BluePay Blog

There are three essential components you need to bring together to accept credit cards:  A merchant account. This is essentially a bank account that allows you to accept incoming credit card payments.  A payment processor. This is the entity that authorizes credit card transactions by connecting your bank with the customer’s card-issuing bank.  A payment gateway. This is the tool that captures credit card data before sending it to your processor. Think of it as an “online” credit card terminal. 

Topics: E-Commerce and Online Payments, Payment Technology, Small Business Tips, Enterprise Business Tips, Getting Started with Payments, Merchant Accounts

As a business owner, you already know how hard it is to stay abreast of constant changes such as:  New tax laws. Evolving payment technology. Industry trends.  Plus, your company likely releases its own products, services and features on a regular basis. Against this backdrop, who has time to blog?  There are very compelling reasons why you should launch and maintain a blog with regularly updated content.  We’ll start with an obvious one. 

Topics: Small Business Tips, Enterprise Business Tips

According to the American Marketing Association, the average U.S. consumer receives more than 10,000 advertising messages every day. These ads are delivered across a broad range of media, including television, radio, print, email and social networks.  Given this deluge of marketing messages, it’s simply not possible for any individual to sort through all of this information.  This is why we’ve come to rely on heuristics — i.e., mental shortcuts that allow us to get through the clutter. For example, if 10 million people buy the newest book from Dan Brown, you’re more likely to pick up a copy. It must be good.

Topics: Small Business Tips, Enterprise Business Tips

As a business owner, getting hacked is one of the worst things that can happen.  Whether for financial gain, revenge or pure joy, bad actors exploit vulnerabilities in your IT infrastructure — and they now have access to your sensitive data:  They do this to steal information (such as credit card numbers). They hold your data hostage until you pay a ransom of some sort. They simply corrupt your system for no reason. 

Topics: PCI Compliance and Fraud Prevention, Small Business Tips, Enterprise Business Tips, ISV/VAR

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

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

In the retail world, chargebacks and refunds are often used interchangeably to describe situations in which dissatisfied customers want to reverse purchases and get their money back.  As a merchant, you lose the sales either way — which is why these return policies are so often confused.  Although chargebacks and refunds share much in common, there are major differences between the two. As a retailer, it’s important that you understand how they work — and what steps you can take to reduce their frequency. 

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

For most merchants, issuing refunds is the least pleasant part of running a business. This happens whenever customers are “unhappy” with a purchase and want their money back.  If you sell products, you may be able to repackage and resell any returned items. After delivery expenses, restocking fees and other associated costs, you might be able to recoup some of your losses.  If you sell services, however, refunds typically represent a direct and irretrievable loss.  As unpleasant as refunds are, there are even worse ways to lose money. For example, an unhappy customer can always initiate a chargeback instead. 

Topics: PCI Compliance and Fraud Prevention, Small Business Tips, Enterprise Business Tips, Getting Started with Payments

Did you know that retail digital commerce on desktop and mobile reached $100 billion in the third quarter of 2017 for the fourth consecutive quarter? That’s not just impressive, it’s also a pretty good indicator on what the future of online payments holds.  The problem is that the world of online payments is changing so rapidly, it can be a challenge to keep up. Sometimes, all the latest news about the advancements in payments doesn't even make sense. That’s why we’ve put together this handy list of resources to resolve that problem.

Topics: Due.com Partner Posts, E-Commerce and Online Payments, Payment Technology, Small Business Tips, Enterprise Business Tips, Payment Trends, ISV/VAR

Welcome to 2018! If you haven’t already, it's time to create a growth strategy and budget. You may have used all types of technology to help get you where you are today. You need to consider technology investments to further what you can achieve. Here are five of the top technology investments that are worth considering as we begin 2018:

Topics: Due.com Partner Posts, Payment Technology, Enterprise Business Tips