FAQ | Merchant Card Services

What is a batch?

A batch is your total amount of transactions for a period of time, usually a day. When you 'close' a batch, you are submitting your day's worth of authorized transactions to arrive in your business bank account. Some payment processors complete this step automatically, and some require your authorization.

How often should batches go through?

The time it takes a batch to go through is called batch time. Your batch time depends on the processor that you choose. Some take several days and up to a week, while others do it every day.

What is the difference between online debit and offline debit?

Online and offline debit differ in their presence of a pin number. An online debit transactions uses a pin, while an offline debit transaction does not. An online debit transactions is immediately drawn from the cardholder's current balance using one of several pin-debit networks, such as: InterLink, Maestro, Star, Pulse, Shazam, etc.

On the other hand, offline transactions get ran through Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express networks.

Does American Express cost more to process?

Under our Start Fresh pricing plan, all cards are processed at the same rate. For Custom Quotes, the rate for American Express could be higher or lower than rates for other cards types.

What is a chargeback?

A chargeback is a reversal of a prior transaction that results in the reimbursement of a customer’s funds. Learn more about chargebacks here.

What is the chargeback procedure?

A retrieval request will come to you from the card-issuing bank asking to see an original receipt of the transaction in question.
Depending on the card brand's guidelines and if you have proof of the customer's signature, you many win the dispute.
If you were not successful, your business bank account will be debited the amount of the sale.
Chargeback fees will be charged to you later by your payment processor.

What are some of the different types of chargebacks?

There's many reasons a chargeback might occur. Keep an eye out for the most common causes;

Cardholder claims funds charged were not authorized, and you don't have the cardholder's signature.
Cardholder claims non-receipt or goods/services, and you can't prove otherwise. (ie. signed delivery confirmation, email exchanges with cardholder, internal office notes documenting customer interaction)
You accepted a fraudulent or stolen credit card

When are the monthly fees debited from my checking account?

Typically, a payment processor will charge you their fees between the 1st and 5th of the month. That is if you have a monthly discount billing plan. If your payment processor sets up your merchant account on a daily discount billing plan, you will see deductions for fees on your daily batch report, and the rest may be billed at month end.

What are the 12 requirements of PCI DSS's?

PCI DSS is the payment card industry data security standard. There are twelve of them that your business should follow to ensure optimal security and avoid unnecessary fees. They are:

Install and maintain a firewall configuration to protect cardholder data
Do not use vendor-supplied defaults for system passwords and other security parameters
Protect stored cardholder data
Encrypt transmission of cardholder data across open, public networks
Use and regularly update anti-virus software
Develop and maintain secure systems and applications
Restrict access to cardholder data by business need-to-know
Assign a unique ID to each person with computer access
Restrict physical access to cardholder data
Track and monitor all access to network resources and cardholder data
Regularly test security systems and processes
Maintain a policy that addresses information security for all personnel