Forum Moderators: buckworks
Is it possible to use the regular brick-mortar credit card systems to handle ecommerce orders? Or those systems are only meant for when the credit card and customer and signature are present?
Basically I would be doing offline transactions if I go that route in the beginning.
Is it possible to use the regular brick-mortar credit card systems to handle ecommerce orders? Or those systems are only meant for when the credit card and customer and signature are present?
Most offline accounts do support CNP (card not present) transactions but this is intended for phone orders. Merchants who interpret this as applicable to Internet orders are dead wrong, unless it's explicitly allowed in your contract. If caught it can cost you dearly.
This is discussed at detail in other threads, but the bottom line: the "right" (and legal) way to do it is to use a third party gatway processor connected to an online merchant account.
Is it possible to use the regular brick-mortar credit card systems to handle ecommerce orders?
However....
Most merchant accounts operate on a tiered-rate system whereby the types of accounts with the least risk carry the lowest rates. Similarly, the transaction types with the least risk carry the lowest rates.
The two most basic forms of merchant accounts are card-present and card-not-present. As the names imply, a card-present account is issued under the assumption that the merchant, the customer and the credit card will all be present when a transaction takes place. A card-not-present account is issued under the assumption that the customer and card will not be present when a transaction takes place.
Card-present accounts carry the best rates. For example let's say you have a card-present account with rates of:
Performing too many card-not-present transaction using a card-present account will eventually cause the processing bank to become suspicious. Once they discover that you're processing your Internet orders (not-present) through your retail (present) terminal your account will probably be canceled. Fines and such are unlikely unless your mistake resulted in large disputes or your use of the account was somehow fraudulent in itself.
There are also terminals that can hold multiple accounts. Many brick-mortar businesses starting an online venture find that it's economical to use a single terminal capable of holding multiple merchants accounts (card-present and not-present) to process order both online and off instead of moving to an online gateway right off the bat.
Also, you need to take a look at your agreement. A lot of times, when you get a swiped account, you will tell the bank that you intend to only key in maybe 10% a month. if you go over this amount, the provider might suspend your account, raise your rates, or terminate you and put you on the TMF / MATCH list.
Just ask them if you can get an e-commerce account. It should only be about $10 a more a month for the gateway and that's it. It will save you a lot of time and headache
-Corey
Does it act like a bar code scanner (which is essentially acting like a keyboard).
when I ring someones card in from the terminal (card present), how easy is it to get that number to be read into my custom POS software
You can purchase magnetic strip readers that will integrate with your POS software (assuming that your software has the capability). In which case you would no longer swipe the card through the terminal, but instead through the mag-reader for the POS software.
