Month: June 2010

MW says GIMME!

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GIMME THAT!

Gimme Shopping Search AustraliaThe BEST way to shop online

Merchant Warrior is proud to support one of its clients in their new venture into the online shopping space. We believe that this is a great service that will not only benefit consumers but also benefit our merchants that are looking for greater exposure.

What is Gimme.Com.Au?

Gimme Shopping is an exciting new Australian shopping search and comparison service. The biggest problem for shoppers when using current shopping search sites is that they display results based on how much stores are paying them, not necessarily the best or cheapest results.  This means that shoppers are misled into thinking the products displayed at the top of search results are better, when in fact they are simply the stores who pay the most for a click.

While misleading search results should be a concern for shoppers, there are issues for online stores as well. Major shopping search services use a Pay Per Click (PPC) model to charge stores who list with them. This means that online stores pay for traffic in the form of clicks, even when the clicks are from a competitor checking prices or a customer simply doing research which don’t generate a sale.

Gimme Shopping’s unique model solves these problems.  At Gimme Shopping our results are pure and based only on matches to relevant product information such as product names and descriptions. Gimme Shopping prefers to use a Pay Per Sale (PPS) model whereby commission is only paid on verified sales, and at a rate set by the online store.  This is a much fairer model, and is risk free for online stores who don’t want to pay for traffic with no guarantee of results.

The Gimme Shopping performance based model certainly seems to have hit a chord with online stores with over 1000 stores partnering with Gimme in the first 6 months providing shoppers with easy access to millions of products across a huge range of categories including Electronics, Digital Cameras, Fashion, Wine and Home & Garden.

Visit Gimme Shopping to get the best results for products from a huge range of Australian online stores.  Research products before you buy and compare products and prices from Australia’s largest and fastest growing online shopping network.

Sign me up!

Merchants looking to increase their exposure and join Gimme’s increasing list of online stores should do so by clicking here for further information.

We wish Gimme.com.au the best of luck!

PCI Compliant Yet Again

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YOUR Security is OUR Duty

It may not be the most exciting news but it’s definitely worth a mention – last week we were approved as a Tier 1 PCI DSS Compliant Payment Provider again. It’s important for us to mention this to our clients and to the public as we take PCI DSS seriously. Each year we undergo an on-site audit by our professional QSA – Securus Global. Each of our products, services and environments are audited to ensure that our practices are PCI DSS Compliant and that we protect our merchant information in every way possible.

We undergo this on-site audit for three major reasons:

  1. Obviously, it’s a requirement.
  2. We like to ensure that each product and service that we develop meets the requirements of the PCI DSS.
  3. It’s important to us that we provide our merchants with the most secure platform to process transactions under.

It’s no secret that Merchant Warrior is working behind the scenes to produce new technologies to enhance the Payment Industry. However, we do have a few secrets in regards to the products and features which we will be releasing later this year. Our merchants are in for a pleasant surprise! Now that our new features and services have been given the tick of approval all that’s left is intense Quality Assurance and Software Testing before we release these exciting features to the public.

In the meantime I would like to thank Securus Global for completing yet another successful on-site audit with our team. The audit was handled in an extremely professional manner and no disruptions to important schedules took place – and for that we are extremely grateful. Also, to the team – I’d like to thank you for being well prepared and having all in order, making it a simple task for Securus Global to complete the audit. Well done!

For all merchants that would like to view our new certificate of compliance click here.

Now, I mentioned earlier that we take the PCI DSS seriously, and in all honesty we do. But the next comment is directed to the PCI Council – “Why?” and it relates the following video which is available on their website.

Just a warning – you may not take the PCI DSS seriously after you view this video.

Interchange Fees

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What are Interchange Fees?

As a merchant, seeing the word “Fees” would not be something out of the ordinary. One fee that most merchants would not have heard a lot about is Interchange Fees. It’s important to note that Interchange Fees are also referred to as a “swipe-fee” at times.

In order to fully understand Interchange Fees it’s always helpful to clearly understand the meaning of a Merchant Service Fee (MSF).

As a merchant you’ll notice that you will have been given a MSF from your Bank. The MSF is a % fee which is taken from each of your transactions and is held by your Bank. As most of you will know, the MSF that each merchant receives will be different and is calculated according to a number of different factors such as:

Risk – The risk that is involved with your business.

This does not necessarily focus on the industry that your business operates in. Some of you may deem a high risk merchant as an adult store or a merchant selling pharmaceutics online and that’s correct. However, how about a merchant selling jewelery online? Or a merchant that offers a yearly subscription for its services? These merchants may not necessarily be in a high risk industry but there is a certain element of risk involved in processing their transactions due to the high possibility of chargebacks occurring.

Volume – This is the total revenue that you will be able to generate with your merchant facility.

Transaction Volume – This is the total number of transactions that you will process through your merchant facility.

Card Type – This refers to the different types of credit/debit cards that you will accept with your facility. How many of your transactions will come from Standard/Domestic Credit Cards? How many will come from International or Premium Credit Cards?

There are a lot of other factors that the Bank will take into account when working out a merchant’s MSF, however, let’s pay close attention to the last item on the list above – “Card Type”. So you’re probably wondering why your Bank cares about the different types of credit/debit cards you’ll be accepting? It’s all plastic – so same thing right? That, my friends would be logical. And as we all know when it comes to financial institutions, and the schemes, logic is never an option!

Just as you, the merchant, has to pay fees to your Bank, your Bank too has to pay fees to the Card Schemes (VISA, MasterCard, American Express, JCB, Diners Club). The fees that are associated with each transaction are known as Interchange Fees (or as we mentioned earlier “swipe-fees”). The Interchange fees differ depending on the industry type and card type and are subject to change whenever the Card Schemes deem necessary.

The good news is that the Interchange Fees for VISA and MasterCard are public. Please see below for the links to each of the corresponding Card Scheme Interchange Fees:

Things may make a little more sense now. If you’ve ever wondered why your Bank has a higher rate for international transactions as opposed to domestic transactions, you’ll now realize that it’s due to the Interchange Fees.

Now when someone mentions Interchange or the term “Interchange Fees” you’ll know exactly what they’re talking about. Even better, you’ll now understand the importance of this article: Retailers score in swipe fee fight with credit card giants.

For all merchants – we’ll be keeping our fingers crossed for you!