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Showing posts from November, 2008

The Benefits of Electronic Payments for B2B Transactions

In the digital age, businesses are increasingly moving away from traditional payment methods such as checks and cash, and adopting electronic payment methods for B2B transactions. Electronic payments offer numerous advantages over traditional payment methods, making them an ideal choice for businesses looking to streamline their payment processes and improve cash flow. What are the benefits of electronic payments for B2B transactions? Faster payment processing Electronic payments are processed much faster than traditional payment methods. With electronic payments, the payment is transferred directly from the payer's bank account to the payee's account, eliminating the need for physical checks or cash. This significantly reduces payment processing time, allowing businesses to receive payments faster and improve cash flow. Increased convenience Electronic payments offer increased convenience for both the payer and the payee. With electronic payments, businesses can make and recei

Customer Information Management

Storing sensitive credit card customer information is something that used to be taken lightly, not any more. PCI or the Payment Card Industry regulates the storage of this sensitive information. This means if you accept credit cards, you and your processor need to be PCI compliant. Since PCI compliance for storage of cardholder data is usually out of reach for most merchants how can you rebill a return customer without asking for payment information and without violating PCI rules? Customer Management The simple way to comply with PCI and still have the ability to rebill your customers is to use a PCI approved 3rd party to store the credit card information. Its a relatively new concept but most processors are starting to offer this service. Here's how it works. The credit card payment information is passed securely to the payment processor. The payment processor issues a customer ID, the next time you need to bill that customer you just send the customer ID. PCI Compliance As the

How Can I Save Money on Payment Processing?

A good question. The cost of payment processing seems to something most businesses just accept. While its true there is some flexibility from vendor to vendor there is one way to save a ton of money on your payment processing. Start accepting checks or ACH payments. Credit card transaction fees include monthly, per transaction, and usually a percentage of the transaction. When you take a check your don't have to pay the percentage of the transaction fee. Why? MasterCard and Visa interchange fees are passed on to you the merchant. It gets worse if you don't have a merchant account and use a company like 2Checkout or Paypal your per transaction fees will eat up most of your profits. If your serious about business please get a merchant account! The best way to save money is to get a merchant account and accept ACH transactions (checks). All that is needed from the customer is a transit routing number and an account number. These are clearly printed on all checks. Here is a very s

Visa Sets Global PCI DSS Deadlines

If you store cardholder data this affects you. Please read this press release from Visa. " Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) today announced global mandates for compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), creating a consistent framework for compliance among merchants, service providers and their agents. The enhancements include a global set of requirements for merchants to validate their compliance with PCI DSS; and for the largest merchants, dates by which they must achieve validation. Deadlines are also set for large and mid-level merchants to demonstrate that they are not storing certain types of sensitive card data. Service provider levels and PCI DSS validation requirements have likewise been aligned under a global standard and compliance timeline. Compliance with PCI DSS will help protect businesses from financial and reputational harm that often results from cardholder data compromises. Visa data security compliance programs have provided compelling incent