PAX PX5 Certification on TSYS with Card Defender

Wanted to quickly pass along that the PAX PX 5 payment terminals are now certified with First Data to use with the Card Defender software from RITE. As a reminder, Card Defender works with the Microsoft Dynamics RMS, Retail Management Hero (RMH), and Cloud Retailer point of sale software programs.

Here is what the PAX PX5 payment terminal looks like:



Please contact RITE at sales@rite.us or 888-267-7483 for more information like pricing and upgrading existing Card Defender users from older payment terminals to the PAX PX5.

TSYS, Heartland and Wells Fargo Ending Support for Native Payment Processing in Microsoft Dynamics POS 2.0, 2007, 2009 and RMS / TLS Deadline

If you happen to be hanging on to old credit card swipes and are using TSYS, First Data or Heartland to process payments made via credit card or debit card in the Microsoft Dynamics POS 2.0, 2007, 2009 and RMS point of sale software programs, you will be in for a surprise when your processing is turned off starting June 1st, June 30th, or July 1st 2018. This also somewhat aligns with the TLS deadline for non-secure ways of processing credit cards.

It is simply just not secure or safe to use USB or Keyboard Wedge credit card swipes anymore.  You could be fined and/or lose the ability to accept payment via credit or debit card if caught.

There are multiple options available to you:

1. Look at Card Defender which takes the security risk out of RMS, uses integrated payment terminals to interface with RMS, and you even pick up cool stuff like signature capture and NFC for Apple Pay and Google Wallet.
2. Switch to using stand alone payment terminals. Quickest and least expensive option but leaves you open to entry errors that can cost you over $2080 annually in lost revenue.
3. Look at updating RMS to one of the low cost direct replacement programs like Cloud Retailer or Retail Management Hero 

Those are the main options - you should make a decision no late than the end of May.

***I've also been contact by users of Microsoft Dynamics POS 2007, 2009 and 2.0 stating that they are also losing the ability to process credit cards effective June 1st, 2018. In these cases, you have fewer options since Dynamics POS 2007, 2009 and 2.0 do not have any 3rd party processing interfaces and do not qualify for a low cost replacement program. Contact me as needed***

***New Heartland Deadline: June 1st, 2018. You will need to change hardware/software as need or your processing will be tuned off***

****Wells Fargo and Heartland have also communicated with retailers that they will no longer allow them to use RMS and native processing with USB/Keyboard Wedge credit card swipes****

*****If you are using Windows XP then you can not use any web-based or integrated processing solution as Windows XP does not meet security standards*****

Please contact me at 208-340-5632 or kevinantosh@gmail.com for more information. You should also contact your merchant services company to see which deadline applies to you.

TSYS, Heartland and Wells Fargo Ending Support for Native Payment Processing in Microsoft Dynamics POS 2.0, 2007, 2009 and RMS / TLS Deadline

***New Heartland Deadline: June 1st, 2018. You will need to change hardware/software as need or your processing will be tuned off***

If you happen to be hanging on to old credit card swipes and are using TSYS, First Data or Heartland to process payments made via credit card or debit card in the Microsoft Dynamics POS 2.0, 2007, 2009 and RMS point of sale software programs, you will be in for a surprise when your processing is turned off starting June 1st, June 30th, or July 1st 2018. This also somewhat aligns with the TLS deadline for non-secure ways of processing credit cards.

It is simply just not secure or safe to use USB or Keyboard Wedge credit card swipes anymore.  You could be fined and/or lose the ability to accept payment via credit or debit card if caught.

There are multiple options available to you:

1. Look at Card Defender which takes the security risk out of RMS, uses integrated payment terminals to interface with RMS, and you even pick up cool stuff like signature capture and NFC for Apple Pay and Google Wallet.
2. Switch to using stand alone payment terminals. Quickest and least expensive option but leaves you open to entry errors that can cost you over $2080 annually in lost revenue.
3. Look at updating RMS to one of the low cost direct replacement programs like Cloud Retailer or Retail Management Hero 

Those are the main options - you should make a decision no late than the end of May.

***I've also been contact by users of Microsoft Dynamics POS 2007, 2009 and 2.0 stating that they are also losing the ability to process credit cards effective June 1st, 2018. In these cases, you have fewer options since Dynamics POS 2007, 2009 and 2.0 do not have any 3rd party processing interfaces and do not qualify for a low cost replacement program. Contact me as needed***

****Wells Fargo and Heartland have also communicated with retailers that they will no longer allow them to use RMS and native processing with USB/Keyboard Wedge credit card swipes****

*****If you are using Windows XP then you can not use any web-based or integrated processing solution as Windows XP does not meet security standards*****

Please contact me at 208-340-5632 or kevinantosh@gmail.com for more information. You should also contact your merchant services company to see which deadline applies to you.

Pin Debit Error Message with TSYS and Microsoft Dynamics RMS

I've had reports of Microsoft Dynamics RMS point of sale software users receiving the following error message when try to process payments made using PIN Debit:

"Connection Error: Unable to Connect to remote host.  Unable to establish security context for this session  Num=0, Source="

In most cases, transactions run by credit card work fine.

TSYS is looking in to the issue but this is a good example of why RMS users should be looking at Card Defender since Card Defender takes out the old EDC settings in RMS (which is really not secure when it comes to protecting card holder information) and replaces EDC with payment terminals that meet or exceed payment industry security requirements (and still interface directly with RMS).

As a bonus, Card Defender also allows retailers to accept Chip Cards, NFC Payments like Apple Pay and Google Wallet, and even works with the low cost replacement point of sale programs for RMS like Cloud Retailer and Retail Management Hero.

More information on Card Defender can be found here or by contacting RITE at sales@rite.us or 888-267-7483.

TSYS SHA2 Deadline: What Microsoft RMS Users Need to Know

Wow - lots of calls and emails the last couple of days asking about the looming January 1st, 2017 SHA2 compliance deadline and what options are available for retailers using the Microsoft RMS point of sale software. It appears that TSYS and possibly First Data are pushing for compliance via the companies that use the TSYS and First Data platforms for merchant services.

First off - this is actually a good thing from a security standpoint as many retailers have held off on implementing EMV/Chip Card solutions and/or are still using Windows XP. Given the calls that I have been receiving about EMV fraud, the time has come to move forward with putting in the equipment to process EMV/Chip Cards.

I would strongly recommend that retailers using the Microsoft RMS point of sale software move to Windows 7. Windows 10 is possible with some help from myself or another Microsoft Dynamics RMS Partner. Skip Windows 8 or 8.1.

When it comes to retailers using the Microsoft RMS point of sale software, you have several options to meet the SHA2 deadline. My, advice (in order of preference) is the following:

1. Implement Card Defender for Microsoft RMS: Card Defender solves your security issues and allows for both EMV/Chip Card processing and NFC (Apple Pay and Google Wallet) processing as an integrated add-on for Microsoft RMS .  Card Defender does not add any gateway or per-transaction fees above what your merchant services company charges, is processor agnostic (TSYS, First Data, and Heartland), and requires no contracts. Visit this page on my blog for more information on Card Defender or contact me for more information - I've already had 5 retailers using RMS contact me in just the last 2 days about Card Defender so it is clear that the is upcoming deadline is being taken seriously. 
2. Vantiv/Mercury, Shift 4, Heartland and Cayan/Merchants Warehouse also offer some EMV/Chip Card add-ons/payment gateways/payment tunnels for Microsoft RMS. Generally I have found that these solutions are more expensive than Card Defender in the long run (1+ years) due to additional per-transaction fees and/or locking you into a contract using only one company for merchant services (which is another thing that I like about Card Defender - its keeps your merchant services provider honest when it comes to the rates and fees that they charge as they know that you can switch companies of you are unhappy while these other solutions basically lock you in). 
3. Use a separate credit card terminal that does not interface with the Microsoft RMS software. While this is the easiest and lowest cost option, keep in mind that you will be reconciling two reports at the end of each day and you open up the system to human error when entering the total on the credit card terminal (for example: a transaction totaling $15.20 could be entered as $1.52 or $152.00 - not fun to have have to track a customer down to correct the error).

All in all - there are plenty of options that allow Microsoft RMS point of sale software users to keep using RMS and meet the SHA2 deadline. Do contact me with any questions or clarifications.