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Wouldn’t it be nice if payment processing came with a textbook for beginners? Unfortunately, many times merchants are on their own to master key terms and skillfully implement best practices that help manage costs. One of the biggest challenges can be understanding the interchanges rates set by the card networks and other fees incurred in order to accept credit card and other payments.
Here are some areas to explore in greater detail that could save you money.
- Clear transactions in a timely manner. Best practice is daily settlement nightly. Settling transactions in one day, as opposed to two or more, you could result in lower rates. Check with your merchant bank for their requirements.
- Keep inventory well-stocked. Know your sales cycle and order accordingly. Reduce capture rates to ship out. This can also help reduce the need for re-authorizations.
- Utilize the Address Verification System (AVS) to help protect against fraudulent transactions. AVS verifies the address of the customer presenting the payment card. The AVS system checks the billing address, numeric part of street address and zip code of the payment card provided by the user, against the address on file for that card.
- Obtain the Card Security Code (CSC), an additional security feature implemented by Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express. The CSC is a three- or four-digit value printed on the card or signature strip, but not encoded on the magnetic stripe. It is best practice to send this data when the card is not present. The codes have different names unique to each brand, as follows: Visa – CVV2, MasterCard – CVC2, Discover -CID, American Express – CID or unique card code. This data should be sent for non-swiped transactions. In some cases non-compliance fees may be assessed if no information is submitted. CSC can also help protect against chargebacks.
TrustCommerce can assist with reducing interchange rates as well as compliance costs through the following products and services.
- Debit—PIN and PINless debit card payment acceptance have a different fee structure than credit card processing. Associated fees are typically lower.
- Purchase card Level II and Level III transaction processing—allows qualified Business to Business (B2B) and Business to Government (B2G) merchants to process transactions with varying levels of information. This is done primarily for improved reconciliation and reporting and may also result in a preferred discount rate. TrustCommerce supports Purchase Level II and III transactions for a variety of processing platforms.
- TC Citadel—provides a means to securely store and retrieve customer payment card and ACH information for future, one-time, recurring billing, and installment transactions. The stored information is recalled with a single six-character alphanumeric code known as a BillingID. Using this secure solution can greatly reduce costs associated with PCI compliance.
- TC Trustee Merchant Host—is a transparent redirect web application solution that allows merchants to process payments directly from their web site without ever handling sensitive cardholder data. TC Trustee Merchant Host seamlessly integrates into the checkout process of a merchant’s shopping cart, payment page, or other online payment system. Customers enter their payment card data on a form on the merchant’s website, submit the payment form, and the data is seamlessly redirected to the TrustCommerce payment gateway. TrustCommerce stores and transmits the sensitive cardholder data. This secure payment solution can greatly reduce PCI costs.
Contact a TC Solutions Consultant to help guide you through payment processing: 800.915.1680. In addition, watch these TrustCommerce payment solutions videos to learn more about our services.
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