Merchant Processing Tips Ti ps for Credit Card Transactions CARD ONE INTERNATIONAL INC Card One International Inc - Merchant Processing Tips for Card Transactions Page 1 of 11
Merchant Processing Tips for Credit Card Transactions 1 - Advertising 3 2 - Honoring Cards 3 3 - Card Examination 4 4 - Authorization 5 5 - Balancing your Terminal Daily 6 6 - Exchanges, Returns, Refunds, Credits & Adjustments 6 7 - Collection of pre-existing debt 6 8 - Cash Advances 6 9 - Duplicate Transactions 6 10 - Mail Order/Telephone Order (MOTO), Pre-Authorized Order (PO), & World Wide Web Orders (WO) 7 11 - Delayed delivery or a deposit balance 7 12 - Recurring Transaction Regulation 7 13 - Chargeback 7 14 - Fraud Transactions 8 15 - Merchant Account Changes 8 16 - Merchant Termination 9 Glossary of Terms 10 Card One International Inc - Merchant Processing Tips for Card Transactions Page 2 of 11
Merchant Processing Tips for Credit Card Transactions * Merchant Agreement The Merchant Agreement is printed on the backside of the Merchant Application as well as in booklet format. Please keep available for a complete reference to all Terms and Conditions. The Merchant Processing Guide has been developed to provide you, our valued merchant, with the information needed to process efficiently and effectively. All of the information provided here and more is in your Merchant Agreement.* We recommend you refer to that to further assist you with your daily credit card processing. Credit card processing is divided into the issuing and acquiring side. Issuing is the act of granting credit cards with credit limits to consumers. Acquiring is the act of granting credit card processing to merchants wanting to sell goods and services by this payment method. Card One International is an Acquirer that works in conjunction with Associations such as Visa /Mastercard, American Express, Diners, Discover and Debit cards to process all your credit card transactions. To help you build customer loyalty, encourage repeat business, and increase profitability, we have compiled the latest guidelines in acceptance and authorization. There are many specific guidelines as well as more general rules a merchant must adhere to when processing. This Merchant Processing Guide provides detailed information needed to protect your assets. You are strongly encouraged to familiarize yourself with the rules and regulations, thereby greatly reducing your risk of loss. When necessary contact Card One for additional support, questions or concerns regarding your credit card processing and fraud prevention. Card One as your partner in processing your credit card transactions is committed to increasing your cash flow by processing your sales as accurately and quickly as possible. In addition, our goal is to give you every possible training advantage to reduce your chance of monetary loss due to a fraudulent or incorrectly processed transaction. 1 - ADVERTISING Visa/Mastercard, Travel & Entertainment Cards, Bank and Card One require that you provide adequate signage to inform the public that Cards will be accepted at your place of business. Your use of any trademark, trade name, service mark or logotype is subject to approval by Visa/MasterCard Bank or Card One. 2 - HONORING CARDS As a responsible merchant when a customer uses a card for his / her means of purchase at your business you are responsible for adhering to the following rules and regulations: You cannot impose a minimum or maximum transaction amount as a condition for accepting a card. You cannot impose a surcharge or fee on a cardholder as a condition of sale You must honor all valid cards presented by a cardholder For retail (card present) transactions in most states you may request picture or signature identification from the cardholder in the form of a driver's license or other photo Id, but unless instructed by the Authorization Center, you may not record other personal information, such as phone, address or drivers license number. The exception to this is a Mail/Telephone order or delivery required transaction. Card One International Inc - Merchant Processing Tips for Card Transactions Page 3 of 11
Any tax collected must be included in the total transaction amount and not collected in cash or by an alternate method. 1 You can require a Cardholder to present the Card for examination as a condition for accepting a Card Transaction and should by utilizing a Manual Imprinter, obtain a Card Imprint of any Card presented not having valid magnetic stripe, with the exception of mail order / telephone order (MOTO) or pre-authorized sales to the extent permitted in this Agreement. You shall not make a photocopy of any Card under any circumstances nor request the Cardholder to provide a photocopy of the card as a condition for accepting a Card Transaction. 3 - CARD EXAMINATION At the point of sale, the card should be carefully examined to determine whether it is a legitimate card. The name of the card, e.g. Visa/MasterCard, American Express, Diners and or Discover, should appear in bold letters on the card. As a qualified merchant, you shall prior to completing a Card Transaction: Confirm that the four digit printed number printed directly above or below the embossed account number matches the first four digits of the embossed account number Confirm that the embossed account number on the face of the Card matches the account number indented on the signature panel Confirm that the expiration date on the card is valid Confirm that the embossed account number on the Card matches the number displayed or printed by processing equipment Check the back of the credit card to make sure the card is not tampered or disfigured in any fashion. The signature on the back of the card must compare favorably with the signature on the sales slip. The sales slip must be signed in the same format as the signature panel. If the card is not signed and the cardholder refuses to sign the card, do not accept it for a transaction. If the cardholder is willing to sign the card in your presence, request two pieces of valid and current identification, e.g., driver's license, state ID, another bankcard, etc. Be aware that a cardholder may NOT authorize another individual to use his/her card for purchases. Be sure the signature on the card matches the one on the sales slip. Furthermore, any card having two signatures on the back panel is invalid and if a sale is made with this card, it can result in a chargeback. For cards bearing a photograph, ensure that the cardholder appears to be the person depicted in the picture. If you have any doubts or questions, call the Authorization center for the applicable company or our Customer Service at (877)-729-7323. Examine any Card security feature, such as a hologram included on the Card. If the signature panel on the card is blank, review Cardholder Identification consisting of a current, official government document (such as a driver's license or passport) that bears the Cardholder signature to determine that the purchaser is the Cardholder. The identification number and expiration date, if any shall be written on the Sales Draft, provided that the law of the state in which the transaction takes place permits this. Card One International Inc - Merchant Processing Tips for Card Transactions Page 4 of 11
To complete the transaction, the quantity, description and price (including taxes and other miscellaneous fees) of the products and services sold must be entered in the terminal. Cardholder's signature is required on the Sales Draft (or electronically printed receipt) and a copy must be provided to the Cardholder at the time of delivery. The completed sales slip copy must contain the following information; cardholder's account number cardholder's signature date of transaction amount of transaction (including any gratuity) surcharges, and taxes if applicable the name of merchant the location of terminal at which the transaction is initiated (address) the legend "No Refunds" if refunds are not permitted the authorization number merchant's signature. If you use an electronic authorization/draft capture terminal, swipe the card to read and capture the card information via the magnetic stripe, and use an electronic printer, you do not have to imprint the card. However, if you are unable to swipe the card, due to a defective magnetic stripe or your terminal or printer is down, you MUST imprint the card to prove that the card was present at the time of sale. In addition, the imprinted sales slip MUST have the cardholder s signature. 4 - AUTHORIZATION All transactions must be authorized via terminal or Authorization Center. Failure to authorize a sales transaction may result in a chargeback and/or the termination of your Merchant Agreement. An authorization only indicates the availability of the cardholder's credit at the time the authorization is requested. It does not warrant that the person presenting the card is the rightful cardholder, nor is it an unconditional promise or guarantee that you will not be subject to a chargeback or debit. All goods and services purchased must be placed in one transaction on the same sales slip and processed as a single sale. Splitting the sales can result in termination of the merchant account by the Bank or CRI. In the case of a "Call Center" response, a call must be made to the appropriate Authorization Center for resolution: MasterCard/Visa.. (800) 291-4840 American Express/Optima (800) 528-2121 Diners Club/Carte Blanche (800) 525-9040 Novus/Discover Card. (800) 347-1111 Available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week Remember: An authorization code only indicates the availability of a cardholder's credit at the time of the transaction. It does not warrant that the person presenting the card is the rightful cardholder. If Card One International Inc - Merchant Processing Tips for Card Transactions Page 5 of 11
proper procedures were not followed at the time of the transaction you are subject to a chargeback and could be debited for the amount of the transaction. If you do not receive credit card approval, return the card to the customer and quietly inform him or her that the transaction has been declined. 5 - BALANCING YOUR TERMINAL DAILY Balancing must be done on a daily basis. You must compare the amount and number of sales slips to the total number provided by the terminal audit trail. In addition, you must then balance your audit trail against the host total. Failure to follow these balancing procedures may result in lost sales. Refer to your terminal Reference Guide for detailed instructions.. 6 - EXCHANGES, RETURNS, REFUNDS, CREDITS & ADJUSTMENTS If you have special store policies, you must clearly disclose your policy on the sales slips. e.g. "NO REFUNDS," "EXCHANGE ONLY" or "IN-STORE CREDIT ONLY." You should maintain the same policy for returns, or exchanges for credit card transactions as you do for cash and check transactions. You must promptly complete and process a credit slip (with your name, address, and merchant account number) for the total amount of the refund due a cardholder. Full refunds must be for the exact dollar amount of the original transaction including tax, handling charges, etc. A description of the goods or services is required. The transaction date of the credit must appear on the voucher. All dollar amounts and other handwritten information must be clearly written. Do not circle or underline any information. Imprint the slip with the same card used by the cardholder to make the original purchase. Never credit a different account number than the one used in the original transaction. Never give cash, check or in-store credit for refunds for credit card sales. Sign the slip, give the cardholder the appropriate copy, and process the credit slip immediately. Failure to process a credit within the set time frame may result in a chargeback. You cannot intentionally submit a sale and an offsetting credit at a later date solely for the purpose of debiting and crediting your own or a customer's account. 7 - COLLECTION OF PRE-EXISTING DEBT As a merchant you are not allowed to process for payments any transaction(s) representing the refinancing of an existing obligation of a Cardholder. This includes obligations previously owed to merchant, arising from the dishonor of a Cardholder's personal check or representing the collection of any other pre-existing debt. 8 - CASH ADVANCES It is not acceptable under any circumstances, to deposit any transactions for the purpose of obtaining or providing a cash advance either on merchant's card or the card of any other party. Engaging in any such transactions shall be grounds for immediate termination. Card One International Inc - Merchant Processing Tips for Card Transactions Page 6 of 11
9 - DUPLICATE TRANSACTIONS If a duplicate transaction occurs, your account will be debited for any adjustments and you will be liable for any chargebacks resulting therefrom. 10 - MAIL ORDER/TELEPHONE ORDER (MOTO), PRE- AUTHORIZED ORDER (PO), & WORLD WIDE WEB ORDERS (WO) Since you will not have an imprinted or magnetically swiped transaction, cardholder's signature on the sales slip as you would in a face to face transaction, you will assume all risk associated with accepting a mail/telephone order transaction. With this in mind we recommend the following: For selling goods and/or services by telephone or other means whereby the cardholder is not present you shall (i) obtain as much information concerning the cardholder as possible, including a telephone number and statement billing address, (ii) perform an Address Verification System (AVS) check against the statement billing address or zip code provided by cardholder, (iii) obtain tracking information including signatures from the person receiving the goods as confirmation that goods were received. (iv) do not submit a transaction for processing until after the merchandise has been shipped or the services has been provided to the customer. Lastly, notify the cardholder of delivery time frames, special handling or of a cancellation policy. If after the order has been taken, additional delays will be incurred, notify the cardholder. 11 - DELAYED DELIVERY OR A DEPOSIT BALANCE In a delayed delivery transaction whereby a cardholder makes a deposit toward the full amount of the sale, you should execute two separate sales slips, one for the deposit and the second for payment of the balance upon delivery of the merchandise or the performance of services. 12 - RECURRING TRANSACTION REGULATION If you are a recurring transaction client who will be charging a cardholder's account periodically for recurring goods or services, e.g., (membership or subscription fees) the cardholder shall complete and deliver to you the merchant, a signed, written request for such goods or services to be charged to his account. The written request must at least specify the transaction amounts, the frequency of recurring charges and the duration of time for which the cardholder's permission is granted. 13 - CHARGEBACS After a sales draft has been processed, there are several reasons that a merchant's account may be debited. These debits are called chargebacks. The following list details the main reasons for a chargeback: 1. Expired-Card 2. Warning Bulletin (Customer's account was listed in the current Warning Bulletin) 3. Floor Limit- The sale exceeded the floor limit and was not authorized 4. Split Sales - Merchant has split a single purchase onto more than one slip. 5. Invalid Account Number Card One International Inc - Merchant Processing Tips for Card Transactions Page 7 of 11
6. Illegible or Incomplete Sales Slip 7. Altered or Erroneous Amount 8. Customer Dispute 14 - FRAUD TRANSACTIONS Card One conducts daily monitoring of credit card processing in order to detect questionable or fraudulent activity. From time to time, Card One may contact a merchant to clarify specific transactions and may, at that time, request documentation in support of those transactions. As a merchant you are required to comply with our request by providing copies of sales drafts, invoices, contracts or any other documentation regarding the transactions. Failure to comply may result in suspension of processing privileges and / or termination of the merchant account. Suspect Transactions- If the appearance of the card being presented or the behavior of the person presenting the card is suspicious in nature, you must immediately call the Voice Authorization Center for the Card type presented and ask to speak to a Code 10 operator. Submission of Sales for Merchants Other Than Your Business- You may present to Card One for payment only valid debts that arise from an exchange of goods or services between a cardholder and your establishment. If you deposit or attempt to deposit sales between cardholders and any business other than your business factoring, you will be subject not only to chargebacks, but also to immediate termination of your Merchant Agreement. Absence of Credit Card - For walk-in orders, we recommend that you do not accept credit card purchases if the card is not presented. We suggest you obtain another form of payment. Transactions completed without a credit card are high-risk transactions, and are subject to a higher incidence of chargebacks. The following are some further examples of prohibited transactions: Sales slip where the card number is issued to an owner or principal of your business. Transactions for previously incurred debt, e.g., you may neither request nor record a cardholder's account number on a check to charge the amount of the check in the event the check bounces. When the Authorization Center refuses to authorize the transaction or the card must be retained. The card is not yet valid. The card has expired. Cash is disbursed to the cardholder. To deliver goods or perform services after notice of a cancellation of a Pre-Authorized Order/Recurring Payment by the cardholder. The name signed on the card and the name signed on the sales slip do not appear to be the same. Depositing the same sales slip more than once. Depositing the same sales slip to other financial institutions for payment. To process transactions that do not represent valid sales/credits. To redeposit transactions that were previously charged back. Card One International Inc - Merchant Processing Tips for Card Transactions Page 8 of 11
15 - MERCHANT TERMINATION There are a number of areas in which the bank has the right to, and may terminate a merchant. The following list has been prepared to assist you the merchant in operating your merchant account correctly. 1. Minimum Charge - The merchant is not permitted to penalize a customer wishing to use his or her credit card to pay for goods and / or services by requiring a minimum purchase, charging any surcharge, finance and /or carry fees. 2. Taxes - Merchant must include any applicable state and / or local sales tax. Taxes are not to be paid by an alternate method. 3. Split Sales - Merchant is not permitted to split any one sale. 4. Factoring - A merchant is not permitted to submit any sales drafts or the like that are either not the merchant's or are not his/her actual sales. 5. Cash Advances - A merchant is not permitted to make cash advances to any cardholder and charge this cash advance to the individual's credit card. 6. Legal transactions - A merchant is not to utilize his/her merchant account for any activity that is unlawful. 7. Charge-backs - Any merchant who consistently has a large volume of charge-backs on any regular basis. 8. Verification - A merchant may not submit a sales draft to collect a debt owed when the customer has used his/her credit card for I.D. 9. Refunds - A merchant is not permitted to give cash refunds for any credit card transaction. A credit draft must be issued to the same credit card account that was used for the original sale. No surcharge, penalty or processing fee may be charged in connection with refund unless the merchant is conducting business in the travel industry. 10. Confidentiality - A merchant cannot disclose cardholder account number or other information to third party interests for financial reward. 16 - MERCHANT ACCOUNT CHANGES You are responsible for maintaining a commercial business checking account at a financial institution that is a member of the Federal Reserve ACH System. If you have changes in your checking account number, legal name or structure, company DBA name, address, telephone number or type of business you must immediately call our 1-877-729-7323 and notify us in writing at: Card One International 11661 San Vicente Blvd. Suite 900, Los Angeles, Ca. 90049 Our goal remains to help enhance your sales volume, lower your operating cost, and increase your profitability. Once again thank you for choosing Card One to process your credit card sales. Card One International Inc - Merchant Processing Tips for Card Transactions Page 9 of 11
Glossary of Terms Account A merchant's commercial business checking account at a financial institution that is a member of the Federal Reserve ACH System. The account is for the purpose of depositing funds and debiting of fees pursuant to the terms and conditions as stated in your Merchant Agreement. Acquirer A financial institution that maintains the merchant credit card processing relationship and receives all transactions from the merchant to be distributed to the card member banks. Address Verification System A service provided through Card One by which the merchant verifies the cardholder's address, primarily used by mail/telephone order merchants. Not a guarantee that a transaction is valid. Authorization A merchant's retrieval of an approval code from a card issuer indicating that cardholder funds are available. Batching Out The electronic process whereby a merchant transmits daily transactions to network processor, in bulk and at the end of the day, thereby initiating the two (2) day learning and settlement of funds between all parties. Call Center The message received from an issuing bank when an electronic attempt for authorization requires a call to the Voice Authorization Center. Card A Visa/MasterCard branded or private label credit card that is presented to a merchant as payment for goods and or services. Cardholder/Card Member One to whom a credit card has been issued. Card Imprint The impression of a Card on a sales draft from a manual imprinter. Card Issuer A financial institution that issues credit cards. Chargeback A disputed transaction and reversal of funds from a merchant initiated by a cardholder's request to the issuing bank. Credit A refund or price adjustment given for a previous purchase transaction. Credit Draft A document evidencing the return of merchandise by a cardholder to a merchant, or other refund made by the merchant to the cardholder. Credit Limit The credit line set by the card issuer for the cardholder's account. Discount Rate The fee a merchant processor charges a merchant to give credit for depositing and handling merchant's daily credit card transactions. Electronic Authorization A merchant's use of Card Processing equipment for the purpose of retrieving an approval code from a Card Issuer indicating that cardholder funds are available. Electronic Draft Capture (EDC) A process that allows the merchant's dial-up terminal to receive authorization, capture transactions, and electronically transmit them to the card processor. This eliminates the need to submit paper for processing. Floor Limit The minimum monetary amount established by Visa/MasterCard, at or above which the merchant must obtain authorization prior to completing a transaction. Issuing Bank Cardholder's bank or a bank that has issued a MasterCard or Visa Card to an individual. Magnetic Stripe Card One International Inc - Merchant Processing Tips for Card Transactions Page 10 of 11
A stripe of magnetic information affixed to the back of a plastic credit or debit card. The magnetic stripe contains essential cardholder account information. Merchant Account Number (Merchant Number) A number that numerically identifies Card One members to the merchant processor for the account and billing purposes. Merchant Metal Plate A metal embossed plate to be attached to the manual imprinter machine and used for imprinting sales slips and batch header/summaries. Embossed data includes merchant name, code number, city and state. MO/TO (Mail Order / Telephone Order) A sale transacted by mail or telephone. Internet transactions are also treated as members of the MOTO category. Non-Qualified Merchant Any merchant performing keyed or card not present transactions as primary method of accepting credit cards. Processing Fees The Fees payable to Card One by merchant as indicated in your Merchant Agreement. Qualified Merchant Any merchant performing face-to-face transactions as a primary method of accepting credit cards. Sales Draft The paper forms used by merchants to capture a Card imprint as evidence of a transaction. Transaction An exchange of payment for goods or services between a cardholder and merchant. Transaction Fee A fee passed through by Card One to a merchant imposed by Network Processor for providing authorization & capture services. Voice Authorization A transaction authorization provided by human operator at the Acquirers Call Center when electronic authorization cannot be obtained. Card One International Inc - Merchant Processing Tips for Card Transactions Page 11 of 11