QuickBooks released R6 for the QuickBooks Point of Sale V12 product. There are minor fixes which are listed here; but the biggest change in R6 is the ability to take Chip cards. In other words, with this release QB-POS V12 is EMV Ready.
By now, I am sure you are aware of the chip technology (EMV) that newer credit cards contain. While all of the EMV details could well be a separate article, the short answer is that chip cards reduce fraud. With older credit cards that have a magnetic stripe on the back, all of the information you need to clone the card is readily available to be read and used. With the new chip technology, once you insert your card, the chip is powered up and sends a bit of information to the processor. The processor validates that the information is correct and then transmits information back that actually gets written to the chip. Since the information changes with each transaction, it is almost impossible to clone a physical card. The technology has been in use in Europe for more than 10 years, and the fraud there is a small percentage of what credit card fraud has been here in the United States over the same time period.
So you are asking, "Will, what took so long?" The banks started the transition last October but Intuit is just now making the change. Well the long and short of it was it took a lot of effort and all the POS software vendors tried to get certified at the same time. Intuit made the decision that if a merchant swiped a chip card, Intuit and not the merchant would bear the responsibility for any fraudulent transactions, since Intuit wasn’t ready.
You are probably also wondering what merchants need to do to be EMV ready? First of all, they need to upgrade to V12. Intuit has made the decision that ONLY V12 will be EMV compliant. So first we need to get your customer to upgrade to V12. If you are not currently working with a Intuit Reseller, we can help to get your client the best pricing. The next step is to update the software to R6. You can download the update from here or use the update feature in the product. Merchants must also have an EMV-ready chip reader. Intuit uses the Ingenico IPP350. If your client has an IPP 350 now, then they will receive a new one from Intuit that has the firmware to make the chip reader work. If they are still using a mag stripe reader (the little black rectangle with the green light), then they will need to buy an IPP350. Again, we can offer pricing if you need it.
All of your QuickBooks Point of Sale Desktop client’s need to be aware of the changes taking place, and the risk non-compliance poses. Now that QB-POS is EMV compliant, the liability for fraud moves to the merchant. What that means is if your merchant swipes a chip card and the transaction is fraudulent, there is no discussion, the merchant WILL eat that charge. Depending on the merchant, they may be willing to take the risk, but we as professionals should make sure they know what that risk is.
Will English - bio size
About the Author: William English, who you may know as ‘Will’, is President of English Management Solutions, Inc. located in San Diego, California. Will’s company has been serving clients across the United States including Hawaii since 2002. Will was one of the first employees Intuit hired when they released the very first version of QuickBooks, then a DOS based product.