Merchant Services Explained – The Basics

Do you have a new business and need to set up to process credit cards? If so then you probably understand that you will need to get merchant services for your business by setting up a merchant account. What you may not fully yet understand is exactly how the merchant account works. If you have been processing credit cards for some time now you probably will not benefit from reading this post about merchant accounts since this outline will very basic. However, if you are new to credit card processing and need a merchant account read-on.

A merchant account acts as an intermediary between the credit card issuer’s account and the merchant’s actual bank account. The merchant account compiles the monies that are processed in a given day and moves that money in to the merchant’s bank account. When the merchant swipes a credit card through their credit card terminal the processing company (a.k.a. Merchant Service Provider) checks with the issuing bank to see if the funds are available. When it is found that the monies are in the account they are put on hold. At the end of the day the terminal will either close itself out or be manually closed by the merchant in a process called batching. The merchant account then will move the money from each of the issuing bank accounts over to the merchant’s bank account in one lump “daily batch” total that equals the amount processed; this takes 1-2 business days.

This process will repeat throughout the month as the merchant handles transactions through their merchant account. At the beginning of the following month the Merchant Services Provider takes the processing fees out for the previous months credit card processing. There is a second option on how the fees are taken from the merchant’s bank account called daily discount. In this type of merchant account the base fees come off of the top of the batch before they are deposited in the merchants account. This type of merchant account is preferred in some cases of very large sales, however most merchants prefer that the fees come out the following month due to accounting reasons.

I hope that in being new to merchant services that you have found this basic explanation helpful. If you have any additional questions or need assistance with getting set up to accept credit cards with your own merchant account contact Chris at 800.51.TOTAL / 800.518.6825 or visit www.totalmerchantservices.pro.

News - Total Merchant Services Acquires REGISTROID

Woodland Hills, CA – January 7, 2014 – Underscoring its commitment to building a comprehensive portfolio of technology-driven business and payment solutions that drive sales for small- to mid-sized businesses (SMBs), Total Merchant Services announces the acquisition of Registroid, one of the leading point of sale (POS) software downloads on Google Play. The acquisition provides Total with a robust POS solution that will serve as the backbone for future expanded offerings from the company, which will help merchants grow and manage their business more effectively.
A tablet-based POS system, Registroid operates on most Android-powered devices while also offering a complete back-office solution that allows merchants to manage their devices and inventory online.
Registroid Pro, currently available as a free app on Google Play, is a single-device POS that includes all of the basic point of sale functions needed for a single lane merchant. Merchants can upgrade to Registroid Cloud, which provides multiple lane functionality, online reporting, and POS management. Both solutions now include integrated credit card processing with Total Merchant Services. Merchants can easily enroll for credit card processing utilizing Total’s new integrated online application.
“Registroid’s technology and team are a perfect fit to help accelerate our mission of enabling our customers’ success,” says Joe Kaplan, CEO of Total Merchant Services. “Tablet point of sale is where the retail sales experience is heading. The acquisition of Registroid, along with our Fanminder marketing solution and service-focused culture, enables us to empower small businesses. As Total Merchant Services expands its offerings into the cloud to become a full-service software company, we are excited about the future and look forward to providing new opportunities for our customers and sales partners.”

About Registroid

Registroid LLC, a Mobile, Alabama based company, specializes in developing point of sale software for the general retail and restaurant markets with its Registroid line of Android POS systems. For more information, visit www.registroid.com.

About Total Merchant Services

Founded in 1996, Total Merchant Services is a leader in the merchant services business, providing cutting-edge and cost-effective solutions to merchants and sales partners, and focusing on new technology-driven products to help small businesses prosper and grow. With a comprehensive portfolio of offerings, Total Merchant Services is committed to providing small businesses with easy and affordable business solutions. With free equipment, we allow small business merchants to easily accept and process all major credit cards — with funds deposited electronically into customer accounts within two days. Our solutions help small and medium-sized businesses minimize risk, save time, and improve cash flow management. In 2012, Total Merchant Services was named ISO of the Year by the Electronic Transactions Association (ETA) for providing payment industry sales professionals with outstanding product and service innovation. For more information call: 800.518.6825 or visit: www.totalmerchantservices.pro

Chris Judy
National Sales Manager
Total Merchant Services
800.51.TOTAL / 800.518.6825

PCI Compliance Simply Explained

PCI compliance is something that is crucial for any business that handles credit card numbers – including merchants, processors, financial institutions, and service providers. PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry – Data Security Standard is a set of requirements that are set forth to ensure all companies that process, store, and transmit credit card transactions do so in a secure manner. Simplified PCI compliance is measures that are taken to help protect card holder data, keeping it out of the wrong hands. Recently in the news Target the second largest US retailer had a substantial data breach you might recall involving cardholder data of 70 million people. Even though most of the time when you hear about a data breach in the news it is a large company, in reality 98% of data breaches occur within small business. This is why it is important for everyone to know about PCI compliance and what to do to stay complaint.

The primary purpose of PCI DSS is to protect account data. The account data is broken in to cardholder data and sensitive authentication data. Cardholder data includes the credit card account number, cardholder name, expiration date, and service code. Authentication data consists of the full track data (magnetic-strip data), CVV2 number or equivalent, and any PIN numbers. Generally the cardholder data is able to be stored however it is not permitted to store any authentication data. It is important to keep this information out of the wrong hands. Fines that can be levied by Visa and MasterCard range from the minimum of $10,000 up to $500,000. What it all comes down to is regardless if you are a large business or a small business you run the risk of a data breach and should do your part in staying PCI compliant.

You can visit the PCI Security Standards Council’s website at https://www.pcisecuritystandards.org for full details on all PCI compliance.

What should you do to take the steps in becoming and staying PCI complaint? The first step is to ensure your credit card receipts are truncated properly. They should display only the last 4 digits of the card number or no card number at all. With the most recent update of the PCI DSS you can no longer have an expiration date on the receipt. These rules apply to both the customer and merchant copies of the receipt. If your terminal is not printing the receipts correctly then you need to contact your merchant services provider to have a download completed so that it is corrected.  Next you would want to educate yourself on PCI DSS by visiting the PCI Security Council’s site. After you brush up on the rules and regulations you need to complete a Self-Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ) for your business type. The SAQ needs to be completed annually. Some businesses may also be required to complete and document a scan of their network quarterly. A SAQ will assist you in finding if this applies to your business or not.

We offer to our merchants the compliance facts website that reviews, explains the required documents and online tools that you need to stay complaint. It also covers IRS compliance. You can visit this site at www.compliancefacts.com.

If you find that your credit card terminal is out of PCI compliance and would like to take advantage of our free terminal placement program contact Chris today at 800.51.TOTAL / 800.518.6825.

Helpful PCI Compliance Links:

• Total Merchant Services – ComplianceFacts Site
•  PCI Council Website
•  Visa's Information Security Program
•  MasterCard's PCI Education Program
•  The 12 Key Requirements of PCI DSS

Wireless Credit Card Processing – Saving Your Business Money

Want to save your business money? Wireless credit card processing could help! No matter if you are running a small flower shop or a large furniture store you can lower your credit card processing costs by accepting credit cards at the point of sale on deliveries. Many businesses accept credit cards over the phone prior to going out to drop off their merchandise. When this is done you will end up paying much more to process these cards since there is no magnetic strip verification. Credit card processing fees could be up to a whole percent or more higher than it card present comparison. Also, by processing your cards with a wireless processing solution you will reduce your chargeback liability by having a signature on file for the transaction.

How can you reduce cost by implementing a wireless solution in accepting cards when you get your product to the consumer’s front door? To do this you have two primary options with Total Merchant Services. The option that would be preferred for a small business is to add on a Payment Jack device to your existing credit card processing solution. If you intend to process a larger volume of transactions you would want to consider putting an independent wireless credit card processing terminal in place. 

The Payment Jack device would connect to your existing smartphone allowing it to process the credit card at the point of delivery. Processing your payment with this option has its drawbacks. The main disadvantage is the fact that the device is assigned to one smartphone. Since the device is assigned to one phone number you may need more than one device if you have multiple delivery drivers. Secondly, the mobile device does not have a receipt printer. For some this may be an advantage, however many businesses and customers like to receive a receipt for the credit card sale.

The independent wireless credit card terminal as mentioned before would be a great option for a business that needs a paper receipt and or has many drivers that handle the credit card processing throughout the day. This method’s main advantage of having its own wireless connectivity to process credit cards live over the wireless network also brings us to its disadvantage, the cost. Since the device has its own wireless service to connect and process the credit cards, it carries a wireless service fee.

Both the wireless credit card processing solutions are covered by our free terminal placement program. The Payment Jack device can be added on for free to any of our free credit card processing terminal programs such as our free counter-top credit card terminal. An independent wireless credit card terminal could be added on to an existing free terminal program if your credit card processing volume permits. 

If you would like to discuss the possibility of adding wireless credit card processing to your existing credit card processing account by utilizing our free credit card terminal programs, feel free to contact me, Chris Judy, at 800.51.TOTAL / 800.518.6825.

Links:

Free Wireless Credit Card Processing (Independent Terminal)

Payment Jack Smartphone Credit Card Processing (MobileDevice)

Should I use Square or get a merchant account?

You might be in a position right now where you are looking for credit card processing for your new or existing business. In looking I am sure you came across Square merchant services. They offer credit card processing at a wholesale rate (one flat rate for all card types). This can be appealing for a new business owner looking for credit card processing for the first time. Let's see if Square merchant services is right for your business. If the following statements fit your situation, then a credit card processing service such as Square is right for you.

• I am just starting and I do not know how may credit cards I will process, if any at all.

• My sales are on the low end as I never process much more than $1,000 a month.

• My average credit card sale is very small, often less than a few dollars.

If any of these statements fit your current situation, you should set up with Square merchant services or a similar program. Let’s look at why.

The first statement explains a situation where a new or existing business is just starting to think about credit card processing and may not be sure if they will process at all. In this case processing your credit cards with a wholesale processor like what Square has to offer would be best until you gauge how many cards you will be processing.  

In the next situation your processing is very low. With having your own merchant account to handle the processing of credit cards you would incur a monthly cost. What it comes down to, is if the savings is outweighed by the monthly costs, you would be better off with a solution like Square merchant services. 

The final statement I put forth looks at the size of the transaction. If you average sale is very small, then the per items fees would be substantial. In this case using Square could actually cost them money since processors all pay the same costs to Visa, MasterCard and Discover. For example, a debit card cost is $0.22 per transaction. At a $5 sale the $0.22 would equate to a 4.4% by itself.

Okay, now if you are currently processing credit cards or  looking to add credit as a payment option and none of the situations mentioned above apply in your case, then you would be best off with your own merchant account to handle your credit card sales.

Total Merchant Services offers a solution similar to Square without the high overall percentage called Payment Jack. We also offer several other wireless options that include receipt printing. Total Merchant Services offers the best wireless processing terminal free to your business simply due to wanting to earn and keep your business.

For more information on this or any of the other free credit card terminal programs we offer contact Chris at 800.51.TOTAL / 800.518.6825.

Free Fanminder Service

Total Merchant Services now offers optional Fanminder services free with all new merchant accounts! Fanminder gives you the tools you need to grow your business and create customer loyalty. It integrates mobile, Facebook, Twitter and email marketing into an easy to use online tool. With services from Fanminder you are able to create coupons that can be redeemed by your customers and tracked from inside your Fanminder interface. If you were to subscribe to Fanminder without the free services offered along with our credit card processing, you would pay around $1,800 a year, including a $30 monthly fee with other expenses. We offer this at no cost along with our low cost credit card processing services. You can also combine any of our free credit card terminal offers with this service at no additional cost.

Fanminder allows you to get more business in to the door and keep your customers coming back to your business, earning you more revenue. It is easy to create a coupon in minutes and send it to your customers. Many merchants only will spend 5 minutes a week in creating a new offer resulting in an 8% increase in top-line revenue for your business. Take a look at a sample coupon that was created for a pizza shop. Text the word "joespizza" to 244326 and the example pizza shop coupon will be send to your phone. (This is only a demo so you will not be subscribed to anything.) As you can see on the coupon there is a green button that instructs the customer to click to redeem the coupon in front of the merchant. Once they do this, it will log the coupon as redeemed in your interface. With all of the templates that are available this coupon only takes minutes to create.

You may already be using some form of marketing that utilizes Facebook or Twitter. In this case you can add mobile and email marketing. All you have to do once you are set-up is to add you existing customer lists to your Fanminder interface and put up signs that instruct customers in your business to enroll in your loyalty/special offers program. After signing up they will get the initial coupon that you have designed for them. Each offer sent to your customers gives them the option to opt out of the program if they so desire, however you will find that the reason people sign up is so that they can get the offers and save money. Everyone likes to save money, right?

Fanminder is a wonderful tool, and since Total Merchant Services owns Fanminder, it  is offered free to any new set-up of a merchant account. If you would like more information on Fanminder feel free to contact me at 800.51.TOTAL / 800.518.6825 or visit www.fanminder.com. Remember: you have to set-up with me for credit card processing to get Fanminder for free.

Credit Card Merchant Services Cash Advance

Could your business benefit from up to $100,000 in working capital in your account within days? Many merchants are searching for a fast, easy way to get the working capital that they need to make improvements  of their business. One way a merchant can get the cash they need is to get a credit card merchant services cash advance. A cash advance from credit card proceeds isn’t a loan. It is a purchase of future credit card sales in exchange for cash now. Many times this money would be used in a way that would increase sales of the business providing a significant return on investment for the business. A merchant services cash advance is ideal for a business owner who does not want to get a traditional loan using and affecting their credit, their business has not been in existence long or if their current credit situation prohibits them from getting the cash they need now. Getting a merchant services cash advance is fast with the cash you need now in your account within 5 to 10 working days. Since a merchant services cash advance is not a loan there are no fixed payment amounts, you pay the cash back with a small agreed to percentage of your credit card sales.

What can you use the capital that you get through a cash advance? It can be used for any business expense including building inventory purchasing new equipment, marketing your business, remodeling or expanding your business, opening a new location and more. 

Your business could qualify for up to $100,000 in the working capital that it needs with a credit card merchant services cash advance. How much money does your business need? What would your business use the money for? If you would like more information on our merchant services cash advance program Cash-On-Demand contact me at 1.800.51.TOTAL / 800.518.6825. I would be more than happy to help you determine how much your business qualifies for and help you get the cash you need now with a credit card merchant services cash advice.