January 28th, 2016 by Elma Jane
The shift to EMV is helping to address vulnerabilities in the United States payments ecosystem. It has been shown that EMV can deliver benefits as a part of industry efforts to combat fraud.
EMV migration is a critical focus for enhancing payments security, which is why the current efforts around chip card deployment are greatly beneficial for consumers and merchants alike. EMV technology helps to reduce counterfeit card fraud, as it generates dynamic data with each payment to authenticate the card, after which the cardholder is prompted to sign or enter a PIN to confirm their identity.
The EMV rollout represents a dynamic time for card payments that promises great advances, among them is enhanced security for cardholders. It also presents an opportunity to consider other innovations such as mobile wallets and mobile POS to further engage your customers and drive customer loyalty. When merchants continue to invest in EMV and NFC (near field communications, used for tap-and-pay transactions), the purchases made at their EMV-enabled terminals are made more secure than magnetic stripe.
New mobile payment options such as mobile wallets support EMV and therefore offer this added layer of security. Ultimately, by enabling contactless payments, merchants can also enable more flexibility in addition to increasing security for their customers.
Additionally, industry players are backing major mobile wallets, such as Android Pay, Apple Pay, and Samsung Pay.
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, Credit Card Security, EMV EuroPay MasterCard Visa, Smartphone Tagged with: card, cardholder, chip card, consumers, contactless payments, customers, data, EMV, fraud, magnetic stripe, merchants, mobile, mobile payment, mobile wallets, near field communications, nfc, payments, PIN, POS, Security, terminals, transactions
January 25th, 2016 by Elma Jane
New Timeframes for Electronic Gift Card Orders
Please be aware that NTC’s Electronic Gift Card (EGC) Design & Artwork team has upgraded their printers. The new timeframes for both FanFare and EGC (Givex) gift card shipments during non-peak times are the following:
- Standard Card Orders: 8 Business days, plus 2 Day Delivery
- Custom Card Orders: 12 Business days, plus 2 Day Delivery
Converge Mobile: Frequently Asked Questions
Will there be more EMV chip card readers in the future? Yes! Additional devices ranging in price points and feature/functionality will be introduced throughout 2016.
Do VirtualMerchant Mobile login credentials work with Converge Mobile?Yes! The mobile login credentials that customers use today for VirtualMerchant Mobile are the same for Converge Mobile.
Is the talech iCMP the same as the one sold for Converge and Converge Mobile? No! Please use item code CICMP for devices that will be used with Converge and/or Converge Mobile. Otherwise, there is device reconfiguration work that has to take place resulting in a negative customer experience.
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Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, nationaltransaction.com Tagged with: card, chip card, Electronic gift card, EMV, gift Card, merchant, mobile, payment, payment technology, processor, travel, travel industry
January 21st, 2016 by Elma Jane
Merchant accounts are as varied as the merchants themselves and the goods being sold.
What kind of account would you fall under:
High Risk Merchant Accounts – Finding a processor who is willing to take your account can be more challenging. High risk merchants range from travel agencies to multi-level marketing companies, credit restoration merchants, casinos, online pharmaceutical companies, adult/dating merchants and many other.
Internet based merchant account (Ecommerce/Website order processing) – E-Commerce is a booming market, with so many people buying and selling goods online due to the wide reach and easy access to the internet.
Mobile or Wireless merchant account – This merchant is specifically designed for small businesses, solo professionals, and mobile services (including lawyers, landscapers, contractors, consultants, repair tradesmen, etc), who are constantly on the move and require a payment to processed on the spot.
MOTO (Mail or Telephone order) – This enables phone based or direct mail orders processing for customers who can buy your product or service from the comfort of their home. Since there is no card present there is no need for traditional equipment.
Multiple Merchant Accounts – Some businesses can have merchant accounts of a couple or all different types. Merchants who fall into this category are called multi-channel merchants as they sell their goods through a number of different channels. Most commonly this is related to retail stores who also have an online presence to sell their goods. This is very common in today’s competitive market where constant contact with customers is critical to success.
Traditional Account with Equipment – Most commonly used for retail businesses (grocery, departmental stores etc) where the transactions are processed in a face to face interaction also known as Point of Sale (PoS).
Interested to setup an account give us a call at 888-9962273
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, e-commerce & m-commerce, Mail Order Telephone Order, Mobile Payments, Mobile Point of Sale, Point of Sale, Travel Agency Agents Tagged with: account, card, card present, credit, customers, e-commerce, high risk merchant, internet, merchant accounts, merchants, mobile, mobile services, moto, multi-channel merchants, payment, point of sale, POS, processor, transactions, travel, travel agencies
January 14th, 2016 by Elma Jane
We would like to let our customers know of additional benefits that are coming, in addition of the protection that chip card technology provides.
On January 24, Verifone will release a software update for your card terminal that will include two important new features:
- PIN Debit: With this feature, when your customer pays with a Visa, MasterCard or Discover chip debit card, your terminal will allow you to process it as a debit transaction. The update will change the prompts you’re used to seeing based on how the card is configured.
- Tip Adjust: If your business accepts tips, you will now have the option to add the tip at the time of sale or adjust it later, just like with non-chip card transactions. To use the tip adjust feature, simply skip the tip prompt during the sale.
Once the download is available, your card terminal will automatically receive the new application during its monthly update. For best results, leave your terminal on overnight to ensure it receives the update.
We appreciate your business and we are committed to providing you with solutions to ensure your ongoing transition to chip card acceptance is smooth.
For more information on terminal upgrade, please visit www.chipcardsuccess.com.
Start accepting credit card payments at your business with the following features on your new POS terminal: NFC + EMV PIN & Signature capable. Give us a call now at 888-996-2273 or visit our website www.nationaltransaction.com Payments Expert for Travel Merchants and more!
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, EMV EuroPay MasterCard Visa, Near Field Communication, Point of Sale, Travel Agency Agents, Visa MasterCard American Express Tagged with: card, customers, EMV, MasterCard, merchants, nfc, payments, POS, transaction, travel, visa
December 28th, 2015 by Elma Jane
Major data breaches were acknowledged by another hotel chain and another brand popular with kids.
Hyatt discovered the intrusion on Nov. 30, which targeted Hyatt-managed properties (not those owned by franchisees), but did not disclose exactly how many properties were affected or how many records may have been exposed. The malware used in the attack targeted payment-card information including cardholder names, PANs, expiration date and CVV/CVC information.
Separately, a security researcher discovered a leaked database from Sanrio, the Japanese company that designs, licenses and produces the popular hello Kitty character. The database reportedly contains account data for 3.3 million users of Sanriotown.com and other Sanrio-owned Websites including hellokitty.com. The company has not yet acknowledged the extent of the breach publicly but said it is investigating.
If so, it is the second network intrusion made public putting the personal information of young people at risk after the Vtech Toy Company Data Breached. Almost 5 million parents and more than 200,000 kids was exposed. The hacked data includes names, email addresses, passwords, and home addresses of 4,833,678 parents who have bought products sold by VTech.
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants Tagged with: card, card information, data, data breaches, payment
December 16th, 2015 by Elma Jane
Google’s contactless payment solution, Android Pay, will now be available through the mobile checkouts of several Android apps in the U.S.
With this addition, it avoids having to pull out your card everytime you make a purchase, meaning card data never makes it to the merchants. A good news for anyone who is concerned about privacy.
Android Pay is compatible with all Near Field Communication (NFC) or Host Card Emulation (HCE) enabled devices using any OS released since KitKat.
With Coca-Cola signing up as the first merchant in the Google program, a new loyalty program was recently released for the mobile wallet, by tapping your phone on an NFC-enabled Coke vending machine, you’ll get a Coke and get points added into your Android Pay Account for future purchases.
http://www.pymnts.com/news/payment-methods/2015/android-pay-now-in-app-payment-option/
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, Credit Card Security, Mobile Payments, Smartphone Tagged with: Android Pay, card, card data, contactless payment, HCE, host card emulation, loyalty program, merchants, mobile wallet, Near Field Communication, nfc, payment
December 9th, 2015 by Elma Jane
The RushCard catastrophe affected more than 132,000 consumers, without access to their prepaid card accounts to get their paychecks, buy groceries, pay bills or pay rent for days.
The total number of customers, and a tally of how many people were affected, haven’t previously been disclosed because it is a privately held company.
Senator Brown urged UniRush on Monday to cooperate with an investigation from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which has requested documents and other information to determine what caused the outage and what the company was doing to compensate consumers.
The card company petitioned to push back the deadline for compiling the information to Jan. 15, from Nov. 10, calling the request broad and overly burdensome, but the bureau denied the request last week.
The prepaid card company announced in October that it would create a multimillion-dollar fund to compensate customers who faced financial issues after being locked out of their accounts.
RushCard spokesman said Monday that the company has started to compensate customers, even hand delivering cash in some cases, but he wouldn’t specify how many people had received payments.
RushCard is a Prepaid Card Company co-founded by Russell Simons.
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants Tagged with: card, card company, payments, prepaid card
November 12th, 2015 by Elma Jane
Here are some tips for protecting gifts cards to accessing them via phone and replacing gift cards that don’t work:
Remedy for gift cards that don’t work.
You need the activation receipt, they just don’t activate them correctly. With that slip of paper, a gift card giver can at least prove the card was activated and they can take it back.
Returning a malfunctioning gift card? Deal with the company that issued it, that means if it’s a store gift card, take it back to the store, and if it’s a bank-branded gift card, call the toll-free number on the back of the card.
Shield some gift cards from theft and loss.
In the past, if lost or stolen, they were gone permanently. These days, with bank-branded cards, you can register the cards with the issuer to get protection from loss or theft. The funds will be replaced if it’s lost or stolen.
It works for some retail gift cards, too. To register a gift card, call the toll-free number or visit the website listed on the back of the card. You’ll supply the card number, and likely the PIN and expiration date of the card, along with your name and address.
Storing gift cards on a phone is becoming more common.
More and more gift cards are being redeemed through mobile technology. Some apps allow shoppers to take a picture of the front of the card and store it, along with the recorded balance.
Stretch more out of gift cards.
When is a $50 gift card worth more than $50? When you use it online to score a discount or free shipping.
If you’re making a purchase with a gift card, shop both the brick-and-mortar location and the store’s website to see if one of them will offer a discount, free delivery or free shipping. Most retailers have moved to this digital-and-physical environment.
Want to boost the value of that gift card you just received? Snag a coupon to go with it. With a few minutes of searching, you could increase your gift-buying power by 10 or 20 percent.
There are two kinds of gift cards and (generally) two menus of fees.
With cards that carry a credit card brand name, you often pay a purchase fee. In return, you can use them any place that accepts that card brand.
Buy a gift card at or for a particular retailer, and you pay only the face value of the card. But you can only use it at that specified retailer, and sometimes at affiliated businesses.
Majority of retailer gift cards don’t have expiration dates, activation fees or dormancy fees.
Under the federal Credit CARD Act of 2009, gift cards have to be good for at least five years from the purchase date, but the best advice is to spend them as soon as possible.
Treat them gently.
Plastic gift cards still use magnetic stripes, like pre-chip credit cards. Those stripes can occasionally get demagnetized.
Some gift cards include a scratch-off panel. If you use something too sharp you can accidently remove the numbers underneath, then it’s no good to you.
Some gift cards are made of paper or thin cardboard, another reason to put them in a separate envelope.
According to research from the National Retail Federation, gift cards are the No. 1 requested present 9 years in a row.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged with: card, credit card, Gift Cards
September 29th, 2015 by Elma Jane
There are three contenders competing for dominance in mobile payments.
NFC – or near-field communication, is a contactless data transfer system similar to RFID. When two NFC-enabled devices come into range, you can transfer data from one to the other (such as bringing a phone in range of a credit card terminal).
NFC is found in a lot of phones, especially the flagship devices from Samsung, LG, and Sony. Apple finally jumped into the NFC game in 2014, and Google relaunched its mobile payments service as Android Pay in 2015. Samsung also launched its own app, aptly named Samsung Pay, in 2015.
NFC is a safe method for payments. Sensitive data is stored in a secure element, either built into the SIM card of a phone or placed in a separate chip. In most cases, retailers never actually see your card or bank account data.
QR Codes – or quick-response codes, have the sort of ubiquity that NFC lacks. They work a bit like your standard bar codes, except that instead of relying on one-dimensional analog scanning, they are digital. That means that with a QR code reader app, your smartphone’s camera can be temporarily converted into a scanner. QR codes can embed way more information than your standard bar codes, which gives them the power to do things like open mobile sites, direct you to YouTube Videos, and even enable you to complete mobile payments.
iBeacon – is an Apple-developed technology that uses Bluetooth Low-Energy (BLE, or sometimes also called Bluetooth Smart). Unlike the other two types of technology, it’s really still in the developmental stages. While it can be used for mobile payments, at the moment the biggest application for iBeacon is actually as proximity alert or geo-fence that can go where GPS doesn’t.
It works like this: iBeacon units are set up throughout a building (such as a department store). When someone with an iBeacon-enabled device comes into range of those beacons, they transmit information. Some of the ways this technology could be used would be to transmit mobile coupons or other special offers, to guide customers throughout the store by department, or even to help them find specific items on a shopping list.
NFC devices need to be within 8 inches (though 2 inches is really most effective). iBeacons, on the other hand, have a range of 50 meters, or about 165 feet.
For payments, iBeacons would work nearly the same as NFC: the phone would wirelessly transmit payment information to the terminal or beacon via Bluetooth.
It’s also worth noting that while iBeacons are Apple technology, they are not exclusive to iOS devices. The phone just needs to have Bluetooth Smart and the appropriate app.
Samsung announced its own version of the iBeacon, called Proximity, at its 2014 developer conference in November. it works the same way as iBeacons, but rather than going through an app, Proximity works directly with the phone’s hardware.
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, Mobile Payments, Mobile Point of Sale, Smartphone Tagged with: Android Pay, Apple, bank, card, credit card terminal, google, iBeacon, LG, Mobile Payments, Near Field Communication, nfc, payments, qr codes, Samsung, Samsung Pay, Sony
September 3rd, 2015 by Elma Jane
Today, there are numbers of dedicated invoicing software solutions to choose from, but also, specifically built to handle all aspects of invoicing. Whether you send out invoices in the mail, electronically or both. NTC’s Cloud-based invoicing software is a way to simplify your invoicing processes.
National Transaction help merchants consider making the switch to online invoicing methods.
If you’re considering making the transition, check National Transaction’s Electronic Invoice.
Once the transaction is approved a confirmation email is sent to the merchant and consumer.
Benefits of Electronic Invoicing:
Ease of use – Merchants only needs to enter the email address and the amount of sale to complete order.
Better security – Card Holder enters credit card data directly into an acquiring bank system. Bank stores such sensitive information in an encrypted format on remote servers. This reduces your liability and makes it so you won’t lose all your important data if your server gets hacked or destroyed.
Collect useful sales information – Most invoicing software has reporting capabilities which let you track payments, projected income and client history.
Get paid faster – E-Invoice can be paid the same day. The sooner you send your invoices, the sooner you are likely to get paid. With NTC Electronic Invoice, you can schedule invoices to be sent out ASAP, which means faster, more reliable income for your business.
Look more professional – Invoicing software typically includes professional-looking invoice templates, which you can customize with your business name and logo.
Emailing clients invoices instead of mailing them printed bills, is approximately 10 times cheaper than paper invoicing.
Send invoices from anywhere – Cloud-based invoicing software can be accessed from anywhere with an internet connection. This means you can easily invoice customers or access your business’s billing information wherever you are in the world, and even from your phone if you need to.
Interested in Electronic Invoicing? Give us a call 888-996-2273 or go to our website www.nationaltransaction.com
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants Tagged with: bank, card, card data, credit card, Electronic Invoice, invoicing, merchants
