“Never say never” usually holds true in life, but in the case of handling a MOTO (mail order/telephone order) transaction as a retailer, you should never wire money to someone. Let me repeat, because it’s that important. Never wire money to someone as part of a retail transaction. With the Great Recession of 2009-10 has […]

While waiting in line at a local fast food restaurant recently, I noticed a sign that you would normally only see in the breakroom or on an employee bulletin board out of sight from the customers. It was titled (in the giant-sized headline usually reserved for major news events) “Credit Card Fraud is a Federal […]

Most of us hear about the really big data breaches that hit large retailers, governments and health care facilities. They make national news when they occur. But what we don’t hear about are all the “little guys” who increasingly are becoming the targets of cyber thugs. For a number of years the small and medium […]

As consumers increasingly have embraced Visa- or MasterCard-branded gift cards, the card networks have become more concerned with the “user experience” at checkout and the impact of shoppers not knowing the balance remaining on their card during the process. As you might expect, if the consumer brings $100 worth of merchandise to the counter and […]

If you have the ability to access your computer system from an offsite location, the use of the technology that provides you “remote access” is usually a godsend. It can eliminate the need to drive back to your office or store to solve a problem there. It also saves time in case your computer or […]

Just like at home, “spring cleaning” has a place in the world of electronic payments. If you accept payment cards (credit, debit, gift) in your business, you should periodically conduct a top-to-bottom review of everything you’re doing. You will benefit by taking a few minutes to review your systems, equipment and procedures to find areas […]

If you are a merchant accepting credit card payments over the web, you should be sensitive to how criminals can use your website to “test” stolen cards. One of the biggest challenges for bad guys who have a lot of stolen card data is finding out whether the cards are still “good” and have not […]

As a merchant you are also a consumer, and one service you buy is a merchant account for processing credit card transactions. It is likely that salespeople approach you on a regular basis, attempting to sell you this service or get you to switch processors. My advice: caveat emptor—buyer, beware. As a national leader in […]

In the world of merchant processing, as with many aspects of daily life, the only constant seems to be “change.” And there are several important changes coming in merchant processing. Some of these changes are available today, and some aren’t going to happen for a number of years – but it is prudent to understand […]

I don’t know if the Mayan calendar (which appears to end abruptly later this year) indicates some impending disaster or not, but every business should have a detailed disaster plan in place in case something happens on 12/21/12 or any other time. Super Storm Sandy, with the billions of dollars in destruction it has caused […]