Shift4 provides the world's largest
independent payment gateway. We deliver omni-channel, PCI-scope reducing
security technologies, including...
Woah, woah!Tech overload much? Before you can
understand how Shift4 helps merchants it's important to understand how a
credit card transaction works.This quick video will teach you the
basics of credit card processing and then we'll show you how Shift4
simplifies the process for everyone involved.If you're already familiar with the
payments industry and understand the difference between an issuer and a processor,click here to skip ahead and
see how Shift4 does things better.Otherwise, hold on and class will
begin in three, two, one...Alright! Welcome to Credit Card 101.
There are five players involved in atypical credit card transaction: the
cardholder (let's call her Jane), the merchant(this could be a hotel, restaurant,
or my favorite, a shoe store),the merchant's bank (kind of
self-explanatory, but this is the shoe store's bank where they have their
account), next the card brands Visa, American Express, Mastercard, take your pick.Finally, the issuing bank. This is where
Jane got her card in the first place.So Jane opened a Visa at her local bank
and is now on the hunt for new shoes.That's all the players.Now let's see a typical transaction.
Jane's got a hot date tonight so of course she needs new shoes. She found
the perfect ones and now it's time to check out.She hands her credit card to the cashier
and a few seconds later the clerk hands herher new red pumps. But it's what happens in
those few seconds that we care about.First, the cashier (the merchant) processes
the card and her point-of-sale system- that's fancy payment speak for her computer -
sends the payment request on to a merchant bank.The merchant bank figures out the brand
of the card. Is it a Visa, Mastercard,American Express? And sends a
request on to that card network.Jane uses her new Visa. Then Visa
determines which bank gave Jane the card,the issuing bank, and sends a
request on to them.The issuing bank looks at Jane's account
and checks to make sure that her shoeobsession hasn't put her over her
credit limit. If she still has enough creditavailable to cover the shoes, a response
is sent back to Visa approving thepurchase. Visa sends that approval back to the
merchant's bank, who forwards it to the shoe store.Finally, the cashier sees that the order
was approved and hands Jane the shoes.Everyone's happy. That whole process
takes place in less than three seconds.Three seconds!About half the time it takes you to yawn.
Amazing, isn't it?But there's more to a transaction than
just charging a card.Let's look at what happens after Jane
leaves the store. At the end of the daythe shoe store settles all of their
credit transactions for the day andsends the transaction records
to their merchant bank.The merchant bank sorts all of the
transactions by card brand and then sendsthe transactions to their respective
card associations. The card associationauthorizes a payment back to the
merchant's bank to cover all thesetransactions and the merchant's
bank pays the shoe store,minus a fee. Then the card association
bills the issuing bank and receives payment in return.Finally, Jane receives her monthly bill.
And that's pretty much how it works.This same thing happens more than a
million times a day as transactions fromShift4's merchant customers flow
through our gateway, which we callDollars On The Net, on their way to
nearly every bank and processor in NorthAmerica. Our transaction volume,nearly half a billion unique
transactions per year, makes Dollars OnThe Net the largest independent payment
gateway in the world. But what is anindependent payment gateway?Well, in its simplest form a payment gateway
is the application that allows amerchant to talk to all the banks,
processors, and other entities involvedin a credit card transaction.Basically, we do all this. An independent
payment gateway like our Dollars On TheNet does all of this and provides the
ability to choose and change processorsor banks at will. Shift4 is not a merchant services
provider or an independent sales organization.MSPs and ISOs tie their merchant
customers to a particular bank orprocessor which often leads to rate
hikes, hidden fees, and fines.Instead, Shift4 is a bank and
processor independent organization thathelps merchants figure out the
constantly changing and often confusingworld of payment processing.
Even just a few years ago,the majority of gateways were independent
organizations but recently we've seenmore and more processors and banks
absorbing gateways and destroying theirindependent merchant focus. Shift4 is
the last major gateway to retain independence which gives our customers
some great benefits. Most of all, it puts our merchant customers on an even playing
field with the banks and processors.Exactly! Because we've turned down the
big money buyout offers and stuck it out as independents, Shift4 has no ties
to any particular bank or processor. This independence means our customers have
ultimate flexibility. They can easily change banks or processors whenever they want to.All it takes is the flip of a switch.This means banks and processors now have to
compete again for the merchant's business.They have to play fair. It's not just our
flexibility that makes Dollars On The Net powerful -it's also our reliability. With redundant
high-speed connections to nearly every major bank of processor in North America,
our service average is better than 99.98% uptime.Unlike many of our competitors,
in less than three seconds we find the best way to get transactions
from place to place, ensure they make it to their destination with our Assured Delivery
Technology, and protect them from fraud and theft,during the transaction and after.
How do we do that?Well, Shift4's security protocols
are the best in the industry.We not only keep the data safe in
transit, we also make it possible for merchants to store customer data without
storing actual card numbers through tokenization, a technology we created and
introduced to the world back in 2005.Since then we have processed
more than 5 billion tokenized transactions. After that many successful
transactions we think it's safe to say our True Tokenization is the original,
tried-and-true technology that helps merchants keep their payment data safe
and reduces PCI headaches. Throw in our point-to-point encryption solutions,
support for EMV, contactless, and mobile transactions, advanced trusted employee
fraud controls, full-spectrum enterprise-wide auditing and reporting
capability, an enterprise-wide gift card solution,24/7 customer support, plus a host of other benefits,
and you've got a payment solution that can't be beat.If you'd like to learn more about Shift4
and how we can help you save money and avoid being the next victim
of a data breach,just give us a call or send us an email.