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Who are the parties involved in the whole system?
Who are our processors?
Who are TSYS/TransFirst, Global Payments, Elavon and First Data?
What is a Processor?
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What services does Straightline offer besides unbeatable rates on merchant accounts?
Who do I call for support?
Who pays for airline miles and other rewards?
Who can qualify for accepting credit cards?
Who should I trust in this very confusing industry?
Who has the best rates?
What are the fees involved with accepting credit cards?
What is a Downgrade?
What is a Virtual Terminal?
What is a Terminal?
What type of terminal do I need?
How can I get the best possible rates while processing cards?
Can I surcharge my customers who pay with a credit card?
  • Sometimes we need to store credit card numbers, so how do we do it?
  • Many times business and website owners want to store credit card numbers for later. This allows re-billing customers for recurring orders, and allows easier checkout for repeat customers on a website.

    If a business decides they want to actually store credit card numbers, they are subjected to stricter PCI-DSS standards, and run a real risk of losing customer data just by the fact that they have it. Apart from PCI, it’s difficult to securely store credit card data as there is a multitude of technical aspects to doing it safely. If you lay it all out on paper, there is a huge amount of work, ongoing management, and liability in storing credit card numbers.

    We simply let somebody else store it for us. If we outsource our credit card number storage to another party, we are no longer liable for that data. This is still your customer’s data, so your reputation is on the line, but not necessarily your wallet. What’s even better is that with some of today’s available services, outsourcing this can give us an easier method of re-billing our customer than if we could easily store credit cards.

    Who can we store these with? This is the easy part. Your payment gateway may have a customer storage mechanism, or customer vault. If it doesn’t, find one that does.

    What this does is store your customer’s information and credit card number in the payment gateway’s secure database. If you need to charge your customer again, you simply reference their customer number and the amount you wish to charge. You can do this manually through the administrative virtual terminal of your payment gateway, or you can often do it directly through your website using an API. You can also setup recurring payments, refund, void, or credit via a customer’s stored card.

    There’s definitely a number of other gateways that have custom vault type systems as well. These can be integrated with a website, charged manually, or even integrated with a desktop application. A customer vault is a responsible way to outsource credit card number storage while still being able to use them.

How long does it take for my deposits to become available in my checking account?
What do I do to get started?
What is the turnaround time for getting everything set up?

Processing
Who is not allowed to accept credit cards?
What is a Chargeback?
How do Chargebacks work?
What is an Authorization Fee?
What is an Assessment Fee?
What is a Settlement Fee?
When will my money be available in my checking account?
How can I determine my True Cost?
How many terminals can I use simultaneously?
Customers payments with gift cards are not processing
How can I secure my wireless connection?
Can I charge a surcharge fee for those who use credit cards?
Can I offer a discount for those that don/'t use a credit card?

Securing Customer Credit Card Data
What is PCI Compliancy?
What does PCI mean?
Do I have to comply with PCI?
What information does Visa offer about payment applications and PCI compliancy?
How do I contact the payment card brands?
What are the consequences to my business if I do not comply with the PCI DSS?
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