Intuit POS debit cards

You can save time and money and avoid costly mistakes by following these best practices:

1. Learn all the fees, charges, rules, and regulations in your merchant account agreement.

2. Check the identity and expiration date on any card you’re about to process.

3. Prevent duplicate transactions.

4. Don't put minimum or maximum limits on your transactions. Regulations state that you must accept credit cards for any size of transaction.

5. Don’t offset the cost of accepting credit cards by charging a usage fee for credit card transactions.

6. Don’t display full account numbers on your receipts. Each state’s laws regulate how much information can appear.

7. Get to know the fraud screening products and services that can help you.

8. Use the right accounts for your business. If you try to process Internet transactions with your retail merchant account, you may face steep fines and lose your merchant account.

9. Never run your personal credit card through your merchant account.

10. Don’t split a transaction into smaller transactions. This could put you at risk of a chargeback.

11. Prioritize customer issues above everything else.

Choose a payment processing service provider

Your payment processor can help you get much more out of accepting credit card payments. Here’s how to choose the right partner for your business:

1. Learn about all the fees associated with accepting credit cards, and find out whether there's a termination fee for switching providers.

2. Find a provider that will actively partner with you to get you started, support you when you run into problems, and help your business grow.

3. Be sure your payments solution will allow you to grow with use of point of sale, online credit card processing, and mobile credit card processing.

Reducing credit card processing costs

Credit card processing fees can be complicated to sort out. When you’re shopping for a provider, be sure you understand all the fees and key factors involved. Read this page on tips for reducing your credit card processing costs.

Important terms and definitions

Accepting credit cards will introduce you to many previously unfamiliar industry terms. To make sure you’re ready, get to know the following terms:

1. Authorization fee: For some transactions, the cardholder and card won’t be present. If you want to get the discount rate, you may need to verify the cardholder's address. Your processor will charge you a flat fee per transaction for this verification. The fee may be listed separately or bundled with your rate.

2. Card association: For any credit card brand, the card association is the network of issuing and acquiring banks that process it.