smallbusiness – CoCard

Jun 29 2020

How the Cash Discount Program Can Help Your Business Grow

Advice, Blog, Business, business owners, Careers, Cash Discount, EMV, Industry, Lifestyle, Merchant Cash Advance, merchant services, mobile payments, New Product, Point of Sale, POS, small business, Tech

COCARD has always been dedicated to empowering businesses through smart, cost-cutting payment solutions — and our new Cash Discount Program takes this even further. In this quick article, we are going to explore what the Cash Discount Program is, how it can save you money, and how it can keep your business resilient in these uncertain times.

What is the Cash Discount Program?

Leveraging our innovative technology, the Cash Discount Program lets you offset some or all your payment processing fees — so you can save more money and grow your business. This is accomplished by sharing fees with your customers who pay with credit cards, thus providing discounts for customers who choose to pay with cash. As a result, you get to keep more of your sales revenue — and your prices remain the same.

This automated process is compatible with guidelines from major credit cards like Visa and Mastercard, and it conforms with processing regulations. The Cash Discount Program is a great opportunity for businesses that want to put a bit more money in the bank — all while eliminating up to 100% of their monthly processing fees.

How Can the Cash Discount Program Help?

Business owners always strive to cut costs where they can, but in the tail-end of the COVID-19 pandemic, the need to save money has become much more serious. Facing an uncertain economic future, it has never been more important to adapt your business model to new circumstances (like to accommodate curbside service or online ordering) and to grow your savings so you can keep your doors open.

Our Cash Discount Program is a great way to keep more of your revenue, avoid crippling payment processing fees, and get the equipment you need to keep your offerings flexible for your customers. Better yet, to take advantage of this program, you don’t even have to make any changes to your menu, inventory, or pricing.

By encouraging your customers to pay with cash, you can avoid hundreds of dollars a month of processing fees — and you only pay a flat rate of $35 a month. At no extra expense, the Cash Discount Program also includes:

Free equipment, including a wireless terminal option for takeout and curbside pick-up.
Free setup for all your new equipment.
Free signage encouraging your customers to pay with cash.

All of this for $35 a month, with no termination fee or contract. To make sure that there are no unnecessary hurdles stopping businesses from signing up for the program, the COCARD team is delaying all billing for 60 days. That means you get two months of service and savings without having to pay a dime.

Empowering Businesses to Excel

By signing up for the Cash Discount Program, businesses can get new equipment, save money on processing fees, and keep more of their revenue. But the Cash Discount Program is just one of many great payment solutions that we offer. COCARD gives you the flexibility you need to streamline payments, management, reporting, and more.

Using our innovative Revonu cloud-based point-of-sale technology, you can support online ordering, a top-end inventory management system, sales and employee dashboards, enterprise loyalty programs, consolidation reporting, and plenty more. Our payment solution also gives you the flexibility you need to manage your business no matter where you are. You can make changes to menu items, prices, descriptions, and promotions (and access all your business reports) from any computer or device.

We believe business owners should not have to waste time and money on inefficient payment processes and cumbersome dashboards. COCARD works for you, so you can spend more time doing what you love.

The Truth About EMV!

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Advice, Business, EMV, Industry, New Product, Tech

True. Bats see just fine, and in spite of the idiom “blind as a bat”, bats really have no reason to serve as the benchmark for people with less than perfect eyesight.

Popular myths aside, fall is indeed upon us, which means that the start date of October 1^st for the liability shift is near. Are you prepared?

To test your EMV preparedness, see if you can determine whether each statement is true or false.

There really is no proof that EMV is a safer way to protect data.

False, false, and false. Let’s look at two case studies. Since introducing EMV technology in 2004, the United Kingdom reported 62% less fraud in 2013. Canada has also reduced fraud losses to $29.5 million since transitioning to EMV technology. Fraud in Canada is down 79% from losses in 2009 ($142 million). With EMV technology responsible for the significant decrease in fraud in the UK and Canada, the technology aims to also decrease fraud in the United States as well, which currently accounts for nearly half of fraud worldwide.

All businesses—small and large—should be EMV-compliant.

True. No business is too small to adopt EMV technology. While it might be assumed that businesses with larger sales should adopt this technology, small businesses should also be sure to protect their sales as well. Leave it to a pesky fraudster to think ahead and target a small business because the merchant assumed that fraudsters only targeted larger companies. Prevent being caught off guard by being one step ahead of those who want to steal from you.

Adopting EMV technology is expensive.

For the business owner that thinks long term, false. The average cost of an EMV terminal is between $400 and $700. The average bill on a fraudulent card is $399. You do the math. While one fraudulent transaction probably won’t destroy you, starting October 1^st, you, and not the associated bank, will be responsible for repaying losses resulting from fraud if your business is NOT EMV compliant. You will also be penalized for the fraud that could have been avoided by installing an EMV card terminal. When you add it all up, $400 to $700 is a small investment compared to the possible cost of not adopting the technology. What’s more, card processors such as COCARD often discount card readers. So call us today, and we will work within your budget.

In addition to business owners, employees should also be trained on how to properly use EMV technology.

True. While you are schooling yourself on the ABC’s of EMV, don’t leave your employees in the dark. Whether through workshops, a training program, or printed manuals, employees should understand how card terminals work for both themselves and customers who need assistance. COCARD can work with you to develop a training program that’s right for your company.

So how did you do? Did you get the right answers? Regardless, this information will be useful as your company prepares for the coming liability shift and transition to EMV. With foresight, you can protect your company from fraud and ensure, to the best of your ability, an environment that maximizes both security and profits. There’s nothing batty about it, EMV we mean.

What EMV Means to You, The Business Owner

Admin

Business, Tech

FullSizeRender Did you know that nearly half of all credit card fraud worldwide occurs in the United States? Considering that only 24% of credit card sales are made in the US, this number is surprisingly high. To combat fraud, the United States is currently transitioning to credit cards that use EMV technology, which will increase security and reduce fraud for all credit card transactions. The technology is slated to revolutionize the way you do business by allowing merchants to transition to a safer standard of payment processing.

What exactly is EMV, you might ask? Taken from the name of its original developers Europay, Mastercard, and Visa, the technology includes a microchip embedded into a credit card that produces a one-time code each time it is used. A customer will still verify the transaction with either a signature, pin number or both. Small transactions, however, may not require either.

Because a new code is produced with each transaction, the cardholder’s personal information remains secure. Here’s why.

If a hacker does in fact steal information from a specific point of sale and replicates the card, the new card will be denied since the information on the original card changes with each new transaction. The stolen information is invalid—it was only valid with the cardholder at the time of purchase.

Cards with magnetic stripes, on the other hand, can be duplicated easily with a card-reading device. This device skims card information allowing criminals to create counterfeit cards.

Eighty countries have already adopted EMV chip technology. The United States will be one of the last countries to adopt this technology. By the end of 2015, the United States will have issued 70% of credit cards and 40% of debit cards as EMV cards.

What this means for merchants is that your business will need to soon become EMV-compliant, if it isn’t already.

The target date to acquire this technology will be October 1st of this year, at which point the Liability Shift starts. Merchants who are EMV-compliant will not be liable for losses due to card fraud; but if a merchant is not EMV-compliant, he or she will bear the cost of fraudulent activity. Prior to, banks were responsible for bearing the costs associated with card fraud.

To ease the transition, which is estimated to take three to five years, credit and debit cards issued in the United States will include both microchips and magnetic stripes.

The future of payment processing is upon us. Prepare your business to succeed by working with COCARD to transition to EMV technology today.