Page 8 - Blog

UPDATED 6.21.2017

ParadoxLabs, whose payment extensions power over $1 billion in annual transactions and are trusted by thousands of Magento merchants around the world, is excited to announce the release of our new Stripe for Magento 2 extension.

Launching publicly in 2011, Stripe has become a force in the online payments arena. With no setup or monthly service charges, and instead taking a simple-to-understand calculation (2.9% + $.30) per transaction, Stripe is has quickly become one of the most used payment gateways in the world. It ranks second globally only to PayPal, and is used by thousands of clients, including some major players like Target, Blue Apron, Warby Parker, and Lyft.

The latest release from our payment gateway experts at ParadoxLabs, the new Stripe extension allows for full integration between Stripe and Magento 2. This extension saves credit card data, giving returning customers the convenience of stored credit cards and rapid checkout. It also allows your staff to quickly

If you have a website that accepts online payments, this affects you.

The PCI Security Standards Council is requiring all payment processors and merchants to move to TLS 1.2 and above by June 30, 2018. "But that’s a year away," you’re saying; "why should I care now?" Well, PCI recommends switching as soon as possible, and several major payment gateways are heeding this advice. PayPal and Braintree will be requiring TLS 1.2 by June 30, 2017, and disabling all older protocols (SSL v3, TLS 1.0, and TLS 1.1). Authorize.Net will be following suit and disabling everything below TLS 1.2 September 18, 2017. That means if you use PayPal or Braintree with your eCommerce store, you must ensure your server supports TLS 1.2 in the next few weeks, or you risk being unable to process payments.

In the short term, your immediate concern is probably to ensure your website doesn’t break when your payment processor (PayPal, Braintree, Authorize.Net, etc.) stops supporting the older protocols. Each payment

Something I try to impress upon everyone here at ParadoxLabs is that we are more than ourselves. Our work and our interactions can have far-reaching impacts, and we’re not just the people behind some websites. We are all partners in the success of our customers, and our staff, and our community.

In a manner of speaking, We Are Magento.

Sound familiar? That was actually the theme of last year’s Magento conference.

From the beginning, Magento’s draw has been more than the platform itself. It’s a powerful ecommerce platform, sure—but it also has more than 6,000 certified developers, 10,000 ready-to-go extensions, and 250,000 merchants running it across the world, all going through the same experience. That means you have a large support network when you get stuck, and a large pool of resources when you need to expand. Everything Magento and its substantial community are today is the result of nearly a decade of contributions by motivated individuals. I’m reminded of Newton’s words: “If I have

Lancaster, PA:  ParadoxLabs is pleased to announce the launch of the newly redesigned 3^rd SPG Veterans Foundation website. The Foundation was selected as part of ParadoxLabs’ Giving Back to the Community Initiative for 2017, focusing on non-profits that support our nation’s veterans.

The 3^rd SPG Veterans Foundation’s mission is to provide financial assistance to former members of the 3rd Security Police Group who served in the United States Air Force. The Foundation also provides financial assistance for the maintenance and security of two cemeteries located on the grounds of the former Clark Air Base in the Philippines, which serves as the final resting place for deceased American Nationals and military service dogs.

The 3^rd SPG’s site was chosen because it was outdated and not able to generate significant attention. The newly redesigned website offers quick and easy access to essential information and features that offer a more comprehensive understanding of the Foundation’s goals.

The days of relying on salespeople to guide our individual customer journeys are quickly becoming extinct as we become more dependent on the Internet. The use of corporate websites, a simple Google search, and reading online product reviews has dramatically increased the scale, speed, and immediacy with which people can find what they are looking for. However, an even bigger player in this change is social media. Through social media, we can interact with brands and companies directly, send messages, participate in online contests, and share our personal interests and reviews of products. As customers, social media has given us the power to control our journey.

Social media’s impact on eCommerce is massive, and it has its metaphorical hand in most of the new customer journey. Think about this: starting from how a customer first interacts with a brand, to the checkout stage, to post-checkout, social media is a driving force. Furthermore, social media’s influence has essentially forced brands

How to Avoid the Impending Doom of Site-wide SSL

Updated October 5th, 2017

In case you haven’t heard, Google is stepping up their game on unencrypted websites, and your store very likely will be affected. Back in September 2016, Google announced that its Chrome browser would begin marking any non-SSL pages containing passwords or credit card forms as Not Secure. This has been going on since January of this year.

Google announced that "Phase 2" of this protocol will begin with the release of Chrome 62, and will apply to pages that involve any kind of non-secure user input. This means any field such as a search input, newsletter signup, contact form, login and password fields, checkout, etc, will need to be secure, or Chrome will alert the user that their connection is not secure. Chrome 62 is scheduled to be rolled out on October 24, 2017. The reason this is so important is because typically on every page of on an eCommerce site there in an input somewhere, whether it be the search

Updated May 31, 2017

If you haven’t heard, MasterCard added a new series of credit card numbers recently, the 2-series. In the past, MasterCard BIN numbers have always started with a 5 (like 5424-0000-0000-0015), but that won’t be true anymore. Starting this year, MasterCard is issuing cards in the 22-27 range (like 2221-0012-3412-3456).

MasterCard requires all merchants to accept the new card numbers, and you could already be losing customers if you don’t. In June 2017, they will start testing merchants and ATMs to verify the new credit cards are accepted, and fine businesses that don’t.

The official deadline is June 30^th, but we’ve heard some companies receiving letters threatening fines for non-compliance starting May 1^st. Either way, verifying MasterCard 2-series compliance should be a high priority for all businesses—every person holding one is a potentially lost sale.

For more information on the changes, see the MasterCard info page: https://www.mastercard.us/en-us/issuers/get-support/2-series-bin-expansion.html

When building an eCommerce store, merchants usually try to make their site as attractive and easy to use as possible. However, many do not take accessibility for individuals with disabilities into consideration. According to the CDC, 53 million Americans have some type of disability – that’s 22%. The Internet has become an important part of everyday life and often helps people to live more independently. For individuals with disabilities, however, the Internet can be a frustrating place where many websites lack appropriate and helpful accommodations.

The Americans with Disabilities Act

There are two important parts of the ADA at play here: Title II and Title III. Title II refers to nondiscrimination on the basis of disability in state and local government services, while Title III refers to nondiscrimination on the basis of disability in public accommodations and commercial facilities. There is a fair amount of ambiguity since the ADA lacks clear language and requirements about its applications

Now that I am back on track, I can dive a little deeper into some of the topics that had the greatest impact from Imagine 2017. The announcement our team was most excited about was that Magento will now support B2B capabilities through the launch of its Magento Digital Commerce Cloud for B2B. Magento Commerce Cloud will have new capabilities for shipping, content management, social commerce, payments, and business intelligence. Merchants will benefit from elegant drag-and-drop content management features that make it easier to build rich sites, facilitate social commerce, and leverage built-in analytics to elevate the brand experience. The introduction of these enhancements will enable merchants and developers to help their audiences with seamless, personalized experiences across all channels and phases of the customer journey. Some of the relevant highlights include:

• Expanded content management capabilities: Magento Digital Commerce Cloud for B2B will provide richer experiences, faster:

If you work in eCommerce, you know that Cyber Monday and the whole holiday season are busy times that bring in a lot of revenue. However, this isn’t the only time of year when scores of customers shop online. It may surprise you to learn that Mother’s Day and Father’s Day are also major online shopping holidays. In fact, Mother’s Day is the third largest retail holiday in the US.

Check out the stats:

Mother’s Day
- About 1/3 of customers buy Mother’s Day gifts online
- Overall spending is expected to reach more than $20 billion
- The average shopper will spend around $170
- Over 40% of shoppers will use a mobile device to find a gift

Father’s Day
- Over 40% shop online for father’s day
- Overall spending is expected to reach more than $14 billion
- The average shopper will spend around $126
- Over 40% of shoppers will use a mobile device to find a gift

So how can you capitalize on all of these online shoppers?

Email Campaigns
If you haven’t done so already, start crafting your Mother’s