Thursday, August 13, 2015

True Cost of Payment Gateways

Update July 2016: Since many Microsoft RMS point of sale software would like to keep using RMS for another couple of years but still need to deal with the EMV Liability Shift Date, visit this post for more information on the Card Defender EMV add-on for Microsoft RMS versions 1.3 and higher (and HQ as well): http://retailpospondering.blogspot.com/2016/06/card-defender-emv-add-on-for-microsoft.html

One of the various options for Microsoft Dynamics RMS users to meet the upcoming October 1st, 2015 EMV Liability Shift Date for card present transactions in the US is to use a payment gateway to process chip based credit and debit card transactions. While this may seem like an easy fix, here are a few things that you need to be aware of:
  1. Cost Over Time: As an example, if the payment gate costs 2 cents per transaction, your business averages 500 transactions per day, and your business is open 300 days per year, then your cost over 5 years for using the payment gateway is $15,000 (2 cents X 500 transactions per day X 300 days open per year X 5 years).
  2. Note that there are variables with #1 as the payment gateway provider may discount your merchant services rates for credit and debit card processing - you have to to the math and see what works be for your business in the long run (5 to 7 years).
  3. You are still investing in a point of sale system whose sales end in July 2016 to new customers and extended support ends in July of 2021. What other new requirements will come out in the upcoming years that will require an additional investment?
While payment gateways in general are secure ways to processing chip cards, meet the EMV Liability Shift Date, and use added security like tokenization, some businesses and organizations may find the costs to be too high versus investing in a new point of sale system.

Confused? Have Clarifications or Questions? In need of free and unbiased point of sale advice? Then please visit my contact page for information on how to reach me. 

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