The National Retail Federation welcomed the introduction of Senate legislation requiring credit card companies to negotiate over hidden credit card processing fees on Tuesday.FYI: When it comes to Interchange, Internet Retailers pay even more than their brick and mortar counterparts. Unless a consumer swipes their card, Visa and MasterCard consider it a "card not present" (CNP) transaction. CNP transactions are inherently more risky, and as such, carry higher Interchange Fees.
With HomeATM's PCI 2.0 Certified SwipePIN device, the consumer 100% replicates the brick and mortar transaction, thus replicating all the protocols for required to provide "card present" Interchange rates for eMerchants.
Better yet, our SwipePIN device comes complete with a built-in PIN Entry Device, meaning that consumers are enabled to "enter their PIN" if they are using a debit card. This results in "TRUE" PIN Debit* and an even lower (in fact the lowest) Interchange Rate, one we've dubbed: "PINterchange"
An eCommerce merchant can save 100 basis points (or more) on what they are currently paying in their "card not present" environment. We can PINter"change" that and save hundreds of thousands of dollars off your processing costs annually. Do a billion a year in sales? Well save you millions!
So whether you customer uses their credit card, (card present) or their debit card (card present PLUS TRUE PIN Debit) you'll save big!
The brick and mortar associations (National Retail Federation, National Association of Convenience Stores) are up in arms over interchange and since eTailers are paying an "arm" AND a "leg" for "Card Not Present" rates, you should investigate how we can provide a way for you to get a leg up on Visa and MasterCard with our PCI 2.0 certified PED. And it won't cost you an arm and a leg...$12 in quantities over 1000! (and our device comes encrypted, normally a $25 fee after purchasing a $150+ PIN Pad)
*TRUE PIN Debit (as opposed to a Software PIN Debit) There is a competitor's software based system which calls itself PIN Debit, but in fact, if you look at Visa or MasterCard's published Interchange Rates, you will NEVER find a "Card Not Present" PIN Debit rate...because CNP PIN does not exist. Thus, our competitor, is not really a competitor, as their rates will be exorbitantly higher than "card present" TRUE PIN Debit.
This from International Business Times
“This bill is the next step in the credit card
reform process that Congress began last month,” NRF Senior Vice
President and General Counsel Mallory Duncan said. These hidden fees are believed to cost the average household more $400 a year and total more than $48 billion annually.
Duncan said “Congress can’t claim to have fixed credit cards without addressing the billions of dollars in artificially inflated prices that result from credit card interchange fees.” He added that this legislation would become the final step in protecting consumers against the rapidly increasing fees.Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin, D-Ill., today introduced the Credit Card Fair Fee Act of 2009. The measure is similar to legislation Durbin sponsored last year and would require Visa and MasterCard banks to negotiate over “interchange” fees that are currently imposed on merchants on a take-it-or-leave-it basis.
In 2008, interchange collections totaled $48 billion, up from $16.6
billion when NRF started tracking the fees in 2001. The increased
prices resulting from fees cost the average household an estimated $427
last year, up from $159 in 2001.
Interchange is a fee averaging close to 2 percent that Visa and MasterCard banks charge merchants every time a credit card is used to pay for a transaction.
Visa and MasterCard effectively force merchants to pass the fees on to consumers by requiring them to be included in the advertised price of merchandise and making cash discounts difficult. Interchange is largely unknown to most consumers because Visa and MasterCard keep merchants from disclosing it on receipts and don’t disclose the fees on consumers’ monthly statements.
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