The high-risk industry includes but is not limited to businesses such as adult entertainment, gambling sites, travel agencies, the sell of tobacco or vaping products, medical marijuana services, or simply e-commerce websites that process card-not-present transactions.  Like any financially savvy investor might, traditional banks and independent sales organizations (ISOs) prefer low-risk investments to increase the likelihood that they’ll turn a...

There are several return reason codes and they exist to provide information to the merchant as to why a transaction didn’t go through. Some are used more often, and some provide more insight than others. Currently, code R11 is used when returning a check truncation entry and should only be used if no other return code is appropriate. Due to...

Chargebacks refer to when a customer disputes a transaction with a merchant, allowing them to receive their money back while keeping the product or services that they received. Oftentimes, the merchant isn’t even aware that a transaction is being disputed until after the funds are taken from their account. At this point, they have only two weeks in which to...

There’s no doubt about it; the popularity of CBD is exploding and mainstream products are popping up all over the market. In fact, estimates place the growth to exceed $5 billion in 2019, which is a 700% increase from 2018.  Medicines to treat medical disorders, such as Epidiolex, are making huge waves in the market, and everyday products ranging from...

If you have been a business owner for any length of time, you have discovered very quickly the importance of taking either debit or credit cards as a form of payment.  Although more Americans are carrying less paper dollars on their person, they are still making their everyday purchases in the form of plastic. Since more people are leaving their...

Are Americans becoming more “cash-averse”? According to Bankrate.com, 1 in 10 Americans do not carry cash on a daily basis. A survey conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates discovered more telling data that said 78 percent of Americans carried less than $50 in paper money and 49% carried less than $20 daily. Those that choose not to carry any money...

The old way of thinking is to have one merchant account per business. Anything more than that seemed like a headache. But times are changing and if you want the best services at the lowest prices, having multiple merchant accounts can help you achieve it all. This is especially true if you are a high-risk business. It may seem like...

Setting your network tech support business up to accept payments from your clients is a hugely important part of company operations. And being a cash or check-only business is simply no longer an option. In fact, a majority of transactions are being completed with debit or credit cards. When providing your tech support services, it’s important to offer your customers...

Account takeover cases in the UK are on the rise. An account takeover is a form of identity theft where criminals illegally access bank accounts, credit cards, or online e-commerce accounts with the use of bots or other techniques. Once they have access, they can illegally shop and carry out fraudulent transactions from the compromised accounts. During the first half...

Payment gateways are a merchant service that processes credit card purchases for online businesses as well as brick and mortar retail shops. Some of the most popular and well known payment gateways include PayPal, Square and Stripe. Another way of describing a payment gateway is that it’s very much like a cash register that processes electronic transactions.  Like physical cash...