(Last updated on: November 25, 2015)
To save credit card numbers puts a company at great financial and legal risk. Visa/MC set the rules on this one, and the banks as well. Since our software is a box office accounting system, we had to develop our software to follow the PCI guidelines. Contact your bank and/or credit card processor and let them know your box office procedures as it relates to saving credit card numbers.
If you don’t want to process the credit cards right away, just use the payment type Reservation only. Let your patrons know that if they do not show up by a certain time to pick up their tickets, their seats will be released. You have to be careful to process credit cards for tickets that haven’t been claimed. If any of your patrons issue a charge back for tickets they did not pickup, you, the merchant, will be held liable and can result in a higher merchant discount rate. This has happened to us when we were managing a central box office and to some of our clients.
That is why organizations, like yours, do not take reservations over the phone any longer. All phone orders are final sales with credit cards.
To save credit card numbers puts a company at great financial and legal risk. Visa/MC set the rules on this one and the banks as well. Since our software is a box office accounting system, we had to develop our software to follow the PCI guidelines. Contact your bank and/or credit card processor and let them know your box office procedures as it relates to saving credit card numbers.
If you don’t want to process the credit cards right away, just use the payment type “Reservation only.” Let your patrons know that if they do not show up by a certain time to pick up their tickets, their seats will be released. You have to be careful to process credit cards for tickets that haven’t been claimed.If any of your patrons issue a charge back for tickets they did not pickup, you, the merchant, will be held liable and can result in a higher merchant discount rate. This has happened to us when we were managing a central box office and to some of our clients.
That is why organizations, like yours, do not take reservations over the phone any longer. All phone orders are final sales with credit cards.
By the way, the first fine for non-compliance with PCI regulations is $20,000 and they will suspend your merchant account. If your security is ever breached, you are liable for all criminal charges of the stolen credit card numbers plus replacing the customer’s cards (about $50 per customer).
For more information, see: https://www.pcisecuritystandards.org/
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