Too many chargebacks could cost you your merchant account

Article Written by : Credit Card Processing Blog

Chargeback is the term used when a customer disputes a charge on her credit card bill. Generally, chargebacks will happen for one of several reasons:

• A clerical error, such as a customer being double-billed or being billed for an incorrect amount
• Customer dissatisfaction, such as not receiving a product or receiving a product different than what was paid for
• A customer not recognizing a purchase, especially if the merchant name that appears on her bill differs from the actual name of the store
• Fraud — when a customer claims she did not authorize a purchase or a purchase was made as a result of identity theft

For most transactions, customers have 120 days from the sale or when they discovered a problem with the product to dispute a charge.

The bottom line here is that whenever customers feel that they have been charged for something they shouldn’t have, they can file a dispute with their bank which begins the chargeback process. The entire process will be detailed in the next section, but it’s worth noting here that resolving these disputes can sometimes take more than two months — PayPal, for example, advises its merchants that the whole process can take up to 75 days. During this time, the revenue from the disputed sale is withheld from the merchant’s account.

Whenever a chargeback is initiated, a merchant will receive a code from its issuing bank that gives a reason for the dispute. Some of the most common Visa and MasterCard chargeback codes are listed below. Once a customer has disputed a charge, a merchant’s acquiring bank will begin going through a specific procedure to resolve the issue.

If a merchant has too many chargebacks that they loose, they could also use their merchant account and be placed on Terminated Merchant File (TMF), which means that they may not be able to open another merchant account under their own name.

Typical Features for a Payment Terminal

In today’s retail world, the cash-only business is a fast fading fixture of the past. These businesses represent significant security risks to their owners, and owners are also finding that customers aren’t carrying cash on hand like they used to. The world has largely shifted to electronic transactions, and the POS terminal has become a fixture for these businesses that they cannot afford to do without.

The modern POS terminal has features that can accommodate nearly any aspect of a transaction.

Multiple Methods of Entry

Customers who use debit or credit cards don’t always have a card with a working magnetic strip. In these situations, it’s helpful to have a keypad to enter information on the customer’s behalf. In order to accept debit card payments, the customer also has to input his PIN into the keypad.

Different Functions

Most modern businesses have a developed refund or exchange policy, and the POS terminal needs functionality to support those actions. Loyalty programs are also becoming popular, and gift cards never truly fell out of style. POS terminals also make it easier for restaurants to accept tips and gratuities from customers.

Support and Security

All of this functionality requires a solid support system, including the ability to remotely update terminals and patch out vulnerabilities. In addition, businesses also benefit from easier setups because so many of these terminals allow for remote initialization.

Aside from security patches, there is also secured PIN pad authorization, which is crucial for keeping terminals locked down.

Bio: As former CEO of AlertPay Inc., Firoz Patel represents a unique combination of experience and leadership skills. Read an article about Payza here to learn more

What to do when A Vendor Won’t Accept My Foreign Credit Card

Article written by USA2Me.com Let’s throw you into a situation. You’re online and shopping for clothes on a well known site. You’re browsing and browsing and find a lot of things that you want to buy. So you add them to your cart and proceed to checkout. Everything seems to be going fine up until the site asks you for your billing and shipping address. Naturally, you put your home address, which is in a different country as the vendor. Suddenly you get this red warning message saying the don’t accept your credit card! What will you do? Here’s a simple solution. It really doesn’t matter if your credit card is issued in your own country or the vendor’s country. The thing is, the billing and shipping address you enter into the site has to match the country the vendor is in. You obviously can’t lie because the package will never end up in your hands. What you should do is avail of a mail forwarding service. These services will give you an address that you will enter in the site, this will be the forwarding address. Then your purchase is sent from the vendor and to the forwarding address where it will be accepted by the mail forwarding service. Then from there, the mail forwarding service will send it from the forwarding address to your home address. And presto, you get your purchases with no hassle! It’s a simple solution to your online shopping setback. Never again will you have to worry about your credit card getting rejected.

USA2Me.com is a parcel and mail forwarding service that offers forwarding at smart plans with affordable rates.

What Makes a Good Online Shopping Cart

Having a user-friendly shopping cart is a must for any online business. Find out what to look for when evaluating different eCommerce shopping cart options.

If you want your online business to succeed, you need to give your customers an online shopping experience that is intuitive, easy to use and encourages them to purchase your products. Like Internet credit card processing, packaging or shipping, the online shopping cart is an integral part of the process of the eCommerce experience.

Finding the right shopping cart solution is critical for your business. Many providers of eCommerce credit card processing services also can set your business up with an online shopping cart. But how do you choose the right one? Here are a few things to look for as you evaluate different options:

User-Friendly Design and Structure: An online shopping site should be easy to navigate, with as few additional screens to visit or buttons to click as possible. Study after study has shown that customers are less likely to make a purchase for every additional screen they have to visit in order to complete their purchase. Along with being easy for customers to navigate, you also want to make sure that the shopping cart is easy for you to make updates, add products or fulfill and track orders.

Access to Additional Credit Card Processing Options: Even if your business is currently entirely web-based, that might change as you grow. You want to make sure you work with a company that can provide you with access to a credit card machine or mobile credit card processing options as your business evolves. You also might want to consider Virtual Terminals that allow you to process orders taken over the phone, via email or through “snail mail.”

Stringent Security Procedures: It can be a disaster if a hacker is able to access credit card information or other personal financial data relating to your customers. Reputable credit card processors like Charge.com Payment Solutions, Inc. will have stringent security measures in place to keep this from happening. Any company you work with should have software and equipment that is compliant with Payment Card Industry standards and send information using 128-bit SSL, military-grade encryption methods.

Social Media Hooks: Websites such as Twitter and Facebook are powerful tools for spreading word of mouth about your products. And there’s no better time to ask someone to share the word about you to their friends than right after they’ve bought something from you. Many eCommerce sites will give customers the option to share news about their purchase with their friends and family members after the sale is complete. You can even automate it so the status update gives their online friends a discount code if they order.

————————————————————————————————————————-

This story was written by Charge.com Payment Solutions, Inc., a leading provider of Internet credit card processing services. They help small businesses who need access to eCommerce credit card processing or a credit card machine. Find out more at www.charge.com. 

What You Need to Know About Merchant Fees

This article submitted by: www.charge.com.

The most important part of a merchant account contract is the fee structure. Business owners should know the basic fee structure prior to opening an account. The discount rate is the most important rate on the contract. The discount rate is a percentage that is charged to you per transaction and gets paid to the processing company for the merchant account. If you only do face to face transactions, you will have a low rate but if you also sell online, the online rate is higher. The setup fee is assesses to you to set up the merchant account

This is only a one time fee and some companies will charge this setup fee whereas others will waive the fee as part of a special they may be running at the time you sign up. The equipment fee is for the credit card machine or the peripherals that go along with it. The chargeback fee is assessed to you if a customer disputes the credit card charge on their account that came from your place of business. If the credit card company sides with the consumer, you are assessed this fee for the return. The minimum monthly fee is a charge that is assessed when you do not met the minimum Visa and MasterCard requirements. This fee is to make up the difference should you sales be low for that particular month. The address verification system fee is only assessed if you manually key in the consumer’s credit card instead of swiping it.