1.  Will they meet my particular business’ needs?

When it comes to payments, business size, industry and personal preferences create unique needs for every merchant. For example, a restaurant’s processing needs are not at all comparable to those of a school or nonprofit.  Make sure that your payment services provider is knowledgeable about and has experience in your particular field. An experienced provider will be able to advise you on the optimal setup that will lower your costs and increase your business efficiency.

A processing company and sales rep that understand your unique business needs will go a long way in creating value for your business.

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.

A step-by-step guide for merchants.

Subscription commerce has recently demonstrated significant growth, as consumers have embraced the convenience and efficiency that subscriptions deliver. Companies and shareholders love it too, because it ensures repeat customers on a regular basis, without the necessity and hassle of pitching and closing a new sale each time.

Some companies will replenish customers’ supply of a particular product, such as the Dollar Shave Club. Others attempt to delight and surprise their customers with a new and unique selection, such as Birchbox. But it is not a new phenomenon; magazine companies, nonprofits, and phone companies have long found great success using the subscription billing model.

Unfortunately, it can be complicated for subscription-based companies to obtain processing for a merchant account, and even once set up the overhead cost and efforts can be staggering. Subscription services are considered “high risk” processing accounts because they present an  increased chance of chargebacks for the following three reasons:

For businesses operating in New Jersey, there has been an announcement regarding a sales tax reduction.

Effective January 1, 2017, New Jersey’s sales tax rate will be reduced from 7 percent to 6.875 percent.

As a merchant, you will often accept payments in a foreign currency. For example, a retail store may swipe an international card if a tourist makes a purchase, or an e-commerce site may accept orders placed by a customer from another country.

Whenever a foreign transaction occurs, there is always a surcharge. The difference lies in which party is responsible for paying that fee, and that depends on the way that the merchant account was set up.

Merchants have the challenge of balancing their day-to-day business needs while simultaneously maintaining a focus on growth and expansion. The more that business owners and operators, especially those in the service and nonprofit industries, can reduce their overhead burden the more likely they are to succeed as innovators and changemakers.

While payments are no doubt central to any business, they also have the potential to take a considerable toll. Merchants need to prioritize a variety of objectives: data security, payment and billing management and fraud prevention. Merchants in the service industry will want to ensure that payments are secure while remaining convenient and low-cost.

The solution is for merchants to outsource their payments acceptance. It comes in the form of a Fidelity-hosted payment form which performs all the essential functions and more in an automated and secure fashion.

The forms have the option of being embedded on the merchant’s website or coming up as a pop-up window; both of which outperform the other solutions on the market on five fronts:

The grocery industry is seeing some pivotal changes of late. No doubt about it, 2017 is going to be a defining year as consumers seek both convenience and speed in the shopping experience. They expect to be able to find what they’re looking for easily and to get in and out quickly.

When it comes down to it, aside from product placement and selection, payment plays a  pivotal role in providing the ideal experience consumers will come to expect.

The top innovators in the grocery industry have demonstrated that a speedy checkout process has been the key to their success.

Over the next few years, the mag stripe is likely to disappear from credit cards entirely. This is due to an influx of fraud on non-chip transactions and the security gap that swiped transactions leave, as evidenced by several massive data breaches famously affecting large corporations.

Most recently, it was discovered that Madison Square Garden had been hacked for an entire year and that perpetrators gained access to tens of thousands of credit card numbers before the problem was discovered.

Visa announced on Thursday (Dec. 1) that the EMV liability shift for AFDs, automated fuel dispensers and pumps, is being delayed for another three years.  The deadline for merchants to upgrade to EMV technology at the pump is now October 1, 2020 instead of October 1, 2017.