substantial upgrades to our processing systems, implement new security protocols and hire additional employees. It is becoming increasingly rare to find any processor not implementing an annual PCI fee to cover these expenses. If the fee is not directly labeled as a “PCI fee”, these costs are most likely being paid under the pretext of another type of fee. United Bank Card has tried to keep its PCI fee as small as possible while still enabling us to recuperate the expenses we have incurred in order to comply with the PCI standards and it is important to note that our charges have been substantially less than most other processors.

6. If I pay the fee, am I 100% covered? No although the annual PCI assessment covers a substantial portion of the expense as described above, it is up to each and every merchant to ensure that best practices are being followed to maintain a completely secure payment environment

For existing clients click here and to apply for a merchant account click here.