PCI DSS Compliance

What is PCI Compliance?

PCI is the quick way of saying PCI DSS, which stands for Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard. It’s an information security standard that all businesses that accept card payments must adhere to.

PCI is there not only to protect your customers’ information, but to help keep you safe, too. By staying PCI compliant, you help safeguard your business from data breaches and costly fraudulent transactions.

Does it apply to you?

If your business accepts any kind of card payment, you need to be PCI compliant. Do you use a small business credit card machine to take face-to-face payments? A virtual terminal to do business over the phone? Or maybe a payment gateway for online transactions?

If you answered ‘yes’ to any of these, then  your business needs to be PCI compliant. PCI standards also apply to:

• Electronic Point of Sale (EPOS) systems
• Paper-based records of payment card data
• Online shopping carts and payment applications
• Wireless access routers and store networks

The cost of PCI compliance

The more card transactions you take, the more expensive it is to stay compliant. PCI compliance is much easier to manage for smaller businesses and sometimes comes with no cost at all.

Many merchant account suppliers charge a fee for PCI compliance. The usual charge is between £40 and £60 per year for small businesses. We recommend paying the fee that comes with PCI compliance. It’s just a few pounds a month, and it’ll help you avoid PCI non-compliance fees.

This table gives a quick example of what you might pay your merchant account provider to keep you PCI compliant.