http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/five-tips-for-purchasing-ncaa-tournament-tickets-199244541.html

Don’t let anyway talk you into using Square. CC info isn’t properly encrypted so if someone suffers identity theft you could be out thousands of dollars.
Here’s the real deal regarding “The Square” mobile credit card acceptance. They are an aggregater so be prepared to wait for your funds and no customer service and zero help with chargebacks. There are much better options. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504803_162-57574759-10391709/twitter-creator-the-importance-of-tweeting-mom/

If you use PayPal for credit card processing

PayPal is definitely raising Amex rates to 3.50%. Its all over the internet. Don’t forget with us you may get a discount of at least .50% on Amex.

https://merchant.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/?cmd=_render-content&content_ID=merchant/amex_new_terms

I am very proud of the products we have developed for all merchants accepting credit cards and other forms of payment. These products will integrate with ERP software, Quickbooks, etc.

I always believe that merchants too often get the “short end of the stick” when they process credit cards.

These are products that we have spent hours researching to make sure they stand above other solutions as being the most effective, economical and user friendly while having great customer & tech service should you need it.

We have arranged special pricing for less than they offer direct and are the only processor that has built a system to integrate all or some of them together.

Most importantly unlike many solutions offered in the payment industry you are not held hostage to just one company to be your credit card processor.

The below and attached will integrate with any processor should you choose to leave Matrix. Its my job to make sure you never do.

https://paytrace.com/front.default.pay A robust payment gateway that will default all your credit card transactions to the lowest available rate.

http://www.qbautomation.QMerchant/index.html com/ Probably the best plugin for Quickbooks

http://www.gosmartpay.com/features/ Invoice your customers online and have them click and pay online!

http://billandpay.com/ similar to SmartPay but for Quickbooks

  http://www.globaletelecom.com/Checks-by-Web-Check-Program.htm allows you to accept ACH/check payments from your customer’s checking account.

Whether you are considering upgrading your business system or not let me know if any of these are of interest to you.

This is found money. You definitely should sign up immediately!
On February 11th I was notified that the claims administrator is now starting to actually make moves on the settlement.
The MC /Visa settlement is a good sum of money figure $400-$600 for every $100,000 MC/Visa processed since and including 2004. If you accepted Visa and/or MasterCard Credit and/or Debit Cards in the United States at any time from and after January 1, 2004, you are entitled to monetary compensation. Your company would be compensated based on your processed credit card transactions.
Please read the below and contact my friend Marc. Besides just getting you “in line” for your portion he will assure you get the maximum amount that you’re eligible for and it should decrease the amount of time you have to wait for funds. There are no upfront fees and no compensation due unless your claim is funded. Just make sure you call Mark direct at 1-212-805-7210 or Cell 1-917-957-2082
On Friday, November 9th, as we anticipated, the settlement won initial approval.
A New York federal judge on Friday gave preliminary approval to Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc.’s proposed $7.25 billion multidistrict litigation settlement over the companies’ alleged collusion on interchange fees, paving the way for arguably the largest antitrust settlement in U.S. history.
His contact info is
Marc Rosenberg
Settlement Recovery Group, LLC
199 Water Street, 26th Floor, New York NY 10038-3560
T 1 201 222 4306 C 1 917 957 2082 F 1 866 519 2861
Marc.Rosenberg@srgllc.com
www.srgllc.com/

Probably not practical as it would take a lot of bookkeeping to figure out each individual assessment and most likely just drive the cardholder away to one of your competitors.

Until recently, merchants have been prohibited from passing along the costs of
interchange fees to customers who use credit cards by charging them higher prices
(although some merchants have skirted the concept by offering discounts to customers
who pay in cash). However, due to a recent court case on November 2012, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York ruled that beginning on January 27 2013 merchants in many states will be allowed to pass along the cost of those interchange fees to their customers through the imposition of a checkout fee. It isn’t true, however, that every customer who uses a VISA or MasterCard credit card will be now paying an extra 4% at the cash register for every purchase. The passing along of interchange fees to customers isn’t automatic; it’s up to each merchant to decide whether or not to charge a checkout fee. Also, merchants will only be allowed to charge a fee that is equivalent to what they must pay for accepting a credit card, which as noted above is typically between 1.5% and 3% of the total transaction amount. The 4% figure is the maximum checkout fee merchants may charge, even if their interchange fees are greater than that. There are some other restrictions on checkout fees: they are permitted only on credit and charge cards, not debit cards; merchants must provide customers with “clear disclosure” notices (at store entrances, at the point of checkout, and on receipts) of any checkout fees, and checkout fees may not be assessed in the ten states (California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Oklahoma and Texas) that prohibit them.

This is a pretty good hoax. I got this today but when I clicked on the link it took me to a zip file instead of an eCard at Americangreetings. I hate to think what happens if you open the zip file. I have already verifed its a hoax with americangreetings. If you get similar you can send to security@americangreetings.com

Whatever you do don’t open the folder!

On Fri, Jan 25, 2013 at 12:58 PM, Ecard from AmericanGreetings.com wrote:

Dear Bill Hoidas,

Steve has sent you an ecard from AmericanGreetings.com

To view your ecard, just click the link below:
http://www.americangreetings.com/ecards/view.pd?i=2343515831&m=2694&rr=y&source=ag999

For your security, if you’d prefer not to click on links within this email:
1. Type http://www.americangreetings.com/?source=ag999&rr=y into your web browser
2. Locate the ecard pickup link in the upper right-hand corner of the page
3. Enter the following code –> 23435158312694

Please do not reply to this email. To help resolve your issue or question, go to:
http://www.americangreetings.com/help/index.pd?source=ag999

To read about email protection, type
http://www.americangreetings.com/emailprotection into your web browser.

Your Friends at AmericanGreetings.com

In the last year I have noticed issuing banks replying with prearbitartion for cardholder “complaints” that a grade school kid can see is a case of the cardholder reneging on a legitimate purchase. Maybe if the complaints start going into the Fed with a cc to the issuing bank this trend can be reversed.

Report banks for frivolous chargebacks which is a violation of Federal Regulation E and Z

http://www.federalreserveconsumerhelp.gov/

http://www.federalreserveconsumerhelp.gov/about/contact.cfm

More complaint info at

http://www.federalreserveconsumerhelp.gov/about/ConsumerHelponline.pdf

TSYS chargeback guidelines

http://www.tsys.com/Downloads/upload/TSYS-WP-DisputeChargeback.pdf

I hate people that do identity theft and cheat merchants. Don’t forget if you are suspect of a transaction to

-make sure the avs and cvv match
-have them sign a cc auth form (attached) and provide a copy of their driver’s license and front & back of cc
-Also call the purchaser’s phone # to confirm the order. You’d be surprised that 90% of the time the phone # is phony and disconnected
-also call the issuing bank phone # on the back of the cc. Surprisingly the phone # usually doesn’t match the name of the issuing bank on the front of the card
-google the email address-often fraud will show up in regards to that email address
-make sure you ship to the address you did the AVS check on and get a signed proof of delivery or signature at will call.
-google the purchaser’s name, address & zip to see if it matches and if any fraud shows up.. It will usually show up and oftentimes give you business and other info besides verifying the name & address.

Also use http://www.whitepages.com/person

More below
For looking up a person by name to see if info they gave you matches

http://www.spokeo.com/ This service is free but for only $2.95 per month you can get a much more detailed report.

For looking up location of sender’s IP Adress

http://www.melissadata.com/lookups/iplocation.asp?ipaddress=69.158.168.51

How to find sender’s IP Address

http://www.ip-address.org/tracker/trace-email.php

For merchants who have a shopping cart on their website please read the following.. Most stolen cards are electronic and not wallet theft and they don’t have the physical drivers license, etc. If you accept a stolen card there is unfortunately no recourse (personally I think the card issuing banks should eat the charge not the merchant) If dealing with a disgruntled cardholder doing a chargeback make sure your website has a “clickthrough” page that shows your terms and refund policy and the cardholder has to click “agree” to proceed to purchase. If there is a chargeback make sure to send a copy of that page with your reply. Your best chance for chargebacks is with Amex who usually side with the merchant. With MC/Visa you are at the mercy of erratic issuing bank staffing that is often inexperienced and who may make emotional decisions.

Be careful when you donate money. Never send a check. if you are suspicious of a scam if you used a credit card tell your bank to do a chargeback and if you ACH’d the money out of your account have your bank reverse the ACH. Banks must do this for you if requested under Federal Regulation E

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/12/20/victim-family-speaks-out-after-scammers-try-to-cash-in-on-newtown-tragedy/