Author Archives: Seymour Direct

Electronic payment methods are now standard at almost every small business or retail store that wants to capitalize on credit card processing, this is due to the fact that 64% of the UK adult population own a card shown in the official report here.

As with any new technology, Chip and PIN is a challenge to get used to at first and you will have to calculate your budget to allow for card transaction fees but it will help your business compete with rivals and it will open you up to a whole new revenue stream.

Whether you want to accept payments face-to-face in a store environment or if it is an eCommerce shop, you must pay a small percentage towards the ‘payment processor’ or ‘payment service provider’ for verifying the card holders details with the card issuer and notifying the merchant bank that the funds will be deposited in your account.

The first step to taking payments from customers by card is to apply for a merchant account through a provider such as Seymour Direct, they are particularly helpful towards business owners who might not be very familiar with how merchant services are handled. After you have been assessed for risk factors and your documentation has been sent off and approved by the acquiring bank, you will be sent a PDQ machine that reads customers credit cards.

As this blog post is intended to explain, there are many ways to accept card payments and this also includes telephone and online payment methods. They work in a similar manner to face-to-face payments in the fact that you require a merchant account and the usual payment processing checks are carried out, however, they are also known as ‘Card Not Present’ transactions and because of this are considered higher risk.

Seymour Direct will provide you with a virtual terminal for processing a customers card details whilst you speak with them on the phone, all you need is an internet connection and no website is required because they send you a specific address where the interface can be accessed.

It is also interesting to note that online business now accounts for a huge percentage of a card transactions, in fact over 70% of the UK adult population has purchased goods online according statistics in 2010. Before you can accept a large amount card payments online you will need an internet merchant account, Seymour Direct can get you approved and set up since we are official business partners with Sagepay.

Why You Should Accept Cards

Credit Card Purchases:

As a small business if you do not accept cards from your customers you are probably loosing valuable sales from customers who prefer to use credit cards instead of cash or cheques because they know their rights under Section 75 should something go wrong with the purchase

What is Section 75?

If you own a retail store front, have an eCommerce website, telephone or mail order business, Seymour Direct can offer you some of the most efficient and cost effective ways to accept credit cards.

Various business types need different payment processing solutions, for example, if you are a retail merchant that sells business to business(B2B) then you will need merchant card services which are fast, reliable and offer extensive PCI security testing.

Aside from our state-of-the-art PDQ machine technology which can be reviewed in full by downloading the following PDF’s(Countertop,Bluetooth,Mobile), Seymour Direct’s goal is to offer services to business owners which transcends their expectations formed from current or previous merchant services they have experienced.

Hospitality industries such as restaurants or guesthouses usually have special rates because the transactions are carried out face to face but Seymour Direct accesses every business we receive applications from to surpass the rates they would expect for card payments.

You may be searching for what is known as a MOTO merchant account, which refers to Mail Order/Telephone Order payment processing. Card transactions which are keyed in by yourself via a virtual terminal such as the ones we described in the last blog post are different to when a payment is made face to face. If this is where the majority of your orders come from then you will not be able to verify the card holders chip card or pin-code and this could increase risk, however, Seymour Direct work with payment service providers like Sagepay to offer you the most secure and affordable virtual terminals.

Remember, if you want to accept payments for an online store or for telephone and mail orders through a virtual terminal, you will have to set up different merchant accounts to the one which handles your stores payments because like already stated these transactions occur under different circumstances.

Our regular merchant account application form sets up Visa and Mastercard, American Express, Maestro and JCB, which means you can accept credit and debit card payment.  If you aren’t taking debit card payments from your customers, you should think again since you may be able to arrange fixed fees per transaction with the acquirer.

In today’s merchant services world there are so many options available to suit different needs. Seymour Direct has provided solutions for businesses ranging from chauffeurs to chain brand hair salons, see our testimonials and enquire to find out what system we advise for payment at your business.

One term that we often use throughout our blog here is ‘Payment Service Provider’ or PSP, it can be a lot to comprehend with all of the keywords relating to merchant services and this is why we title our posts so they are easy to find.

A Payment Service Provider connects to many acquiring banks and card issuers to allow online businesses to handle a large amount of transactions at once without having to rely on financial institutions or handle the connections individually.

A full Payment Service Provider like the ones acquired for you by Seymour Direct can also equip your business with risk management services for credit card based payments, reporting and advice on PCI fraud protection.

What are the Reasons for using a Payment Service Provider?

• Any issues you have with a particular payment, you only have to contact one company to have them resolved, as mentioned in the latter paragraphs you will not have to contact any customer card issuing banks and this saves a lot of time.

• It is very quick to set up a PSP rather than establish relationships with banks individually, a PSP already has existing experience with acquirers and can negotiate deals.

• You can start using the Payment system straight away because the interface is already set up. It can be expensive to design your own payment interface with all of the necessary PCI requirements, by using a PSP, you know the system is already fully functional and has been tested thoroughly.

eCommerce

As with the eCommerce blog post that was written previously, there are also many factors that make up a ‘Payment Service Provider’. A PSP should provide all of the technical options available for you to collect credit card details, whether this is by redirecting customers from your site to their hosted pages or a way of integrating authorization remotely into your pages.

Effective online payment services should include the right reporting and administrative tools which allow you to manage your payments efficiently. If you have access to to real-time transaction details and are able to download statistics, you will have answers on how to target future sales.

Your personal bank might offer a PSP, however, a dedicated PSP such as the one Seymour Direct would supply you with specialize solely in online payment services and will have a wide range of solutions for you to choose from as well as full support for backup.

Online payment systems is a broad term relating to facilities involving electronic payment mostly in the form of e-commerce websites. It is important to know which type of online payment services suits your business best, this could be traditional credit and debit or one of the new technologies such as a digital wallet, e-cash or mobile payment.

These other forms of online payment can involve a customer paying for your service by sending a text message and having an amount billed to the mobile phone or you can use similar new features such Google Wallet which is mentioned in this previous blog post here.

The most popular form of accepting credit card payment for an online business is to allow a third party to complete the transactions for you, this involves a ‘Payment Service Provider’ and makes life a lot easier when dealing with large amounts of payments all coming from different customer issuing banks.

Almost 90% of all online retail transactions occur via credit cards and it would be hard for any business to progress without offering this service to their customers, consumers find it more convenient than sending cheques and they also do not have to wait for the funds to be available in their bank account.

We have talked previously about the necessary steps in setting up a payment gateway, this involves applying for an online merchant account which is usually included with a Payment Service Provider such as Sagepay.  Seymour Direct have a long experience in dealing with acquiring banks and because we set up merchant accounts in bulk, you have a better chance of being approved with lower transaction fees through us.

Increased security measures that have been put in place such as the Card Verification Number (C.V.N) has made online shopping even more accepted by people concerned about entering their credit card details online. The Card Verification Number is  3 digits and found near the signature strip on the reverse of the card, when a person is taken to the online checkout they must enter this to confirm they are the genuine card holder.

Another form of online payment processing is called a Virtual Terminal, which allows a merchant to process payments over the internet if a customer has made a purchase over the telephone, fax or via mail.  All online payment services offered by Seymour Direct are PCI compliant and use the best software for ensuring data send between networks is encrypted and secure from intruders.

Merchant Services is a term which we have yet to discuss but it is an important generic phrase which you might hear used quite often when applying for credit card processing for your small business. The words actually encompass everything which is involved when setting up payment processing and getting approved for a merchant account.

Other times you might hear ‘merchant services‘ mentioned when referring to additional features which a business might find beneficial such as an online payment gateway which we have talked about in previous posts, or gift and loyalty card programs but it is generally applied to accepting card payments.

As one of the U.K’s leading card payment solutions providers, we like to think of our customers as ‘partners’ who we work very closely with to ensure only the most secure and fast card transactions.  From the initial stage of acquiring a merchant account through to setting up your PDQ machines to process payments, Seymour Direct will assist you to ensure all technology is PCI complaint.

If you contact your local bank directly about merchant services, they might refer you to one of the ‘major’ acquiring banks, but this can result in extra customer service charges and some might be reluctant to take on start-up businesses.

Today’s complex marketplace sees a variety of different fees for processing credit card transactions and the demands for meeting PCI security standards is tough. We provide all merchants with advice on how they can increase their return on investment through suggesting the right services to offer customers.

By serving as one of the U.K’s leading card payment solutions providers, Seymour Direct sets a new standard in convenience and reliability because we focus specifically on payments and will continue to receive the level of trusted service your customers expect. Our long experienced staff are trained to answer any queries you may have regarding the eligibility of  your business and can make recommendations on what documentation you need to provide in order for us to process your application.

As we have discussed many times throughout previous blog posts, Seymour Direct can organise everything you need to start accepting credit & debit cards, such as organising a Customer Present Merchant Account, an Online Merchant Account and of course provide access to PCI compliant credit card machines.

The merchant account is provided by an ‘acquiring bank’, they communicate directly with the card issuer when authorizing transactions and are essentially taking all the risk involved in accepting your business.

An acquiring merchant bank such ‘Natwest Streamline’ will handle all of the payments incoming from customers issuing banks, this means that you will no longer have to worry about delays from various banks processing policies.  The acquirer provides you with what is known as ‘a line of credit’ where they will pay you for a particular period before they have received the funds from the issuer.

A merchant account is different from a regular account in the fact that you cannot withdraw funds at will, this is scheduled by the merchant bank at a time arranged with you or your payment provider. These security precautions are necessary and the bank will want to be sure that they will receive funds from the customers banks, all of this is taken into account in the initial approval process.

At the time when a customer makes a purchase at your store, the acquiring bank contacts the card association to verify the credit card ownership and also to notify the card holders bank that they have made a charge.  The credit card provider can decline the authorization of payment if the customer has maxed out their spending limit, since risk is also involved on their part.

The main risks that are taken into account when approving an application for a merchant account are what threat does your business pose in terms of potential fraudulent transactions. Even though all businesses that accept credit cards must be PCI compliant there are still factors that come into consideration when deciding the discount rates to be applied to each card transaction.

It is much cheaper and easier to contact a merchant account provider such as Seymour Direct since we can offer lower rates than going to an acquiring bank directly. The latter statement is a fact because you will pay extra for customer service with the high street banks and some will be very reluctant to approve you if you are just starting out.

We have a long reputation of setting up merchant accounts and therefore we can negotiate lower fees with the acquirers, whether you receive thousands of transactions or if you are a small store we can arrange a cost effective solution for you.

Many small business owners hear about the term ‘PCI compliance’ and wonder what it actually stands for, the ‘Payment Card Industry – Data Security Standards’ or PCI DSS is an information security regulation which organizations must abide by when handling credit card data.

It is a common for merchant’s who want to meet PCI compliance to think that the documentation procedure is the easiest part of the requirement’s, sure, Seymour Direct can supply you with PCI compliant credit card machines but this is useless if your staff don’t understand the policies and procedures put in place.

Your method might be to simply cross off each of the PCI guidelines in order to gain compliance, and this is fine but it depends whether you want to protect your customers and your company as much as possible. Without proper documentation, you are leaving your business open to the biggest vulnerability of all, your own employees.

One of the latest tactics which fraudsters use in their arsenal to intrude on credit card holder data is called ‘social engineering’ and it takes advantage of well meaning employees. With ‘threat landscape’ documenting, you can make your staff aware of emerging vulnerabilities as soon as they become known within your systems.

The PCI DSS guidelines began with 5 different programs run separately by Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover and JCB, but in December 2004 these companies combined their individual policies to form the PCI Data Security Standards Council. The first update was V1.1 in 2006, followed by V.1.2 in 2008 and the current version V.2.0 which was released in October 2010 states that all merchant’s must be compliant with these changes by January 2012.

The aim of these updates are to help your business re-evaluate itself and addresses many technical issues such as installing a firewall on PC’s that send data over a network, encryption of data being sent and monitoring all PIN entry devices for foreign attachments used for ‘skimming’.  The latter are all vital, but in V.2.0 they have began to touch on ‘social engineering‘ in Test Procedure 6.5.8: ‘Properly authenticate users’ and this new information should also be recorded in your documentation.

At Seymour Direct, we equip our customers with only the latest Ingenico card terminals which are listed on the PCI SSC official website as compliant. If you want to be assured that your business complies, Seymour Direct will provide you with assistance and we like to keep our client’s updated with the latest information regarding security standards.

An internet merchant account is a crucial part of running an online business, so even if you’ve established which virtual terminal and shopping cart you want to use, the payment service provider will require that you apply for a merchant bank account.

A merchant bank is often called ‘an acquirer’, they are the only one who can approve a internet merchant account but you can contact a merchant services provider such as Seymour Direct who will offer you discount rates and they have a long established relationship with the banks.

One of the differences between an online merchant account and a regular bank account is that you will not have direct access to the funds, withdrawal will be managed by your payment service provider and then deposited into your regular business account.

The merchant bank clears the balance at regular intervals which can be agreed upon with you or your PSP, the speed at which this occurs depends on the risk assessment of your particular business.  The bank wants to be certain that the payments have cleared from your customers issuing banks first because the funds you are receiving from the merchant bank account are essentially a ‘line of credit’.

The risk of a business depends on whether you are a new start-up with little trading history or if you expect to process a large amount of transactions, contacting a high street bank directly will see them reluctant to service your company.

Since a merchant services company such as Seymour Direct is dedicated to helping businesses acquire credit card processing, we assess each one individually and focus on only the needs of those wanting to process credit cards online. High street banks might take longer to process your application or not approve you at all, leaving you with less time to market yourselves.

There are other ways that you can except card payments for online sales, but they often don’t cover you when a fraudulent transaction occurs and you won’t have guaranteed scheduled withdrawal’s if their is an issue with a specific payment. Another problem with these types of online payment solution is that they often put a limit on the amount of transactions you can process and you should also watch out for set up fees and ongoing monthly charges.

Seymour Direct can set up a payment processor for your business which outlines monthly costs up front, provide reliable ‘around the clock’ transactions and recommend easy to use e-commerce tools and interface for reports.