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Every time you turn around, someone’s credit card is being compromised- CREDIT CARD FRAUD is organized crime (A 52 Billion Dollar Industry) and as business owners we need to take the necessary steps to protect our clients and our businesses. STOP fraud by being aware! Know the things you can do to prevent fraud BEFORE, DURING & AFTER the sale. Have a great week and let us know if you have any questions related to credit card fraud- we are here to help! Cheri PerryMonday, March 19, 2012

There are 120 hours in a 5 day work week and we spend 1/3 of those hours with our Co Workers. So it is no surprise that TEAMWORK is a huge topic of discussion within the business world. Here are 5 things you can do to increase, encourage and improve TEAMWORK– where you work! 1- Keep The Bar High Working in an atmosphere where Excellence is the name of the game- encourages staff members to perform at their best. Since each member’s performance impacts the overall TEAM performance- setting high standards is one of the best ways to encourage TEAMWORK! People love to be involved in something larger than themselves and being part of a successful, excellence minded company can produce great results both individually and as a

Over the past two weeks, we have been discussing the fees related to the credit card processing industry. We walked through Interchange (the base of the fee structure) and the costs associated with Capturing, Authorizing & Settling the transactions we process every day. Today we look at all of those ‘miscellaneous’ fees that show up on our monthly merchant statements and we will count on our bicycle shop to give us some real life explanations of each one. Monthly Minimum Fee: fee which guarantees the merchant will be paying a minimum amount each month in processing fees. If a merchant’s discount fees do not equal their monthly minimum fee they will be charged the difference between the two in addition to their discount fees. Our bicycle shop had

Last week we talked about Interchange- the base for all credit card processing. Today, we are going to discuss the process & fees related to Authorizing, Capturing & Settling credit card transactions. We will use our Bicycle Shop again today to give you a real life example of how this process works!! Let’s start with definitions! AUTHORIZATION: When a credit card is processed, the first step in the approval process is AUTHORIZING the amount requested by the business owner. No money is actually moved during this part of the process but an imaginary hold is placed on the credit card, protecting the amount of money the consumer spent. The merchant has less than 30 days to complete the process- if a merchant only Authorizes a transaction and does

We have recently made some COOL updates to our Facebook page (www.Facebook.com/TotalMerchantConcepts) and our team is currently investigating the impact that Social Media has on businesses- stand by for great tips, advice and offers coming in the very near future AND- enjoy this great article we found! By Anthony Godley in Social Networking What is social media, you ask? Think Facebook? Think YouTube or Twitter? Think fundamental shift in how businesses reach customers and how organizations connect with constituencies. Think outside your traditional marketing box. Web 2.0 is alive with conversations, and Internet marketing isn’t just about email blasts anymore. The social media train is leaving, and you don’t want to get left at the station. Think you know what we’re talking about? Social Media is a phrase

Last week’s ‘Whopper of a Breach’ article regarding the $200K in fines levied against a Burger King Franchisee, caused alot of our merchants to call in and ask more questions about PCI Compliance. Could this happen to me? Is my business compliant? Do I need to do anything else to make sure my customer’s cards are protected? We have seen PCI Compliance go from an unknown, fee related issue to a very critical part of making sure businesses are insulated from breaches and fines. Instead of merchants asking questions like ‘WHY do I have to be compliant’, they are now asking questions like ‘HOW do I protect myself and my customers’. Most larger companies are now dedicating staff members to insure they are not blindsided by breaches! And