Many merchants start out with the best ideas and intentions then hit that “Credit Card Processing Wall”.
What is this wall?
We gets calls from merchants every day who have been told by their credit card processing company that they grew too fast or their refunds and returns are too high so the bank is shutting them down or capping their merchant account limits.
We’ve found there are a few simple “Best Practices” a merchant can take that should prevent any credit card processing issues for them – at least with us it does!
The following practices should be followed by both large and small merchants and doing so may help keep your processing from being interrupted:
Here are some approaches to follow when marketing:
You must be able to substantiate any performance claims shown on your website.
Images and endorsements of celebrities are prohibited without their express written consent.
You must not create a false sense of urgency for purchase.
Terms should be at least 12 point font (or the same size as all the other font on the payment page).
Terms must be clearly disclosed on the payment page.
There should be a “Contact Us” link on the website including toll free number, email address, and hours of operation.
Make sure your Doing Business As (DBA) is correct on your merchant account. This is what your customers sees when they get their credit card or check card statement
CVV and AVS must be implemented
The terms and conditions of any up-sell must be clearly displayed.
Do not use pre-cross checked upsells on the shopping cart
Your refund and return policy must be on your website
Screen all orders and verify any that have a billing and shipping address mismatch – Requiring the billing and shipping address to match will reduce fraud to almost zero percent but may also cost some sales so you need to monitor this closely
Shipping should occur as soon as possible and if it’s delayed allow the customer to cancel their order.
If doing recurring billing or monthly payments etc. make sure it is disclosed during checkout
Do not store credit card numbers
Address Verification (AVS) – AVS matches the known address information associated with the given credit card number against the billing address information provided by the user. If the information does not match, the transaction is declined. The merchant has the option of choosing the level of match required for an approved transaction.
CVV2 – CVV2, or Card Verification Value 2, is a number that is printed, not imprinted, on Visa and Mastercard. This number is never transferred during card swipes and should only be known by the cardholder, the person holding the card in their hand.
If you are a merchant, particularly someone who sells products online, the chances of your business being exposed to credit card fraud is highly likely. We specialize in helping merchants overcome online merchant account fraud and can help you stay in business!
Benefitting from higher cardholder spending and low loss rates, American Express Co. posted record profits for the first quarter.
Amex’s U.S. Card Services unit’s net income rose 35.5% to $752 million for the quarter ended March 31, from $555 million a year earlier, the firm said in a press release April 18.
Revenue from Card Services grew 8.3% during the quarter to $3.9 billion from $3.6 billion.
“Cardmembers spent a record amount on their American Express cards, continuing a trend that has translated into overall share gains during the last two years,” Chief Executive Officer Kenneth I. Chenault, 60, said in the statement. “The overall recovery in the U.S. remains uneven and the environment in Europe continues to pose challenges for the global economy.”
Total card billed business rose 12.1% to $107.7 billion from $96.1 billion, while total cards in force rose 2.7% to 41.2 million from 40.1 million.
Amex ‘s outstanding consumer card loans also grew during the quarter. Total outstanding loans rose 4.5% to $51.4 billion from $49.2 billion, while the charge-off rate on outstanding receivables declined 140 basis points to 2.3% from 3.7% a year ago.
“Credit quality continues to be among the best we have ever experienced, and our lending portfolio continued to grow at moderate levels,” Kenneth Chenault, Amex chairman and CEO, said in the release.
Amex’s International Card Services net income rose 4.2% to $197 million from $189 million, with revenue up 8.3% to $1.3 billion from $1.2 billion.
Global Commercial Services income declined 3.8% to $177 million from $184 million a year ago, while revenue grew 9.1% to $1.2 billion from $1.1 billion, reflecting higher spending on corporate credit cards.
Global Network & Merchant Services income rose 14.1% to $357 million from $313 million a year earlier, with revenues up 9.1% to $1.2 billion from $1.1 billion.
Overall Amex reported net income of $1.26 billion, up 6.8% from $1.18 billion, with total revenue of $7.6 billion, up 8.6% from $7 billion.
Large color screen allows for both sgnature capture and in-line advertising campaigns
Hypercom’s L5300 payment terminal features a 400 MHz, 32-bit processor for fast transactions, and supports streaming or pre-loaded video clips. With its large capacity memory of 128MB standard (256MB optional) and a MicroSD memory expansion slot, the L5300 securely accepts value-added applications to meet your needs now and in the future.
The L5300 has an 18-bit (256K) color, full VGA (640 x 480 resolution), large LCD display, integrated capacitive glass touch screen, audio and video capabilities, and electronic signature capture. This allows the L5300 to easily support interactive marketing programs and in-line advertising campaigns. All of this packaged in a small footprint and light-weight design.
The L5300 includes an integrated keypad with a non-removable rubberized privacy shield. Raised characters on keys were designed to address the needs of the visually impaired. An audio jack also allows for audible prompting using head phones to help meet Section 508 requirements.
Hypercom’s commitment to security does not stop with the meeting of payment security compliance requirements. The L5300 comes standard with an encrypting magnetic stripe reader (MSR), ensuring the card data is automatically encrypted as cards are swiped, thus protecting sensitive card information during the transaction process. Each device has a full X509 public key infrastructure, allowing retailers to protect their applications from hacking and preventing all malware attacks.
Accepting credit and debit card payments is essential for businesses in today’s environment. Whether you are just opening your business or an established operation, accepting card payments allows you to give customers the choice and convenience of paying with their preference of cards or other forms of electronic payment.
By accepting electronic payments at your business, customers are not limited to a single form of payment and can use their credit or debit card to purchase, more items than just what can be purchased with the cash in their wallets. Accepting electronic payments also streamlines the check out process and reduces the time a customer stands in line.
Most merchants in the U.S. are about to repay some of the savings they realized from the Durbin amendment that became effective October 2011. Starting April 2012, Visa and MasterCard are implementing new fees and increasing some interchange rates that will cost most merchants from a few dollars to a few hundred thousand dollars per month. It is important for merchants to understand their liability for these fees and seek out ways to manage the increased cost.
The most significant of all the new fees and rates changes is the introduction of Visa’s Fixed Acquirer Network Fee (FANF). Effective for activity beginning April 1, 2012, this fee will apply to the acceptance of all Visa-branded products. This fee is charged to a merchant’s acquirer or credit card processor based on a merchant’s size and number of locations. Most processors have announced that they intend to pass this fee on to their merchants. The calculation of this fee is extremely complex as it is based on a number of variables, including:
Number of taxpayer IDs
Card present vs. card not present
Merchant Category Codes (MCCs)
Number of locations
Visa gross monthly sales volume
Large merchants with many locations, multiple MCCs and mix of card present and card not present sales are having a difficult time calculating the impact of this fee to their organization.
Visa is lowering the NAP fee (Network Acquirer Processing) on Signature debit and Prepaid transactions, eliminating the RIS (Risk Identification Service) Fee, reducing the Interlink switch fee, and making incentive payments to large merchants under the Visa Partner Program. Merchants with very small average tickets and high debit card usage will see a net benefit with the reduction of the NAP fee and addition of the FAN fee.
Additional Visa changes announced include:
Visa will implement a new Transaction Integrity Fee of $0.10 on Visa Debit card and Visa prepaid card purchase transactions that either fail or do not request CPS qualification. As we read this it will be implemented like other Visa assessments (not Interchange fee related) and the most common impact will be on debit and prepaid transactions that are key entered without address verification.
Visa will make changes to corporate card transactions including increasing Corp Card Level 3 rates by 15 basis point and Corporate Card Electronic with Data rates by 10 basis points.
Visa will change Corporate Card and Purchasing Card Interchange Fee Programs for Travel Service merchants.
Visa will implement new Purchasing Card Product and Interchange Fee programs that will be available to commercial card issuers in the U.S. region and will support purchase and credit voucher transactions. We are awaiting further details on this new P-card product. A guess is that these new p-cards will focus on large ticket transactions.
Visa is making lots of changes to existing Interchange rates in their business, corporate, commercial and purchasing card categories as well. Some rates will go up slightly and others will go down; some changes are TBA; and some are all together new. Purchasing Card Large Ticket is the exception as it will increase 0.50% (yet this will only impact those few merchants that paid the Visa registration fee to qualify at this Interchange category). The analysis for merchants considering registration for Purchasing Large Ticket will change as a result. We would expect few merchants will register going forward.
Visa is making changes to non regulated debit and prepaid Interchange across industries. Again, some rates will go up slightly while others will go down fairly significantly.
Visa will delete debit performance thresholds for retail and supermarket.
Visa will edit Passenger Transport Interchange with new programs for card not present, credit and debit and prepaid.
Visa will edit qualifications for hotel, car rental and passenger transport so that they will no longer be eligible for retail debit and prepaid programs.
Visa will edit its non-regulated Business debit card with new programs that distinguish it from credit transactions. Some rates will stay the same, while others will increase or decrease depending on card present or not.
Visa will implement new non-regulated Interlink Interchange fee programs that will cover Business debit, Consumer debit and consumer prepaid transactions for Travel Service merchants.
Visa will delete Interlink supermarket and retail performance thresholds.
Visa will change its Interlink Switch Fee to $0.0225 + 0.08% assessed on the amount of the transaction and caped at $0.035 per transaction (for all transactions above $15.62).
MasterCard
MasterCard will introduce a new Annual License and Registration Fee. MasterCard has announced a new annual Acquirer Licensing Fee as well as a new annual Type III Third Party Processor (TPP) Registration Fee to be collected beginning in July 2012. The 2012 fees will be calculated based on full year 2011 volume. For 2012 only, each of the new fees will be 50% of the total fee calculated because it covers only half of 2012 (July 1, 2012 – December 31, 2012). These fees will be passed through on a pro-rata basis. All acquired MasterCard credit and signature debit volume will be utilized to determine annual volume for both programs. PIN debit volume is excluded.
In addition, MasterCard will introduce new Regulated debit small ticket debit and credit Interchange programs in April 2012, however the same Regulated debit rates will apply. This change will allow for MasterCard to better track small ticket transaction volume.
MasterCard will also make changes to existing commercial Interchange rates. MasterCard Corporate and Purchase Card transaction volume will shift to new charge types. Business Debit transaction posting remains unchanged. MasterCard will change the Interchange rates for Corporate and Purchasing T&E 1, 2 and 3, Commercial Large Ticket 1, 2 and 3, Corporate Level 2, Commercial Level 3, and Corporate and Purchasing Face-to-Face. Fleet T&E 1, 2 and 3 will be split out under a unique card/charge type combinations with no changes to the rates.
Discover
Discover will introduce a US Commercial Large Ticket Interchange Program
Discover will increase its assessment fee by .005%
Discover is changing existing card present Interchange rates for transactions less than $15 for Express Service merchants (Local Commuter, Bus Lines, Toll & Bridge Fees, Restaurants, Fast Food Restaurants, News/Dealer Stands, Laundries-Family Community, Dry Cleaners, Quick Copy & Reproductions, Parking Lots/Garages, Car Washes, Motion Picture Theaters and Video Entertainment Rentals) and less than $25 for Taxi/Limos. The new Interchange will be percentage based and carry a $0.00 per transaction.
Discover will increase its International Electronic Interchange rates for non regulated Debit, Core, Rewards, Premium and Premium Plus
New Study Shows Growth in Jobs, Taxes Paid and Sales
WASHINGTON, D.C. – At a breakfast briefing earlier today, the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the trade association for the firearms, ammunition, hunting and shooting sports industry, released a newly commissioned report detailing double-digit gains in jobs and other data showing the industry has been a leader in the nation’s economic recovery. The report can be viewed at http://nssf.org/impact.
Firearms industry members were briefed on such remarkable statistics as the 30.6 percent increase in jobs between 2008 and 2011, a 66.5 percent increase in economic impact and a 66.5 percent increase in federal taxes paid by industry companies. Armed with the good news of the report and recognizing that jobs and the economy are of major importance in the November elections, industry executives were scheduled to meet with elected officials during the NSSF-sponsored Congressional Fly-In on Thursday.
“During difficult economic times and high unemployment rates nationally, our industry actually grew and created more than ten thousand new, well-paying jobs,” said NSSF President Steve Sanetti. “Our industry is proud to be one of the bright spots in this economy.”
The economic growth America’s firearms and ammunition industry has experienced over the years has been nothing short of remarkable. Over the past couple of years, the industry’s growth has been driven by an unprecedented number of Americans choosing to exercise their fundamental right to keep and bear arms and purchase a firearm and ammunition.
NSSF, representing manufacturers and sportsmen around the nation, takes great pride in supporting wildlife conservation efforts. Noted in the economic impact report is the significant taxes paid by member companies to federal and state governments and the Pittman-Robertson excise tax the industry pays on the products it sells — this tax is the major source of wildlife conservation funding in America.
Key Points: Firearms and Ammunition Industry Economic Impact 2008 2011 % Change Direct Jobs 75,60098,75030.6% Total Jobs166,200209,750 26.2% Econ Impact$19,128,934,700$31,838,799,400 66.5%
During difficult economic times and high unemployment rates nationally, our industry has grown and created over 26,325 new, well-paying jobs over the past two years. Our industry is proud to be one of the bright spots in this economy.
The Country Also Benefits from the Taxes Paid by the Industry
Not only does the firearms and ammunition industry create jobs, it also generates sizable tax revenues. In the United States the industry and its employees pay over $2.07 billion in taxes including property, income, and sales based levies. [3]
[1] John Dunham and Associates, New York, March 2012. Direct impacts include those jobs in firearms and ammunition manufacturers, as well as companies that manufacture products such as ammunition holders and magazines, cases, decoys, game calls, holsters, hunting equipment, scopes, clay pigeons and targets. Direct impacts also include those resulting from the wholesale distribution and retailing of firearms and ammunition in sporting goods retailers and variety/mass merchandise stores
[2] The Bureau of Labor Statistics. Available online at: www.bis.gov/lau/home.htm. Data for 1/2012.
[3] This is in addition to over $2.50 billion in Federal business taxes and $488.00 million in Federal excise taxes.
Source: John Dunham and Associates, Inc. New York, New York 2012
The earliest form of the bankcard was “Charg-It”, a system of credit developed by John Biggins in 1946 which allowed customers to charge their local retail purchases. The merchant then deposited the charges at Biggins’ bank, and the bank reimbursed the merchant for the sale and collected payment from the customer. This system helped introduce the first bank credit card, which was circulated by Franklin National Bank in Long Island, New York in 1951. Once an application was submitted for credit worthiness a card was issued. Merchants copied information from the card onto a sales slip and called for an approval for each transaction over a specified limit. The bank would then credit the merchants account for the sale minus a discount to cover the cost for providing the loan.
By 1959, many financial institutions had begun credit programs. Simultaneously card issuers were offering the added services of revolving credit. This gave the cardholder the choice to either pay off their balance or maintain a balance and pay a finance charge.
In 1960, Bank of America, introduced its own bankcard, called BankAmericard, and began licensing regional financial institutions to act as the BankAmericard bank for their region. BankAmericard is now what we know currently as Visa.
Other banks began looking for other ways to compete, in 1966, 14 banks formed Interbank, a new association with the ability to exchange information on credit card transactions.
The following year, four California banks opened its memberships to other financial institutions in the Western U.S. (Western States Bankcard Association). The product was known as MasterCharge. They have purchased the right to use this name from First National Bank of Louisville (currently known as National City Bank of Kentucky).
The WSBA licensed Interbank to use the MasterCharge name and Logo. In the late 1960’s, numerous financial institutions became MasterCharge members to compete with BankAmericard.
The Players
MasterCard and Visa are worldwide payment service organizations composed of Member institutions.
They do not:
Issue credit cards
Create policies for solicitation of new cardholders or merchants
Establish criteria for evaluating applicants
Set credit limits offered to cardholders
Determine procedures for billing customers
MasterCard and Visa are managers of their respective brand. As such, they:
Create advertising and promotion programs to support their brand
Develop new products
Conduct clearing and settlement processing of transactions(Interchange)
Set and enforce rules and regulations governing their bankcards, such as operational procedures, interchange procedures, and graphic design approval of their cards.
Upon becoming a member of MC/Visa, a bank is licensed to issue cards to its members. These banks are also required to provide cash advances on MC/Visa cards at their teller windows. As a Member, banks are issued a Bank Identification Number(BIN) and pay membership dues and assessments to fund Card Associations.
The Acquirer
The acquirer is a member of MasterCard and Visa, and is contracted with merchants to accept merchant sales drafts, provide authorization terminals, instructions, and support, and handle the processing of credit card transactions. The key responsibilities of the acquirer are:
Sales
Investigation Procedures
Pricing
Merchant Acceptance
Support Services
Risk Management
The acquirer usually charges a fee or “discount rate” for handling the transactions. The acquirer is licensed by MC/Visa and agrees to follow the association rules and regulations.
Some financial institutions are both issuers and acquirers. MC/Visa both require that the merchant be financially responsible and of good repute. The merchant has a written agreement with the acquirer to accept the bankcards as payment and to abide by the terms of the agreement.
The Issuer
The issuer is responsible for the cardholder account program which encompasses nearly all aspects of cardholder account activities ranging from acquiring new customers to billing current ones. The Issuer’s responsibilities include:
Acquisition and marketing of new accounts
Processing application; establishing credit credit limits and policies
Overseeing design, manufacturing, and embossing of inventory cards
Handling of issuing and reissuing of cards
Overseeing PIN Numbers
Maintaining authorization file
Providing customer service
Processing payments and handling settlement and income Interchange
Establishing collections operations.
Managing a credit card program is expensive. Smaller banks can issue cards without becoming an issuing member by being an agent. The issuer usually keeps most of the income from the cardholder account: the agent receives a small compensation for providing the application. This allows small banks to retain customers who want a credit card program.
Components of Bankcard Fees
Interchange
Assessments
Authorization Fees
Processing Fees
Processor Optional Fees
Chargeback and Retrieval Fees
T & E Authorization and Processing Fees
Ancillary Communication and Network Fees
Hardware and Software Fees
Interchange
MC/Visa are at the center of the transaction process, maintaining the flow of funds between issuers and acquirers. Clearing refers to the exchange of financial information. Settlement refers to the exchange of the actual funds for the transaction and the associated fees.
Clearing and Settlement Occur Simultaneously.
The acquirer credits the merchant’s deposit account for the dollar amount of the sale (less the merchant discount).
The acquirer sends the transaction, through a data transport network, to INET (for MasterCard transactions) or Base II (for Visa transactions). A financial institution can be both an issuer and an acquirer.
MasterCard and Visa send the transaction to the issuer overnight, credits the acquirer and debits the issuer for the transaction. In essence, the issuer pays the acquirer for the transaction, via the Mastercard or Visa interchange system.
Interchange makes it possible for the issuing banks and acquiring banks to exchange information, transactions and money on a standardized basis. During Interchange, fees are deducted by the issuer from the transaction amount and the net amount is paid by the issuer to the acquirer. These are called interchange fees.
MasterCard and Visa each own and operate their own international processing system. These systems connect thousands of banks around the world. Member Institutions use these networks to transmit information about bankcard transactions.
Transaction Process Overview
The cardholder purchases goods or services from the merchant.
The merchant transmits the transaction to the acquirer.
The acquirer then submits the ticket to the issuer for payment, via the MasterCard or Visa clearing and settlement systems.
The acquirer credits the merchant for deposits (net of chargebacks, returns, and agreed to fees — the merchant discount).
The issuer funds its cardholders’ purchases (net of chargebacks, returns, and agreed to fees).
The issuer bills the cardholder.
Finally, the cardholder repays the issuer for the goods or services originally purchased from the merchant. The issuer, via the MasterCard or Visa clearing and settlement system, has already paid the acquirer transaction amount, less the interchange fee.
From the cardholder’s point of view, it seems as if he or she is paying the issuer for the goods or services originally purchased from the merchant. In fact, the cardholder is actually repaying a loan from the issuer.
MasterCard’s data processing network is called Banknet.
Storage of paper(hardcopy) sales drafts and film cartridges
Retrieval of items in the hardcopy retrieval and chargeback process
Request Fulfillment
Sales Draft Storage
Both merchants and acquirer store hardcopy sales drafts or POS tape. Acquirers and merchants typically hold drafts on-site for 3 years, and hold them off-site for 7 years.
Sales Draft Retrieval
Retrieval areas receive requests from issuing banks. MC/Visa regulations stipulate that a request must be fulfilled within 30 days from the date of receipt. Any request not fulfilled within that time frame can be charged back to the merchant.
Request Fulfillment
Request for all hardcopy sales drafts are fulfilled as quickly as possible for disbursement to the issuing bank. MC requires all retrieval requests be fulfilled electronically through the MasterCom electronic image process system, while Visa will allow requests to be fulfilled through the mail along with Visa’s Copy Request Manager System.
Chargebacks and Collections
When an issuer disputes a transactions (either at the request of the cardholder or for reasons of its own), the matter is handled through a chargeback or compliance case.
In a chargeback, the issuer returns a transaction to the acquirer, and the acquirer returns the payment previously made in interchange. Chargebacks result either from cardholder disputes or from rules violations by the merchant or acquirer; they help enforce operating rules and correct transaction errors.
The initial, or first, chargeback is always initiated by the issuer. It can result from the issuer finding an error in the transaction, or it may result from a cardholder complaint.
MasterCard and Visa have developed standard procedures and time frames for submitting and processing chargebacks.
The Chargeback Process
The chargeback process begins when an issuer, on its own behalf or in defense of a cardholder, returns a presentment from the acquirer.
Presentment is the stage of interchange when the acquirer, via the MasterCard/Visa system, presents the issuer with the transaction information. The issuer is automatically charged for the transaction during settlement, which takes place at the same time as clearing.
In other words, the issuer receives information about a transaction, for which it has already paid, and realizes that the transaction may be invalid. At this point, the issuer wishes to charge the transaction back to the acquirer.
Functions of the Acquirers
Determine legitimacy of Chargebacks presented by issuers
Represent all “representable” items on behalf of our merchants
Handle Arbitration Chargebacks if the representment is disputed by the Issuer
Forward paperwork to the appropriate area for crediting/debiting of accounts
Collection Functions
Acceptance of incoming collections cases from Issuers
Acceptance of outgoing collection cases from merchants
Submit Arbitration/Compliance issues to Card Associations
Using a shopping cart in WordPress is getting very popular and we “DO HAVE” a very simple way for you to use the Fast Charge Payment Gateway.
To determine if you can use Fast Charge just look at the cart’s Payment Gateway list and if you see Authorizenet as a gateway you can use the Fast Charge Payment Gateway using the Authorizenet emulator.
For example purposes these are the instructions for setting up WP onlinestore in your WordPress site.
Step I:
Login to your WordPress admin
Go to the “settings” menu and click on WP onlinestore
On the WP onlinestore menu click on “Merchant Gateways”
Click on Authorizenet
Enter in our test account info shown here
Save Changes
Step II
In your WordPress menu go to “Plugins”
Find WP onlinestore and click “Edit”
In the file list find “authorizenet.php
Open the file
Search for https: and replace each place you find authorizenet.dll with our URL “https://trans.secure-fastcharge.com/cgi-bin/authorize.cgi”
Save the File
Now your WordPress WP onlinestore is ready for you to finish setting up your products etc.. Once you have an active Fast Charge account you can change the test account ID to your real account ID then you’re all done.
For any other WordPress shopping cart the steps are pretty much the same except the set up locations in your menu may be located in a different area on your menu.
INSTRUCTIONS: Locate the Authorize.Net Aim Payment Module in your shopping cart and change the ‘POST TO’ URL FROM: https://secure.authorize.net/gateway/transact.dll TO: https://trans.secure-fastcharge.com/cgi-bin/authorize.cgi
Depending on the shopping cart and it’s payment module you may need to change the post to URL in 1,2 or 3 places. It’s best to find the AIM payment module and then change it everywhere in this file.
Here’s a tip, do a search in the AIM file for “.dll” to help you find the Authorize.net urls to replace with the emulator url.
Admin Settings:
Login to your Admin Panel and open the “Payment Methods” setting for Authorizenet. If it gives you a choice select the AIM module because this will allow customers to stay on your site when they purchase from you. Once you get to the settings you can enter the following information:
API Login ID: This is your fastcharge Account ID (FCXXX)
Transaction Key: This is your Fastcharge “Merchant Pin”
Mode: We always suggest “Live Mode”
Gateway URL: If you have this option enter https://trans.secure-fastcharge.com/cgi-bin/authorize.cgi
MD5 Hash: We now ignore this but you can enter “7gt77lyst555r7677yt”
Authorize or Capture: We recommend you select Authorize and Capture
These are some of the most common carts that the emulator has been proven to work on:
Magento
OpenCart
ShopSite
VirtueMart
WordPress + Onlinestore
Zen Cart
OsCommerce
Joomla
NOTE: eShop no longer supports U.S. Merchant Gateways
There are thousands of shopping carts and e-commerce systems that allow you to use the emulator and if you have any questions or need help please give us a call at (800) 757 5453.
A federal judge in Texas has again dismissed a lawsuit filed against Heartland Payment Systems and its two acquiring banks. The lawsuit, which stems from the 2009 data breach at Heartland that resulted in cybercriminals gaining access to 130 million payment card accounts, was filed by five financial institutions that accused Heartland and its acquiring banks of breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, and negligence. The plaintiffs, which included the Pennsylvania State Employees Credit Union, Lone Star National Bank, and Sea Board Federal Credit Union, said the acquiring banks should have monitored the security of Heartland’s computer systems. One of the acquiring banks, KeyBank, filed a motion to dismiss the complaint, which the judge in the case granted on the grounds that the plaintiffs did not plead that the Visa and MasterCard networks created a joint venture among the issuers and acquirers, which included the plaintiffs and KeyBank. The judge also notes in his ruling that the plaintiffs did not address the problems in their pleading from their previous complaint, which was also thrown out on the grounds that the five financial institutions were not protected as “third-party beneficiaries” in contracts between Heartland and its acquiring banks. Former Heartland CIO Steve Elefant says the legal precedents established in the case could discourage financial institutions from filing similar lawsuits against Global Payments, which recently suffered a data breach.
From “Heartland Suit Dismissed” BankInfoSecurity.com (04/09/12) Kitten, Tracy
As far as we know there are now over 5250 shopping carts that work with the Fast Charge Payment Gateway™. Since there are so many please call us at 1-800-757-5453 and we can answer specific questions about your cart.
The following shopping carts all work very well with Fast Charge:
The GemCart
The GemCart is a powerful open-source software. 1) the FREE version that you can download and run on your server and the 2) Pro OnDemand version which provides cart, hosting, ssl and free chat, advanced catalog tools, integration with Campaign Monitor, eBay, etc.
Instructions for setting up FastCharge module installed on The GemCart:
Login to your GemCart Admin
Click Modules, Click Payment
If not installed, click Install Modules and install Fastcharge.
Once installed, click Edit and, Account ID: Enter Your Fast Charge Account ID (FCxxx)
Transaction Key/Merchant Pin: Enter Your Merchant Pin Number (You can find this under your FRISK settings in Fast Charge).
Choose a single- or multipage checkout, along with custom colors, fields, and buttons.
Select your preferences, and your shopping cart and checkout pages will be created automatically — no coding required.
Sell downloadable products like software, music, or gift certificates.
Add tracking codes to the checkout process to keep track of important purchase data.
Zencart
Zencart is open source meaning it’s free to download and install. It is also available with thousands of webhosting accounts as a free “one click” addon. They do have a paid support service and will install the shopping cart on any website for a small fee. Because this cart is so popular it is very easy to find a webdesigner to customize it. Zencart is basically oscommerce with all the bells and templates any merchant could use. It has every shipping module, marketing module, pricing schemes, discounts, google adwords tracking, affiliate tracking, coupons and thousands of templates with many of them free. To install the Fastcharge payment module it takes about 2 minutes for any novice to get up and running. Zencart is also portable and can be easily moved from one webhost to another in minutes.
Sun Shop
The most comprehensive PHP ecommerce software in its class, SunShop includes everything you need to build your online storefront, market your products, take orders, accept customer payments, manage your inventory, track shipments, and MORE.
Oscommerce is the original open source shopping cart and has 60,000 custom addons developed by users. We used to recommend Oscommerce until we received so much good feedback about Zencart. The difference between oscommerce and Zencart is that Zencart comes with many bells and whistles already installed. Oscommerce has more addons but most of them require advanced coding which the average merchant has trouble with.
OpenCart
OpenCart is an open source shopping cart that has very advanced features such as ? multi currency, multi languages and product reviews etc.. OpenCart makes their money providing support and addon services etc.. They have very good support but a programmer will probably be required to get it installed.
Volusion
Build and manage your online store with a shopping cart software that’s full of easy-to-use tools – no programming skills required. Give your site a design that’s sure to impress. Simply apply your favorite template with just a click of the mouse.
Instructions for setting up Volusion:
Login to your Volusion Admin
Under gateways select “other”
Type in “Merchantpartners”
Custom Field #1: Enter Your Fast Charge Account ID (FCxxx)
Custom Field #2: Enter Your Merchant Pin Number (You can find this under your FRISK settings in Fast Charge)
Custom Field #3: Leave Blank
Click Save/Update and you’re all set up
ShopSite
Shopsite is a very good “Paid Cart” that also has a “One Click” activation setting in their admin settings. The downside to Shopsite is it’s a little more expensive and not for entry level or growing merchants unless they are prepared to spend a little bit per month for their webhosting but it is very good.
VirtueMart
VirtueMart is a very “hot” Open Source E-Commerce solution to be used together with a Content Management System (CMS) called Joomla!. Joomla! and VirtueMart are written in PHP and can be used in typical PHP/MySQL environments. VirtueMart is what the pros use instead of WordPress for their content delivery and database management. To use the Fastcharge Payment Gateway with Virtuemart/Joomla there are several options. There is a free module on the Virtuemart support forum, a paid “one click” module for a small fee and the option to use the authnet emulator.
WordPress
WordPress is a free blog and website publishing program that now has hundreds of shopping carts available as a plugin. Any of these plugins can be edited to work with Fastcharge and very little programming is needed. However, there’s a note of caution about WordPress plugins. Most of these are free to install but most of them require some type of paid service or upgrade to get them to work correctly or only allow a few products.
Magento
Magento is a “free to install” cart that has many features available and is used by many very large companies. It started as an open source shopping cart that has evolved into a pay as you go cart. If a merchant downloads or installs Magento they need to have advanced programming skills or be prepared to pay them for help. We only recommend them because their order management system for larger companies highly recommended by direct marketing, direct mail and very large companies. Magento has the ability receive direct feeds from UPS or Fedex for package tracking and returns etc..
Joomla
Joomla is one of the world’s most popular open source CMS (content management systems). With millions of websites running on Joomla, the software is used by individuals, small & medium-sized businesses, and large organizations worldwide to easily create & build a variety of websites & web-enabled applications. To use the Fastcharge Payment Gateway with Joomla there are several options. There is a free module on the Virtuemart support forum, a paid “one click” module for a small fee and the option to use the authnet emulator. There are also many developer forums where users have posted their Fastcharge Joomla payment module for users to download for free.
Fastcharge Payment Gateway
The Fast Charge Payment Gateway™ also has what’s called an Authorize Net Emulator. Any shopping cart that uses Authorize Net will work with Fast Charge if you can use the emulator.
Admin Settings:
Login to your shopping cart’s Admin Panel and open the “Payment Methods” setting. If it gives you a choice select the Authorize Net AIM module because this will allow customers to stay on your site when they purchase from you. Once you get to the settings page you can enter the following information:
API Login ID: This is your fastcharge Account ID (FCXXX)
Transaction Key: This is your Fastcharge “Merchant Pin”
Mode: We always suggest “Live Mode”
Gateway URL: If you have this option enter https://trans.secure-fastcharge.com/cgi-bin/authorize.cgi
MD5 Hash: We now ignore this but you can enter “7gt77lyst555r7677yt”
Authorize or Capture: We recommend you select Authorize and Capture
NOTE: A much easier and faster way to integrate a shopping cart is to use our Authorizenet Emulation.
DESCRIPTION:The Authorize.Net Emulator allows merchants to use the Authorize.Net payment module that is available in most third party shopping carts. Simply change the ‘POST TO’ URL within the Authorize.Net payment module to point to Fastcharge’s gateway and your account will be up and running within a few minutes.
INSTRUCTIONS: Locate the Authorize.Net Aim Payment Module in your shopping cart and change the ‘POST TO’ URL FROM: https://secure.authorize.net/gateway/transact.dll TO: https://trans.secure-fastcharge.com/cgi-bin/authorize.cgi
Depending on the shopping cart and it’s payment module you may need to change the post to URL in 1,2 or 3 places. It’s best to find the AIM payment module and then change it everywhere in this file.
Here’s a tip, do a search in the AIM file for “.dll” to help you find the Authorize.net urls to replace with the emulator url.
Admin Settings:
Login to your Admin Panel and open the “Payment Methods” setting for Authorizenet. If it gives you a choice select the AIM module because this will allow customers to stay on your site when they purchase from you. Once you get to the settings you can enter the following information:
API Login ID: This is your fastcharge Account ID (FCXXX)
Transaction Key: This is your Fastcharge “Merchant Pin”
Mode: We always suggest “Live Mode”
Gateway URL: If you have this option enter https://trans.secure-fastcharge.com/cgi-bin/authorize.cgi
MD5 Hash: We now ignore this but you can enter “7gt77lyst555r7677yt”
Authorize or Capture: We recommend you select Authorize and Capture
These are some of the most common carts:
Magento
Aspdotnet
OpenCart
ShopSite
VirtueMart
CS-Cart
Go Daddy WHMCS Cart
Blesta (Client Management Billing System)
WordPress + Shopp
WordPress + eStore
Zen Cart
3dCart
X-Cart
Interspire
CRE Loaded
Tomato Cart
1Shopping Cart
Mals E
SunShop
PDG Soft
Prestashop
AgoraCart
Storesprite
UberCart
ZenMagick
TomatoCart
DigiStore
Pinnacle Cart
eCommerce Templates
SpreeCommerce
ZeusCart
JadaSite
Ecommerce Shopping Cart
jCart
CF Shopkart
DashCommerce
ASP.Net
Idut Shop
OsCommerce
Joomla
There are thousands of shopping carts and ecommerce systems that allow you to use the emulator and if you have any questions or need help please give us a call at (800) 757 5453.
Integrating your System with The Fastcharge Payment Gateway
Your e-commerce goals determine the transaction processing method you will use with Online Commerce Suite. Various factors make a difference how you integrate Online Commerce Suite with your e-commerce business, whether you offer
products or subscriptions or both. Factors include:
Do you use Shopping Cart software?
Did you develop your own Web site?
Is your Web site is hosted on a secure server?
Do you want Online Commerce Suite to calculate shipping and tax?
Do you have your own database to track your inventory and business?
The answers to these questions determine the complexity of your integration with Online Commerce Suite. Depending on your requirements, integration can be very straightforward or may require a sophisticated understanding of HTML, CGI,
ASP or other Web technologies.
The document you’ll need to send to your web programmer is our Integration API.
Merchant Web Server
The Merchant Web Server supports the customer’s shopping and purchasing experiences. It may host its own Shopping Cart and link to the Web Link and Transaction Engine modules for payment processing.
Shopping Cart
Shopping Cart programs are used to collect customer purchase and product pricing information. The Shopping Cart program resides on the Merchant’s web server and is typically provided by a third party or ISP. Online Commerce Suite also provides a hosted shopping cart solution (the Web Link) for those merchants who do not have a shopping cart or do not want to host their own cart. The Transaction Engine uses the information collected by the Shopping Cart to determine the amount for account debit authorizations.
Merchant PC
The Merchant connects to the Online Merchant Center module through the Internet. Using this interface, the Merchant may collect transaction, accounting, and customer information reports.
Fastcharge Online Commerce Suite System Modules
Online Commerce Suite modules accomplish the following functions:
Web Link completes the customer purchase experience by collecting payment information from the shopping cart,
Calculating the amount to be charged, and passing this information to the Transaction Engine for processing.
Transactions are processed immediately in real time or in batch. Within seconds, consumers receive an acceptance or
Decline notification. Funds from accepted credit card transactions are deposited into your merchant bank account,
Typically within 24 hours. Funds from accepted electronic check (ACH) transactions are deposited into your checking
Account within six business days.
Online Merchant Center provides Merchant account management functions, virtual terminal transaction processing, and reports.
Transaction Security
Payment processing requires mechanisms using encryption to scramble data to protect customer payment information. Customer’s private information, especially credit card numbers and bank account numbers, are securely encrypted as they are transmitted over the Internet.
The three most common data encryption methods are:
SSL Encryption
Secure Socket Layer (SSL) uses a public key to provide encryption between the host server and client browser and is the most secure encryption method. Many browsers including Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator support SSL encryption, but you will need to host your site on a secure server running SSL. When Internet transmissions are made via SSL, the protocol for the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) address must
Shopping Carts:
As far as we know there are now over 3150 shopping carts that work with the Fast Charge Payment Gateway™. If you need to know if a shopping cart works with the Fast Charge Payment Gateway™ you need to go to the shopping carts gateway set up page and look for the following gateways. Since all of these gateways use the same processing module it will work with the Fast Charge Payment Gateway™:
Fast Charge
Quick Commerce
Merchant Partners
Innuity
Wonder Pay
Moneris
E-Commerce Exchange
Pay Me Now
Payquake
Authorizenet
Authorizenet Emulator
To determine if your shopping cart is compatible with our Authorizenet Emulator find out if you can change the Gateway URL it accesses. If you can change this to https://trans.secure-fastcharge.com/cgi-bin/authorize.cgi your cart will work with our gateway. NOTE: We haven’t found any stand alone shopping carts that won’t allow this.
The Fast Charge Payment Gateway™ also includes a FREE basic shopping cart wizard option with each gateway license to process credit cards or online checks. The free secure shopping cart is for merchants who have a need for a basic shopping cart that can total shipping and tax charges. With the web link wizard you can generate the shopping cart code in under 1 minute and then cut and paste it to your web page. Sample Free Web Link Hosted Shopping Cart Wizard
In addition to the free cart the upgradable FastCharge Web Cart is a full featured easy to use oneline store and shopping cart that integrates easily into your existing web site. There is no software to buy or install. All you need to do is add a few “Add to Cart” buttons that link your web site to our secure server, and we take care of the rest. No additional changes need to be made to the server where your website is hosted. Click here for more information about Online Merchant Center Web Cart.
We are compatible with thousands of other carts — our tech support dept. can check into a particular cart for you if necessary.
Third Party Shopping Carts
Our Network offers emulation of most gateways. This makes it easy for anyone to utilize our Transaction Processing Services with their approved shopping cart in about 5 minutes.
Because of the fact that our Transaction Processing Service is so easy to integrate, countless shopping cart developers have found that integrating our Transaction Processing Services directly into their shopping cart is a relatively trivial task even if you developed your own cart.
the bank is shutting them down or capping their merchant account limits.
