For most business owners, reviewing merchant agreements and monthly billing statements isn’t the top priority. And even if it was, the statements are often confusing, with dozens of interchange categories, assessment fees, and more. A lot of business owners therefore just focus on a few key variables: their rate and the total cost. But that can mis...

You want to make sure your site is engaging, well-written, and optimized for your buyer’s journey - and your payments experience is a big part of that. The last thing you want is for your customer to get all the way to the checkout and leave the page because of a poor experience. When it comes to ecommerce payments, you have several options. One of...

If you sell through your own website, you can choose and set up the services you need yourself, or you can work with a company that offers a complete solution for online payment processing. Ecommerce Website or Marketplace 'Store' First and foremost, you need somewhere to sell from. You can sell goods and services through your own business ...

You’ve probably experienced them at the gas station and when checking into a hotel. They serve a purpose, but can come with hidden costs that business owners need to know about. What is a “pre-auth?” A pre-auth (pre-authorization hold) is a temporary “hold” on an amount of the customer’s money when they use a credit card to pay for a transaction ...

When is AVS used? Address Verification is used in all kinds of credit card scenarios. It’s most common in ecommerce and other "card-not-present" transactions, as those transactions have fewer alternative means of verifying a cardholder’s identity. But AVS can be used in person, too. AVS is also one component in qualifying for enhanced data (lev...

While credit card theft and other common types of fraud are decreasing because of EMV chip cards and new security technology, low-tech friendly fraud is on the rise. Remember, EMV cards don’t provide any additional protection for you or customers in ecommerce transactions. If you run an ecommerce website, it’s worth knowing about the tools to prote...

At CardFellow we’ve heard it all, so we decided to address these myths and misinformation. Chip cards are an evolution of card-based payments, and it’s important to understand the differences between chip and magnetic stripe cards. If your business still hasn’t upgraded to accept chip cards (or you have, but don’t know much about why), this arti...

If you're curious whether your credit card machine can be reprogrammed, here's the scoop: Some credit card machines can be reprogrammed to work with virtually any credit card processing service, while other machines will only work with a specific processor. But there are a few caveats, including what we mean by "processor." Older credit card mac...

Tipping has always been an option to show appreciation for good service. If you run a business with tipped employees, you can set up your credit card machine to encourage tips that reward your employees. The way you present the tip prompt, when it appears in the payment process, and how it’s worded or displayed can all have an impact on the amount ...

Your merchant account is for a specific business setup. If you're changing that - for example, going from in-person to online sales or going from a brick-and-mortar restaurant to food truck - you’ll need to update your merchant account as well. If you don’t, you could end up overpaying or worse, having your account closed for violating terms. Fo...