Storing Credit Card Numbers Securely

[Signout]

We don't have a lot of Credit card sales, however we seem to be picking up in that area and some want us to keep their card info on file.
I was wondering what others (software) to keep the cards secure and compliant.
Any feedback would be appreciated.

 

[Billct2]

We just don't do it. Too many additional hassles with compliance.

 

[SightLine]

Yep - if you want top turn your annual PCI Compliance certification into a several hour nightmare go for it.... To make ours the simplest - we do not even used the internet for card processing. All is done though a regular terminal connected to an analog phone line. Annual PCI Compliance certification takes me about 3 minutes to do.

 

[threeputt]

My advice is to not store the numbers. We don't and we do a lot of CC sales, much of it from out of state.

 

[Signout]

Okay, so basically, as long as we do not STORE the credit card numbers we don't have to worry about the compliance standards, correct?

 

[CanuckSigns]

We try to steer our regular repeat clients away from credit card payments, especially on products we ship to them as Visa/Mastercard charges an ever higher rate on "card not present" transactions. If they are a good customer in good standing we would rather extend net 15 terms to them and have them pay by cheque.

much less paperwork involved as well, with a card not present transaction you have to get the CC #, run it through the machine, mark it as paid, scan a copy of their reciept from the POS machine, email it to them, it takes about 15 minutes to do and it's annoying.

pay me in cheques or EFT any day of the week.

 

[Techman]

Stop using CC processors and start using the SQUARE.
2.75% charge each swipe.
No account charges, no batch fees, no maintenance fees, No customer service fees, no programing fees, no need for the terminal..
And no worries about any compliance problems.

 

[StudioSignsInc]

Stop using CC processors and start using the SQUARE. 2.75% charge each swipe..

I'll have to look into this.

We currently process CC payments using the Paypal plugin in QuickBooks. It takes a bit to setup and we have to email each invoice for payment but it's only 2.9% or lower + $0.30 per transaction, no monthly fee, and we don't handle people's CC numbers at all. Also, customers don't need a Paypal account to pay.

 

[CanuckSigns]

My thoughts exactly.

The only time I don't mind accepting payments by CC is pre-paid or c.o.d orders because otherwise the old "oops I forgot to bring a cheque/cash/whatever" excuse comes up.

We will generally take a credit card number to have "on file" for new accounts, once the account is past due by 30 days it goes on the card. As far as "storing" the card, it goes in quickbooks, which is password protected so I don't worry about it.

 

[Signout]

We use Quick Books online - if I store a customer's Credit Card info in their customer file, can I choose whether I charge the order to that credit card of if it gets invoiced?
We have a few customers that have several employees, and some prefer to issue a P.O. and others if its below a certain amount would rather pay with their company Credit card.
I offer this out of a convenience to my customers.

 

[FireSprint.com]

Storing customer credit cards is just asking for trouble. Wedo it reluctantly on paper forms in a locked cabinet in a locked office. Someone would have to physically break in to steal our customer data. It's a little archaic, but it can't be hacked. PCI compliance testing a network and computers is a pain.

 

[Techman]

Square doesn't apply if customers are paying off-site though does it

Instead of speculating why not check it out? About half my usage is via email invoices.

 

[s.hack]

+1 for SQUARE. Easy to get setup, they send you a free swiper and you can send invoices or punch in the credit card number if they're are not present. You can also set up an eCommerce store with them which is extremely easy.