Author Archives: hostmerchantservices

About PCI Compliance Fees

Many businesses that accept credit cards wonder what the PCI compliance fee is and why they have to pay it. It all starts with the information that a retailer gains when a customer purchases a product or service using their credit or debit card to pay for the transaction. The thin black strip on the back of the cards holds sensitive information that can be used to defraud the card holder if a criminal gets hold of that information. A merchant must take steps to ensure that all personal information collected from a customer is kept safe and away from those who intend to do harm to others.

There have been some notable breaches of data over the past few years like what happened at TJX companies – the parent company of the T.J. Maxx and Marshall department stores. Over a 16 month period, thieves hacked into TJX’s computer system and stole information from over 45 million cards. This caused serious problems for the company and their customers that ended up costing a lot of time, money and effort addressing the damage caused by the breach.

Employees of businesses have also been known to steal this type of information. All they need is to gain access to credit and debit card receipts so they can purchase items using someone else’s card number. These types of incidents have increased with the proliferation of these cards. The major credit card companies like Visa, MasterCard, American Express and others developed guidelines that a business must follow to protect customer information. Failure to abide by these guidelines can result in the credit card companies deciding to discontinue doing business with a non-compliant company.

Many business owners know they should keep information safe, but many also have no idea why they are also being charged a PCI compliance fee.

These fees are charged for basically three reasons: education, non-compliance, and insurance.

Many credit card processing companies spend time working with business owners to make sure they understand what is required and how to meet those requirements. Some will add a fee to cover the cost of this educational component.

Businesses that do not show they are in compliance are also susceptible to being charged fees. This is generally done to remind the owners that they should take the time to fulfill the requirements. This portion of a fee could disappear once they have certified with the processors that they have taken appropriate action to protect their customer’s information.

A third component of some fees is insurance to help cover any breaches. The TJX breach ended up costing well over a quarter of a billion dollars. This is a cost many businesses cannot afford to absorb and still survive. The insurance will not cover breaches where the company was involved in the criminal activity.

The fees can be charged either monthly or annually. The fees range from five to 15 dollars per month to over 99 dollars per year.

Merchant Website SEO [2023 Update]

Practicing Good Merchant Website SEO

Most business owners know by know that the Internet isn’t going away, and if you want to succeed in business you need to have an online presence. Having a website is only the start, however. Without good merchant website SEO, chances are that the business website will never rank high enough in the search engines to make it worthwhile. Good search engine optimization practices can help stack the deck so even small business owners will have the ability to have their sites compete with the big boys.

Formatting for ideal on page SEO

The way an article or web page is formatted on the site can make a big difference when it comes to ranking in the search engines. One of the worst kept secrets is that Google has hired human quality readers, and formatting a webpage to be well organized and easy to read makes a big difference now when it comes to ranking well for keywords.

This means several things for how a website owner needs to design how their page looks. Informational pages need to include plenty of subheadings, bullet points, lists, and short paragraphs. Think “reader friendly.” Pages should be easy to scan and never appear as block paragraphs.

When looking at a retail page that’s mostly products, merchant website SEO work can be a little bit more challenging. It’s a good idea to stay away from iframes, which lead to outgoing link saturation and also isn’t the best way to present a large number of products. All products should have varied descriptions to add in as much relevant and original text as possible.

Carefully using keywords

Keywords remain a very important aspect of SEO for any website. The key is to walk that fine line between making sure to use enough keywords and a good variety of related keywords versus not using too many. While the numbers vary from one expert to another, it’s generally agreed that it’s not good to go above 2% of text on any page being one keyword.

The other important way that keywords on a page of text can help increase rankings is where they appear. The main keyword the site owner wants to rank for should be located in the title of the page or article. In the text itself that means a well optimized page will have the keyword in the first paragraph, often in the very first sentence. One or two variations of that keyword phrase should be used in the middle of the text and then once again in the last paragraph.

Do backlinks still matter?

One of the strongest ways to boost website rankings is still to get backlinks from related websites. Good merchant site SEO means finding specialty blogs or related sites that might naturally link to the site. There is some controversy with the practice of backlinking because intentionally manipulating backlinks can result in the website actually losing rank.

The best way to boost SEO with backlinks is to offer a good guest blog post to a related site. Give them some quality writing, and link back just using your URL or the actual name of the website. Doing this keeps it legitimate, gives an SEO boost to the merchant site, and helps avoid any search engine ranking penalties.

ABC Delaware Trade Show [2023 Update]

ABC Delaware Trade Show & Networking Night

The Associated Builders and Contrators, Inc Delaware chapter is having their annual trade show tonight, March 4th, at the Clarion Belle Hotel in New Castle. The trade show features exhibitors from many different industries and will draw more than 500 visitors. The special event, which started at 4:30 PM with a networking opportunity and cocktail hour, is free with your advance ticket. The event also features hors d’oeuvre stations, special announcements from individual booths, door prizes and a 50/50 raffle.

Make sure you stop by the Host Merchant Services booth and say hello to Kenny and Warren who are giving out HMS goodies. There is a special drawing exclusively at the HMS booth where we will be raffling off a gift certificate to Caffe Gelato which is located on Main Street in Newark. Just in case you haven’t have the privilege of meeting Kenny and Warren, there is a picture below of them their booth setup to talk to you about any of your credit card processing needs. We hope every one that attends tonight’s event has a safe and enjoyable evening!

Offsite Payment Processing

Merchants that sell goods through an online store have many decisions to make when it comes to setting up and running their new ecommerce business. Just one of these is how will they process payments when customer are finished with their shopping and ready to pay for their transaction.

One option is to setup what is known as “offsite processing”. This form of online payment processing allows merchants with little or no technical knowledge have the same security and convenience advantages as those merchants that use payment gateways.

First, we should explain what exactly a payment gateway is. Also referred to as “onsite processing” payment gateways utilize a link to Authorize.net through an API. This means that it uses software to call out from the merchant’s website to the Authorize.net systems to complete the transaction. Using this method also requires the business’ website to have an SSL certificate, meaning it is a secure website.

The distinction between onsite and offsite processing comes down to one simple difference. Onsite payments are processed on the merchant’s website without ever leaving. Offsite payments are directed to, you guessed it, a page off the merchant’s site. Other than where the payment actually takes place the process is identical and there is no difference in security or information required.

Business owners with little or no technical or web savvy may have no idea what any of the last paragraph means. Even those merchants who may have more knowledge of web design, online payments, and API integrations may not have the time or desire to set this up for themselves.

That’s OK because Host Merchant Services has the capability to setup offsite processing for merchants that don’t have the technical knowledge or spare time to setup this extra piece of the puzzle. HMS can provide your online store with a branded payment page that eliminates the need for setting up your own SSL certificate or learning how to work with Authorize.net. When customers reach the payment stage of their transaction, they are simply directly over to your offsite payment page. The advantage this provides to customers of Host Merchant Services is that we can put our years of programming knowledge to work for your business.

We have setup and example page at processnow.hostmerchantservices.com and below is a screenshot.

To learn more about getting an offsite payment processing page setup for your online business or any other merchant services questions contact us now!

Identity Theft Restoration [2023 Update]

When your identity is compromised

Every individual’s identity is unique to him or her. The problem with this is that there are many others who would love to take that away. They would like to steal identities in order to benefit themselves. Unfortunately this happens far more often than we would like to believe. In fact it is a crime that is so common that law enforcement worries that they are not able to prevent too many cases of this. However, there are things that you can do when if this situation arises in order to try to get your affairs back in order.

Identity theft restoration is the best possible first step. It is the process of trying to set everything in order after your identity has been stolen. The individual who was the victim of identity theft can sign a limited power of attorney. This will allow an identity theft expert to begin to work on your case.

There are things that you can to do as an individual to set your record straight. You are still going to have to fill out a police report and fill out the FTC fraud affidavit. Most of the work can actually be handled by a professional as you continue to try to move on with your life. After all, you will have to carry on in some way as your identity theft case is being worked through.

There are identity theft restoration programs that can also help individuals prevent this crime from occurring again. These programs can include notification to creditors, a complete review of your credit report to ensure accuracy and a dedicated case worker assigned to your case. You can use these tools to try to make sure that you are not a victim of identity theft or fraud in the future. It is also advised to change all online passwords in an attempt to thwart any hackers attempt to access your accounts.

Other things that are done to prevent identity theft from happening again include making sure that there are not others who are selling your identity. This sometimes happens when less then reputable companies sell off the information that they have gathered on their customers. Thus, it is important to review a business’s privacy policy prior to giving any sensitive information that you may not want to fall into the wrong hands.

How to Protect Against Identity Theft?

Identity theft can cause an individual or family to lose much of their financial life. They can take a huge hit to their credit score, retirement savings and much more. They can also be seen by the financial world as someone who is not credit worthy. It is something that can cause huge problems for those who have gone through this issue. Thus it is best to try to get these issues solved as quickly as possible. The best thing to do is to act quickly as soon as you suspect that you have had your identity stolen or been a victim of fraud.

Merchant Services Conference

When observing large, Fortune 500 companies from the outside, small and medium size business owners often wonder what it is that makes them so successful. There are several factors that comprise the answer to this question, and one must be careful not to get overwhelmed or discouraged by its complexity. The remainder of this article will focus on one crucial aspect that can start these small businesses on the path to the prosperity that they seek.

Merchant Services Conference

In this day and age, information is key to the success of businesses of every size. This is why business owners looking to get the competitive edge over their rivals may want to consider attending what is referred to as a merchant services conference. The information that can be gleaned at one of these conferences may prove to be invaluable to the business owner as well as any employees that may attend. Following are some of the opportunities that are typically available during one of theses conferences.

Networking

Networking plays a major role in the success of a business. These conferences provide companies with an opportunity to network with some of the best business minds from all different types of industries. Forming these new and lasting relationships could prove to be extremely beneficial for the future growth of a business that is trying to expand.

Previewing the Latest Technology

With the world moving so quickly in this age of technology, it is important that businesses keep updated on the latest advances. Finding out about technologies that could enhance the efficiency and productivity of a business is never a bad discovery. In the ever-changing world of technology, it can be difficult to stay current. Attending one of these conferences is a great way for business owners to discover new technology that could completely change the way their business operates. This is such a convenient means of gleaning information for business owners, since all the information is compiled for them.

Upcoming Events

One major annual event in the credit card processing industry is the ETA Annual Meeting and Expo. This year the event will roll in to New Orleans April 30 through May 2 and promises to be even bigger this year with nearly 200 exhibitors and over 3000 industry executives. The show highlights new trends in the industry and some of the top executives in the business.

Marketing Ideas

With the market being so competitive in every industry these days, business owners could benefit from newer and more engaging marketing ideas. This topic typically comprises a large portion of the conference. Learning how these cutting edge marketing ideas can impact their market and close sales can definitely maximize the bottom line of any business trying to expand. It is also worth mentioning that these ideas are usually coming directly from the pros of marketing.

In conclusion if a business owner is looking to reach for new heights and expand the maximum potential of their business, they should consider attending a merchant services conference. Whether it is a B2B or B2C business, it would be a wise decision to take advantage of the wealth of information that these conferences can provide.

Loyalty Card Processing [2023 Update]

Loyalty cards are an important part of modern business when it comes to payment processing. As e-business becomes more prolific and consumers have more options available, it becomes vital to retain repeat customers. Attracting new customers is just as important. Perks go a long way to doing both. Loyalty card processing can provide coupons, gift cards, discounts, and other features. Things that make customers want to come back for more business.

Attracting and retaining customers can be difficult without simply cutting prices – not always an option in an increasingly hostile economy. Loyalty cards and gift cards drive customers to return to your place of business without cutting into your bottom line. Consumers are more likely to return with a loyalty card in hand than they are without one. Why? They help build relationships with your target demographic. People feel appreciated when their business is rewarded, which in turn drives sales. Strengthening customer loyalty is the key to keeping them coming in your door instead of going to your competition.

Loyalty cards also allow you to step into the arena of targeted marketing. Every sale your customers make with your loyalty card enables the collection of data – what sorts of people buy what sorts of products, for instance. This knowledge can be invaluable. Even a little insight into your customers’ habits can enable you fill their needs better.

In addition to the obvious benefit of repeat business, loyalty cards also encourage increased spending. Most loyalty programs are dependent on a percentage of sales; e.g., after a certain dollar-value of money is spent, a reward is given. Even in the case of direct discounts (such as a card that saves cardholders 5% each visit), greater savings are observed as more money is spent. It’s a great way to encourage your customers to spend more with you.

Gift cards are another great device for boosting sales. Panicked gift-buyers know one thing – they want to leave your business with a gift, even if they aren’t sure what they want. Gift cards are a great answer to the problem and they safeguard that an unsure customer won’t walk away from your business empty-handed. Gift cards also provide immediate cash flow up front. Each card purchased is money in your pocket, and peace of mind for your customers.

Even after purchase, gift cards can help drive sales. Since they are usually given – as the name implies – as gifts, they bring new customers to your business (and another chance to sell your loyalty card). Most consumers who use gift cards spend more than the value of the card. This translates into more profit for your business.

We live in a digital age. Loyalty card processing and gift card processing are facts of life for modern businesses. Enhancing your point-of-sale transactions with profit-boosting electronic features is important to stay competitive. Attracting consumers with gift cards and keeping them with loyalty programs are cheap, effective ways of boosting your business.

All About Interchange

Interchange fees make up a bulk of the credit card processing fees that a business will have to pay. This is why it is fairly important for managers or business owners to do everything possible to understand all about interchange fees. Interchange describes the money that is transmitted to the issuing bank from the acquiring bank. These fees are a part of each transaction that involves a bankcard. These fees are a large part of the amount of money that it takes for a business to feature credit card processing. Interchange fees are created by the various card brands that use open loop processing systems. For example, brands like Discover, MasterCard and Visa charge interchange fees.

Why Interchange Fees Exist

Interchange fees are charged to merchants in order to compensate the banks that issue debit cards or credit cards for any interest that may have been lost. The issuing banks normally lose interest due to the grace period that is issued to the cardholders before they repay the debt on the card. However, the main role of an interchange fee is to establish a reasonable balance of profit between the retailer’s financial institution and the financial institution of the cardholder.

How Interchange Fees are a Part of Credit Card Processing

When a transaction takes place, the cardholder’s bank will pay the company’s bank for the purchases made by the cardholder. The interchange fee for this transaction is subtracted from this amount. Once this has been done, the acquiring bank will pay the merchant for the leftover balance. However, a markup is subtracted from this amount in order to pay for processing the transaction.

The business that is selling a product or service to the cardholder will ultimately receive a gross amount of money for any sales that were made. However, various markups and base costs are subtracted from the amount of money that the business receives for selling different products or services. These costs often include the provider’s markup, assessments, various dues and interchange fees.

Different Factors that Influence Credit Card Processing Interchange Fees

It is important for a business to know all about interchange fees in order to make sure that credit card processing services benefit the company as much as possible. This means that one will have to do the best that they can in order to learn more about the different factors that can change the interchange fees are charged. Companies should also learn more about which factors could be controlled. Various factors that can influence interchange fees include the merchant category code, the transaction data and the processing method that is used. The merchant category code is used to describe the various types of business categories. The company will fall under a specific merchant category code designation and this can influence the interchange fees that are owed.

There are some interchange factors that a business will not be able to control. This includes the owner of the credit card or the debit card, the brand of the card and the type of card that is being used for the transaction. Interchange fees can change based on if the cardholder is a municipal, a corporation, a business or an individual.

It is equally important to try to make sure that the transactions that are processed could qualify for the lowest interchange categories possible. The process of changing a company’s credit card processing options in order to perform this act is known as interchange optimization.

Credit Card Commerce Tips

Credit Card Commerce Tips to Keep Debt Under Control

Credit cards get a bad reputation, but they can actually be quite a handy financial tool if used correctly. There is no reason to go into unmanageable debt using credit cards. The following credit card commerce tips can actually help you use them to build wealth rather than destroy it.

Choose the Right Card

Choosing the right card can be overwhelming, but it is worth it in the end. Be picky about terms and incentives to ensure the best possible product available. Cash back, points, fraud insurance, and low interest rates are all things that should be insisted upon. Those with great credit can get these things easily, while those without such great credit should start with the lowest limit possible, follow the rest of these tips, and work up to eligibility for great incentives.

Use them in the Right Places

One of the best credit card commerce tips available is to carefully choose when and where to use the card. Many merchants accept credit cards but as a general rule, buy only what can be paid off the next month. If you get cash back, it is not a bad idea to buy everyday items such as groceries, and even pay bills on the card. Just be certain to spend no more than you would have spent any way, and pay of the purchases immediately. Do not use them for luxuries that would not be purchased otherwise.

One exception to this rule is appliances. It is fine to purchase appliances on a credit card even if it cannot be paid off the next month. Often stores offer no interest for a period of time, so take advantage but be certain to pay it off in that time frame to avoid interest. Another perk for the purchase of big ticket items on credit cards is purchase protection. Check with the credit card company to determine what may be available.

Pay it Off

Though this is one of a couple of credit card commerce tips already mentioned, it bears its own discussion. Be ruthless when it comes to paying off purchases immediately. If an emergency purchase must be put on a card, then set a plan for paying it off. Divide the total into manageable monthly payments and make that payment each month until it can be paid off. Do not simply pay the minimum payment each month. If having the car repaired cost $1,000, and a manageable payment is $200 per month, then pay $200 each month until it is paid off regardless of what the minimum payment is.

Take Advantage of the Perks

If the perks are not automatically cashed in, such as air miles or points, be sure to use them. Use the air miles, free hotel rooms, and cash in those points for gift cards. If there are discounts, then take advantage of them by choosing the retailers where the discounts are available. Not doing so leaves money on the table.

Credit cards do not have to be bad. In fact, they can be very useful money management tools if these tips are followed.

Should Merchants Surcharge?

Should Merchants Surcharge?

In many states merchants have had a decision to make. Recent developments allow merchants that accept credit cards to pass card processing charges on to their customers. So should merchants surcharge their customers?

First of all, in at least ten states there are laws that prevent merchants from assessing their customers a surcharge. In any case a debate rages among consumer protection groups; how will merchants react to this new legal ability to pass on credit card charges to their customers?

Merchants have now had almost a month to start surcharging but not many have done so. It would seem that under the current economic climate and with a do nothing Congress, that merchants both large and small realize it would be a mistake to upset their customers.

Merchants should do more than quietly not pass on these charges. They should inform their customers that they are not, and will not, pass on such charges. Consumers are much more aware than before. On the first day that merchants could pass on credit card processing charges I asked at the market if my grocer was passing on these fees. The clerk told me no and informed me that at least seventy-five percent of customers on that day had asked the same question.

Merchants are being watched very carefully as our society is very distrustful of those that have, and how they treat those that have less. Should merchants start passing on surcharges it could be expected that customers would react in a way that would not be favorable for the merchant.

Thanks to technology and widely available access to the Internet consumers now have more of a voice in business. With social media website growth where people share thoughts and ideas, the word will spread quickly about any merchant passing on such charges. Worse yet will be the response to any merchant that tries, albeit little by little, raising prices quietly to cover these charges. That is the reason merchants should declare their policy on this matter and assure customers why they are not passing on credit card surcharges. Honesty and truthfulness is always the best policy, especially for merchants that depend on customer loyalty to remain in business.

When a social issue goes viral things can get out of hand. One negative aspect of the Internet and online social interaction is that rumors often spread faster than facts. Once social networks get down on a person, subject or organization it takes time, attention and money to set the facts straight. This has happened most recently to restaurant chains. Their response to online social pressure was naive and just made the situation worse. This is another reason that any merchants that accept credit cards should publicly and obviously answer the question; should merchants surcharge?