When there is a credit card processing outage, you need to protect yourself and your business. How? By working with Advannova, a credit card processing company that is dedicated to its clients, their employees, and customers.
Advannova has been in the business of credit card processing for over 30 years and has built up an excellent reputation by providing reliable credit card processing services. Whether your business is located in Texas or across the world, we have you covered with our innovative credit card processing and POS systems.
The bottom line: When it comes to protecting your business against credit card processing problems and issues, always work with someone who cares about your business as much as they care about their own - like Advannova does!
1. How do credit card payments work?
When you use your credit card to make a purchase, the credit card company sends a request for payment to the credit card processor. The credit card processor then forwards this request to the bank that issued your credit card. The bank then verifies that you have enough credit available to cover the purchase and approves or denies the request.
If the request is approved, the credit card processor sends an authorization code to the merchant, which allows the merchant to complete the sale. The credit card company then pays the credit card processor for the purchase, and the credit card processor pays the bank.
Credit card payments allow customers to make quick easy purchases and are an extremely common way to pay as we move closer to a cashless society.
2. What is a credit card processing outage?
An outage for credit card processing is a situation in which a credit card payments system is not working and unable to complete transactions. The end result is that the business cannot accept payments from customers using credit cards. This can be due to a number of reasons, such as a power outage, a network outage, or a systems failure.
In August of 2021, TSYS, a major credit card payment processing company in the US, was struck with a severe disruption that impacted its over 80,000 customers. Reports at that time indicated that many retailers and businesses were not able to restore service for approximately three hours.
Businesses facing these payment challenges can lose hours of revenue earning opportunity if normal operations aren't restored immediately.
3. What can cause a credit card processing outage?
There are a number of things that can cause this scenario. Some of the most common causes include power disruptions, network outages, and systems failures.
Power disruptions can occur for a variety of reasons, such as severe weather conditions, downed power lines, or equipment failures. When a credit card processor is located in an area that experiences a power outage, it can cause the credit card system to go down.
Network outages can also cause credit card processing outages. A network outage can be caused by a variety of things, such as a problem with the internet service provider that results in loss of internet connectivity, a DDoS attack, or a router failure.
Systems failures can also cause these outages. A system failure can occur when there is a problem with the credit card processor itself, or with the software that is used to process credit card transactions.
4. How to reduce risk or prevent an outage from happening
There are a number of ways that merchants can prevent these issues before they can happen.
It is important to stay up to date with software and infrastructure updates and changes. This way, you can avoid issues with older versions of the technical components of your solution. Staying current with technology is a great way for companies to head off issues before they can occur.
Working with your internet service provider to ensure you have redundancy in the case of an issue with wi-fi can provide a fix. For example, a backup wired internet connection can ensure connectivity when wireless connectivity is down.
Alternatively, some POS solutions can use cellular data to connect, which provides another fix in cases where wireless connections are unstable.
5. What to do if you experience an outage and cannot accept credit card payments?
There are a few things that all companies—large, medium, and small businesses—should do in the case of a credit card processing outage.
Check for any notification, news, or reports from the businesses and vendors that enable your payments to see if there is a known, reported issue that is impacting you. It's important to stay aware of news across your partner businesses, including merchants banks and other financial institutions, and internet service provider.
To the best of your ability, troubleshoot common systems issues such as wi-fi connectivity or power issues from your utility company. You may wish to check with neighboring businesses to see if they are experiencing the same issues. Notify your ISP or power company immediately if you have loss of either service.
It is important to have a backup plan in place in case of an outage. This could include having a plan to process payments manually so that customers are still able to pay for purchases. A cash payment transaction may be less common than it used to be, but allowing customers to pay with cash is critical.
As mentioned, a fall-back internet connection can save your business from lost revenue and provide benefits by ensuring your site is still connected to the internet.
It is always a good idea to have a customer service plan in place in case of any issues that may arise. This could include having a customer service number or email address that customers can use to reach out for assistance.
If your business experiences a credit card processing outage, these are a few things you can do to protect yourself. For our clients, the first thing you should do is to report the issue to Advannova. Advannova will begin troubleshooting immediately and work with you to get your business back to its fully operational status.
6. How to contact Advannova
Advannova's customers have access to our in-house staff that offers true 24/7/365 support, based out of Round Rock, Texas. Customer support is provided via phone or email.
To schedule a demo, please contact us. We look forward to talking with you! For additional information, please visit our website at advannova.com or call us at 512-591-7806.
Conclusion
When your credit card processing goes down, it can cause significant disruption to your business and result in a large negative impact on your revenue. You need to make sure that your company is ready to react and remedy the situation. To protect yourself from credit card processing outages in Texas or around the globe, contact Advannova today.
Advannova has provided credit card payments processing for over 30 years and has the experience and expertise you need during these critical times. If you are experiencing a credit card processing outage, we can help. Call us today at 512-591-7806 or schedule a free, no-obligation demo with Advannova.