Any business with subscriptions or memberships is familiar with recurring billing and saved payment information. These options allow you to securely store customers’ card data to automatically charge their cards when it’s time to renew their subscription or membership. This type of billing provides predictable revenue and better customer retention....

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...