MacPOS Solutions

MacPOS Café Android support

2011-12-04T20:24:00.001-05:00

We have added support in v2012 MacPOS Café for taking orders using Android devices. Using an Android phone or tablet, you can create orders and send them off to the kitchen, bar or serving station right from the mobile device.

MacPOS Café listens for the clients sending the tickets, generates an order and then sends the order off to the designated printing stations.

One of our development and test devices is a 7" Sylvania tablet purchased on closeout for a mere $68! And it works like a charm for this job. Undoubtedly these devices will be dropped, misplaced, abused and even stolen. So it's easy to see why we are supporting them, with it's ease of development and low cost hardware solutions that can be purchased almost anywhere.

And before you ask, yes we are already developing an iOS solution as well, it's taking longer and still needs Apple's approval. We hope you save your iPad for more enjoyable and purposeful things than being at work all day long!

Resellers for MacPOS Wanted

2011-12-02T08:34:00.001-05:00

MacPOS Solutions is looking for qualified point-of-sale resellers and consultants to promote our software products in their region. Sales are booming and the demand to keep up with interested customers is overwhelming our sales staff. We can provide your business with qualified leads for point-of-sale solutions.

Please contact us sales@macpos.com for more information.

Accepting Credit Cards

2011-11-30T09:04:00.001-05:00

Some Tips about accepting credit cards and how the crooks try to intimidate your clerks.

Don’t Be Bullied

Here, the customer attempts to intimidate the cashier by causing a fuss at the register so that the purchase is rushed, which may lead to improper check out. They may tell you that the card won’t read and not to bother running it through – that you’ll have to key it in manually. In such instances, customers have also been known to complain about the service or length of the line. They may even demand to see a manager – anything to keep the cashier’s attention off the authorization of the credit card.

By creating a tense atmosphere, the cashier is often prone to rush the person through the process just to get the customer out of the store. This is when criminal activity takes place. The result is usually a costly chargeback for the merchant.

Use only the authorization numbers provided by your Payment Processor. Never call a telephone number given by the cardholder for authorization.

Don’t be intimidated by these bullies; always take your time and make sure the correct procedure is followed when authorizing the card. You may not be losing a sale by making the impatient customer wait – you may be saving your company the cost of a chargeback later.

Borrowed Cards

Beware of people waving letters of authorization for use of a credit card. Under no circumstances are these letters an acceptable form of verification or authorization. Don’t fall for children borrowing their parent’s card either. Friends, coworkers, and spouses are not permitted to borrow each other’s cards. The only person who should be presenting the card to you is the person whose name is on the front of the card and signature on the back of the card. Most often, the rightful owner gets the statement and a chargeback inevitably occurs.

The Manual Key-In

Often fraud occurs when the thief damages the card on purpose so that you are forced to manually enter the number in the electronic point-of-sale terminal. Fraudulent cards are often damaged in order to bypass the antifraud features that are placed on them – the magnetic strip cannot be swiped and transmitted to the verification center for authorization in the case of a manual key-in.

If you have an electronic point-of-sales terminal, swipe every card that you come across – no matter how damaged or worn. And be wary of customers who let you know right away that their card won’t read. If the card doesn’t work and you end up keying in the number, make sure you take an imprint of the card. If the card is severely damaged, simply ask for another form of payment.

v2012 Matrix Feature

2011-11-30T08:19:00.001-05:00

v2012 of MacPOS brings back the Matrix view that had been missing in our OS X version of MacPOS. It was a important feature of MacPOS back in the OS 9 days.

An example of a T-shirt in different sizes and colors.

Clicking on an item in the list will display the details in the item window.

Track the stock levels, item sales and purchase history, minimum and maximum stock levels for each size/color variation.

An another example showing an iMac in different RAM and Hard drive configurations.

Are you at Risk?

2011-11-30T07:08:00.001-05:00

Is your customer's credit card information at risk when using your POS system?

Watch this short informative video about the steps you can take to protect your business and your customer's credit card information.

Are you at Risk?

Can you afford to not take steps for compliancy?

MacPOS and Mercury Payments provides a PCI-DSS compliant solution with high security encryption to protect your customer's private information.

MacPOS Beta Trial

2011-10-30T08:22:00.002-04:00

We have posted a new trial version of MacPOS v2012.

This trial is compatible with Mac OS X 10.5, 10.6 and the new 10.7 Lion operating system.

Download Page for MacPOS Trial

v2012 is in Beta Testing

2011-10-30T07:47:00.000-04:00

v2012 is the next major update of MacPOS which is now being beta tested by several customers. They are providing feedback on the new version and noting any issues that may arise during the updating process. This version will be required if you need to run Mac OS X Lion 10.7

You will LOVE the speed increases ranging from 5-30 times faster than the previous versions of MacPOSX and the improved User Interface changes and additions makes MacPOS even easier to use.

Approximately 30% of the code has been updated and or replaced with more modern programming techniques enabling it to run on Mac OS X 10.5 - 10.7

We will not be providing a PPC compatible version of v2012. Those requiring PPC compatibility can still purchase MacPOSX v2011 for older Macs and OS X 10.3 and 10.4 support.

This upgrade is Free for those who purchased MacPOSX Pro or Standard v2011 after the release of OS X 10.7 Lion in August 2011. Pricing for the upgrade is determined by the version of MacPOSX that you are updating from.

MacPOS Online Store

Upgrade Pricing

MacPOS Pro
$ 159 - from v2010, v2011
$ 199 - from v1.5x

MacPOS Standard
$ 99 - from v2010, v2011
$ 129 - from v1.5x or earlier

MacPOS Basic
$ 49 - from v2010, v2011
$ 99 - from v1.5x or earlier

New icon for MacPOS

2011-10-27T08:33:00.002-04:00

Now that MacPOSx has been officially rebranded to its original namesake MacPOS, we have given it a new icon.

We hope you like it.

First Swipe

2011-10-22T16:03:00.001-04:00

MacPOS v2012 beta with integrated Mercury Payment Systems credit card processing was placed into a production today and we had our first swipe of the millions to come in a secure encrypted workflow environment.

An existing MacPOS customer performed a successful upgrade from MacPOS v2011 to the beta v2012. Along with faster transaction times and the most competitive rates in the industry they also will be taking advantage of the free Gift Card program offered to Mercury Payment Systems merchants.

The Mercury Payments credit card authorization software is integrated directly into MacPOS software. There is no longer a need for a separate payment processing application. Approval times of under one second have been observed consistently during development.

We are confident that our customers will love the huge speed bump in MacPOS and the extra security that Mercury Payment Systems brings to CC approval handling.

MacPOS Home Page

MagTek Encrypted Readers

2011-10-19T13:05:00.005-04:00

MacPOS
utilizes the MagTek line of encrypted credit card readers for processing authorizations and keeping your customer's information safe.

There is no possible chance of keyloggers or unscrupulous employees stealing or harvesting credit card numbers from these secure devices.

MagTek Encrypted Readers

For customers that want both security and ease of use, the Dynamag Secure Card Reader Authenticator (SCRA) is MagneSafe™ secured and offers a reliable and convenient swipe path with complete security features for the peace of mind you can trust. Specifically designed to meet PCI DSS requirements to secure cardholder data, the Dynamag employs the industry standard, Triple DES encryption. The Dynamag is USB powered. This bi-directional SCRA conveniently makes any existing merchant application more secure.

The Dynamag enables retailers to “future proof” their POS applications with support for both today’s traditional applications and tomorrow’s advanced security requirements. The Dynamag is 100% interface compatible with all traditional MagTek® readers while also enabling advanced security features including card authentication, data encryption, and device/host authentication to be activated when higher security is demanded.

Prevent personal cardholder data breaches without compromising the speed and convenience of your cardholders’ financial transactions with IPAD. The most comprehensive, end-to-end security solution available, IPAD immediately encrypts data at the point of swipe so personal information is never "in the clear." And using MagTek®'s advanced MagneSafe™ security features, ATM, debit, credit, gift cards and more are authenticated using MagnePrint®, a dynamically generated digital identifier already part of the magnetic stripe card used to render any counterfeit or cloned cards useless.

With IPAD, encryption takes place within an encapsulated magnetic read head as the card is swiped eliminating the chance of intercepting clear text data. As a result, the data is never "in the clear," even for a few milliseconds. IPAD's data encryption scheme uses industry standard Triple DES and AES giving you the flexibility to manage decryption services yourself or via an outsourcing service, without the risk imposed by unproven, proprietary encryption algorithms. IPAD uses a 32bit security processor and has flexible data formatting and masking capabilities for maintaining compatibility with existing software.

The IPAD is a multi functional handheld POS terminal with keypad input, graphics display output on a 128x64 pixel screen, and magnetic card stripe reading with the included Magnesafe SCRA peripheral. The product is built around a secure, low powered SOC featuring a 96 MHz MIPS32 4KSD RISC processor with included RAM and Flash memory, USB 2.0 full speed connectivity, real-time clock, and battery-powered security protections. Optional keyboard emulation interface to facilitate ease of integration.

PCI-DSS compliance

2011-10-19T08:32:00.000-04:00

MacPOS is now integrated with Mercury Payment Systems E2E PCI-DSS compliant credit card payment processing system.

Mercury Payment Systems

E2E: End-to-End Encryption secures card data the instant a card is swiped

E2E secures card data by encrypting it at the instant a card is swiped or manually keyed, and keeps it encrypted throughout the transaction. End-to-end encryption reduces the number of systems handling sensitive card data. When encrypting card readers are combined with support from a payment gateway or payment processor, sensitive cardholder data – and the PCI requirements to protect it – are eliminated from the point-of-sale (POS) system.

Today’s POS Systems
Today’s POS systems handle sensitive card data in plain text when it is initially entered. Modern malicious software is designed to steal credit card data by intercepting it as it is passed from peripherals, such as magnetic card readers and keyboards. Malware will even steal card data out of the computer RAM being used by the POS software.
Today’s POS systems also store card data. If the data is not protected according to the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), all the stored credit card data is vulnerable to theft. Depending on the POS design and configuration, this could mean all the credit cards processed since the system was first installed. MacPOS does not store credit card data.

The E2E Alternative
E2E helps remove the entire POS and merchant network from the scope of PCI by eliminating plain text card data. This eliminates the need for complex and costly development of payment applications according to PA-DSS requirements.

With end-to-end encryption, credit card data is encrypted in a specialized card reader before passing it to the POS system. Mercury® uses a device that encrypts both swiped and manually entered card numbers. The data is not decrypted until it reaches our processing servers. Businesses using E2E never handle plain text cardholder data and have no way to retrieve it. If their systems are compromised, the data that is stolen is useless in its encrypted form and is considered out of scope of PCI compliance.

• Significantly reduce risk and PCI compliance requirements
• Simplify PCI compliance for merchants
• Reduce the cost of PCI compliance for merchants
• Provide the best overall card data security

Mercury Payments Certification

2011-08-06T11:50:00.000-04:00

Crossman Software has received certification for credit and debit card transactions from Mercury Payments Systems. We hope to complete certification for PrePaid [Gift] cards within the next week.

MacPOS v2012 will support E2E [end-to-end] encryption of credit card information providing you with a complete PCI-DSS point-of-sale credit card processing solution.

OS X Lion 10.7

2011-07-20T19:15:00.003-04:00

MacPOSx v2011 is not compatible with OS X 10.7 Lion

Do not Install Lion on your Mac if you are using MacPOSx v2011 or earlier.

MacPOSx runs on OS X 10.3 - 10.6 Intel and PPC Macs

MacPOS v2012 runs on OS X 10.5 - 10.7 Lion on Intel Macs only.

A new version of MacPOS, with a whole new look and features is due for general release very soon. Currently it is in beta testing.

We are also testing the various hardware drivers in OS X 10.7 and we will report on those after all of the testing is complete.

Please wait until everything has been tested to ensure 100% compatibility. OS X Lion most certainly will need an update before it too is a stable OS and all the bugs are worked out.

July update Posted

2011-07-20T12:19:00.001-04:00

The July update of all versions of MacPOS has been posted.

This version is recommended for all users.

E-commerce and MacPOS

2011-01-11T18:35:00.002-05:00

MacPOS Professional now integrates with X-Cart shopping cart software. Update online stock quantities from within MacPOS. Import online orders into MacPOS to process orders or record item sales.

MacPOS Pro and XCart work together to track your inventory. Make price changes, description updates and stock quantity updates to your online shopping cart inventory database.

We will assist you in setting up your online store and getting it working with MacPOS or you can roll your own solution.

Give us a call or send an email and we can get started in providing you with the solution to integrate your retail POS and online sales.

New features in v2011

2011-01-04T16:20:00.004-05:00

Below is a list of some of the new features in MacPOS

Update to v2011 in our online store and get free updates of MacPOS software throughout 2011

MacPOS Standard $59 Update

MacPOS Professional $79 Update

Improved customer loyalty functions
Points/Reward functionality
Improved customer credits payment handling
Integration to XCart online e-commerce store
Time clock software to track employee time
New sales transaction reports
Faster sales transaction reporting by a specific date range
Instant sales reporting for a past date
Much faster Post and print operation
Automatic session control by day
Faster network database access
Daily sales view by hour
Separate database list windows for contacts and items
New customer lookup and start a sale
Improved Physical inventory count and update stock
Improved importing
Copy line items on an order
Paste items on an order
Multiple item selection for deletion on orders
Custom label sizes
Faster screen updating of database window
Improved handling of clerk log on using magnetic cards
Swipe a card and start a sale for a clerk
Submit credit card transactions for Pre-authorizations
Gift Cards support for First Data merchant processor
Split orders
Combine orders
Many new TouchKey features
Enhanced onscreen virtual keyboard
New toolbar icons for larger resolution monitors
Audit logging to system.log when changing sensitive information
Improved Security features
FTP upload to remote server of day end reporting
FTP download product pricing and stock levels
Database access to URLs, web archives, PDF, PNG or any QuickTime compatible file
Item component updating when master item is sold
Display choices for an item after selection in the TouchPad
Improved layout editor features
Fast pay and check out TouchKeys
New transparent backdrop window causes data input windows to standout
Price, stock level, discounts changes made are written to system.log