For events with existing or planned e-commerce processing software, IEEE offers the use of its established merchant account, allowing the event to accept payments by debit or credit cards with the highest levels of security to minimize any risks or liabilities to your conference and your attendees.

What is the IEEE Merchant Lending Program?

The program connects events' credit card processing application to the established IEEE merchant account, providing the ability to process credit card purchases safely and easily.

You will get access to IEEE’s discounted rates with no additional transaction costs or hidden fees, plus immediate access to funds when utilizing an IEEE NextGen account. IEEE also handles the PCI Compliance requirements, ensuring cardholder security and transactions are safe.

Starting an IEEE Merchant Lending account is quick and easy: Simply fill out the online form, which can be done in ten minutes or less. Sensitive personal information that could affect your individual finances or credit rating will not be collected. Using IEEE’s established Merchant Account Program for credit card processing will save you time and frustration associated with signing up for a merchant account at your local bank.
 

Transfers/payments to your account

Proceeds will be automatically transferred securely into your IEEE NextGen account on a daily basis. You will be able to see daily batches of credit card transactions and associated fees on the NextGen bank statement within 48 hours of processing the transaction.

Credit card processing fees

Standard payment schedules and fees are used for the Merchant Lending Program.

Some features of IEEE NextGen (US):

  • No administration fees
  • Credit card transactions and fees display in your statement within 48 hours of processing the transaction
  • Current credit card rates charged by bank, currently set at: Visa/Mastercard/Discover/AMEX – 3% of the transaction, fees taken out daily
  • Credit card transaction fees are returned with refunds

Software compatibility and payment card industry (PCI) requirements

IEEE Credit Card Processing can only be used with credit card processing software that is compatible with the First Data Corporation (FDC Nashville) platform, such as Authorize.net, available to PCI certified compliant registration management companies.

All IEEE credit card processing services follow Payment Card Industry (PCI) standards to protect cardholder information and to minimize credit card fraud. If not using a PCI certified compliant registration management company, volunteers can still use credit card processing if the following apply:

  • Credit card information is not being stored on any registration system.
  • Credit card processing software is PCI compliant (certificate of compliance must be provided to IEEE).
  • Credit card information is stored only on the software company's servers if PCI compliant.
  • The volunteer only has access to the last 4 digits of the credit card information.

Keeping credit card information secure

IEEE provides a set of best practices for keeping your cardholder data secure. You should review and share these guidelines with all your volunteers.

Review tips for keeping credit card information secure

How the IEEE Merchant Account works

Credit card processing software is set up by the conference or IEEE geographic/organizational unit. IEEE Treasury will then provide the merchant account information that is needed to set up the credit card processing software.

You must review and agree to the best practices.

Follow these steps to set up credit card processing:

  1. Set up an IEEE NextGen account (or provide an existing account number).
  2. Select a payment gateway provider (IEEE recommends PayFlowPro, Authorize.net, and Cybersource).
  3. Apply for the IEEE Merchant Lending Program.
  4. Supply IEEE with PCI compliance certification. IEEE verifies the compliance, approves the application, and provides a merchant terminal ID.
  5. Connect merchant terminal ID and gateway provider information to a credit card processing application.
  6. Accept credit card transactions.
  7. Receive payments and review account statements.
     

Who to contact at IEEE

If you have any questions about the IEEE Merchant Lending Program please contact merchantaccount@ieee.org.

Interested in IEEE Conferences, Events & Experiences (CEE) registration services? Please contact mce-services@ieee.org or submit an inquiry.