Is My POS Terminal Chip Ready? (Questions You May Want To Ask)
August 27, 2010 by Admin · Comments Off
Point of Sale machines have been used in business for almost more than 20 years at the point in time. Up to now, the actual physical terminal has undergone very few physical changes. With the exception of different functions, software, applications, the actual physical terminals themselves have had no massive difference or change in the hardware….until now!
In more recent years the “black stripe” had become a bit controversial. What system engineers and designers thought to be a flawless design or method of securing customer’s private information, had become compromised. With every new technology, comes with it a way to “crack” the code so to speak or “hack” the system. The black stripe method was not impervious to these scams. The security risk came about as dishonest merchants or fraudsters gave into the easy opportunity to track cards and use them for profiteering.
They had software in combination with this that would track the sensitive information, leaving it open to forward all kinds of charges to credit cards resulting in quiet a bit of stolen monies in any one case. As a way to combat this, the credit card companies have incepted “chip” technology in all of their cards. Obviously, the hardware needed to be updated to accommodate these cards.
Chip card technology is very new, it is not yet secure enough to be incepted across the board, industry wide, why my own chip debit card has been “compromised” twice and I’ve only had it less than 4 months, so they are still working out the “bugs” in this new technology. The companies providing the hardware for these terminals were and right on board from the time the banks issued chip cards; they also issued terminals that were chip card ready. The physical hardware is a very small change, simply added a slot on the machine so people can “dip” their cards, which the banks very much supported because at the same time they initiated chip cards and the machines to accept them, they also raised the rate to the merchant to accept chip cards, so naturally, the credit card and bank people issued more chip cards to their clients.
If you already have a terminal, the best way to determine if it is truly card ready is to call your provider and confirm this capability with them. Allot of Iso’s and member bank supported processors do not have the software capability, however with all the security measures of chip cards not yet finalized, iso’s are in no rush to compromise the safety of their merchant’s customers.
Another way to tell is to simply look at the terminal itself, if there is the chip slot physically, and then chances are one would be able to accept the smart cards.
The full inception of smart card technology is not fully expected to take over industry wide until about 2015. Until that time chip cards can still be swiped, and some manufacture models are able to accept the “dip”.
Prime Trex Terminals – Why We Think It’s Good POS Terminal for Merchants to Own
August 21, 2010 by Admin · Comments Off
Do you remember an automobile in the late nineteen – eighties called the Hyundai Pony? I have always had fond memories of a best friend buying this model as his first brand new car. He was so proud of it and for two years it was pretty well trouble free. In time tough, the Pony became a one legged dog and my friend was stuck with something that had become a constant source of annoyance. However after of a decade of Hyundai building a better cars they started producing amazing automobiles. My friend just purchased a decade too early.
Hyundai automobiles are my analogy for Tech Trex terminals. After ten years, the Tech Trex terminals have achieved what Hyundai set out to do so many years ago. The new Primetrex S terminal is sleek, robust and fast. The POS industry is looking at the new models with a great deal of interest and they have good reason to. Transactions for IP terminals, for instance, are authorized in four seconds flat and the receipts are clear and readable. The terminal itself is easy to manipulate with prompts that are simple to follow therefore the older crowd do not have to put on their reading glasses to complete a transaction.
What sets Tech Trex aside from its equal competition is the price. The Primetrex Dial and IP are normally two hundred to three hundred dollars cheaper than its competitor terminals with similar features and their warranties are guaranteed for one year. To put this in perspective, it is a difference of seven to ten dollars a month on a lease payment. The price also allows ISO’s to keep a ready inventory of equipment without running into debt, which in turn benefits any merchant who needs a POS quickly no matter the scenario.
The majority of POS terminals in the Canadian market are not certified on all debit processors used by ISO’s thus merchants who wish to change from one host to another cannot do so. Tech Trex is certified with all the debit networks in the ISO market except Paymentech, which is exclusive to its own brands. This feature alone should be very attractive to any merchant who wants to be treated fairly. I have mentioned in previous articles that some ISO’s are difficult to work with therefore knowing that the Tech Trex can be programmed on another host used by a different ISO is a safe alternative to keep in your back pocket just in case. The same thought process can be applied to an ISO who wishes to switch their own merchants from one host to another.
Another benefit of owning a TechTrex terminal is that the company offers their own help desk that is open twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. This help desk deals only with the Tech Trex terminal meaning when you call them there is nothing they are unfamiliar with. Many help desks deal with several terminals and the learning curve can be too steep for the customer service representatives causing both merchants and ISO’s to become easily frustrated.
After years of trial and error, Hyundai’s are a safe bet and very sought after automobiles. The same now applies to Tech Trex POS terminals.
Mismatched Totals or Out of Balance – How To Fix
August 12, 2010 by Admin · Comments Off
You’re tired, it’s late and you want to go home. After an exhausting day you have just one task to complete on the Point of Sale terminal and that is your end of day settlement. Usually it is a two minute task but tonight when you go through the normal procedure the terminal is telling you that your sales are out of balance and ‘do you wish to continue’ with the settlement.
The answer is “yes”, complete it and if you’re tired deal with the out of balance tomorrow?
At this point you may be asking why wait until tomorrow and our response is simple:
You’re tired, go home and get some rest. Every reputable POS company has a reporting system that you can view online the following morning. You never “lose” money per se. In almost all instances the out of balance will probably have something to do with a communication error resulting in a cardholder being charged twice and this can be resolved easily.
POS systems and/or networks are not infallible, somewhere down the line there will be a failure of some sort and Out of Balance would be the most prevalent. There are basically only two reasons why a terminal will show you a mismatched total.
1. You attempted a transaction and received a communication error such as “Timed Out” or “Comm Error”. You then proceeded to re-swipe the customers card and complete the transaction. Occasionally, what will happen is that the host will approve a transaction and during the last leg of approval back to the terminal the transaction will cut off, i.e. disband thus the Comm error. This can happen because someone picked up the phone or perhaps you have not disabled call waiting and someone called while the transaction was being processed. Either way, the transaction was completed at the Host level but not at the Terminal level and the result will be the cardholder being charged twice although the terminal only has it once. Ergo, your end of day will be out of balance.
2. The second reason is similar to the first but in reverse. The card itself is only swiped once and it is approved at the Terminal level but this time the last leg of the transaction has gone back to the Host side and a communication occurs. The terminal says approved because the Host has sent an approval yet it is waiting for the terminal to send a message saying that Yes it has received the approval. If the Host network does not receive this message, the transaction will be “reversed”. When this occurs, the merchant is required to fax a copy of the transaction (not the transaction list) to the POS provider. Since the funds for the transaction would have been returned to the cardholder, the POS provider will request that the funds be sent to the merchant account. This process can take between five and ten days.
In brief, funds are never irretrievable and although the extra time needed to resolve an out of balance can be frustrating, it does not have to be. Check your online reports daily and feel safe that you will never lose money.
5 Things to Check for “Comm Error” Response on Your Tech Trex Terminal
August 9, 2010 by Admin · Comments Off
It’s a Saturday afternoon, your store is filled with anxious customers and suddenly your terminal is not working. You’re doing everything the same as usual but when you attempt a transaction you are greeted with a response of Comm Error. Do not panic, many simple POS terminal communication issues can be resolved quickly by following the steps below:
Dial Terminal Communication Errors
1. If you are sharing the phone line with terminal check for voicemail.
2. If you are using a phone splitter, unplug the splitter and connect terminal phone cable directly into phone jack
3. Turn off terminal went ten seconds and turn back on
4. Press the blue key facing down twice and then press key next to Other Setup. Enter password (999999) followed by pressing the down key one more time. Press button next to Clear Reversal and the Yes
5. Change the phone cable
Note: If the Comm Error is returned almost instantaneously after pressing the last OK then the problem is in the store and you should follow the steps above. If it takes an abnormal amount of time then there could be a modem issue or a Host issue, i.e. the transaction processing network is down.
IP Terminal Communication Errors:
1. Reboot terminal and Clear Reversal (see #4 above)
2. Are you able to access the Internet on any computer in your store that shares the same router or modem as the terminal.
3. Power down terminal, modem and router. Reboot router and wait for lights. Power on Modem and wait for all lights to flash (power will be solid). Turn on terminal.
4. If you are using a static IP connection please check with your Internet technician for changes in firewall programming
5. Change the Ethernet cable
There is always the possibility that the Debit and/or Credit Processor(s) are down thus resulting in a Time Out or Comm error. Also, the likeliness that the terminal may have a modem problem may be slim it is not entirely unusual. If none of the above corrects the communication error then please call your POS help desk.
Is Your POS Equipment Out of Date?
February 24, 2009 by Admin · Leave a Comment
I was recently reading an article written by
Ellen talks about how she received a receipt from a business with her full credit card numbers on the bill which is now against Visa’s merchant account policies. This happened to Ellen early April 2007 and the new policy took effect April 1st 2007. What a lot folks did not know is that even though the new policies had arrived that many merchants still have out date equipment & software that still prints out the consumers full credit card number.
Well, it’s now Feb 2009 and there are still many, many Canadian businesses using this same old out of date equipment which is violates Visa and now also Mastercards policies.
This is a major issue and reason why is this important is because if the receipt gets into the wrong hands, identity thieves can run up big bills in your name.
No signature is required for online and telephone purchases. And, creeping into the market, chain stores won’t need signatures for transactions below $25 or $35. Just look at Tim Hortons. (Still can’t believe they only offer MC and not Visa & Debit – kinda 1/3 card processing, but there is not enough room about this in this post).
So who’s problem is this…?
I have a sneaky suspicion it will soon fall upon the merchants and small business owners. Just like a “Chargeback” it’s the merchants burden of proof that any disputed transaction is a real and legit transaction.
SIDENOTE: I’d be real curious to know what the percentage of merchant’s winning potential chargebacks versus not wining these disputes. I bet that merchants lose more than they win. I have nothing to back that up, but after being involved in the merchant account industry for about five years now I have noticed a trend that the credit card processing companies usually have their “butts” covered and if someone is going to pay more it’s usually the merchant/small biz owner.
So, that being said. A warning to all Canadian small business owners. Check your receipts to make sure they are blocking out part of the credit card number to protect your customers from potential fraud. If you notice that your POS terminal is still showing all the numbers then contact your payment processing provider and ask about an upgrade on new point-of-sale equipment or even better – call me! 
I’d more than happy to upgrade your equipment, I might even be able to lower your costs at the same time.
The Critical Canadian Merchant Services Guide – Part 2
September 25, 2008 by Admin · Leave a Comment
Why Card Processing is Important
Just look at Interac’s statistics on card processing in Canada:
Sixty-five percent of all sales are paid through Debit and/or Credit Cards in Canada. From my five years of experience working with many different businesses this can be much higher. If you have an e-commerce business it’s basically 100%. And a lot of other businesses, like restaurants and bars, can see up to 85-90% of their sales go on plastic.
Any sane business owner understands that, considering the types of statistics above, there is virtually no way to stay in business without having a merchant account.
But did you know not everyone can qualify for a merchant account?
Click here to discover how to increase your chances of qualifying for a merchant service account…
Retail Merchant Accounts
September 23, 2008 by Admin · Leave a Comment
Retail Merchant Accounts are for brick-and-mortar types of businesses. They are systems that allow businesses to process credit and/or debit card transactions in real time with instantaneous approvals by swiping cards across the POS Terminal.
Traditionally, Point-of-Sale Terminals similar to the one shown at the side here are used. However, some businesses use a PC Software Solution that is installed on their existing PC Computer with a plug in “card swiper” or plug-in “PIN PAD” to enable the debit option.
Retail Merchant Account Hardware & Equipment Options:
- PC Software with plug in PIN PAD
- Dial-up Point-of-Sale Terminal
- IP Point-of-Sale Terminal
- Wireless/Cellular Point-of-Sale Terminal
Retail Merchant Account Rates
Traditionally, retail credit card processing rates are the lowest rates a business can qualify for, due to the fact that most transactions will be considered “card present” which enables the business to qualify for the “Qualified” credit card rates. These rates are referred to as “Discount Rates” in the industry.
Discount rates can vary from company to company; however most Canadian Retail rates range from 1.69% – 2.5% on a Qualified rate – any higher then that and you will want to get a rate review. On “Mid-” and “Non-” Qualified rates, the rates can vary from 2.0-4% on retail merchant accounts. Again, if you are paying any higher than that, you most likely want to get a rate review on your services.
Your merchant account rates are determined by:
- Average Ticket Price per customer
- Monthly Sales Volume purchased on credit cards
The lower your average ticket price, and the higher the monthly business volume the lower, the rate you will qualify for. What many merchants want to make sure they are asking is not only what the “Qualified” rate is, but as well what the “Mid-Qualified” & “Non-Qualified” rates are.
- Qualified means card present consumer card.
- Mid-Qualified and/or Near-Qualified means any cards that have a rewards plan attached to them.
- Non-Qualified means the credit card was keyed into the POS Terminal instead of being swiped (It doesn’t qualify because the card processing company cannot verify that the card was present, making it a higher risk transaction.)
It is very important that you know your percentage breakdown and understand what ALL your different discount rates/fees will be on your credit card processing before making an agreement. This is a common kiss of death for many merchants: not verifying all their potential charges and/or not fully understanding how their individual business processing will function.
To better understand the in’s and out’s of merchant account services in Canada, we highly suggest you read our free merchant account guide.
