MERCHANT ACCOUNT BEST PRACTICES

Card Present

Following the practices below will help you get the best rate and protect yourself against disputes, fraudulent transactions and chargebacks.

  • Make sure that you correctly identify your specific merchant type so that we set up the best solution. See Merchant Account Types.
  • Make sure that if you have more than one merchant type that each Merchant ID or MID is set up individually. This will give you the best rates for each transaction.
  • Publish a refund policy. Place it around your cash registers, print it near the signature line of the receipt and put it on your website. Take every step possible to make sure that your customers know that they can return merchandise and what the policies and procedures are. When you issue a credit, only issue the credit to the same card that made the original purchase. Merchants cannot give cash back or check refunds for a credit card purchase.
  • Let us know if more than 20% of the dollar volume that you process is being handled by corporate cards, so we can ensure that your solution supports Purchase Level II information. Even though corporate cards are less risky than cards held by individuals, there is more expense involved in the reporting provided to the cardholder at the end of each payment period and the end of year.
  • Have the customer sign the receipt. Then compare the signature with the signature on their ID card.
  • Make sure the receipt is only printing the last 4 or 5 digits of the payment card number on the receipt.
  • If you know that you are going to handle a promotion that triples your normal monthly sales volume, notify NDMS in order not to raise flags that could indicate fraud.

Card Not Present

Building a secure and customer-friendly eCommerce website is vital to securing an internet-based merchant account. Having a website that complies with the following will substantially reduce its exposure to chargebacks.

  • Merchant's DBA
  • The name of the merchant’s business name, a DBA or “doing business as,” should be prominent and obvious on the company website. Ideally, the DBA name will be at the top of every page and very clear. Also, there should be a correlation between the DBA and product(s) or services being offered. For example, if you plan on selling car tires, a good DBA name would be “Ted’s Discount Tires”. A bad DBA name would be “Ted Smith Inc.” This name should also be the name that appears on your customers’ statements.
  • Customer Service
  • A customer service telephone number is helpful for your customers to be able to call to ask questions. It should be clearly posted. Ideally, it should be on every page. It does not need to be a toll-free number.
  • Return or Refund
  • Your customers should be made aware of how a refund or return is handled by your business. How long do they have to request a refund? Will they receive their form of payment back or will it be a credit only? Is it possible to get a refund at all? Even if your items cannot be returned and you will never issue a refund, that policy must be clearly stated for your website’s visitors to see. Also, be sure to include a checkbox on your checkout page that the customer must check to acknowledge that they have read your return policy.
  • Delivery Methods
  • How long from the time an order is placed can a customer expect you to ship your product or deliver your service? How will you be shipping it? UPS? DHL? Fed Ex? Next-day air? Ground? Mule? Make sure that your customers are aware of how their order will be shipped and how long they can expect to wait for it. This will help to satiate the impatient customer.
  • Privacy
  • How do you plan to use the information that your visitors give you when they place an order? Will you use it only to complete their order? Will you use it for newsletters about your good or services? Will you sell it to a third party? Privacy is a concern of all web users. A privacy policy should be very clear and easy to read. It should be obvious and easy to find.
  • Product Offering
  • What exactly is a widget? If you’re selling them, a clear description of what they are must be present. If you can answer the following questions with a description, your product or service is a good one: Who would use this product or service? What is it called? What does it do? How do you use it? Is there a warranty? What colors are available? What is it made of? Technical specifications are always helpful to provide, when applicable.
  • Credit Card Processing Security
  • This is probably the most important checklist item. The page where a customer enters their personal information and credit card number must be secure. This means purchasing and installing a secure certificate on the web server. This will encrypt a customer’s private information so hackers cannot steal it while it is being sent to the website. Most customers won’t place an order on a website that does not have one anyway.