BluePay Blog

In the retail world, chargebacks are very similar to refunds in that:  Successful sales are ultimately reversed.  “Unhappy” customers get their money back.  Though unlike refunds, chargebacks aren’t something you implement on your end as a merchant.  Instead, they’re initiated by the customer — with or without your consent.  Thanks to consumer protection laws, starting the chargeback process is very easy for customers.

Topics: EMV, PCI Compliance and Fraud Prevention, Small Business Tips, Enterprise Business Tips

There’s a reason why the EMV credit card standard has been adopted globally. These chip-enabled cards are far more secure than their mag-stripe counterparts.  Whereas magnetic stripes are relatively easy to clone and forge, EMV cards are not. This makes in-store retail fraud more difficult. For a transaction to process successfully, the security chip must be physically present at the point of sale. 

Topics: EMV, Payment Technology, PCI Compliance and Fraud Prevention, Payment Trends

As a brick-and-mortar retailer, it doesn’t take much to begin accepting credit cards. All you need is a merchant account and terminal — and you’re good to go.  Despite how easy it is to get started, an estimated 55 percent of small businesses throughout the U.S. don’t take plastic. They simply can’t justify the upfront cost of installing expensive credit card readers at every checkout counter.  For them, accepting cash is both easier and cheaper. 

Topics: EMV, Mobile Payments, Payment Technology, PCI Compliance and Fraud Prevention, Payment Trends

Swipe-and-sign is one of the most time-honored rituals in retail. When customers are ready to make purchases, they:  Swipe the credit card in a POS reader Receive a printed time-stamped receipt Put their John Hancock on the signature line  On April 13, most major credit card brands will remove the signature requirement at the point of sale. Mastercard and Visa are phasing out this step across North America, while American Express is eliminating the signature requirement worldwide.

Topics: EMV, Payment Trends

Whenever customers are unhappy with products or services, they can request a refund directly from you — the merchant.  This is usually an unpleasant experience, and retailers often go out of their way to avoid issuing refunds. The alternative, however, is much worse.  These dissatisfied customers also have the option of disputing purchases and initiating chargebacks through their banks. The banks then credit those users’ accounts before chasing you down for the outstanding balance. 

Topics: EMV, E-Commerce and Online Payments, PCI Compliance and Fraud Prevention, Small Business Tips, Enterprise Business Tips, Getting Started with Payments

Set to go into effect in May, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a new set of guidelines designed to safeguard how personal consumer information is captured, shared and stored by organizations throughout Europe. More specifically, the GDPR exists to:  “(H)armonize data privacy laws across Europe, to protect and empower all EU citizens data  privacy and to reshape the way organizations across the region approach data privacy.” 

Topics: EMV, PCI Compliance and Fraud Prevention

The swipe-and-sign credit card ritual has been a staple of retail shopping for decades. In fact, it’s as American as apple pie.  Swiping your plastic initiates the transaction.  Signing the receipt authorizes the transaction.  Yet retailers don’t employ teams of handwriting experts to verify the authenticity of these signatures. Neither do the major credit card brands. Further, even when fraudulent transactions do occur, checking for forged signatures isn’t realistic or feasible. 

Topics: EMV, Payment Trends

Debit and credit cards are both convenient forms of payment that shoppers often use interchangeably. However, there are crucial differences between these two types of plastic: 

Topics: EMV, PCI Compliance and Fraud Prevention

  Today's payment compliance environment is growing to address the increase in security issues and the need for standardization to enable a global payments environment. For your small business, that means you need to stay on track with the evolving set of requirements set by card brands, including Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover. QIR qualification is one of the newest types of compliance additions put in place by Visa that impact some businesses. Here's what’s involved, who it impacts, and how it can be addressed by your business if affected by this payment compliance for credit card processing.

Topics: Due.com Partner Posts, EMV, PCI Compliance and Fraud Prevention, BluePay Partners

EMV, also known as chip-enabled credit and debit cards, are continuing to gain momentum in 2017 among card users and merchants. Despite the responsibility placed on merchants to adopt EMV-compliant solutions since October 2015, not every merchant has complied. Visa has continued to push the date back for complete compliance to give businesses more of a chance to make the changeover. This includes three more years for gas stations to change over their card terminals, giving them until 2020.

Topics: Due.com Partner Posts, EMV