Blog

Visa, who has always been the strictest association regarding PCI compliance, data security, and cardholder protection, has set the pace again.  Merchants who accept multiple card types are required to follow the strictest card operating guidelines, which usually come from Visa.  They issued series of mandates requiring its acquirers to ensure that their U.S. merchants, VNPs, and agents use only PA-DSS compliant payment applications and that PIN pads connected to Visa’s network use triple DES (triple data encryption standard technology).  The final mandate in this series went into effect on July 1. Continue reading "Merchants: Are Your Vendors PCI Compliant?"

ABCpdf.NET is, in our opinion, the best dynamic web page-to-PDF generator out there. We’ve evaluated many different PDF generation libraries, and found ABCpdf.NET to be superior.  This product shines in its simplicity to install and its ease of use.  It has made our system easier to use for the end user and we couldn’t function without it. We highly recommend Websupergoo products. We encourage you to try their software – http://www.websupergoo.com/products.htm

Visa is a world leader in the credit card industry – and they are looking to get even bigger.  The company announced on April 21 that it will pay $2 billion cash, or $26 a share, for Cybersource, which will become a wholly-owned subsidiary.  Continue reading "Visa Acquires Cybersource for Global Ecommerce Expansion"

Social networking meets the credit card industry – in a new way this time.  Although, I’m sure a recent new venture would have preferred a more favorable type of news release.

Blippy, a new social networking site which allows users to share their credit card purchases, unintentionally exposed the financial information of some of its members.  Continue reading "Social Sharing Networks and Data Protection"

If your merchant account is set up to accept only credit cards (i.e. you are on online merchant or you do not have the ability to accept PIN-based transactions), then the answer is simple – you can only accept credit card transactions at this time.  If you accept POS (Point of Sale or in-person) transactions, you can offer your customers the option.  That is, if your processing system is set up to accept PIN-based transactions.  So, if you have that option – of offering debit or credit – what’s the difference you ask?   Continue reading "Debit or Credit – Do Merchants Have a Choice?"

In Part I, I discussed the importance of PCI compliance, consequences of non-compliance and the effect of account termination on a merchant.  Part II will discuss the basics of PCI compliance responsibility and how merchants can avoid fines and account termination.  Continue reading "PCI Compliance – Why Merchants Need To Take It Seriously – Part II"

Having a merchant account comes with responsibility.  While a merchant may be concerned with revenue and how to grow its business, payment card industry (PCI) compliance should be at the top of the list as well.  The main purpose of PCI compliance is data security, which applies to any party involved in processing credit card transactions.  Not following the rules – or practicing risky activities – can result in card association fines and can also put a merchant account in jeopardy of being terminated – not to mention data breaches that may occur.  A merchant account termination can be detrimental to any business accepting credit cards – especially if they operate purely online. Continue reading "PCI Compliance – Why Merchants Need To Take It Seriously – Part I"

Some recent news and government actions affecting online retailers enrolling consumers in membership clubs warrants a follow up to my blog a few months ago about post transaction marketing.

In late January, NY Attorney General Cuomo made some strong moves in the battle against post-transaction marketing.  His office reached an agreement with Fandango, in which the online movie ticket retailer will no longer engage in any marketing practices that enroll consumers in membership/discount clubs – without the consumer’s approval.   Additionally, Cuomo launched an investigation into 22 well-known online retailers who deceptively enroll consumers in these membership clubs.  Continue reading "More Crackdown on Post-Transaction Marketing"

In January, MasterCard made an effort to enforce new regulations and best practice guidelines pertaining to online direct marketing – specifically “negative option” marketing, which they consider to be a “brand damaging” practice.  The FTC Negative Option staff report, featuring five key marketing principles, triggered both Visa and MasterCard to make changes to their operating guidelines. Continue reading "Card Association Response to Updated FTC Regulations"

Recent reports about the security of mobile phone payments has raised red flags on the next hot payment channel.  Encryption on GSM calls has already been hacked and various researchers have released findings and tools that might encourage cyber crime.  Well, maybe not exactly the motive, but a GSM encryption codebook – a “how-to” guide to break GSM encryption – has been released by a team of German researchers.  Their goal was not to assist cyber criminals, but to encourage stronger security protocols for mobile technology.  Continue reading "Can You Trust Mobile Phones With Your Money?"