Accepting credit card payments is key to your business.
Knowing who is involved is important– from payment gateways to processors to merchant services.
Understanding their roles and how the process works before committing to work with anyone in particular helps you pick the right partner and avoid high fees, compliance issues, and security risks.
Make sure they are a good fit for your business before you commit.
Read on for examples of six situations you can avoid by simply ensuring you understand the terms of your provider contracts upfront.
Each of these companies resolved its issues by leveraging the power of USTPay, a software solution now available on Microsoft Dynamics 365 AppSource and across other ERP and e-commerce platforms.
Turning Payment Processing Bloopers Into Success
Situation #1:
Glenn’s manufacturing company was recently informed that they were facing fines due to PCI non-compliance (Payment Card Industry).
The reason?
The accounting team has been storing customers’ CVV codes onsite.
Resolution:
Glenn called the accounting team together and created a plan to research what was needed to avoid future compliance issues.
Glenn wanted to eliminate any risk of his company being the source of compromised customer credit card data.
He understood that this could lead to suspension of services by their credit card processor, not to mention loss of customer confidence.
They discovered that because they use Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, they can leverage USTPay to help mitigate all PCI compliance risks.
In addition, their fees are now significantly lower due to the automatic provision of Level-3 data (line item invoice details) to the payment gateway and processor via Dynamics 365.
Situation #2:
Janice is the CFO of a nonprofit that switched to a new credit card processing service provider six months ago to reduce their fees.
After reviewing the year-end statements, Janice realized that the fees actually increased.
Resolution:
Janice researched and requested multiple quotes, learned about the fee structures, and negotiated the company’s rates down by almost 30%.
She later learned the hard way that introductory rates can increase quickly and drastically and that hidden fees can sneak in over time.
Lesson learned.
Janice got smart and requested a fee audit to lower processing fees.
She has also gained a thorough understanding of the differences between processing fees and interchange fees, dues, and assessments.
Her staff now reviews monthly statements regularly, and her merchant service provider sends a monthly update showing that the lower rate she negotiated remains intact.
Situation #3:
Xavier’s B2B consulting firm started providing an online payment page for customers to pay invoices in a self-service manner.
It saved a lot of time and helped speed collections–basically, it worked like a charm.
Until it didn’t. Several months in, they were the victim of a carding fraud attack.
Resolution:
When the carding attack occurred, Xavier’s credit card processor shut down their account to prevent further breaches.
As a result, the firm could no longer accept credit card payments. and they were back to the old method of waiting for check payments or sending out their banking information (not ideal in today’s hacker-rich environment) so that customers could pay by ACH.
Fortunately, this only lasted a few days. Xavier’s team implemented CAPTCHA and velocity filters to stop the carding attacks, and their processor re-activated their account to get them back up and running.
Now confident that they’ll never be in a similar situation again, they’ve already achieved improved consumer trust scores.
Situation #4:
Fatima is the comptroller for a government contractor.
Recently, she discovered that they won a government contract RFP, which required them to accept payment on goods/services sold under the contract with the government purchasing card.
In addition, the contract required that the company provide Level-3 data when processing the government card.
Not knowing what Level-3 processing was, Fatima was even more surprised to discover that the payment gateway they were using (a well-known brand in the market) could not capture Level-3 data when processing the government’s credit card payment.
She needed to find a solution quickly to avoid non-compliance with their contract with the government agency customer.
Resolution:
Fatima reached out to another merchant service provider, an expert in Level-3 processing, who gave her a crash course in L3 data.
Fatima learned how to implement the appropriate software in Dynamics 365 Business Central to ensure Level-3 data on all government purchasing card transactions.
This meant all transactions would be tagged as “tax-exempt” transactions – another item critical to government purchasing cardholders.
Using the right payment gateway software solution (not necessarily the most well-known “branded” solution) was necessary in this case to ensure the company maintained its compliance with an important government contract.
Situation #5:
Eric’s large–and growing–B2B SaaS company had recently integrated a well-known payment gateway into its ERP and e-commerce platform.
They spent over $20,000 in consulting fees to have their ERP and e-commerce consultants complete the integration so that they could minimize the manual work of entering customer credit card data.
It worked great for a few years, and they were happy with the solution until they started expanding into international markets, where they found a sudden high demand for the SaaS products they were selling.
Much to their dismay, they discovered that the payment gateway they were previously so happy about only works in the U.S. and for sales in U.S. currency.
With new markets, they needed to introduce new payment gateways, each of which would cost another $30,000 or more in current dollars for programming work, not to mention two to three months or more of lead time to implement.
Resolution:
Eric quickly educated himself on payment orchestration solutions and how they could benefit his company in the future during its expansion into new international markets.
By implementing a payment orchestration solution integrating a single API into his ERP and e-commerce systems, he has immediate access to over 120 payment gateways and processors covering every international currency and country worldwide.
Regardless of which new market his company enters, they can immediately connect with the appropriate payment gateway to accommodate the local currency or alternative payment method that is preferred by the consumers in-country.
Situation #6:
Melissa’s company is a successful regional food wholesaler.
She has no designs for growing the firm nationally but wants to continue to be a strong brand in the regional market.
Many of her customers pay by credit card or ACH, and for many years, she relied on a payment gateway integration for her on-premises ERP software.
Recently, her ERP consultant informed her that the payment gateway service provider would no longer support the on-premises ERP software.
Melissa would now be forced to either upgrade to the Cloud version of her ERP or find a new payment gateway that would continue to be supported long-term with her on-premises ERP.
They were completely non-responsive when Melissa asked her merchant services provider for help finding a new solution for her on-premises ERP.
This was a powerful reminder that their service level had been virtually nonexistent the last couple of years due to changes in ownership and a lack of live customer support.
Resolution:
Melissa was lucky.
She found a low-cost solution that could be implemented immediately in her ERP platform.
In fact, the new integrated payment gateway would save her $25,000 annually in credit card fees because of lower processing fees.
Over many years with her previous merchant service provider, she had overlooked the gradual increases in processor fees.
By switching providers, she realized significant ongoing savings.
She also found her new provider superior in service due to a single point of contact and immediate response times.
What Will Your Success Story Look Like?
The success stories presented here underscore the importance of proactive measures, including PCI compliance, research into negotiating favorable rates, staying informed about requirements such as Level-3 data processing, and more.
Partnering with USTPay ensures seamless integration into Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, so there's no need to worry about disruptions to your existing gateway and processor.
If you’re fed up with your team being overwhelmed by managing the processes, security ramifications, and customer issues inherent with payment processing, we’d love to help - it doesn’t have to be so hard!
Learn more at https://www.ustranscorp.com.
About the Author
U.S. Transactions Corp., a premier B2B enterprise service provider, collaborates with its clients to deliver an exceptional experience every time, from industry-lowest rates and cutting-edge technology to Level-3 processing that can save your organization up to 30 percent on costs!
Since 2009, UST has been a trusted source for Commercial Enterprises, Associations, and Nonprofits looking to maximize their success rate through superior payment solutions designed specifically for them.
USTPay is a product of U.S. Transactions Corp. and is available on Microsoft AppSource.