How Credit Card Processing Works, and Why Fees Vary – Quick Version

Do you know how Credit Card Processing Works, and Why Fees Vary?

Here is the quick version.

Credit card processing fees are a cost of doing business that most businesses and nonprofit organizations can't avoid.   In today's virtual world where credit is king (move over cash!), donors and customers often prefer paying with a credit card.   As a result, credit and debit card transactions may account for 65% to 100% of your company's sales and be costing you thousands of dollars in processing fees each year or even each month! Read more

Top 5 Question/Answers Regarding PCI Compliance for Your Merchant Account

What is PCI and why does my business need PCI Compliance? 

Ever see a monthly or big annual "PCI" fee show up on your merchant statement?  Ever wonder: What is PCI Compliance?  How do I become Compliant and what are the benefits?  How much should it cost?  Why am I paying for this added fee?  Is this a scam?  Is this just another way for my credit card processing company to make more profit? Read on to find answers to these questions.

1. What is this PCI Compliance I see everywhere?

First off, PCI stands for Payment Card Industry, and is often followed by DSS - Data Security Standards.  In a nutshell, Card Brands such as Visa and Mastercard have mandated that ALL MERCHANTS must comply with a standardized set of rules and standards (PCI DSS  www.pcisecuritystandards.com) in order to protect cardholder data from breach, fraud, and theft.  It is NOT A SCAM.  EVERY BUSINESS must be PCI Compliant.  That being said, some businesses do take advantage of merchants in order to make additional money off of them.  This is where they idea that PCI is a scam comes from.  To learn more about the REAL PCI COMPLIANCE, read on... Read more

Negative Option & Forced Continuity – Is Your Business Ready For The Final Days of The Wild West for E-Commerce

The Final Days of The Wild West for E-Commerce - Negative Option Billing 

Negative Option billing refers to a business practice where a merchant provides a free trial or sample of goods/services, requires a credit card upon sign up and then bills the customer in the future unless they proactively cancel with the merchant. Read more

Inspired to be Excellent

I was on the train earlier this week on my way into Beautiful downtown Chicago and decided I wanted to catch up on some of my emails.  I came across a blog post from one of my favorite angel investor/adviser, Jason Calacanis, founder of www.launch.co.

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Top 10 Questions About Your Merchant Account

Man our customers have a lot of questions about their merchant accounts!!

We have decided to take the list of top 10 questions that our customers submit about their merchant account and post them here so maybe a few of you might find your answers before you call us or email us... although we like the calls and emails... so keep those coming and we can talk about more important things like... the weather... sports... Jeff's new haircut... Whatever floats your boat.    Okay, enough of that.  Here is the list in no particular order: hmm, Jake makes a good point.  We cheated and I guess you got our top 14 list as some of these are 2 for 1s... Isn't it just your lucky day  8-) Read more