It's, once again, been too long since I've blogged. I've been so busy, with all of the iPhone users downloading iTransaX - our recently released credit card app for iPhone . One of my colleagues recently sent me an interesting article on the iPhone phenomenon . Of course, I wholeheartedly disagree with the article - I think the iPhone rocks! And not just because we have an iPhone application, with more to come, in the iTunes store! Anyway, I'm not really hear to talk about iPhone today - I want to talk about QuickBooks. As more and more merchants begin using the NELiX TransaX QuickBooks Module (which, as you may know, allows users to process credit card, ACH/E-check/EFT, and Remote Deposit Capture (RDC)/check conversion transactions), we've been getting many very specific requests. For example: "None of my customers have a "preferred payment method set. Is there anyway I can easily go through and set all of their payment methods without having to edi...

It's been awhile since my last post - I try to keep current, but things have been crazy. Since last I've posted, we've been involved with FileMaker, 4th Dimension (4D), Ruby, VB.NET, Classic ASP, Microsoft Access and QuickBooks systems - integrating credit card, ACH and Remote Deposit/Check Conversion services into various technologies. The traditional databases are my favorite - FileMaker, 4D, Access. For some reason, the vast majority of organizations think about processing payments from their online system, and from their point of sale system, but never from their in house database. It's great to see developers helping their customers integrate payment processing into these types of systems. The NELiX TransaX QuickBooks module is keeping me busier than all of the other technologies combined. The ability to do credit card processing, ACH processing, check conversion, batch processing, etc - has proven very attractive to merchants using QuickBooks. We'll have some ...

I am extremely excited about the new features that we recently added to the NELiX TransaX QuickBooks module. Now, in addition to being able to perform Credit Card and ACH (E-check) processing from within QuickBooks using our module, and in addition to the powerful batch processing features of our QuickBooks module, you can now perform Remote Deposit Capture (RDC), Check Conversion, Check 21 through our QuickBooks module! The module is integrated with select Epson and RDM Check readers. Just plug them in, install the drivers, and you're ready to roll. - No more manually entering received checks into QuickBooks - No more filling out deposit slips. - No more endorsing your checks. - No more driving to the bank. - No more waiting in lines! It is an exciting new feature of the module. We have more big features on the way. Keep watching this space... Information on RDC through QuickBooks Infomation on NELiX TransaX

One of the greatest facets of my job is having the distinct honor of working with developers around the world. As everybody in this day and age knows, E-Commerce is an essential component to most internet based applications. Because of the technology we provide to the development community, we are constantly approached by innovators. These developers have ideas on how to use technology to reshape the world and approach us because our technology adds tools to help them realize their vision. Being exposed to these innovators is extremely uplifting. I love hearing about the dreams and visions of these developers. Of course, due to confidentiality agreements in place, I can't go into any detail on the specific innovations, but seeing the concepts of Ruby developers, QuickBooks consultants, MS Access programmers, .NET gurus, FileMaker wizards, Flash designers - well, it highlights why I love the business I am in. These people are ready to change the world - and it happens every day....

It is a standard practice in the industry to charge an early termination fee. This is understandable - considerable time and effort goes into underwriting and boarding a new account, time is spent on customer service, etc. An early termination fee is a way for a merchant account provider to make sure they will recoup their initial investment into a new merchant account. These fees are usually range from $200 - $500 depending on the provider. However, some entities enact extremely unethical early termination fees. For example, some merchant account providers will charge a mutliple on the earnings from the largest volume month over the past 12 months. Some providers will go so far as charge a multiple on their profit + interchange + dues and assessments! Two examples that I have encountered: 1) Big Bank - I had a merchant processing with this bank. They wanted to cancel, and were prepared to pay what they thought was a $295 early termination fee. They receive a communication from the ban...

I spent the last couple days attending the MWAA (Midwest Acquirers Association) annual conference in Lombard, IL. As always, the show was very productive. There is always great educational opportunities and networking opportunities at these trade shows. I learned a lot, and made many new valuable connections. One thing that was very apparent, the show was very "retail" oriented. Most of the discussions, panels, questions, etc revolved around serving the retail merchants of America. It's great that the retail segment is given a lot of attention, as they are deserving of it. They are a large segment, and they are and have always been a staple of the American economy. However, a specific segment was sorely overlooked. The Internet segment. There were no sessions, panels, discussions, questions about Internet merchants at all. To me, that is mind boggling. Internet merchants are a major segment of U.S. commerce, and will continue to grow and grow quickly. Before long, every ...

Yeah, you heard me. FoxPro! FoxPro is a database platform that has been around for an extremely long time and at one time was widely considered the fastest database platform available. I remember seeing an Apple demonstration in the early 90's, running on the hotest Mac of the time, and using the Fox platform. The demo ran searches against the U.S. postal database in milliseconds. Very impressive. Much like other database technologies - such as Microsoft Access, FileMaker or 4th Dimension (4D) - most FoxPro users and developers never consider the possibility of running credit card and ACH (E-check) transactions, in real time, through their FoxPro databases. When you realize that this type of automation can be done, the possibilities are endless. For example: - Eliminate exporting and importing to/from third party applications to run transactions. - Automate the payment process - auto charge customers. - Create cascading systems - i.e. if a credit card payment fails, run an E-check ...

I don't get it. When you talk about a web based application accepting credit cards is one of the first questions that is asked. When you talk about a database, nobody ever thinks about credit card processing. Take Microsoft Access for example. I have worked with Access since it's inception back in 1991. I have worked with hundreds of Access databases over the years, and met many other Access developers. There are millions upon millions of databases out there - order entry systems, fulfillment systems, customer service systems, call center systems, etc. There are databases setup for every purpose you can imagine. So, why don't people process credit cards from directly within their Microsoft Access database? Processing from within MS Access is no different than processing from a website. Your database hits a payment gateway, which in turn hits your merchant account. Writing this code is not brain surgery - in fact, take a look at this example of integrating credi...

The TRANSAX Gateway QuickBooks credit card add-on is arguably the flagship of our powerful FlexPort package. Previously, we have attracted a lot of interest from developers of all types - Flash/Flex/Actionscript, FileMaker, 4D, Access, ASP, .NET, Ruby, PHP, etc. Our QuickBooks Add-on has received so much interest, that we have spent a lot of time enhancing and improving the module. Most recently, we have added: Swipe support, which allows merchants to get card present rates. Windows Vista support! Additional enhancements to the batch processing function. The new version is now available! Download it today More information about our QuickBooks Payment Add-on

The TRANSAX payment gateway is the core of our offerings. All of our FleXport technology - examples using 4D, FileMaker, PHP, Ruby, Access, Classic ASP, .NET, iMIS, QuickBooks, Flash/Flex, etc - use the payment gateway to work their magic. Because this is a critical piece of our technology, we have recently launched a site dedicated to the gateway itself! The  TRANSAX Gateway site talked about features such as our Customer Vault for PCI compliance and tokenizing transactions, our rich fraud prevention tools, our ACH tools and our integration options. Sign up for a free demo at the site and see for yourself why the TRANSAX Gateway stands far above the rest. The TRANSAX Gateway site

I have blogged frequently about our QuickBooks Add-on for processing credit cards and ACH/E-check. There is a reason for this. Although our rich FlexPort technology contains code for integrating credit card and ACH/E-check processing on many different platforms - FileMaker, 4D, Ruby, PHP, MS Access, VB.NET, C#, ASP, etc, etc - the QuickBooks Add-on is the most exciting. The reason is simple - the QuickBooks Add-on is an easy to use application that works with QuickBooks to easily add Credit Card and ACH/E-check processing to QuickBooks. The module contains features that QuickBooks does not support out of the box - i.e the ability to run ACH/E-check transactions, the ability to process payments in a batch, the ability to run unattended batches, etc. It is easy to install, and has a very friendly user interface. Because of this, we have attracted a lot of interest from ISO's, CPA's, programmers, consultants and merchants. Throughout all of these QuickBooks related ...

Our specialty is putting together completely unique and custom systems for payment processing. This is a service that is hard to find, and there are many merchants who have large headaches when it comes to payment processing. The majority of the payment processing industry does not have a good understanding of this need. The majority of tech industry do not have a good understanding of payment processing. Because of this, merchants with unique problems are often left to come up with manual and cumbersome solutions on their own. We have a good understanding of both sides of the coin and are able to find solutions to previously unsolvable problems. Here are a few examples: Customer using FileMaker. Every night, this customer exported data from FileMaker, and ran a batch process consisting of thousands of transactions. The next day, the results would be imported back into FileMaker. This resulted in a customer service nightmare, as customer service reps would spend their da...

The TRANSAX Gateway QuickBooks Module for processing credit card and ACH (also known as E-check or EFT) transactions from within QuickBooks is now live on YouTube! Process Payments in QuickBooks video on YouTube Batch Credit Card/ACH Processing in QuickBooks video on YouTube

Many people have been asking to see the NELiX TransaX QuickBooks module in action, but do not want to install it. We created a couple 3 minute movies showing the module in action. Process Payment Demo: This shows how easy it is to process a credit card or ACH (aka EFT or E-Check) transaction using the NELiX TransaX QuickBooks Module: Select a format: AVI WMV Batch Process Demo: This shows how easy it is to process a batch of credit card or ACH (aka EFT or E-Check) transactions using the NELiX TransaX QuickBooks Module. (This also works using an unattended mode which can easily be scripted) Select a format: AVI WMV Download the full documentation on using the NELiX TransaX QuickBooks module . Don't forget - The NELiX TransaX QuickBooks module can be customized to suit your unique needs! For more information: NELiX TransaX QuickBooks Credit Card/ACH site NELiX TransaX Developers site NELiX TransaX

A few weeks ago, we released a module for integrating payment processing into Flash using Flex. We have recently added a second module for integrating into Flash using the Flash IDE. For developers who do not want to venture into the world of Flex, integrating payment processing (credit cards and ACH) into Flash has never been easier! You can now easily integrate points of payment in any flash website, game, movie, etc. Combined with our powerful Customer Vault, one click payments are easy. Users can fill out their billing info upon signing up for a website, and one click points of payment can be integrated throught every game, movie, flash demo, or any other flash application. Flash developers are extremely creative. With our toolset, the possibilities for integrating credit card and ACH acceptance within Flash are endless. More information on credit card and ACH processing in Flash/Flex/ActionScript Download the NELiX TransaX FleXport toolkit More information on NELiX TransaX

A couple months ago, we released a QuickBooks component that allows people to process credit card payments through QuickBooks. This module brought a number of benefits to the table for QuickBooks users. It gives QuickBooks users a second option for payment processing. It brought ACH (e-check) processing into the picture. Using the NELiX TransaX Customer Vault, merchants can store billing information in the NELiX TransaX Payment Gateway, and never maintain that data, helping them maintain PCI compliance, reduce risk, and increase security. It can be customized to meet the needs of the specific merchant. There was one problem however. You had to run the transactions one at a time. For some merchants, that works fine. An customer calls in asking to pay by credit card, that credit card payment is entered through QuickBooks, the customer is charged, payments recorded, etc. However, many merchants have many transactions that need to be run - sometimes hundreds or thousands at a time. It'...

QuickBooks is the accounting package of choice for more than 3 Million businesses and with good reason! It is a full featured and robust accounting package at a great price. I use it myself! What most QuickBooks users don't know is that QuickBooks offers a full API, which allows developers to create software that will interact with their QuickBooks file. Unfortunately, working with the QuickBooks API is extremely time intensive, which makes it cost prohibitive to create customizations to the payment processing procedures. The credit card processing functionality built into QuickBooks is fully integrated and easy to use, but it is not customizable at all. For example, if you want to be able to easily accept ACH (E-check) payments through the same mechanism you cannot. If you wanted to automatically pull data from a third party system, then run transactions and write data into your QuickBooks file, you cannot. Our goal is to help merchants further automate their processes while at th...