As of May 25th, the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) went into effect in order to grant EU citizens a level of control over the collection of their personal data, and to improve transparency between businesses and consumers. This overhaul has tremendous ramifications for merchants who service European customers (including e-commerce merchants), since it affects how businesses collect and manage data of EU citizens.

Last year alone, around 7.3 million women, infants, and children benefited from WIC’s supplemental nutrition program, which means that a significant number of food purchases made in the U.S. are paid for with WIC paper vouchers. However, this paper voucher system is now undergoing an upgrade to a new electronic benefits transfer (EBT) system, also known as eWIC (electronic WIC). Here’s what merchants need to know about the upgrade to eWIC:

With summer on its way, you’re probably dreaming of a day at the beach or planning your next vacation. But, don’t forget about a very important deadline coming up: starting on June 30th, merchants will need to be fully migrated to Transport Layer Security (TLS) version 1.1 or higher, in accordance with the Payment Card Industry’s (PCI) standards. Here’s what you need to know.

The vast majority of merchants are familiar with the Payment Card Industry’s Data Security Standards (PCI DSS), and they even understand why it’s so important to be PCI compliant. But when it comes to actually becoming and maintaining PCI compliance, many merchants find themselves feeling overwhelmed and confused. The path to PCI compliance can be complicated, requiring the merchant to familiarize themselves with the various requirements, and then implementing practical solutions to meet these requirements. To help you get oriented with this process, here’s a quick 5-step guide to PCI compliance:

The checkout process just got a little bit faster! As of April 14th, all four major card issuers- American Express, Visa, Discover, and MasterCard- have eliminated the requirement for cardholder signatures at checkout. While in the past, the customer signature played a big role in preventing fraud and transaction disputes, it has become largely unnecessary due to security advances.

The shopping experience, whether it be in-store or online, centers on providing the customer with value- both in terms of the actual product or service, as well as the interaction as a whole. More than ever, retailers are realizing that in order to create this positive experience, they need to eliminate any unnecessary steps in the checkout process. This approach is known as frictionless shopping, and it is disrupting the retail environment more than ever because of recent technological advances. Keep reading to learn more about frictionless shopping- and see why it matters so much.

On December 22nd of 2017, President Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act into law after winning approval from the Senate. The tax reform has since received mixed reviews: while the White House forecasts that its tax cuts for corporations will increase the average household income and grow the economy, many disagree with this premise. Regardless of who’s right, though, the tax reform is sure to have a big effect on businesses. Here’s a quick overview of how it will most likely affect merchants, and specifically, for whom the changes will be most advantageous.

The International Restaurant and Foodservice Show, which took place on March 5-7, 2017 at the Javits Center in New York was where the newest and most dynamic innovations in the culinary world were debuted. Fidelity Payment Services presented payment solutions uniquely crafted for the foodservice industry at Booth 1956.

Fidelity’s 21 years of industry experience have given them a deep understanding of the restaurant and foodservice business. When it comes to payments, merchants are looking for lower rates, fast funding, quick and simple transactions, and top-notch customer support.

Many software systems and e-commerce shopping carts provide their users the option of storing their customers’ credit card numbers for future use. This ability enables businesses to process their existing customers’ cards without the hassle of requesting credit card information for every purchase that customer wishes to make. Storing credit card data on a merchant’s system, however, introduces tremendous risks – a data breach to a merchant’s system can expose credit card data, and the merchant may be liable for damages that ensue. Additionally, storing credit card information requires a very stringent level of PCI compliance which can be quite a hassle, as well as costly, to the merchant. Tokenization solves all of these problems.

Please note that our Customer Service department will be closed on President’s Day, this Monday, February 20th. 

Our 24*7 emergency hotline will be available for merchants to contact us and receive support on critical issues at (718) 782-2823 ext. 311. The Customer Service department will re-open Tuesday, February 21st at 9:00 am.

Please note that our Canada and UK offices will be open.

Thank you.

Many merchants have recently been receiving an error message on their PCCharge account, which has stopped processing transactions. Fortunately, Fidelity has a solution that can be completed quickly and easily, without the help of an IT professional.