Still Using a Lockbox and Phone-Based Payments? You May Be Putting Your Newspaper at Risk.

By their nature, news organizations are required to handle a surprisingly large number of financial transactions. Emerging digital privacy legislation, including the New York SHIELD Act, is making it harder for newspaper organizations to securely handle payment information and maintain compliance with local and national cybersecurity standards. 

In the hectic, deadline-driven world of the press, it may be tempting to maintain the status quo of processing payments the “same way it has always been done,” leaving requirements like PCI compliance to chance. Leaders in this industry may feel like it would take too much time and effort to research and select a new payment method to replace their lockboxes and phone-based payments but, as it turns out, the cost of non-compliance is much higher than it seems.

PCI Compliance is important to maintain year round, at all times. Any gap in PCI Compliance designation is a major liability for your business. Non-compliance can lead to many different consequences such as monthly penalties, data breaches, legal action, damaged reputation, and even revenue loss. Achieving and maintaining PCI Compliance, however, can be complicated and time consuming when not working with a payment processing expert that you can trust. APS Payments strives to make PCI compliance as simple as possible for our merchants and partners. Here is a quick checklist in addition to this post to make sure you are getting started on your PCI Compliance for 2020 the right way. 

What are the consequences for merchants if they are not PCI DSS compliant? 

PCI-DSS compliance can be difficult and time consuming to accomplish without the right guidance or help provided to you and your business. The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is a set of security standards that help keep you and your business safe from a breach in the system, which could be costly. Being PCI compliant not only gives peace of mind but it makes your business stronger and more secure. Trying to attempt the complicated process on your own can, in some cases, steer a business down the path of being PCI Non-Compliant. This leaves your company and clients at risk in multiple ways, as this blog will demonstrate. Non-compliance can lead to many different consequences such as monthly penalties, data breaches, legal action, damaged reputation, and even revenue loss.

APS Payments was honored with the AccountMate Vertical Solution Partner Outstanding Partnering Award in 2018 for many reasons. APS Payments offers the only fully integrated AccountMate Level 3 credit card processing solution. The APS Payments and MKT credit card integration offers added functionality and several key features that increase the speed in which AccountMate users process payments, eliminate compliance issues, and drastically lower costs through Level 3 credit card processing.  Get data off your local servers, automate your payments to save time, eliminate double entry, reduce your risk with tokenized protection for private data via the APSPAYS vault, and Level 3 processing that can help you save thousands of dollars on transaction fees. Our APS Payments experts are standing by to advise your business on the best steps forward for your organization.

APS Payments has published a free Merchant’s Guide to PCI Compliance to help merchants understand and comply with PCI DSS standards. The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is the specific set of requirements designed to ensure all companies processing, storing, or transmitting credit card information maintain a secure environment. Keeping up with PCI DSS requirements is often overwhelming for the average merchant because it’s complicated and the rules constantly change. You must make sure all employees and systems that interact with credit cards are compliant. This includes the way employees handle credit card information, your network, ERP software, accounting, eCommerce, POS, and /or mobile applications.

How to find the best integrated credit card processor for your business 

As a merchant, you know the importance of getting the most out of your credit card processing and merchant services provider.  You may have already discovered there is a lot to consider when looking for the best integrated payment processing provider for your business. Most merchants agree that it is important to get the best rates but there is a lot more to consider. If you ever had a bad experience with a disreputable credit card processor, you know it is also important to work with a processing solution that you can trust. Savvy merchants know to avoid companies with aggressive and misleading sales tactics, deceptive rate quotes, confusing merchant statements, long-term contracts, cancellation penalties, manual processes, and/or horrible customer service. More than that, merchants need their merchant service provider to be their trusted friend and guide through the payments industry. With that in mind, APS Payments would like to present the top 12 traits of the best processors so that you can always be informed and attentive.

If you are using Acumatica, there is a simple and secure way to automate billing and get paid faster. APS ClickToPay is a perfect solution for any company that wants to get paid faster.   Stop wasting time with manual based payment collection and automate this process with APS ClickToPay.

As we head into the new year, we reflect on our successes and share gratitude with our customers and partners who have  helped us along the way. Your business has truly been a gift. We are excited to announce that our American Payment Solutions (APS) and North American Payment Solutions (NAPS) brands have a fresh new look in 2019. The brand change is one part of a  transition that we are making to combine our two companies into one name for our global brand. APS and NAPS have been combined into one easily recognizable brand - APS Payments.

Understand how you can reduce merchant statement fees and save money!

Are you getting the best rates with your merchant services provider?  How would you know?  As a merchant, you have options when it comes to merchant service providers. The cost of processing credit cards can get out of hand if you are not able to keep a close eye on your monthly merchant statement. If you think your monthly credit card processing merchant statements are confusing, you are not alone. It is very possible that your merchant statement is confusing by design. If you look into your processing fees and start rate shopping, you might find some good reasons to switch to another processor.

How can my business benefit from Level 3 processing?  

One common question that our team at American Payment Solutions (APS) receives from many merchants is, “What is the difference between Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3 processing?”

Selecting the right processing level for your business simply requires understanding how much data you are able to provide about your transactions. The more data provided to Mastercard and Visa, the higher the savings.  Offering more data results in added security and protection from fraud as well as lower credit card transaction fees. As explained below, Level 3 processing provides the best security and requires the most data.