Loading . . .The financial services world is about credit. Retail outlets and service providers that can't handle credit card processing, or haven't passed PCI compliance, are at a disadvantage to those that have credit card processing terminals.
If you conduct point-of-sale (POS) transactions using your merchant account, you're already dealing with PCI compliance and may have a credit card processing terminal. Here are some tips for managing your POS credit card transactions.
A retail vendor will need a credit card processing terminal to manage the selling process operated by a salesperson. This is usually a card swipe machine hooked up to an online computer or the phone system, with access through banking software, to the cardholder's bank or credit provider. Your processing terminal provider should be able to ensure the hardware's PCI compliance.
New wireless router with full security features: $1500 Secure e-commerce application: $7500 External network scan from Approved Scanning Vendor: $2500 Being PCI compliant: priceless**
PCI compliance charges are based on the number of transactions you process.
PCI compliance companies are not able to simply walk in, wave their magic wands, and make you PCI compliant. They will need to work with you and your IT staff to assess your current payment systems, and make changes so that you can truthfully answer “yes” to the questions in your PCI Data Security Standards self-assessment questionnaire.
There are many ways to fail a PCI compliance assessment, so here are 5 ways to make sure you stay on top of things.
Does your business accept credit cards as a payment option? If it does, you need to be PCI compliant. Failure to be PCI compliant can result in fines, an inability to take payments by credit cards, or a big hit to your reputation. Without your reputation, you aren’t going to get many customers, and if you don’t have customers, you probably won’t have much of a business
As credit card use has increased, and as the Internet has grown, so has the potential for the loss of sensitive information. The frequency and severity of electronic data breaches has become a major concern for merchants and for credit card companies, but mostly for consumers.
The Heartland and TJ Maxx (TJX) credit card security breaches are among the most notorious since PCI became the standard for credit card transaction security - there is a lot of writing about them. Here is some of the best on the Web.