If you haven’t heard already, you may be hearing the term “EMV” a lot more in the coming months, especially if you use point-of-sale (POS) devices like swipers or phone card readers.
As with any widespread technological update, many businesses may hear confusing or conflicting information regarding how the changes will affect them. Business News Daily spoke with security and payment industry experts to get to the bottom of five common beliefs (and misbeliefs) about EMV:
For small businesses the decision to accept credit cards is not always as simple to make as many companies that facilitates payments claim. From the difficulty of getting approved for a merchant account to losing money from fees, accepting credit cards can present unexpected problems. Sara Angeles outlines five things you need to know to best meet your unique needs.
Starting late next year, every credit card in the United States will adopt a more secure system.
Andrew Tarantola explains what it is, and how it works in this Gizmodo article:
What Are “Smart” Credit Cards, and Why Are They Coming to America?
What does it mean for you, the merchant?
Both MasterCard and Visa have set an October 2015 deadline to roll out the new EMV “smart cards” technology in America. Once the deadline passed, if a merchant is still using the old system with a swipe and a signature, they will be liable for any fraudulent transactions if the customer has a chip card. On the other hand, if the merchant uses the new system, but the customer is still using the old card, then the customer’s bank will bear the liability instead.
If you chose PayPal to accept payments on your web site your customers do not need to have a PayPal account to be able to pay. All you need to do for that is choose the right type for your own PayPal account and configure it properly.
Here’s the entire process, short and simple:
1. If you are setting a new PayPal account, choose a Premium or Business one. The only difference between the two is that a Business account gives the ability to accept credit cards to more than one person.
If you already have a Personal Paypal account, either upgrade it or set up a new Premium or Business account.
In either case PayPal will ask if you want to verify your account. This step is not required, but the short note on your payment page about being verified gives your customers an extra reassurance that they are making a safe purchase.
2. In your PayPal account, click the account icon at the top right of the screen (next to the “Log Out” button) and choose Profile and settings from the drop-down menu.
3. On the next page, click My Selling Tools on the left, then under Selling online on the right find this item: Website preferences. Click the Update link next to it.
4. Scroll down to PayPal Account Optional and check the On button.
5. Click the Save button at the bottom of the page.
That’s it!
Informative video from Principis Capital about who’s who in the world of credit card processing and what role the processor plays in your business.