What do you get for your PCI fee?

Many merchants have questioned the charges they are receiving for PCI fees. PCI/DSS stands for Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards. Simply, or maybe not so simply, these are standards that are implemented by credit card processors and merchants, to ensure card holder privacy and minimize fraud. Every acquirer has a huge responsibility in this area and they have incurred numerous necessary costs to comply. They all pass some form of fee off to their merchants in either a monthly or annual charge or possibly, both. How much are you being charged and what do you get for it?


As a merchant, this fee doesn't mean that you now get to ignore cardholder security and all the risk falls back on your provider. Do the fees insure the merchant against PCI fines? Do they help pay for the processor to become PCI compliant? Do they pay for the merchant to become PCI compliant. The answer is Yes, No and Maybe. You still, must absolutely do all you can do to protect card holder data within your daily business practices. The fines incurred for non-compliance can be devastating.


The bottom line here is that you, as a merchant need to take a look at your statement, in detail, and understand all the fees you are paying. If you see a line item that says PCI/DSS fee, call your provider and flat out ask them what you're getting for it. Then ask they how you might be able to go about eliminating it. Some providers are simply using this as an additional income generator for themselves.



Take the time to visit THIS WEBSITE to find out more about PCI/DSS than you probably want to know. But, it could be time very wisely spent.