Merchants around the country are receiving panicked letters and phone calls from their credit card processors telling them they need to buy new PCI compliant terminals with offers on great leasing deals or free terminals. Merchants must not panic and must do their homework. Times are tough; don’t make them tougher with rash decisions and unnecessary expenditures.
First, merchants must find an objective source for information. Terminals last forever so you might just be using a dinosaur that has been fine all these years, but not secure. Find out if the equipment you currently use, is in fact not PCI compliant. MSRN received a panicked post from a reader who said that their processor was insisting that they replace all seven of their terminals. After contacting MSRN, the merchant discovered that their terminals were PCI compliant, and that most terminals if purchased new within the last year are in fact PCI complaint.
Second, if you do discover after diligent research that your terminals are in fact obsolete consider your options. Top credit card processors will offer inexpensive terminals with no strings attached. Leasing should be your last choice. The markup on leasing is often astronomical and in the long run far too expensive for even the most successful small merchant. One poster reported that he signed a 36 month lease for a terminal that was already so old it fell out of service one month after he signed his lease. He was on the hook for three years with a terminal that could not be served by other processors. Every month for three years he paid $40 for a terminal he could not use. Always ascertain if the deal with your processor includes a proprietary terminal, if so think twice; do you really want to make that kind of commitment? Should you? Find a processor who does not require long term contacts and has NO cancellation fees.
Small merchants must remember that PCI compliance is only as good as everyone along the communication and access lines. There are frauds and thieves all along the way spending more time on figuring out ways to cheat the system than you do protecting yourself. Take precautions and learn the do’s and don’ts of good credit card acceptance practices. Knowledge will protect you from the high costs of fraud and can reduce your credit card acceptance costs.
Coming soon…. Credit Card Acceptance Best Practices Series for Small Merchant
MSRN does not endorse any products or processors.
Loretta Hunnicutt
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