A neat and tidy way to store card terminal receipets?

[Westfield]

I'll just preface this question with some info: We're mostly online only, but we do about 18 trade shows a year as well as our own shows and for the last six months we've had our a card terminal of our very own which has put a nice (and profitable!) end to saying 'Sorry we don't accept cards'.

I think you probably know the drill. At the end of a day taking cards at a trade show we're left with 50-100 odd merchant copies of a receipt from our terminal - what do you do with them all?

Naturally we have to keep them safe, but are the any ways of keeping them organised that I've not thought of?

Right now we're collecting each days in a loose time order, stapling them together and then putting them in a plastic tub in day, month order - But it doesn't take a genius to realise that sort of organisation only works in the short term. I'd hate to have to go looking for a specific receipt - There has to be a better way... right? :redface:

Thanks folks, appreciate your time as always.

 

[andygambles]

Does the terminal not provide a digital copy? Or your card processor provide a digital statement of the processed transactions?

If so why keep them at all?

 

[Westfield]

Does the terminal not provide a digital copy? Or your card processor provide a digital statement of the processed transactions?

If so why keep them at all?

No, they don't - Neither of them

 

[Palms]

This is something I struggle with. I spike them and then bundle them into envelopes, one for each month. My filing system is a disgrace so I will be following this thread.

 

[andygambles]

No, they don't - Neither of them

Wow! I can not believe there is not statement available at all! That is surprising.

Thought of scanning them to searchable PDF?

 

[sitandstay]

Yes, scan them and save them accordingly.

 

[DavidWH]

I staple each days receipts into a diary.

I take payments in theory for 3 companies, so need to keep a track of who's been paid what. I keep a copy of the receipt and a description of what it was for.

 

[kulture]

Wow! I can not believe there is not statement available at all! That is surprising.

Thought of scanning them to searchable PDF?

How would you do this and remain PCI compliant?

 

[kulture]

I am interested in this thread as it is a common problem. My filing system is practically non-existant for these slips. That said in 12 years of trading I was only asked to find a slip once. It took a couple of hours. With a proper filing system it would have been minutes, BUT how many hours over the years would I have spent doing the proper system.

 

[andygambles]

How would you do this and remain PCI compliant?

How is it any different to paper records?

Th receipts also do not contain full numbers AFAIK.

 

[kulture]

It is different because you are storing credit card details on a computer. The PCI requires them to be encrypted, and has a whole host of other requirements.

The paper slips tend to be harder for the average hacker to access. Even then they are meant to be secure.

 

[iksol]

If you store receipts electronically, you would need to be PCI DSS compliant.

That means ensuring that the receipt and associated meta data would need to be encrypted. But you would also need to ensure that all user access is audited. If any of the data were to be transmitted, that would also need to be secured.

I'm surprised that terminals are supplied without any software to address the above. It's pretty important to be able to reference historical payment transaction data; doing this with a paper-based system is pretty onerous and time-consuming.

 

[David Griffiths]

BUT how many hours over the years would I have spent doing the proper system.

That's the big issue, isn't it?. Scanning a pile of slips, even daily, would be a time consuming exercise. It would have to be a flat bed scanner, and a fiddly job just to line them up and create a simple scan. I can see the point in keeping slips with a signature, but in this age of chip and pin, or contactless, cards keeping each piece of paper seems unnecessary when the information is in the terminal to start with.

Like Andy , I think it odd that there is no facility for an electronic report

 

[Westfield]

How is it any different to paper records?

Th receipts also do not contain full numbers AFAIK.

Merchant copies do, I wouldn't feel happy putting them into a searchable format on a work computer connected to the internet - I'm sure there are legal issues attatched to it, too - But as you have to keep them, I'd rather they be in paper form, at least then someone has to physically break in to get to them!

 

[Westfield]

That's the big issue, isn't it?. Scanning a pile of slips, even daily, would be a time consuming exercise. It would have to be a flat bed scanner, and a fiddly job just to line them up and create a simple scan. I can see the point in keeping slips with a signature, but in this age of chip and pin, or contactless, cards keeping each piece of paper seems unnecessary when the information is in the terminal to start with.

Like Andy , I think it odd that there is no facility for an electronic report

I think I've probably settled on what I've been doing already, it takes little time, it's organised to a certain extent - Just messy if I need to find something, but as kulture said, It wouldn't be any where close to the amount of time It would take to scan them in and make sure I'm compliant in what I'm sure is a number of areas.

 

[andygambles]

Next question is why do you need to keep the receipts? What information is on them that us not on your normal receipt?

 

[kulture]

Next question is why do you need to keep the receipts? What information is on them that us not on your normal receipt?

Merchant copies of credit card slips contain information which should NOT be on the receipt. Things like the full card number, the expiry and potentially the start date, Your merchant number and authorisation details that you will need to prove that that the transaction took place if disputed.

 

[Doodle-Noodle]

I just staple all my merchant copies and the end of day till reading together; each day is placed in a clear plastic zip bag, labelled with the month/year .......I keep them all in the safe.
I have had to find merchant copies a couple of times (AMEX is slow going in to the Bank and I though we were £80 down on takings once as s/line credit was short .....but it was just slow and turned up about 3 days later). System works OK for me (I think!)
Can't imagine how fiddly it would be to scan everything in though!

 

[iksol]

I'm just wondering if there is any demand for a product here.

Would anyone be interested in a software application that could store merchant copies electronically? Obviously it would need to be PCI DSS compliant.

To me it seems the biggest issue would be the resistance to having to scan these copies in at the end of each working day. Would such a drawback outweigh any benefits?

Thoughts?

 

[Westfield]

I just staple all my merchant copies and the end of day till reading together; each day is placed in a clear plastic zip bag, labelled with the month/year .......I keep them all in the safe.
I have had to find merchant copies a couple of times (AMEX is slow going in to the Bank and I though we were £80 down on takings once as s/line credit was short .....but it was just slow and turned up about 3 days later). System works OK for me (I think!)
Can't imagine how fiddly it would be to scan everything in though!

Seems like a sensible way of doing it - Thanks for taking the time to reply; you're just down the road from us, too!

 

[Doodle-Noodle]

Where are you based then Westfield?