Acquiring trade and service enterprises through a payment intermediary (Serebryakov S.V.)

Article posted date: 09/11/2014

Almost every bank sooner or later begins to look for access to the retail market. One of the most attractive products for individuals is the service of bank (payment) cards. However, in order to obtain the right to issue cards (issuance) and service them in the network of your enterprises (acquiring), you must at least become a participant in one or another payment system, mainly international.

At the beginning of the last decade, a very popular solution for banks to quickly enter the retail market was the so-called agency scheme, in which the sponsor bank, which is a full member of the international payment system (hereinafter - IPS), as a rule, a larger one, attracted smaller banks to issue and acquiring. And if in terms of emission, payment systems rarely had questions, since the cards of such sub-issuers could be unambiguously identified (projects "Egida", "New Age"), then with acquiring, from the point of view of the Ministry of Railways, things were much worse: agent banks, not being members of payment systems, attracted trade and service enterprises (hereinafter referred to as TSPs) for services, in which conditions favorable for fraud often arose.
Moreover, some merchants, having concluded an acquiring agreement with their bank, independently attracted other retail outlets, thus becoming a mini-bank or settlement center for the latter, which, naturally, neither the Ministry of Railways nor the acquiring bank had the slightest idea about until a certain time. presentations.
Such activities led to the fact that about 10 years ago the Ministry of Railways categorically and for a long time banned the so-called agency schemes on the territory of the Russian Federation and only relatively recently they relaxed this issue, including introducing the concept of Payment Facilitator (payment intermediary). This is an undoubted advantage and new opportunities for acquirers, but now, taught by bitter experience, IPS strictly regulated all aspects of both registering such intermediaries and working with them.

General requirements of international payment systems for payment intermediaries

In the relationship scheme, it is assumed that the acquiring bank enters into an agreement with a payment intermediary, and he, in turn, receives the right to attract and enter into acquiring agreements with many merchants, thus creating a kind of tree structure (hierarchy). In this article, such merchants will be called “subordinate merchants”.
In accordance with the rules and requirements of the IPS, the acquiring bank bears full responsibility for any actions and errors of both subordinate merchants and the payment intermediary itself. The payment intermediary, in turn, can no longer be a subordinate merchant of any other payment intermediary.
International payment systems impose strict restrictions on total turnover: unless otherwise specified in the rules, any subordinate merchant whose total acquiring annual turnover on MPS cards exceeds 100 thousand US dollars must cease to be such and enter into direct contractual relations with the bank - acquirer.
The acquiring bank must ensure compliance with the following requirements.
1. The payment intermediary and all its subordinate merchants must operate exclusively in the territory determined by the acquiring license of their bank. The location of the subordinate merchants is determined by the location of the transaction, and not by the place of registration of the payment intermediary.
2. Funds received by the payment intermediary must be used exclusively for payments to subordinate merchants.
3. The acquirer may allow the payment intermediary to carry out the following activities on its behalf, remaining fully responsible to the IPS for their adequate implementation:
- checking subordinate merchants for correct business conduct;
- preservation of records of how the preliminary verification of subordinate merchants was carried out, subject to the immediate provision of such records at the request of the acquirer;
- transfer of funds to the accounts of subordinate merchants for card transactions carried out in them;
- providing subordinate merchants with all materials necessary for successful card transactions;
- monitoring the activity of subordinate merchants in order to identify fraudulent activities or incorrect execution of transactions.
Neither the payment intermediary nor its subordinate merchants are permitted to require the cardholder to waive the right to contest a transaction.
The acquiring bank is obliged to submit a quarterly report to the IPS on the work of each payment intermediary subordinate to the TSP, including at least the following:
- the name of the subordinate merchant and its address;
- if applicable - a link to the website of the subordinate merchant or the name of the trademark;
- merchant category code (MCC) - tabular description of the business focus;
- for each MCC - the number and volume of card transactions for the quarter;
- for each MCC - the number and volume of transactions protested by issuers.

Payment intermediaries and high-risk merchants

International payment systems assign high-risk status to a payment intermediary if it offers the sponsoring bank subordinate merchants whose business falls under the Excessive Chargeback Program or meets any of the following MCCs:
- telecommunications (MCC 4814, 4816);
- e-commerce of video content for adults (MCC 5967, 7273, 7841);
- gambling via the Internet (7995), as well as payment for games on the Internet (7994);
- sales of pharmaceutical goods and medicines via the Internet (MCC 5122, 5912);
- Internet sales of tobacco and similar products (MCC 5993).
The acquirer must register each of these merchants in the appropriate MRP program (for example, for MasterCard this is the Merchant Registration Program (MRP)) before accepting card transactions from them.
Acting at its discretion, the IPS has the right to deregister a payment intermediary if it detects an excessive number of dispute transactions either from the payment intermediary itself or from any of its subordinate merchants or if they violate any of the IPS requirements/standards. IPS also reserve the right to deregister a payment intermediary or its subordinate merchant in cases of detection of activities that could harm the IPS.
Any acquirer entering into a relationship with a high-risk payment intermediary must ensure that the payment system receives a monthly report on the activities of all subordinate merchants in accordance with the rules of the IPS.

Registration requirements for payment intermediaries

In order to declare a merchant to the IPS as a payment intermediary, the acquirer must:
- be a member of the IPU with good status;
- satisfy all the requirements prescribed in the rules of the Ministry of Railways;
- when registering an intermediary that falls into the high-risk category, - fully comply with all the rules and requirements of the Ministry of Railways concerning risk control and security issues.
To register a merchant as a payment intermediary, the acquirer must:
- send all necessary documentation and materials to the authorized division of the Ministry of Railways no later than within 60 days from the date of intended registration;
- provide confidence that the intermediary fully complies with security requirements such as PCI DSS and other requirements applicable to the situation.
Before sending financial information about transactions of a payment intermediary or its subordinate merchants to the IPS settlement network, the acquirer must receive written confirmation from the IPS (confirmation by email is acceptable) about the successful registration of the payment intermediary. The decision to register a payment intermediary or to refuse it is made by the Ministry of Railways solely at its discretion.
To support the registration of a payment intermediary, the acquirer is required to periodically send to the IPS information and documents that may be required for analysis, such as a copy of the agreement between the acquirer and the intermediary. IPS reserves the exclusive right to refuse to renew the registration of a payment intermediary.
When registering as a payment intermediary, MPS will charge the acquirer all fees applicable to this process in accordance with the current tariffs (for registration, review, license renewal, etc.).
If the acquiring bank intends to terminate the agreement with the intermediary or subordinate merchant, it is necessary to notify the Ministry of Railways of such a decision at least one week in advance. IPS reserves the right to oblige the acquirer to immediately stop accepting transactions from the payment intermediary at any time.

Responsibilities of a payment intermediary

The payment intermediary is a merchant and has all the rights and obligations arising from this status that apply to a regular merchant.
The acquirer has the responsibility to ensure that the payment intermediary satisfies all of the IPS requirements applicable to merchants, as set out below.
Before entering into, renewing or renewing an agreement with a subordinate merchant, the payment intermediary must ensure that the merchant conducts a legitimate and correct business and has sufficient mechanisms and procedures to reliably protect cardholder data and card transactions from unauthorized access or disclosure. , complies with all necessary requirements and laws, and in addition, all transactions directed from such a merchant reflect a valid transaction between the subordinate merchant and the cardholder.
The acquirer must ensure that the payment intermediary is not the sponsor of a subordinate merchant registered in the untrusted merchant database (for example, MATCH for MasterCard). The acquirer is also obliged to send to the appropriate authorities of the Ministry of Railways data on any subordinate merchant, contractual relations with which have been terminated due to the latter’s questionable activities.
Each payment intermediary must enter into a written agreement with each subordinate merchant, which must specify all the conditions applicable to the issue of acceptance of bank cards by such merchants for payment. Such an agreement must not conflict with or diminish the rights of the payment intermediary, acquirer or intermediary to terminate it at any time. MPS reserves the prerogative to limit the payment intermediary's right to enter into agreements with subordinate merchants depending on the focus of the business or other criteria at the discretion of MPS.

Necessary clauses of the agreement

Each agreement between a payment intermediary and its sponsored subordinate merchant must reflect all of the necessary terms and conditions set forth in the relevant sections of the IGA rules and other standards applicable to the nature of the merchant's business, and apply those standards in the same way as they apply to conventional merchants.
If the payment intermediary does not stipulate in the agreement with the subordinate merchant any necessary clause provided for by the IPS rules, or special conditions specified by the IPS, this does not relieve the acquirer from liability for protest operations and other claim procedures.
The agreement with subordinate merchants must include the following provisions.
1. The subordinate merchant must continuously inform the payment intermediary about the current address of each of its offices, the names of those used brands along with full description goods sold and services provided.
2. If there is a conflict between the rules of the IPS and any of the clauses of the agreement between the payment intermediary and the subordinate merchants, then the provisions of the rules prevail.
3. The Payment Intermediary is solely responsible for the compliance of subordinate merchants with card service standards and procedures and has the right to require such merchants to make changes to their website and other similar actions if this appears necessary or reasonable to ensure compliance of the subordinated merchant with the rules and standards of the IGC. .
4. An agreement with a subordinate merchant is automatically and immediately considered invalid if the IPS deregisters its payment intermediary or the acquiring bank ceases to be a participant in the IPS for any reason, as well as if the acquiring bank loses the IPS acquiring license.
5. The payment intermediary, at its discretion or at the direction of the acquirer/IPS, has the right to immediately terminate the agreement with the subordinate merchant due to activity that appears fraudulent or questionable from the point of view of the payment intermediary, the acquirer or the ISP.
6. The subordinate TSP confirms and agrees that:
a) it complies with all applicable IGA standards and rules, as amended from time to time;
b) IPU is the sole and exclusive owner of its trademarks and marks;
c) a subordinate merchant will never attempt to challenge the ownership of IPU trademarks for any reason;
d) IPU may at any time, immediately and without notice, prohibit the use of its trademarks by a subordinate merchant for any purpose;
e) MPS has the right to strengthen the enforcement of any of the standards and prohibit a subordinate merchant and (or) its payment intermediary from participating in any activity that, from the point of view of MPS, may damage or create a risk of damage to the reputation of MPS, and also clearly negatively affects the integrity of the MPS network or confidentiality of information;
f) the subordinate TSP will never take any actions that may impede or contradict the implementation of these rights of the IPU.
The agreement with the subordinate merchant must not contain any terms that conflict with the current standards and rules of the IGA.

Responsibilities of a payment intermediary as a sponsor of a subordinate merchant and service enterprise

The payment intermediary must strictly fulfill the following obligations in relation to each of its subordinate merchants.
1. Send only data on correct transactions to the network.
The payment intermediary must transmit to its acquirer records of valid transactions submitted by subordinate merchants and initiated by the genuine cardholder. A payment intermediary should not forward to the acquirer any transaction that it or a subordinate merchant reasonably knows is fraudulent or not authorized by the cardholder, or reasonably knows to be initiated by a cardholder in cahoots with the subordinate merchant in for criminal purposes. Subordinate TSPs are expected to be responsible for the actions of their employees, agents and representatives.
2. Ensure compliance of subordinated TSPs with the standards of the Ministry of Railways.
The payment intermediary is responsible for ensuring that each of its subordinate merchants complies with the standards and rules of the IPS. The payment intermediary must take all necessary and reasonable steps to ensure continued compliance of its subordinated merchants with IGP standards.
3. Maintain the relevance of information about subordinate merchants.
The Payment Intermediary must maintain current information on the names, addresses and URLs (if applicable) of all its subordinate merchants on an ongoing basis. The acquirer must ensure that the payment intermediary promptly forwards such information to the IPS upon request.
4. Make payments to subordinate merchants.
Each payment intermediary must make payments to its subordinate merchants for all transactions submitted to the acquirer on behalf of those merchants. The agreement with the subordinate merchants may include a clause allowing the payment intermediary to withhold amounts for contested transactions or other similar cases.
5. Provide subordinate merchants with materials.
Each payment intermediary must regularly ensure that all its subordinate merchants are provided with all materials necessary for efficient work with cards and directing transactions to the MPS network in accordance with the standards and rules for accepting cards.
6. Monitor subordinate merchants.
Each payment intermediary must continuously monitor the activities and use of IPS brands by all its subordinate merchants to ensure early detection of fraudulent and inappropriate activity and ensure continued compliance with IPS standards. To comply with this rule, minimum standards for monitoring merchants have been established that apply to all subordinate merchants.

Conclusions

A more democratic and flexible approach of the IPS to the issues of building relationships between acquiring banks and their trade and service enterprises, in particular the legalization of a scheme using a payment intermediary (Payment Facilitator), undoubtedly allows IPS participants to develop the network at a faster pace, attracting more and more new people to cooperate and new TSPs and creating entire hierarchical structures with more complex levels of subordination and relationships.
Nevertheless, acquiring banks should be extremely careful in choosing merchants as payment intermediaries and scrupulously comply with all the rules and requirements of the International Payment System, especially regarding security issues and compliance with the standards for accepting cards for servicing at merchants.

What is mcc code

MCC code - Merchant Category Code- a four-digit code reflecting the affiliation of a trade and service enterprise with a specific type of activity.

A specific MCC code is assigned to the seller by the bank servicing the payment terminal (acquiring bank) at the time of installation of the terminal. If the outlet is engaged in several types of activities, then mcc code assigned as main activity code(according to OKVED).

For different payment systems (Visa, Mastercard, MIR, etc.), specific codes for one type of activity may differ, but in general they correspond to the following ranges:

• 0001 - 1499 - agricultural sector;
• 1500 - 2999 - contract services;
• 3000 - 3299 - airline services;
• 3300 - 3499 - car rental;
• 3500 - 3999 - rental housing;
• 4000 - 4799 - transport services;
• 4800 - 4999 - utilities, telecommunications services;
• 5000 - 5599 - trade;
• 5600 - 5699 - clothing stores;
• 5700 - 7299 - other stores;
• 7300 - 7999 - business services;
• 8000 - 8999 - professional services and membership organizations;
• 9000 - 9999 - government services

Why do you need an mcc code?

Banks use MCC codes to generate statistics, analyze customer behavior, and to calculate cashback and bonuses according to loyalty programs.

Why do we, intelligent buyers, need this code? - For determining whether a retail outlet belongs to one or another category of retail outlets and to commit shopping with maximum benefit , using a bank card with maximum cashback in the corresponding category.

How to find out the MCC code of a specific store

Before making a major purchase that offers a large cashback on one of your cards, it would be a good idea to make sure in advance that this purchase is definitely bonused (rewarded) by the Bank.

To do this you need in advance (even before paying for the purchase) find out the MCC code of the merchant. The following options are available:

1. Directory of mcc codes

The easiest way is to contact mcc code directory(For example, mcc-codes.ru), and, using a search by name and city, find the point of interest and its MSS. It should be noted that the directory contains mainly chain and large stores, and perhaps mcc code of an unpopular or local outlet can't be found.

2. Flagon card and test (small) purchase

You can find out the mcc code by making a small purchase using flagometer cards(cards that display MCC codes for transactions performed in the Internet bank). To such marker cards include:

• Avangard Bank cards
• Yandex-Money card
• iMoneyBank cards
• MTS Bank cards

3. Incomplete (unpaid) purchase with a marker card

In order to find out mcc code this way, we need any card Bank Avangard. Determine mcc-code the desired point of sale as follows:

1. Make sure the card balance is zero (or there is a clear lack of funds on the card for a test, “false purchase”)
2. Select "product of interest" in the store
3. Make an unsuccessful attempt to pay for the "purchase"
4. After this, the unsuccessful payment transaction will be reflected both in the Internet bank and in the mobile application, indicating MCC code of the trading terminal.

After this, you will be able to select the most profitable card for purchase using this mcc.

These days they are no longer a rarity, and each of us no longer makes one or two transactions per quarter, but three or four daily. Tens of millions of issued cards, hundreds of thousands of transactions per hour, tens of thousands of terminal devices for accepting cards - this is today's reality. There is a steady trend of shifting the emphasis away from payment transactions for goods/services in trade and service enterprises (hereinafter referred to as TSPs).
Let us briefly recall what the general procedure for paying by card at merchants looks like.

The client (card holder) makes a purchase of a product or service at a merchant that accepts cards for payment, as evidenced by stickers at the entrance to the store premises or at the checkout. Approaching the cashier, the client presents the card and informs the seller that he intends to pay with it. The seller takes the card, conducts an initial check to ensure there are no obvious signs of counterfeit (he does not have to be an expert, he just needs to make sure that it is clearly not counterfeit). Next, the seller reads the data from the magnetic stripe or microprocessor (chip) of the card, using the corresponding connector of the electronic terminal (hereinafter - ET). Then he enters the transaction amount, ET generates an authorization request and sends it to the acquiring bank. Next, the authorization request via the MPS channel reaches the host of the issuing bank, which allows or prohibits the execution of this operation (transaction). If the transaction is allowed, the issuer issues an authorization code and a response code (RC) of "00". Otherwise, the issuer's response is different from "00" and the authorization code is not issued (the transaction is not approved; the issuer does not confirm payment). Upon positive completion, the merchant merchant prints two copies of the check and the client confirms his agreement to pay for the transaction, either by signing the check (signature-based transaction, SBT), or by entering a PIN (PIN-based transaction, PBT). With SBT, the merchant must complete the transaction by matching the signature on the check with the customer's sample signature in the designated area on the back of the card.

Posting information for buyers

Let's start with the fact that each merchant, by sticking posters with MPS logos on its doors, thereby assumes an obligation (precisely an obligation, and not just a wish) to accept cards of the corresponding system for payment. And if the MasterCard logo hangs at the cash register, then this merchant is obliged to accept the corresponding card for payment (but not a Visa card, and vice versa). Moreover, in merchant outlets that accept cards, in places accessible to customers (“buyer’s corner”), information should be posted explaining the policy of this point regarding the return and exchange of goods paid for by card. The absence of such an information resource is a violation of the rules of the Ministry of Railways.

Cashier's reluctance to accept card for payment

Quite often there are situations when at the entrance to a retail outlet there is a sticker indicating that you can pay with a card, but at the time of payment it suddenly turns out that the cashier or seller does not want to accept the card for payment without explaining the reasons for the refusal. Such actions are a serious violation of the IPS rules and can entail the imposition of quite significant financial sanctions on the acquiring bank, which in turn can transmit them later to the merchant, if this is provided for by the terms of the agreement between them.

Requiring a passport when paying by card

The IPS rules clearly state that when making a payment by card, the seller does not have the right to request from the client (card bearer) data confirming the latter’s identity or other personal data, except in cases where this is necessary to complete the transaction (for example, indicating the customer’s residential address for the purpose of subsequent delivery of the goods) or when this is clearly stated in the requirements of local legislation. The seller has no authority to require the client to present a passport or other identification documents. As a striking example, we can cite the following situation: imagine that a client from China or a citizen of another country, exotic for us, who does not speak either Russian or English, pays with a card at a Russian retail outlet. In this case, the seller and buyer will not be able to communicate at all (of course, if the seller is not a polyglot). From the point of view of the rules of the Ministry of Railways, this practice of requiring documents when paying by card is punishable (a fine may be imposed on the acquiring bank with all the ensuing consequences for the merchant). However, some types of transactions (which primarily include cash withdrawal operations in bank offices and branches) must be performed only if the client presents an identification document.

Requirement to enter a PIN when paying with a card with a magnetic stripe

Today, more and more banks are issuing cards equipped not only with a magnetic stripe, but also with a microprocessor (chip). Such cards are called hybrid, and they can be used to make transactions using either a magnetic stripe or a chip. This is an undoubted advantage, since it is believed that the chip cannot be made at home, which, in turn, deprives fraudsters of the opportunity to make a counterfeit card by issuing a duplicate of it with a copy of the magnetic stripe track (so-called skimming). But often there is a situation when the merchant merchant, having read the card data from the magnetic stripe (not from the chip), invites the client to confirm his consent to make the payment by entering a PIN. This is completely unacceptable, as it carries the risk of complete compromise of the card data (i.e. magnetic stripe track/track and PIN), which could theoretically lead to the loss of all funds from the card account. Sellers explain their actions by saying that “the electronic terminal is programmed this way,” but most often the error lies in their actions: when working with electronic devices, they mistakenly indicate that the card type is not MasterCard, but Cirrus/Maestro. It is noteworthy that on the territory of the Russian Federation, all transactions using Cirrus/Maestro cards must be carried out exactly as PBT!
Interesting fact: the Visa IPS rules state that in any case, when making a payment transaction for goods or services at a merchant, the client has the right to demand an SBT transaction. And this has a completely reasonable explanation: not all clients remember their PIN and some banks generally issue cards without a PIN for them. Of course, all of the above applies to cards with a magnetic stripe. For cards with a chip, the vast majority of transactions in merchants are confirmed by the client by entering a PIN.

Recently, MasterCard IPS issued a circular (operational bulletin) in which it notified all payment participants that from June 8, 2012, in the Russian Federation it is allowed to request a PIN to confirm by clients transactions with magnetic stripe cards carried out at merchants.

Thus, at present, on the territory of the Russian Federation, when registering transactions at merchants using cards with an MPS Visa magnetic stripe, entering a PIN is prohibited, but for cards with a MasterCard magnetic stripe, it is allowed. For cards with a microprocessor (so-called chip), entering a PIN is almost mandatory for both MPS.

Refusal to accept cards without the holder's name

To quickly enter the market, many issuers use so-called non-personalized, non-personalized cards, on the front side of which there is only a number and expiration date, but no last name and first name of the client (and this data, accordingly, is also absent on the first track of the magnetic stripe). The IPS rules clearly state that such cards are an absolutely legitimate means of payment and should be accepted on an equal basis with all other IPS products. Acquirers also specifically stipulate this point in their instructions for sellers, and yet, quite often, unfortunately, it happens that sellers flatly refuse to accept such cards for payment. As arguments, sellers argue that they have nothing to compare the client’s last and first name with (bearing in mind the prohibited practice of requesting supporting documents, which was discussed above). Such actions by TSP employees also contradict world practice and are subject to elaboration on the part of acquiring banks.

Increase in price (surcharge) for goods when paying by card

As you know, when concluding an acquiring agreement with a merchant, the bank specifies the amount of the so-called acquiring concession (commission), which will be charged (underpaid) to the merchant for all card transactions. This commission varies by country and type of activity of the merchant, taking into account the latter’s turnover. As a guide, you can keep in mind a value of the order of 1.5 - 2.5%. Thus, if the transaction amount is 1000 rubles, the acquiring bank will credit the current account with the amount minus this commission, that is, 975 - 985 rubles. The difference is the most important component of the acquirer’s activities and will be charged to operating income. This is a completely normal practice, generally accepted throughout the world, and the opinion that it is unprofitable for merchants is nothing more than a misconception: when paying in cash, other overhead costs arise that are quite comparable to these “losses” for acquiring. This includes the costs of merchants for cash conversion, their safe storage, collection, etc. Nevertheless, many merchants practice setting surcharges when paying for goods and services with cards, and the size of such “markups” is approximately equal to the size of the acquirer commission. This practice is completely unacceptable, which is clearly stated in the rules of the Ministry of Railways. The same rules of the Ministry of Railways provide a kind of loophole for merchants, namely: it states that merchants have the right to provide a discount for paying in cash. That is, in general, the price of a product or service when paying by card should not exceed the usual one, but you can give a discount to the client if he pays in cash.

Refusal to accept an unsigned card for payment

According to the rules of the Ministry of Railways, a special strip must be placed on the back of the card, intended for a sample signature of the legal card holder. When completing a payment transaction for goods or services at a merchant, the cashier must invite the buyer to confirm his willingness to pay for the transaction by either entering a PIN or signing a receipt from an electronic terminal. If consent is confirmed by signature, the cashier should compare the signature on the check with the sample signature on the back of the card. However, quite often, when receiving a card, the client does not put his signature (which is a violation of the IPS requirements and carries an increased risk of illegal use of the card by fraudsters if it is lost). Merchant merchants, seeing that a client is offering them an unsigned card, often refuse to accept such a means of payment, which is also unacceptable. According to the rules of the Ministry of Railways, in such cases the cashier should invite the buyer to present an identification document containing a photograph and a sample signature, then offer to sign the card, compare the signature on the card with the sample in the document and then complete the transaction in the usual way. If the buyer refuses to present a passport and (or) sign the card, the transaction should not be completed.

Setting the minimum purchase price/product for payment by card

There are often situations when a store arbitrarily sets a minimum amount, starting from which the seller agrees to accept the card for payment. For example, the purchase amount when paying by card should not be less than 100 rubles. (or 1000, 10,000, etc.). This practice is categorically unacceptable, since according to the rules of the Ministry of Railways, the terms of payment by card must fully comply with the terms of payment in cash.

Procedure for returning goods and spent funds

It happens that for some reason the client wants to return the purchased product back. If the goods were paid for using a card, then the money should be returned to the card account, and not in cash. Moreover, the refund must be made to the account of the exact card on which the initial payment was made. If the goods are returned, the merchant employee must complete the corresponding operation on the electronic terminal (refund/credit - return/credit). As a result of this operation, a credit receipt is printed on the terminal, which is confirmation and basis for the return of funds to the payer’s account. According to the rules of the Ministry of Railways, refunds must be made within 30 days from the date of execution of the credit transaction. If there is no receipt of funds to the card account after this period, the client can file a claim with the issuing bank, and the funds will be returned based on the results of the claim cycle on the basis of “the loan has not been processed.”

Issuing receipts for card transactions

IPS have very strict requirements for the contents of electronic terminal receipts printed upon completion of the transaction. So, the following information must be indicated on the check:

• description/price of each paid product/service;
• date and time of operation;
• transaction amount and currency;
• card number (for security reasons, only the last four digits);
• country, city, address of the location of the point or bank branch;
• the name of the TSP or DBA (doing business as, DBA name, for example, VimpelCom OJSC is known on the market as Beeline);
• authorization code (if any);
• type of transaction (payment for goods, return);
• space for the client's signature;
• space for the initials of the seller, cashier or other identifier (for example, department number in a supermarket) of the department that serviced the card;
• space for the seller’s signature (in case of a credit transaction);
• the buyer's copy must contain text in Russian or English approximately as follows: “Important: save this check to control transactions in the statement”;
• other parameters in accordance with the requirements of local laws.

According to the requirements of the Bank of Russia, on checks of Russian merchants it is necessary to place a text about the amount of commission (usually they write “There is no acquirer commission”) charged to the buyer.

You also need to have text approximately as follows: “I hereby authorize my issuing bank to pay for this purchase and undertake to reimburse the issuer for the amount indicated in the “Total” column, plus all applicable fees.”

Customers must keep copies of receipts for at least six months to ensure they can verify the correct debits on their card transaction statements. The main purpose of the information on the check is to provide the ability to unambiguously correlate the information reflected in the statement with the data on the check. If the data on the check and the statement differ significantly, the client has the right to file a claim with all the ensuing dire consequences for the acquirer.

Filing claims based on detected violations

In all cases described in this article, affected customers - bank card holders need to contact only their issuing bank that issued the card. In this case, it will be necessary to provide the bank with such data as the exact address of the merchant, name, date, time, identifier or name of the acquiring bank (if the card transaction did not take place at all, i.e. the authorization request was not generated and did not go online , the issuer will not be able to determine this data independently), and the essence of the complaint (refusal to accept the card, requirement to present a passport, enter a PIN, etc.).

Obviously, there is no point in even trying to contact the acquiring bank, since in general, a situation with a violation of the rules for processing card transactions can take place anywhere in the world and the victim will not always be able to find time to visit the right place and is unlikely to have special knowledge and master terminology in the local dialect.

Based on such a request, the issuer has every right to send, in turn, a claim to the authorized body of the Ministry of Railways, and various sanctions can be applied to the acquirer - ranging from a warning and a requirement to carry out additional training employees of the offending merchant, up to the imposition of significant financial fines (hundreds and thousands of dollars or euros, depending on the tariffs of the Ministry of Railways).

Conclusion

In our dynamic age, when non-cash payments are rapidly invading all areas of life, and transactions with bank cards have become an everyday occurrence, the aspect of customer literacy is very important. This question includes both the basics of the correct use of cards in everyday situations, and the nuances highlighted in this article, namely: what rights does the buyer have when paying for goods or services in a network of trade and service enterprises using a card and what exactly needs to be done in the event identifying violations of procedures for processing such transactions.

Since international payment systems work not with end clients (cardholders and merchants), but with financial institutions and primarily ensure that their products (cards) are accepted everywhere and without restrictions, acquirers are subject to very stringent requirements in terms of warranty and compliance with the procedures for accepting MPS cards in the network of their merchants. In cases of violations of the procedures and conditions for accepting cards, holders should complain to the issuing banks, which in turn have the right and obligation to inform the relevant MPS about such incidents, which ultimately can lead to very unpleasant sanctions for acquirers and incorrectly operating merchants and their employees.

September 2012

If really, really in simple language, this is the postal service.

Each member of an IP-compatible network has its own address, which looks something like this: 162.123.058.209. The total number of such addresses for the IPv4 protocol is 4.22 billion.

Let's assume that one computer wants to contact another and send it a message - a "packet". He will turn to " postal service" TCP/IP and will give her his package, indicating the address to which it needs to be delivered. Unlike addresses in the real world, the same IP addresses are often assigned to different computers in turn, which means the "postman" does not know where the required computer is physically located, so it sends the package to the nearest “post office” - to the computer’s network card. Perhaps there is information about where the required computer is located, or perhaps such information is not there, to all nearby ones. "post offices" (switchboards) an address request is sent out. This step is repeated by all "post offices" until they find the desired address, while they remember how many "post offices" this request has passed before them and if it passes a certain (large enough one). ) their number, then it will be returned with the mark “address not found”. The first “post office” will soon receive a bunch of responses from other “branches” with options for paths to the addressee. If no short enough path is found (usually 64 forwardings, but. no more than 255), the parcel will be returned to the sender. If one or more paths are found, the package will be transmitted along the shortest of them, while the “post offices” will remember this path for a while, allowing subsequent packages to be quickly transmitted without asking anyone for the address. After delivery, the “postman” will definitely force the recipient to sign a “receipt” stating that he received the parcel and give this “receipt” to the sender as evidence that the parcel was delivered intact - verification of delivery in TCP is mandatory. If the sender does not receive such a receipt after a certain period of time, or the receipt states that the package was damaged or lost during shipment, then he will try to send the package again.

The protocol stack, or colloquially TCP/IP, is the name given to network architecture. modern devices, designed for use on the network. A stack is a wall in which each component brick lies on top of the other and depends on it. The protocol stack began to be called the “TCP/IP stack” thanks to the two main protocols that were implemented - IP itself, and TCP based on it. However, they are only the main and most common ones. If not hundreds, then dozens of others are still used today for various purposes.

The world wide web we are familiar with is based on the HTTP (hyper-text transfer protocol), which in turn operates on TCP. This is a classic example of using a protocol stack. There are also protocols email IMAP/POP and SMTP, remote shell protocols SSH, remote desktop RDP, MySQL databases, SSL/TLS, and thousands of other applications with their own protocols (..)

How are all these protocols different? It's quite simple. In addition to the various objectives set during development (for example, speed, safety, stability and other criteria), protocols are created for the purpose of differentiation. For example, there are application level protocols that are different for different applications: IRC, Skype, ICQ, Telegram and Jabber are incompatible with each other. They are designed to perform a specific task, and in in this case the ability to make WhatsApp calls in ICQ is simply not technically defined, since the applications use a different protocol. But their protocols are based on the same IP protocol.

A protocol can be called a planned, standard sequence of actions in a process in which there are several subjects; on the network they are called peers (partners), less often - a client and a server, emphasizing the features of a specific protocol. The simplest example of protocol for those who still do not understand is a handshake at a meeting. Both know how and when, but the question why is a question for the developers, not the users of the protocol. By the way, a handshake is available for almost all protocols, for example, to ensure separation of protocols and protection against “flying on the wrong plane.”

Here's what TCP/IP is using the most popular protocols as an example. This shows the dependency hierarchy. It must be said that applications only use the specified protocols, which may or may not be implemented within the OS.

TCP/IP is a set of protocols.

Protocol is a rule. For example, when someone greets you, you say hello back (rather than saying goodbye or wishing you happiness). Programmers will say that we use the hello protocol, for example.

What kind of TCP/IP (now it will be very simple, don’t let your colleagues get bombed):

Information reaches your computer via wires (radio or whatever else is not important). If current is passed through the wires, it means 1. If it is turned off, it means 0. It turns out 10101010110000 and so on. 8 zeros and ones (bits) is a byte. For example 00001111. This can be represented as a number in binary. In decimal form, a byte is a number from 0 to 255. These numbers are mapped to letters. For example, 0 is A, 1 is B. (This is called encoding).

Well, that's it. In order for two computers to effectively transmit information over wires, they must supply current according to some rules - protocols. For example, they must agree on how often the current can be changed so that they can distinguish a 0 from a second 0.

This is the first protocol.

Computers somehow understand that one of them has stopped giving information (like “I said everything”). To do this, at the beginning of the data sequence 010100101, computers can send a few bits, the length of the message they want to transmit. For example, the first 8 bits could indicate the length of the message. That is, first the encoded number 100 is transmitted in the first 8 bits and then 100 bytes. The receiving computer will then wait for the next 8 bits and the next message.

Here we have another protocol, with its help you can transmit messages (computer ones).

There are many computers, so that they can understand who needs to send a message, they use unique computer addresses and a protocol that allows them to understand to whom this message is addressed. For example, the first 8 bits will indicate the recipient's address, the next 8 will indicate the length of the message. And then the message. We just stuck one protocol inside another. The IP protocol is responsible for addressing.

Communication is not always reliable. For reliable delivery of (computer) messages, TCP is used. When executing the TCP protocol, computers will ask each other whether they received the correct message. There is also UDP - this is when computers do not ask again whether they received it. Why is it necessary? Here you are listening to Internet radio. If a couple of bytes arrive with errors, you will hear, for example, “psh” and then music again. Not fatal, and not particularly important - UDP is used for this. But if a couple of bytes get corrupted when loading the site, you’ll get crap on your monitor and won’t understand anything. The site uses TCP.

TCP/IP (UDP/IP) are protocols nested within each other on which the Internet operates. Ultimately, these protocols make it possible to transmit a computer message intact and precisely to the address.

There is also the http protocol. The first line is the site address, the subsequent lines are the text that you send to the site. All http lines are text. Which puts a message in TCP that is addressed using IP and so on.

Answer

1. General information about resistance thermal converters.

Resistance thermal converters are among the most common temperature transducers used in measurement and control circuits. Resistance thermal converters are produced by many domestic and foreign companies, such as Termiko, Elemer (Moscow region), Navigator, Termoavtomatika (Moscow), Teplopribor (Vladimir and Chelyabinsk) , Lutsk Instrument-Making Plant (Ukraine), Siemens, Jumo (Germany), Honeywell, Foxboro, Rosemount (USA), Yokogawa (Japan), etc.

Resistance thermometer called a set for measuring temperature, including a thermal converter based on the dependence of electrical resistance on temperature, and a secondary device showing the temperature value depending on the measured resistance. To measure temperature, a resistance thermal converter must be immersed in a controlled environment and its resistance must be measured with some instrument. Based on the known relationship between the resistance of the thermal converter and temperature, the temperature value can be determined. Thus, the simplest set of resistance thermometer (Fig. 1, a) consists of a resistance thermal converter (TC), a secondary device (SD) for measuring resistance and a connecting line (LC) between them (it can be two, three or four wires).

Rice. 1. :

a - thermal converter with a secondary device; b - thermal converter with normalizing converter; TC - resistance thermal converter; VP, VP1, VP2 - secondary devices; LS - communication lines; NP - normalizing converter; BRT - current signal multiplication unit

As a secondary device, analogue or digital instruments are usually used (for example, KSM-2, RP-160, Tekhnograph, RMT-39/49), less often - ratiometers (for example, Ш-69001). The scales of secondary instruments are graduated in degrees Celsius.

Schemes with normalization of the output signal of thermal converters are widely used (Fig. 1, b). In this case, the resistance thermal converter is connected by a communication line to a normalizing converter NP (for example, Sh-9321, IPM-0196, etc.), which has a unified output signal (for example, 0...5 or 4...20 mA). For use in several measuring channels, this signal is multiplied by the BRT multiplication unit and then goes to several secondary devices (VP-1, VP-2, etc.) or other consumers. Obviously, in this case, the secondary devices should be milliammeters. Resistance converters are produced, in the head of which there is a standardization circuit, i.e. their output signal is a current of 0...5, 4...20 mA or digital signal(smart converters). In this case, there is no need to use a normalizing converter NP in the form of a separate unit. Resistance thermal converters with a unified output signal have the letter U in their designation (for example, TSPU, TSMU). The characteristics of these converters with a digital output signal (Metran-286) are given in table. 1.

Table 1

Technical data of resistance thermal converters

Type of Resistance Thermal Converter	Tolerance class	Use interval, °C	Limits of permissible deviations ± Δ t, °С
			0.15+ 0.0015 *|t| 0.25 + 0.0035 *|t| 0.50 + 0.0065 *t|
		100...300 and 850...1100	0.15 + 0.002 *|t| 0.30 + 0.005 *|t| 0.60 + 0.008 *|t|
TSPU			0.25; 0.5% (adjusted)
TSMU			0.25; 0.5% (adjusted)
KTPTR		0...180 pos. Δt	0,05 + 0,001Δt 0.10 + 0.002Δ t
Metran 286 output 4...20 mA HART protocol		0...500 (from 100P)	0.25 (digital signal) 0.3 (current signal)

For the manufacture of resistance thermal converters (RTCs), either pure metals or semiconductor materials can be used. The electrical resistance of pure metals increases with increasing temperature (their temperature coefficient reaches 0.0065 K-1, i.e., the resistance increases by 0.65% with an increase in temperature by one degree). Semiconductor resistance thermal converters have a negative temperature coefficient (i.e., their resistance decreases with increasing temperature), reaching up to 0.15 K-1. Semiconductor devices are not used in process control systems for temperature measurement, since they require periodic individual calibration. They are usually used as temperature indicators in temperature error compensation circuits of some measuring instruments (for example, in conductometer circuits).

Resistance thermal converters made of pure metals who received greatest distribution, are usually made of thin wire in the form of winding on a frame or a spiral inside the frame. Such a product is called a sensitive element of a resistance thermal converter. To protect against damage, the sensitive element is placed in a protective fitting. The advantage of metallic devices is the high accuracy of temperature measurement (at low temperatures it is higher than that of thermoelectric converters), as well as interchangeability. Metals for sensitive elements (SE) must meet a number of requirements, the main of which are the requirements for stability of the calibration characteristics and reproducibility (i.e., the possibility of mass production of SEs with identical calibration characteristics within the permissible error). If at least one of these requirements is not met, the material cannot be used to manufacture a resistance thermal converter. It is also advisable to perform additional conditions: high temperature coefficient of electrical resistance (which ensures high sensitivity - resistance increment by one degree), linearity of the calibration characteristic R(t) = f(t), high resistivity, chemical inertness.

According to GOST R50353-92, resistance thermal converters can be made of platinum (designation TSP), made of copper (designation TSM) or nickel (designation TSN). Characteristics of vehicles are their resistance R0 at 0 °C, temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) and class.

The presence of impurities in metals reduces the temperature coefficient of electrical resistance, therefore metals for a resistance thermal converter must have standardized purity. Since the TCR can change with temperature, the value W100 was chosen as an indicator of the degree of purity - the ratio of the resistance of the TCR at 100 and 0 °C. For TSP W100 = 1.385 or 1.391, for TSM W100 = 1.426 or 1.428. The class of the resistance thermal converter determines the permissible deviations from the nominal values, which, in turn, determines the permissible absolute error Δt of the vehicle conversion. According to the permissible errors, vehicles are divided into three classes - A, B, C, while platinum vehicles are usually produced in classes A, B, copper - classes B, C. There are several standard types of vehicles. The nominal static characteristic (NSC) of a resistance thermal converter is the dependence of its resistance R on temperature t

Symbol their nominal static characteristics (NSC) consists of two elements - a number corresponding to the R0 value and a letter, which is the first letter of the name of the material ( P - platinum, M - copper, N - nickel). In the international designation, the Latin designations for the materials Pt, Cu, Ni are placed before the R0 value. The NSC of resistance thermal converters is written as:

where Rt is the resistance of the vehicle at temperature t, Ohm; Wt is the value of the ratio of resistance at temperature t to resistance at 0°C (R0). Wt values ​​are selected from GOST R50353-92 tables. Ranges of application of resistance thermal converters various types and classes, formulas for calculating maximum errors and normal characteristics are given in Table. 1 and 2.

Table 2

Nominal static characteristics of resistance thermal converters

					t°C