Carrington Fisk - Payments & Point of Sale

11/09/2024

It’s so great to be able to sit down with local business owners and show them how we can help fulfill their growth vision through technology.

05/11/2024

This. So much this.

‎Show REAL AF with Andy Frisella, Ep 704. Real Talk: How Losing Sets The Stage For Winning - May 11, 2024

04/21/2023

You know you're not processing locally when you have to put in your country code to register for your reporting portal.

10/21/2022

Thief steals $40,000 from a salon because their payment processor dropped the ball. In the article I give three ways this was completely avoidable.

An Orange County salon had nearly $40,000 in losses from a completely avoidable theft. You see, this garbage person didn't go for the cash register, they went for something else. Thieves aren't stupid. They know that merchants are taking 90-100% of their revenue electronically and the opportunity to...

10/12/2022

PayPal accidentally said the quiet part out loud. In a "mistaken" publication of new policy change, PayPal stated it would fine users of its payment platform $2,500 for misinformation. Yes, you read that right. Yes, they walked it back. But yes, it was close enough to launch to become accidentally published.

But isn't misinformation bad? Sure, but who is it that defines what misinformation is?

What if you don't think that Lia Thomas should be the NCAA woman athlete of the year? What if you think we are actually in a recession? What if your eCommerce store sells "right wing propaganda"? What if the political tides shift and your store sells "left wing propaganda"?

Anything that PayPal, in it's "sole discretion", identifies as discrimination, intolerance, or hate.

I'm not sure about you, but the definitions of these words - like many other words - have undergone changes in the past 2.5 years.

BAM - $2,500. $5,000. $7,500... all without notice and directly drafted from your account or PayPal balance.

Here's the takeaway - don't use PayPal. Find another platform. If you work with a software that only supports PayPal, find a different software or demand that they offer up new integrations.

09/20/2022

We just adopted a puppy - Maggie. She's a bit of a menace so we've been socializing her. Stefanie (my wife) was out to lunch with a friend so I thought I'd bring Maggie out to local restaurant that had outdoor seating.

She did great. The staff was amazing. That's not the story. This is:

When I got the check, it looked like the picture here. The restaurant is using Toast. Don't get me wrong - I LOVE QR codes and think pay at the table is a great solution... unless you're using Toast or Square.

I was seriously tempted, given that I had a puppy literally trying to eat actual rocks, to just use the QR code and be on my way. But then I thought about the impact to the restaurant.

Bear with me - about to hit a little basic math...

Toast and Square both charge DRASTICALLY different rates for Card Present and Card Not Present transactions.

QR code scan to pay transactions are booked - for both systems - at the Card Not Present rate. Yes, even though the cardholder is sitting there at the restaurant.

The difference is HUGE. Imagine a $100 transaction (for simplicity). On Toast, the difference in cost to the restaurant is $0.96.

You may be thinking it's less than a dollar so no big deal... it is. It's a HUGE deal.

Imagine a busy restaurant with patio seating. In Apex, that place is doing at least $100k a in volume and let's say 2,500 transactions a month. What if 500 of those are QR payments?

That's nearly $500 per MONTH in senseless overspending for an already embattled restaurant owner... most of whom have no idea that QR codes cost more on Square or Toast to process.

With me they don't - there is no extra fee for card present vs. card not present... and if there was you can be damned sure that the restaurant owner would know it.

08/25/2022

For real... change my mind. Prove me wrong.

It is WILD how people talk about "buying local" and then immediately choose multi-national companies to process their payments.

It is INSANE to see people who are vocal about how our society is descending into a clown world or that our leaders are ignoring the constitution and then choose a company like Square or Toast to process their payments.

Vote with your wallet - that goes for your business services as well folks.

By processing local, you employ LOCAL people. You get better service, often BETTER pricing, and a more qualified salesperson to place the right solution for your business.

If you went to high school with someone who is in payments - reach out when you're looking to make a change.

If you played ball in college with someone in payments, reach out or tag them when a buddy is opening a new business.

This goes for insurance, payroll, website design, literally ANYTHING.

It won't impact your friendship - we are professionals. Many of us have invested thousands of hours mastering our craft. If it's not a good fit, we will actually tell you because we care about you and your outcome.

08/12/2022

Dayuuum! Stripe isn't even playing around! They're hitting their merchants with a 50 basis point fee increase. That's $5 for every $1,000 processed. If you do $20k a month - which is pretty small in today's world - you're looking at paying the Stripe Mafia an EXTRA $100 a month. Your new total cost on $10,000 is going to be $350 Youch!!

07/06/2022

Stop using the term "friendly fraud" when referring to chargebacks.

A chargeback is when a customer disputes a charge on their credit card. "Friendly Fraud" is a term the banking industry created to describe when a customer disputes the charge despite getting exactly what they paid for.

"Friendly fraud" is theft - plain and simple.

You go out to dinner, order your food, receive your food, eat your food, and pay for your food.

If you then initiate a chargeback to "win one for the little guy" you are not friendly - you are a garbage person and a THIEF.

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.

If you run a business that has to deal with this nonsense, I have a program that has been proven to eliminate 20% of chargebacks before they happen using data directly from Visa.

Then we eliminate chargeback fees on another 60% of these transactions historically and finally

We cover the cost of any issuer initiated chargeback expenses (AND the original transaction amount).

Happy to commiserate with you on chargebacks and perhaps I might even be able to help!

06/23/2022

I would happily, excitedly, and thoroughly discuss this with ANY concerned citizen, politician, law enforcement official, or public facing person. This news piece is one of the most embarrassingly uninformed pieces of nonsensical garbage sauce I have seen in a very long time - and that is saying something in the world of fake news, pandemic nonsense, and global fear-mongering medical control mechanisms.

06/17/2022

Each and every Clover point of sale system comes with a business partner - one you can't fire without getting a new system.

Before you get that Clover - know that not all Clover is created equally.

Sure, same hardware and software, but the underlying payment processor is locked to the hardware and they're not all good guys. Most of them rely on Clover to lock you in while they bend you over with new fees, increased fees, or worse never-ending leases.

Long story endless, let's have a chat first to see if Clover even makes sense for your business and second, to ensure you have a business partner you'd be happy to refer.

06/16/2022

There are only SEVENTEEN humans in the State of North Carolina who have earned their Certified Payments Professional designation from the Electronic Transactions Association. In case the pink rectangle didn't give it away, that's me there in the middle.

While this designation separates the hobbyists from the professionals, earning this designation was easy. It was easy because I've trained hundreds of individuals in learning the ropes of payments and I've led operations for a payments company.

Doesn't your business deserve an expert?