If you want to use QuickBooks® accounting or point of sale software you may think you have only one option for your merchant account provider.  If Intuit had it’s way that would be true but thanks to some determined companies that is not the case.  That means now you can use Quickbooks and go with the best merchant account provider you can find; you are not stuck with using Intuits solution.

In recent years several companies have developed plug-ins for QuickBooks®.  These are small applications that run inside of the software that enables the user to run a credit card transaction from within Quickbooks.  So there is no need for double entry of credit card transactions or downloading a file form a payment gateway and then uploading it into QuickBooks®.

This all sounds great but up till now these plug-ins have a been a little unstable.  The merchants I had using these products were mostly happy but did experience some technical issues from time to time.  I happy to report I have found recently found a plug-in that is solid, dependable and simple to use and my clients love it.  The company that developed this plug-in is Comstar Interactive and here is a link to their website:

Comstar Interactive – QuickBooks Plug-in

Here is some of the things they say about their plug-in:

Charge Anywhere designed for QuickBooks® Financial software (Pro, Premier and Enterprise Editions for 2005, 2006 and 2007.),truly putting the power to process credit card payments in your hands.

The QuickBooks user will be able to process credit cards directly from their QuickBooks interface and will automatically apply payments to the customers’ payment screen.

Features :

• Process payments directly from invoices
• Process multiple invoices
• Automatically applies payments
• Import transactions processed via POS terminals
• Process returns and voids
• Recurring Payments

Benefits :

• No more double data entry to process credit cards
• The credit card transactions are automatically applied and posted
• Keep your books up to date without extra effort
• Record payments automatically in your QuickBooks®
• File right after processing the payments in QuickBooks®
• Free up yourself or your staff – spend more time on your business

Here is a nice summery of this plug-in that you can print out – Comstar QuickBooks Merchant.

There are some other plug-ins out there but I have not had any of my clients use them so I can’t vouch for them.  If you have a had a good experience with another plug-in please leave a comment below.

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Many merchants believe that adding a cardholder’s three or four digit CVV2 code for a “card not present” (CNP) transaction will help qualify the transaction for a lower discount rate. However that is not the case; the CVV2 code is only valuable to protect against credit card fraud and has nothing to do with rate qualification.

CVV2 stands for Card Verification Value and was introduced by MasterCard in 1997 and Visa in 2001. For ‘swiped’ transactions, the value is referred to as CVV1. Each of the card brands has its own acronym:

• Visa: CVV2 – Card Verification Value
• MasterCard: CVC2 – Card Validation Code
• American Express: CID – Unique Card Code (and 4 digits)
• Discover: CID – Card Identification Number

Merchants are able to configure payment processing systems, like payment gateways and Point of Sale software, to accept or decline transaction requests based upon the match or mismatch of CVV2 information. For example, if a merchant creates a rule to decline all transactions where the CVV2 value does not match, the authorization request could be successful with the issuing bank, but the transaction will be denied by the merchant. Even though the transaction was denied by the merchant, the consumer’s card will still be authorized.

One thing to know about this code is that PCI DSS compliance prohibits merchants from storing the CVV2 code. For recurring billing, merchants can accept and validate the CVV2 value during the initial authorization but cannot store it for additional transactions. This should not be problem since after the initial validation, there really is no value in storing this code.

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Here is the solution: If the majority of your transactions are card not present (CNP) then go into your PC Charge and make sure your business type is set as "Mail Order" (see below).

If you make this change you should reduce your overall fees on your merchant account. Why? Frankly it would take too much time to explain it here. So just make the change and send me a thank you card after you read your next merchant account statement!

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Software Advice helps businesses in the construction, medical and retail industries make the right technology decisions. Using the Software Advice website, buyers can identify and compare software products that meet their unique requirements. After building a “short list” of best-fit products, buyers can request demonstrations, price quotes and other information. Software Advice can be found on the Web at www.softwareadvice.com. The company is headquartered in Big Sky, Montana.

Source: Company press release

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