Las Vegas, NV, April 20, 2004 – Shift4 Corporation, developers of DOLLARS ON THE NET®, the leading web-based e-payment gateway solution with real-time electronic payment authorization, settlement, reporting and fraud control capabilities, has partnered with Planet Payment to deliver Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC) capabilities to DOLLARS ON THE NET partners and customers. Shift4 has integrated this feature into its new MICROS 8700 enhanced interface and will be demonstrating it at Booth 918 & 712 at the 2004 ETA Annual Meeting & Expo April 20-22 in Las Vegas.
What does Dynamic Currency Conversion do? Every time a customer with a Visa or MasterCard issued by a foreign bank makes a transaction at a merchant, a fee of approximately 3% is charged to the customer to handle currency exchange and foreign processing. Currently, that fee gets split among the card associations (Visa/MasterCard) and the cardholder’s issuing bank.
DOLLARS ON THE NET with DCC, however, spins off all foreign transactions to Planet Payment, a transaction processor that specializes in foreign currency conversions and maintains an “inventory” of foreign currency. Planet Payment authorizes these foreign cardholder transactions and locks in the current exchange rate. It then returns the authorization to the merchant listing both the dollar amount in the merchant’s currency and in the cardholder’s currency. The entire authorization process takes under three seconds.
For merchants, DOLLARS ON THE NET with DCC enables them to know exactly what funds they will receive and often enables them to receive these fund significantly faster. Merchants are able to offer their foreign customers a valuable additional service, by showing them exactly how much they will be charged in their own currency – no more statement surprises. Plus, DOLLARS ON THE NET with DCC offers revenue sharing capabilities wherein the merchant can receive a portion of the fee charged to the customer.
“Dynamic currency conversion has the potential to become a potent part of the processing industry. When you think about it, no one loses. Merchants and even POS providers can offer a value added service while earning additional revenues and customers get a better understanding of what they are paying without any additional costs,” stated J. David Oder, President and CEO. “Planet Payment was the forerunner of the multi-currency processing industry. We are excited that our partnership with them, in conjunction with our relationship with today’s leading POS and PMS providers, has allowed us to bring the power of DCC to the merchant directly at the point-of-sale.”
While several organizations today say they support Dynamic Currency Conversion, Shift4 is the first company to partner with Planet Payment to make this capability readily available to merchants at the point-of-sale. Merchants simply swipe or key in the card utilizing their standard methods. DOLLARS ON THE NET uses a numerical recognition program to identify foreign cards and seamlessly sends these transactions over a high speed leased line directly to Planet Payment. The authorization is returned as normal and the total in both currencies is printed right on the receipt.
The reason this capability was not previously available at the point-of-sale is the extensive programming required between the POS or PMS system and Planet Payment. With the interface Shift4 created to Planet Payment, however, POS vendors can offer this capability with minimal development time and resources required. In addition, the DOLLARS ON THE NET interface offers a consistent, standardized solution that is compliant with all current and potential upcoming card association regulations, including any required disclaimers and complete opt-in/opt-out capabilities.
About Shift4 Corporation
Shift4, a leading developer of financial transaction processing software and services, provides web-based, real-time enterprise payment solutions for leaders in the hospitality, retail, foodservices and e-commerce markets. Through connectivity to most of the major processors, including Vital Processing Services, Global Payment Services, Fifth Third Bank, NDC Canada, First Data Corporation, American Express, Paymentech, Nova Information Systems, Chase Merchant Services, Bank of America, First Horizon Merchant Services and Planet Payment, DOLLARS ON THE NET provides both high speed and low cost authorizations and settlements for credit, debit, check, private label and gift card transactions. DOLLARS ON THE NET also includes the ability to access, review and edit transactions prior to settlement, as well as a searchable, 24-month archive of transactions for reporting and charge back defense. Shift4’s solutions are designed to integrate with virtually any POS/PMS system and interface partners include MICROS, RunIT, Aloha, Retail Pro, Smyth Systems, Digital Dining, Spa Soft and InnQuest. Shift4’s DOLLARS ON THE NET application and data center are acknowledged by Visa USA as compliant with their Cardholder Information Security Program (CISP), and are also compliant with MasterCard’s SDP and American Express’s DSOP. For more information, contact Shift4 at (702) 597-2480 or visit them online at www.shift4.com.