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One of the things needed for the market for mobile contactless payments to take off is a set of specifications financial services providers, MNOs and SIM/UICC and other vendors can work to. This seems to be shaping up nicely now. Firstly, Global Platform pulled off a bit of a coup last November by getting the GSMA and EMVCo on board working on a specification to make it easier for any mobile payment application to work on any UICC. Now the EPC with the GSMA has issued "Mobile Contactless Payments Service Management Roles Requirements and Specifications". In this document, the key management specification referenced for ensuring payment applications are securely provisioned and stored on the UICC are...wait for it...Global Platform's. For purchasers and vendors alike, it’s so much easier when different organisations cross-reference common standards, and don’t go away and invent their own.
Here are the 3 major components of credit card processing:
Payment Gateway
A payment gateway manages the secure transfer of credit card funds of your customers from your website to your merchant account. This is done with a software interface provided by the payment gateway company that collects vital credit card data from the customer, and also informs the customer in real time if their credit card was approved or not. Payment gateway companies normally charge a transaction fee and a discount rate for this kind of service. Fees will vary from one processor to an o ther, as well as features.
The three areas of payment gateways:
scalability (can they handle varying transaction volumes)
reliability (do their servers provide 99.9% uptime)
security (fraud prevention tools, Address Verification Service, 128-bit Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology, PCI compliance)
Without the proper security tools you are vulnerable to pilferers, and credit card scammers, and you don’t want that happening on your site.
Merchant Account
A merchant account is an account with a bank that allows you to accept credit card payments. The payment gateway wires the billing information to the merchant account provider, and subsequently collects the funds from the customer’s account.
Two kinds of merchant accounts:
‘card present’ – retail and Point of Sale(POS) merchants
‘card not present’ – Mail Order/Telephone Order (MOTO), and Internet Merchants.
An Internet Merchant Account enables credit card payments via the Internet. You can gain an Internet merchant account in three ways:
Through a reputable bank
Broker or intermediary
Third party
Most banks are not too keen in accepting start up businesses, and their ecommerce services are still at the developing stage. Getting a merchant account through a bank not only depends on how large your business is, but also on what kind of business you’re doing. Businesses in the field of pharmacy, gambling, adult entertainment, and travel usually won’t even dare knock on the doors of these banks for it’s just a waste of time.
Brokers, on the o ther hand, can help you obtain a merchant account by acting as your representative to the bank. They make your business more appealing,and improve your chances of getting your own merchant account. However, like banks, they steer clear of high risk merchants, and you might have to produce documents (business plans, personal net worth, mortgage and credit card bills) to prove your business worth.
Still unsuccessful with the first two options, most merchants are more thanwilling to get a free merchant account via third party processor. Application is simple and most third party processors will waive application/set up fees, and provide value-added services for free. Most processors have a “sell nothing, pay nothing†policy, and caters to most high risk merchants turned down by banks and brokers. Account approval is quick, and you can start selling in less than 24 hours. However, third party processors can charge slightly higher on transactions unlike having your own Internet merchant account.
Website
Without a functional website, you won’t be able to sell your products and services on the Internet. Merchant account providers sometimes offer site templates to choose from, and payment gateways offer shopping carts that are seamlessly incorporated on your site. The key words here are: easily integrated. If you can’t integrate, you can’t sell.
In general, these three are the main factors when accepting credit card payments over the Internet. Having these three won’t guarantee a successful online business, but are imperative if you plan on engaging in ecommerce. Search the web for the best solution you feel can help your business succeed. Merchants have long tapped the revenue potential of the ecommerce market, its about time you do.
Mobile payment is the latest and fastest growing alternative method for paying for goods and services in Europe and Asia. It is an alternative to paying by cash, credit card or cheque and involves using a mobile telephone to authorise payments from a `mobile wallet` to the merchant concerned.
The total market is growing fast and it is expected that the aggregate size of the market for the four main types of payments will exceed $300bn by 2013.
The transactions starts with the phone user sending a text message or USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data) message to an agreed short code telephone number. The required amount to be paid is then added to the pone bill of the user and the merchant is advised of the payment and the goods or services released. In some instances multimedia messages are used to send bar code confirmations which can then be read by the merchant.
This new payment method has come about due to the rapid development of mobile phone technology. With web browsing, e-mailing and specialised operating software, mobile telephones are now akin to portable computers. This technology also enables leapfrog advances to be made in countries with poorly developed traditional payment architectures. Mobile phone technology is relatively cheap to install requiring only transmitters and bandwidths whereas fixed lines require substantial capital spend to install or upgrade.
There is no doubting that the development of these applications alongside a technology hungry user market is revolutionising all areas or mobile communication. The new technologies are easy to use, much more secure, fast and proven through widescale use. As suppliers develop the capability for accepting payments, the market, especially amongst the young, will expand.
The most recent addition is the development of Contactless Near Field Communication. This allows the mobile phone equipped with a smartcard to be used as a payment device in its own right. All that is required is for the phone to be brought near to a reader module for the payment to be authorised. Some transactions also require a PIN making them extra secure. The phone holders pre paid account is debited or the amount charged to a bank account linked with the telephone.
In order to access and fully exploit some of these new services the latest mobile phones are a must buy addition. Amongst the latest arrivals is the Samsung Tocco – a phone typical of the new generation incorporating 8meg camera, e-mail, Bluetooth, HSPDA, memory card slot MP3 played and touchscreen technology. The Ultra edition also includes GPS technology to enable navigation applications to be used.
ne of the stumbling blocks of e-Commerce has always been the requirement to have a computer nearby to complete the transaction. With E-Commerce growing yearly at incredible speeds it was only a matter of time until devices such as the iPad provided the means to do e-commerce easily and securely without the need for a full fledged computer.
Accepting Credit Card Payments on your iPhone / iPad
Although you’ve been able to receive payment via the Paypal App which has been reviewed before, there are still millions of people who don’t have paypal accounts and prefer to pay online with Credit Cards.One of the Co-founders of Twitter, Jack Dorsey, has been starting up the company called SquareUp which provide you the ability to Swipe Credit cards and accept payments wherever you are on your iPad or iPod.
Right now you can register for free at Squareup.com, purchase a small attachment for your iPhone or iPad and Swipe a Credit card and provide a receipt via email in the easiest way I’ve seen before without needing a merchant account.
This will definitely make a large impact for Small business where Accepting Credit Cards in real life has always been a expensive and complicated setup.
In the B2B world, generally speaking, buyers and suppliers both understand the benefits of moving to electronic payments. These benefits include higher rates of straight-through processing, reduced bank fees, improved security, quicker settlement, and reduced costs. Typically, electronic invoice payments are made over ACH networks. Now, in addition to the traditional ACH payment method, virtual card technology is being used to make invoice payments. This is one of the hottest areas in B2B AP payments today.
The rebates generated by card programs account for a large portion of their appeal. Rebate amounts vary based on payment volumes and rebate percentages (which themselves vary based on credit terms) and make it possible to transform an A/P department from a cost center to a revenue center. But upon learning about this payment option, most everyone asks “Why would a vendor accept a card payment for an invoice and pay the interchange fee?” There are several reasons.
Many suppliers already accept invoice payments via card and will accept them from you too. Or they may place a high value on you as a customer and wish to accommodate your payment preference. They may do the cost/benefit analysis regarding the interchange fee and decide that their margin is sufficient. Or perhaps you have enticed them with the offer of better terms or a higher concentration of spend.
But there is another important reason that is not immediately apparent. Suppliers do want to receive electronic payments. They do want to reduce their lockbox fees. They do want to automate their A/R process and achieve higher straight-through processing rates. They do want their payments to clear more quickly.
Using ACH means providing banking information. Whether housed by you in your ERP system or housed in a third-party database, some suppliers are cautious about sharing their bank account and routing information. Following best practices such as the use of ACH debit blocks or debit filters and using reverse positive pay go a long way toward mitigating this risk. In fact, the 2009 AFP Payments Fraud and Control Survey indicated that ACH credits enjoyed the second lowest incidence of payment fraud. Yet many suppliers prefer to accept payments via card because it allows them to enjoy the advantages of electronic payments while addressing their need to keep their banking information private.
What about your company? Are you willing to share your banking information with your customers? Is this a hurdle? Could accepting invoice payments via card provide a solution? Tell us what you think!
The contemporary market is the place where you can find lots of interesting things. If you are keen on the certain domain, you might pay attention to the novelties in it. All spheres of economy and production develop quite quickly these days and the new products appear in the market very often. Actually, every customer is able to get them if he has the right payment method. The financial market develops along with the main one and the common cash is not always enough to satisfy all your needs and desires. For this reason it would be great to take care of the additional payment methods which can substitute cash or be used separately to help you get what you want. The cashless payment methods are numerous and you can find lots of them in the market. Though there are the things to choose from, it would be better not to take several. Perhaps, it would be wise to apply for the credit card and that’s all.
The credit card is the financial instrument which is used all over the world. The credit card processing companies do their best to invent the new methods to perform the credit card transfers. However, there are enough of them for today to make the credit card very popular. The credit card transfers can be performed both by the customers and by the business owners when they get enough information from the customers. The customers can pay with the credit card through the static terminals. There is the definite list of services which can be purchased through the static terminal for credit card processing. Though the main purpose of these terminals is to give the statistical data about the credit card and its use, they can still be sued in this way too.
The business owners have more ways to process the credit cards. There are many different devices to do it. They can be divided into two big groups: wireless devices and those working from the electricity supply network. The wireless ones are more expensive, of course. But still they are on high demand among the business owners who use the service of the commercial travelers.
Another way to process the credit card payment is to use the special software provided by the credit card processing company. This software is used to perform the payments through the World Wide Web. Obviously, this way is considered to be the least safe among all of them as the number of fraudsters in the Internet is significant. From the point of view of safety, it would be better to avoid this way of processing but in reality this is often the only possible one. In case it is inevitable, pay attention to the security policy and make sure the deal is protected well.
This simple rule can save you lots of money in your everyday life: never rush to fill out any credit card applications, before researching the niche.
Surely sometimes credit card applications are the only way to get access to the info about quotes. In this case your actions make sense. In all other cases – do not make extra hustle. Visit this blog and learn the useful tips about how to select proper service and how to act accordingly.
Today we are living in the world where information makes life easier.
That is why if you are properly armed with the knowledge in your topic you can rest assured that you will always find the solution to any bad situation. So, please make sure to track this blog on a regular basis or – the easiest way to take care of it – sign up to its RSS. Thus you will have a direct shortcut to the freshest informational updates about all types of topics like credit cards, small business grants, business help and more.
How can I take card payments on my market stall? Read more: How can I take card payments on my market stall? | PaymentSense http://www.paymentsense.co.uk/blog/card-payments-market-stall#ixzz13lcCgsax
0 comments Posted by Dan Rose at 17:43
This is a very good question and if you’re asking it you may well be on your way to boosting your profits considerably. Today there are still a surprising amount of traders on the outdoor markets who are unable to accept debit and credit cards.Market stall traders have been around for centuries and have usually always got by with the exchange of cash and goods, bartering and haggling away to make their living. However, these days the market stall holder needs to consider that times are changing and their customers want to pay for things differently.
The answer of course is that you need to get hold of a debit card machine to take debit and credit card payments.
How can I use a debit card machine when I can’t plug it in?
It’s true; when you’re out in the middle of the street on a cold morning you can’t really go to the nearest shop and ask them to plug in your debit card machine every time you need to accept a payment.
Debit card machine technology has improved however, and now there are mobile machines that allow you to take payments virtually anywhere in the country. They only really rely on battery power and a mobile phone network to keep them going. All debit card machines that allow you to take payments like this use GPRS technology.
What is GPRS technology?
GPRS allows you to use mobile phone networks to locate you anywhere in the UK. If you are in a position where you can receive a mobile phone signal then you can take a payment on your GPRS mobile debit card machine; it’s as simple as that really.
How do I get a GPRS debit card machine for market trading?
So when you decide you need to trade using a mobile debit card machine you need to open a merchant account through your bank, or better still a payment processing company who can sort you out with a debit card machine and put your payments directly into your business bank account.
If the payment card industry, the card schemes such as Visa and MasterCard, and merchants really desired to dramatically reduce payment card fraud, it can be simply done.
Today, by far the biggest problem with payment card security (credit and debit cards), is the little black magnetic stripe on the back. This magnetic stripe holds the full card details unprotected. This information is referred to as “track 2 data” within the payment card industry. The problem is this magnetic stripe track 2 data can be easily read with a "cheap to buy" magnetic stripe reader (see picture above), allowing fraudsters to “skim” card details quickly in a variety of ways, for instance placing covert magnetic stripe readers on ATMs (see picture below).
Track 2 data is also held in plain text on some payment devices and payment processing applications which store this information. Once track 2 data falls into the hands of card fraudsters, they simply create clone cards by replicating the magnetic stripe, and then use the cloned card in the same way as the original card holder uses the original card, of course only at those places which accept magnetic stripe swiping. Making card payment using the magnetic stripe reading is increasingly rare in Europe, however elsewhere in the world it is still used, and sometimes even without a signature.
Using a magnetic stripe to store card data on our plastic is an out dated technology, in Europe where "Chip and Pin" has now been widely adopted, using a chip to read the card data instead of the magnetic stripe increases security. The chip is difficult to clone and holds card information encrypted, so making it difficult for the bad guys to “swipe skim” the card data, and it is extremely difficult to create a clone working "chip" on a card. The issue is there are places like the United States where they haven’t adopted the securer chip technology and are intent on continuing to use the insecure magnetic stripe for the foreseeable future, meaning all payment cards around the world still need to keep the magnetic stripe on the back to be used globally accepted. As a result UK payment cards which still have their magnetic stripe track 2 data stolen, are still being cloned but used in places like the Thailand, where card magnetic stripe swiping is still the way to pay.
One of the arguments for the non-full adoption of chip technology in places like the US, is merchants don’t want to front the cost of replacing their card readers, well that doesn’t wash with me, most merchants in Europe managed to adopt chip reading technology fairly rapidly without any major hassles, and in general merchants continue to replace their card readers over a period of time anyway. So I don’t see why a “phased in” approach wouldn’t be acceptable on a world wide basis. During my recent trips to the United States I have encountered a general shift in the type of payment card readers to touch screen card devices, but they are still using magnetic stripe swiping to read the card. But this demonstrates there is always a continued evolution of card reading devices being deployed by merchants.
What about card holder not present transactions? These transactions are where it is impossible to tell whether the cardholder is present and in actual possession of card when making a payment, for instance an internet transaction or a telephone payments, where it is impossible for the merchant or payment processor to know whether the buyer is typing his card details in from the actual card or it's a frauder using skimmed card information. Sure the 3 digit security code helps with this, but the bad guys have ways around this.
In the UK following the introduction of Chip and Pin in 2005, there was a dramatic shift in the types of payment card fraud, in that the card fraud dramatically swung to “card holder not present” fraud, mainly internet transactions opposed to fraud at the cash register, mainly because cloning cards and their magnetic stripe became a waste of time for the fraudsters, as merchants moved to using chip only payment transaction processing.
There is an answer to securing “card holder not present” transactions which is simple and just requires an update in the card technology used. This technology has been available for quite a while now and involves the addition of a digital authentication system to the actual payment card.
I don’t believe I’m saying anything radical here, or indeed anything new, as always any thoughts and comments on this is always appreciated. I can say I have raised these points with leaders in the global payment card industry, as yet no one has given me good reason why this wouldn’t work. The excuse I tend to be given is the fraud rates aren’t at a sufficient rate to bring about these sorts of changes in security. Some might say the payment industry are happy taking the fraud hit, and passing on the fraud costs on to merchants and ultimately consumers through PCI DSS related costs and fines, while the inconvenience to customers who actually get hit with fraudulent transactions on their credit card and bank statements, mainly due to no fault of their own, is of little conscience.
Information Security is often a game of cat and mouse, with the good guys introducing security measures and bad guys finding ways around the security measures, then the good guy’s introduction new security measures and so on. The question is, has the payment card industry stopped playing the security game of cat and mouse? The answer is within the magnetic stripe on the back of your payment card.
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