Category: Travel Agency Agents
April 12th, 2016 by Elma Jane
Bank Identification Number or (BIN) is the link between the customer and their credit, debit, prepaid or gift card.This help merchants identify the card, its owner, and the issuing bank. The first six digits are used to identify the issuing bank. These six digits are the Bank Identification Number (BIN).
What is a BIN LookUp and how can it help merchant?
The BIN and additional data about the card and the bank can be stored in a database since every card is associated with a bank. BIN lookup allows any merchant or institution doing card based transaction to check more about the transaction other than ensuring that the correct pin has been provided.
BIN LookUp gives the merchant added security and a number of benefits.
- Protection against fraud and reversals of payments. Bank institution allow merchants a limited number of reversals and fraud before stopping their card privileges, and each card chargeback costs you money.
- Permits a closer monitoring of the sales process. Who, what and where? Using these details you can service your customers better.
- You can also gain from using the BIN system if you issue your customers’ gift card or pre-loaded cards.
How Can BIN LookUp or Cardholder Bank LookUp Help Merchants?
Utilize the Cardholder Bank Lookup when you need to inquire about which bank issued a particular card. Simply enter the first six digits on the card and you will receive the information on the issuing bank, including contact information. Merchant Connect BIN lookup data is accurate, it is an added protection to your business, assets, and your financial transactions.
For your payments technology needs, give us a call at 888-996-2273
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, Travel Agency Agents Tagged with: bank, cardholder, chargeback, credit, customer, database, debit, financial, fraud, gift Card, merchants, payments, prepaid, Security, transaction
April 8th, 2016 by Elma Jane
Mobile payments are soaring high. Many large retailers have embraced the innovation, but individual business owners have been slower to adopt.
Mobile payments can enhance customer engagement and loyalty. With mobile payment features, businesses can encourage more people to purchase using their mobile phone.
Customer experience will be the primary basis for competition.
The success of mobile payment providers and vendors are ultimately connected, as both need to work together. Small business merchants may not feel the urgent need to adopt mobile payments today, but they might lose in the near future as consumers nowadays use their mobile devices to pay for goods and services.
Small business merchants may not feel the urgent need to adopt mobile payments today, but they might be left behind in the near future as consumers nowadays use their mobile devices to pay for goods and services.
Competitive businesses need to get on board, they need to know the advantages and opportunities mobile payments can provide. To stay competitive and relevant, business merchants of all sectors and sizes need to explore the possibilities of mobile payments.
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, Mobile Payments, Travel Agency Agents Tagged with: consumers, customer, merchants, mobile, Mobile Payments, payment providers, payments, provider's
March 24th, 2016 by Elma Jane
Dear Virtuoso:
I wanted to praise one of our Virtuoso partners, National Transactions.
We have found National Transactions to be a wonderful partner. We have gotten excellent rates and support for our National Transaction merchant account– but more than that, their employees have helped us improve our processes, and I can already see our productivity rising. We have begun a new, online payment portal. This is an excellent tool we highly recommend!
National Transaction’s Steve Garlenski assisted and John Barbieri custom-designed a fabulous landing page – with all of our terms and conditions, cancellation penalties and places to check to authorize — and automatic receipt sent to both us and the client.
We really appreciate all they have done to help us with this important tool. It is so much better, faster and easier for us than obtaining signed paper credit card authorizations.
Thank you, Steve & John and National Transactions!
————–
Eleanor Hardy
President
The Society of International Railway Travelers®
Proud members of Virtuoso®
#1 Sellers of Virtuoso® Adventure & Specialty Travel, 2012
Winner, 15 Magellan Awards for Excellence
Celebrating the World’s Top 25 Trains since 1983
We thrive on referrals. Please tell your friends.
Web: http://www.irtsociety.com
Facebook | IRT Blog, Track 25
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, Travel Agency Agents Tagged with: credit card, merchant, merchant account, online payment, travel
March 23rd, 2016 by Elma Jane
Mar 21, 2016 at 2:14 AM
Hi Gloria, Cathy & Bill,
I want to thank the National Transaction Corp team for Gloria’s excellent help last week regarding a repeatedly declined transaction – which the customer insisted should go through. With Gloria’s assistance and information, our customer finally acknowledged there were insufficient funds and gave us a new card to run instead. The joy of dealing with the public!
In the bigger picture, her help that day is typical of the wonderful service your whole team consistently provides. When I call periodically, it’s because there’s a problem… and it’s usually about money… and it’s usually “the other guy’s” fault!
Your team always goes to bat cheerfully and gets results for us. In this age of electronic switchboards and giant financial institutions, I’m amazed at the personal attention and speedy resolution your team always delivers.
We get cold calls from banks or card processors almost every week promising better rates or some “great deal” to handle our transactions. Before they can explain their offer, I tell them I’m already working with friends in the business and hang up as quickly as possible.
You’ve earned my business and loyalty and I can’t say enough good things about your service. Thank you for all you do!
Sincerely, George
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, Travel Agency Agents Tagged with: card, customer, service
March 23rd, 2016 by Elma Jane
A data breach can occur from inside a business just as much as it can externally. The one common element between both is “Opportunity.” It doesn’t matter whether a business is a multi-national corporation or a small single-location.
Attacks from criminals can range in sophistication. While the sophistication of some attacks may be low, experts note that criminals continue to evolve their techniques and now they are becoming more sophisticated than ever.
While large corporations may have millions of customer records, they also maintain the resources to protect their sensitive information from the average criminal. It may take weeks, months, or even years for a criminal to penetrate the defenses of one large corporation. This is why attacks on small business are becoming so attractive to criminals.
It all goes back to the “Opportunity.” The average small business lacks the resources to properly protect their business from the variety of attacks at the disposal of criminals. Or worse, they may believe their business is of no interest to criminals. The fact is, they are less secure than larger businesses. These are all issues for the average small business owner, and more importantly, their customers.
So what can a small business do to protect themselves from the growing threat of a data compromise?
- Background checks on employees.
- Have someone monitor the network activity.
- Protect business with proper network security protocols.
- Protect your payment’s environment by using a layered approach that includes EMV, encryption and tokenization to help prevent sensitive payment card data from being stolen.
These are all fairly simple and inexpensive ways for businesses to help protect themselves and their customers from being a victim of a costly data compromise.
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, Credit Card Security, Travel Agency Agents Tagged with: card, customer, data, data breach, EMV, encryption, payment, Security, tokenization
March 18th, 2016 by Elma Jane
Businesses that use mail order and telephone order (MOTO) payment may seem like a thing of the past. Thanks to the new payment technology solutions that help traditional forms of payment to expand the way they accept payment as well as prevent fraud.
Good reasons for MOTO businesses to broaden their payment solutions and offer their customers new ways to pay.
Convenience – consumers value convenience. The more convenient they can pay they will stay, and not take their business elsewhere.
Increase Customer – Additional payment options automatically leads to more customers. What is convenient for one consumer won’t necessarily be convenient for the other. Giving them options of how to submit payment is the best way to keep a customer and make them happy.
Fast – Keeping up with the times will reflect well on your business. Many people these days expect no less than the latest. If a business doesn’t offer the kinds of payment types that are currently widespread, a consumer will consider the service not suitable to their needs.
Payment options that are currently shaping businesses to operate besides digital payment systems, other non-traditional payment options being utilized by many small businesses are e-checks and gift cards. These options also provide consumers with convenience and make products/services feel more accessible.
Mail order and telephone order (MOTO) businesses do operate by accepting card-not-present transactions. Card-Not-Present (CNP) transactions are a major route for credit card fraud. Using a reliable payment processing system is something to think about. NTC can help MOTO businesses, by keeping traditional payments quick and secure.
Give us a call now at 888-996-2273 or visit us at www.nationaltransaction.com
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, Travel Agency Agents
March 16th, 2016 by Elma Jane
More and more travel agents and tour operators are working in a card-not-present transaction that opens the door to travel agency credit card fraud. Travel Agencies are among the highest-risk merchants, as far as credit card processors are concerned. The reason is more likely the dispute and chargeback transactions.
So what should you do, whether you have just started your travel agency or have been in business for years to reduce risk?
First, understand the potential liability associated with selling airfares online before you even apply for a merchant account. Understanding risk exposure will help travel agency take adequate steps to minimize losses associated with chargebacks.
A good example is an airline sales agent. A travel agency or a tour operator merchant account may be liable for the entire amount of an airline ticket, if it is successfully disputed by a customer or if it was purchased with a stolen credit card.
To reduce risk, you will need to set up card acceptance policies and procedures to address the following issues:
- Authorization requests approved by an issuer. In most cases, airlines are liable for card-not-present transaction fraud, even when they were approved by the card issuer, because authorization approval is not a proof that the legitimate cardholder is making the purchase, nor is it a guarantee of payment.
- As a travel agency, your organization may not necessarily be a Visa or MasterCard merchant, subject to the Credit Card Associations’ rules and regulations. In most fraud-related transactions, the airline transfers liability to the travel agency it has partnered with as part of the contractual agreement. In such cases, your organization will bear the full financial responsibility.
Selecting a payment processor is a big step, choose one with experience in working with travel agencies and other high-risk merchants. Your processor must be able to assist you with your fraud prevention procedures.
Check out National Transaction Corp. we are the travel experts when it comes to electronic payments for travel agencies! Give us a call now at 888-996-2273 or visit us at www.nationaltransaction.com
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, Travel Agency Agents Tagged with: card, card-not-present, cardholder, chargeback, credit card, customer, fraud, high-risk merchants, merchant account, merchants, payment, processors, risk, transaction, travel, travel agencies, travel agency, travel agents
March 9th, 2016 by Elma Jane
Lisa an independent Travel agent started her business in October 2006. She has been using her bank as their credit card processor and use to do a manual type-in process. When she learned about NTC while trying to shop online because she thinks it’s time for her to upgrade her system, Lisa found that NTC is not only a payment expert when it comes to travel, but a technology expert as well that met her business’s needs.
Lisa is using NTC e-Pay an electronic invoicing that has streamlined their credit card processing. The process not only has it saved money with competitive rates but most importantly it saves time. The level of assistance provided went above and beyond what she expected.
NTC e-Pay is for all types of merchants in a Card-Not-Present Transaction.
Consumer Acess – consumer will have access to their transaction details on their device. For travel merchants, the consumer can have access to their itinerary while on the go!
Customizable Pricing – when custom pricing becomes an issue, shopping carts, POS systems and booking engines tend to get really complicated.
Fast – saves time and unnecessary cost. Moves money efficiently and effectively. Simply email payment request that can be paid in 2 simple steps.
- The customer receives an email with a link to the payment page. Customer reviews invoice details and agrees to terms. The customer enters payment information.
- Process, transaction is completed company is paid. You get paid in minutes, not months.
Protects you from Chargeback – the customer is required to agree to your Refund Policy, Privacy Policy, Timing and Delivery Policy.
Secured – credit card information is processed securely. The customer is entering their credit card information without faxing or emailing credit card numbers.
The no shopping cart e-Commerce solution! – avoids the complexities of a shopping cart or integration into an accounting or POS.
Thinking of upgrading your system give us a call at 888-996-2273 and know more of our NTC e-Pay platform.
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, Travel Agency Agents Tagged with: bank, chargeback, consumer, credit card, Electronic invoicing, merchants, online, payment, POS, processor, shopping carts, transaction, travel, travel agent
March 7th, 2016 by Elma Jane
It is my pleasure to write this testimonial for National Transaction Company!
My travel agency has been associated with this organization since 2005 and I continue to believe they are the best solution for my home based operation’s credit card merchant transactions. The process is simple, efficient and it provides me a profitable way to accept client credit cards and manage my agency’s cash flow.
Their support team is the best!
Judy K
JMK TRAVEL INC.
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, Travel Agency Agents Tagged with: credit card, merchant, transactions, travel, travel agency
February 29th, 2016 by Elma Jane
True Stories of our Customers in Action
Travel Agency ~ An Independent Travel Firm had been using their bank as credit card processor. When they learned that Virtuoso and NTC were going to team up they jumped on the opportunity. Not only NTC has lowered their fees but NTC has streamlined their credit card processing. The manual type-in process before has been all automated batch process now which saves time. This is a great new partnership for Virtuoso and its members.
Wholesale Hardware Industry ~ Have been turned down his business loan by a traditional bank last year due to his bankruptcy few years ago. He has no option but to borrow using a Cash Advance, making daily payment with a very high-interest rate. NTC was able to get an approval for a Real Business Loan, with monthly payment with an annual rate.
Term loan amount: $85K – Line of credit: $75K
Another Travel Agency ~ NTC has great customer service, the support team will patiently guide you through the PCI compliance. The payments specialist will check whether they could reduce your rates (which they did successfully!). They will even follow up regularly with status updates. NTC is exemplary!
NTC has a lot to offer, from our e-Pay Service and other New Programs for ISO’s, and Options for your merchants. NTC, The Payments and Technology Expert! Visit us at www.nationaltransaction.com or call us at 888-996-2273.
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, Credit card Processing, Payment Card Industry PCI Security, Travel Agency Agents Tagged with: bank, Business Loan, card, cash advance, credit card, customers, loan, merchants, payment, PCI Compliance, processor, travel, travel agency