Digital Dining Training and Technology Show

Coming soon we will release the date for our upcoming FREE Digital Dining training. This will be the largest FREE training event we have ever held. Also at the event we will be showcasing new technology for the restaurant industry! Details following soon check at National Business Systems Inc

Credit Card Security With POS and Cash Registers

Interfacing Cash Registers and Point of Sale systems with Credit Card payments is very popular in today's stores and restaurants. There are various reasons for interfacing that I think outweigh not interfacing because so much is gained. However it also opens up some areas of concern that must be addressed by the business owner. Those areas of concern are Credit Card Data Theft due to hacking from outside, and data theft from inside your business. Some theft is just about impossible to stop, however most of those cases are going to be isolated and have nothing to due with integrated or non-integrated Cash Register and POS systems. Those cases include servers or cashiers using skimmers to collect and sell credit card information. Skimming happens all the time in every State and every type of business although restaurants are the primary target of this crime. check out this article about a recent skimming arrest in the Nations Capital

The biggest concern that should be addressed is the possibility of someone hacking into your system and stealing credit card data through your connection to the Internet. Often times the theft can be taking place over months right under your nose! Sometime the theft was initiated from someone on the inside sometimes from a hacker from the outside.

Take steps now to protect yourself. First use only a PCI compliant POS system or Cash Register, second have a firewall installed, third become familiar with the PCI rules and strive to make your business compliant. One large breech of credit card data could cost your your entire business! Please check out this video of a real life restaurant owner who became a victim

Contact us today to see how we can enable your business to become PCI compliant! We offer a managed firewall service combined with PCI Compliance help service called Vendor Safe.

New Sales Tax Rates for Seattle Tacoma Area

So please be aware that as of April 1, 2009 most of if not all of Washington State increased the sales tax amount. Our sales tax here in Kent on retail goods went to 9.5%

The State does not care that your cash register or POS system is not collecting enough sales tax as they compute the sales tax owed to the state on sales, not how much your POS or Cash Register reports that it collected.

Many users can change the tax rate themselves however if you are not one of those you can contact us for help. There is a fee for the service unless you have a full maintenance agreement with us. We can help with Sharp Cash Registers, SAM4s Cash Registers, Digital Dining POS , Keystroke POS, Microsoft POS, Microsoft RMS, some Casio Cash Registers and some TEC cash registers.

To find your rate check with the Revenue Dept. of the State of Washington

POS and Credit Card Security

So here in Seattle just like everywhere in the country Credit Card Security is becoming more of a burden because of the increasing theft of credit card data. In national stats that I have seen 70% of the card theft that occurs in the retail sector comes from the restaurant industry. Most of this appears to come from the inside but also from computer hackers getting into POS systems. So you must take steps today to protect yourself. Why you may ask? The credit card companies take care of that right? NO THEY DON'T. They way they take care of that is making business owners who do not take enough steps to protect card holder information to pay for the damages resulting in the theft of cards from your business. So lets say a hacker or rouge employee steals 100 card numbers from your business, those 100 cards are used to buy $500.00 each of merchandise you just got on the hook for 50K plus the replacement fee of the cards at $25.00 each so another $2500.00 the Visa MasterCard is going to fine you! Yes that is right, you are responsible for this, you agreed when you signed your merchant agreement!

So National Business Systems is offering protection for our customers through the services of The VendorSafe System. The VendorSafe system enables compliance with Visa MasterCard PCI regulations. No one thing can protect you are make your PCI compliant. It is a multi faceted problem requiring a comprehensive solution.

If you are using a POS System in the Seattle Tacoma area contact us to see how VendorSafe can work for you. National Business System can deploy the VendorSafe solution on almost any POS system even if we did not supply it to you.

NBS at the Sysco Food Service Show

Tuesday March 24, 2009 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM we will be at the "Good Things Come from Sysco" as one of their iCare Vendors. You need to be a Sysco customer to attend the show. You can find more info on Sysco here

If you are a Sysco customer you are eligible for special discounts on POS, Cash Registers, and DVR Security systems from us. Contact us and let us know you are a Sysco customer and we will hook you up!

Free POS System Training in Seattle

When you buy a POS system from National Business Systems, Inc. you get a long term commitment from us supporting your system. No system is worth a dime if you don't know how to use it, and we know we will get more referrals from customers who are getting the most from their POS system.

So that does not mean we can offer free unlimited training, but we do offer 3 to 4 free classes per year as well as low cost options available any time of the year.

Our next free class on the Keystroke POS system is coming up February 24 at our office located in Kent Wa. The class is offered for free to our customers and is first come first served. Follow this link to sign up for our newsletter and receive notice of our next for Free POS System Training in the Seattle Tacoma Area.

We also offer free classes for our Touch Screen system for restaurants called Digital Dining. Three to four classes a year are offered every year for our customers for free to learn how to get more from their investment.

Tax Rates for Cash Registers and POS Systems in Seattle

So in King County Washington we have several different sales tax rates that can affect a business. In Seattle and Bellevue and other parts of King County we have a tax rate on prepared food that is higher then our regular sales tax on retail goods. How can this effect your business? Well lets say you are a restaurant or bar that also sells shirts or hats, or maybe cooking equipment, recipe book, etc. your prepared food would be one rate, and your retail goods would be a different rate. I'm not going to mention the rates as I would rather have you check with the county and state! I can just tell you from our experience in the Cash Register and POS systems in Seattle that there are multiple rates!

Also if you are a retail outlet that also have a little deli or snack bar you would need to pay attention to this as well. Lets say you are a c-store selling cigs and beer that are taxable but you also have a deli that sells jojos and chicken! Well I would bet that your jojo's and chicken will be taxed at a higher rate!

Check out sales tax rates with the State of Washington

Our business sells cash registers and point of sale system designed to handle the tax system in Seattle visit our site or give us a call 253-839-9636