Less than 1 month until EMV kicks in...is your business ready?

If you are a business owner, you should have heard by now that the United States is transitioning to full adoption of EMV chip enabled cards to reduce credit card fraud. The change is coming October 1, 2015.

How could EMV affect your business?
Today, if businesses swipe a counterfeit or stolen card, the bank assumes the loss. To encourage businesses to adopt the more secure technology of EMV chip cards, a liability shift is going into effect on October 1, 2015, where card issuers plan on shifting that loss to merchants.

What do I need to do?
Your credit card processing company should have contacted you by now to inform you of the changes and schedule new equipment to be delivered. (If they have not, you may want to call them). Depending on the company you use, that equipment may or may not come with a charge.

Do I need to switch all my equipment to EMV technology?
This scenario is most likely for small business owners who are being forced to pay for new equipment. It's just a matter of risk measurement...Consider the amount of your typical sale - are your customers buying a $10 pizza or a $500 laptop? Do you personally know most of your customers? What percentage of your customers use credit cards?

Will it be illegal to run a credit card without using EMV technology?
No, it will not be illegal to run a credit card using a typical mag card reader; just be aware that in the case of a charge back or fraudulent use, your business will be forced to take the loss not the bank.

If your business is facing challenges with EMV, give IES a call at 781-816-9437. We can answer your questions and help streamline the change, should you choose to upgrade.

Small Business Saturday is back...with a $10 to spend at any small business!

Attention American Express Card members: Register your card today and get a $10 statement credit when you make a purchase of $10 or more at a qualifying small business location on November 30. Registration is limited, so the sooner the better. Enroll at: https://enroll.amexnetwork.com/US/en/SBS2013.

On a related note, IES is a small business! Shop Small with us on Small Business Saturday - prepay your computer services, web design services, or purchase a great new tech toy! Browse our inventory at iesAdvisors.com/shop, but remember to phone in your order because online payments do not apply to the American Express promotion.

Are you Twitter addicted? Are you a shopaholic? You're life just got a whole lot easier!

Twitter and American Express have just announced their new partnership, Amex Sync, on Twitter. Here’s how it works:

• First, American Express cardholders sync their card with their Twitter account.
• Then, when they come across products or offers that are eligible in their Twitter feed, the social shopper needs only send out a tweet that includes a special hash tag, such as #AmexConcertTickets or #BuyDigitalCamera, and Amex will then send them an @-reply with a confirming hash tag.
• Lastly, the buyer sends out a second tweet with the special hash tag within 15 minutes of the first tweet.

This can be used prior to shopping in a physical store, where the user would not have to show their phone or a coupon, but would just need to use their Amex card to get the deal.

As a special introductory offer, American Express kicked off the new partnership with a $25 American Express gift card for $15 to those who signed up and tweeted #BuyAmexGiftCard25 as part of a limited deal that expires March 13.

View a video on how this works below:

Source: The Business Journals