Merchant News

Keep up-to-date on the payment processing front with news from MerchantSeek.

• Smart Automation and the Challenges Financial Institutions Face - September 2, 2022

  The shift to digital banking and payment solutions has created opportunities for emerging fintechs and banks to challenge the status quo successfully. The new players enjoy several advantages over the establishment. They have focused and built their businesses on emerging technologies from the beginning. Unlike the incumbents, these new players are at home in technologies … Continued

• Emerging Payment Trends in 2022 - August 25, 2022

  In the wake of the global pandemic, digital payments have exploded everywhere. Companies and individuals have turned to a patchwork of solutions and are now looking for strategic payment options that are more cost-effective and capable of driving positive ROI. The consolidation of payment solutions with better ROI in mind is one of the forces … Continued

• Does Decentralization Play a Role in the Future of Payment Solutions? - August 18, 2022

  The payments industry has been heading in a more digital, more consolidated direction for years. And it looks like it has reached the era of real-time payment rails and payment solutions embedded in various mobile devices. More and more people adopt hardware and software solutions with the industry moving past the stage of credit/debit card … Continued

• Why Have Multiple Payment Solutions? eToro Case Study - June 15, 2022

  If you are looking for payment solutions for an online business, there is a lot to consider. • What solutions are your customers used to? • What solutions do your competitors offer? • Is there a strong business advantage to offer more payment alternatives than your competitors? In this article we are going to look … Continued

• New Payment Technologies: Mobile Payment, Chip Cards… - September 30, 2015

  The merchant payment processing arena has been in a state of flux for the past few years, driven by the advent of smart-phones and a multitude of other disruptive new payment technologies. These trends threaten to reshape the playing field of retail payments, both at the point of sale and online. Our industry, however, is … Continued

• While Interactive POS lags, Retailers Focus on “Omni-Channel” Marketing - September 24, 2013

  Life comes at you fast, as a recent refrain from a popular ad campaign reminds us, but progress in achieving the “Brave New World” of Interactive POS Marketing has not come as quickly as some marketers had hoped. The day when a retailer could envelope a consumer with promotions and loyalty points while he was … Continued

• ETA releases whitepapers with best practices for hyped mobile payments - February 26, 2013

  The Electronic Transactions Association’s (ETA) Mobile Payments Committee recently released three key resources to assist company members and the public at large in assessing the true nature and current status of the burgeoning mobile payments industry. There has been a great deal of attention, some would call it hype, paid to this advancing sector of … Continued

• Visa Expands U.S. Roadmap for EMV Chip Adoption to ATM’s and Debit - February 7, 2013

  Conversions in the payment world are never easy, especially when they are global in nature. Each domestic market is unique when it comes to infrastructure, issuer, and merchant related costs. These complexities have been amplified for the past decade, as separate card markets have migrated to new EMV (Europay MasterCard Visa) chip card standards. Adoption … Continued

• Mobile commerce still has a way to go to convince consumers of safety - February 4, 2013

  The majority of articles in the press these days about payments focuses on the “Brave New World” of m-commerce and how shopping with a smartphone is the newest revolution to hit the marketplace with something called “Integrated POS Marketing.” Efforts are ongoing to tie together everything from ATM’s to social networking sites to collecting personal … Continued

• Chase Introduces Flexible Future Proof Terminal - July 3, 2012

  On June 27, Chase Paymentech, a subsidiary of JPMorgan Chase & Co. launched a new terminal called Future Proof designed to accept emerging forms of customer payments in a single, streamlined device. In particular, the terminal is intended to help merchants accept the EMV or chip card technology now the standard in Europe. Mike Duffy, … Continued

• 8 Things To Consider When Signing Up For A Merchant Account - May 14, 2012

  The process of applying for a merchant services account to enable your business to accept credit card payments can be daunting and confusing. Here are eight things you should consider in comparing account services plans and rates. 1. Method of Customer Payment The primary decision driving the selection of a merchant services account is the … Continued

• New Technologies Driving Payments Away from the Use of Physical Money - April 27, 2012

  According to the findings of a study conducted by the Internet & American Life Project at the Pew Research Center in conjunction with the Imagining the Internet Center of Elon University, mobile payments are set to replace the daily use of money by 2020. The report reads, in part, “people will come to trust and … Continued

• PayPal Here Goes Head-to-Head with Square for Mobile Payment Processing - March 26, 2012

  Early in March, PayPal announced a new mobile credit card processing system called PayPal Here, which combines a smartphone app with a triangular reader that plugs into the phone’s microphone jack. Currently available for the iPhone and scheduled for Android availability, the PayPal Here announcement garnered a rush of sign-ups in the first 24 hours … Continued

• Three Stevie Awards Recognize Sales and Customer Service Excellence at Merchant Warehouse - March 15, 2012

  At the sixth gala presentation of the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, Merchant Warehouse garnered three awards for its innovative industry leadership in merchant account services and payment processing solutions. The event, hosted at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas on February 24, saw Merchant Warehouse pick up the gold for Online Sales Team … Continued

• Visa Exec Decries Security of PayPal “Real World” Trial - February 23, 2012

  On February 15, 2012, while speaking at a Goldman Sachs conference hosted in San Francisco, Jim McCarthy, the global head of products at Visa took aim at PayPal’s new mobile payment system, which the online payment provider is currently testing at a limited number of Home Depot Inc. stores. “I think there’s a real issue … Continued

• Enhanced Security and Efficiency with EMV Chip Card Technology - February 17, 2012

  Although there are many reasons why the United States will benefit from the adoption of EMV chip technology for mobile and contactless payments, the effectiveness with which these devices prevent fraud is a primary consideration. There are no exact numbers to indicate the level of electronic credit card fraud in the U.S., but physical world … Continued

• Greater Security, Flexibility, and Global Acceptance Driving EMV Adoption in U.S. - January 31, 2012

  On August 9, 2011 Visa moved forward with a three-part plan to speed up the adoption of EMV chip technology in the United States. Globally, for both credit and debit cards, the standard represented 40.1 percent of the payment cards in circulation for the first quarter of 2011 with 71 percent of the POS devices … Continued

• New Smartphones Approved for use with VISA payWave - January 20, 2012

  On January 10, 2012 Visa Inc. and Visa Europe made public their certification of a new range of NFC-capable smartphones that can be used with payWave, the company’s aptly named mobile system for point-of-sale payments. The new phones by Samsung, LG, and RIM have been added to the list of Visa-compliant payment products and can … Continued

• The Siren Song of Internet Micropayments - January 4, 2012

  by: Steve Crocker, Founder of CyberCash Article orginally posted on iMP: The Magazine on Information Impacts The Vast (?) Market for Micropayments Would you enjoy making small payments across the Internet? Imagine paying a nickel for a stock quote, a quarter for a news article, a dollar for a picture or a song. Over the … Continued

• Secure Server Certificates - January 4, 2012

  by: AY Software Corporation A Secure Server is a must for anyone who has an online business. Why do you need a Secure Server? What is a Secure Server and how does it work? How do you get a Secure Server working? Do you need special technical knowledge to operate a Secure Server? How much does … Continued

• Prevent Online E-commerce Fraud - January 4, 2012

  by: Curtis Stevens, GotMerchant.com When the Internet was booming, the media headlines were screaming about consumers safety and the opportunity of their credit cards being stolen during the online purchasing process. With all the preventions that have taken place to ensure consumers’ safety, it has neglected the risk of the merchant’s safety from the consumer. … Continued

• 10 Ways to Reduce Chargebacks and Fraud - January 4, 2012

  by: Jim Conley II, MerchantSeek Merchant concern about online credit card fraud and chargebacks is rising at a significant rate. According to the 2001 Online Fraud Report, conducted by Mindwave Research, it revealed that, “41% of merchants say the issue of online credit card fraud is ‘very serious’ to their business.” As e-commerce continues to … Continued

• 8 Real-Life Ways to Reduce Refunds And Chargebacks - January 4, 2012

  by: Richard Adams, MerchantAccountForum.com Chargebacks are potentially disastrous to your business. You’ll get charged a large fee for every chargeback, and if you get too many, your processing account will likely be closed altogether. Either way, the result isn’t great and so the intelligent business owner constantly looks for ways to reduce refunds and chargebacks. … Continued

• Steps To Accept Credit Cards In Your Business - January 4, 2012

  By: Bruce Keiffer President, National Card Systems, Inc Without being too detailed in this short article, the first thing you’ll need to reveal is: 1. What Are You Selling? The reason for this is because VISA/MASTERCARD does not accept every type of business there is. Because of high return and charge back risks, each sponsored … Continued

• Real-Time Credit Card Transactions - January 4, 2012

  by: AY Software Corporation When customers press the ‘Purchase’ button on an order form, the information is transferred to the server. But, what happens after the server receives the information? The diversity of technical solutions is enormous. The solutions differ by price, security features, level of automation, and many other factors. This article discusses which … Continued

• Accepting Credit Cards Online - January 4, 2012

  by: AY Software Corporation Accepting online credit card orders is a must for everyone who does business on the Internet. If you do not accept credit card orders you could lose at least 85% of your potential orders. Most online businesses report that 95% of their orders are through online order forms. Accepting online credit … Continued

• Beginner’s Guide to Ecommerce - January 4, 2012

  by: June Campbell of NightCats.com Whether you call it Internet commerce, or ecom, or ecommerce, or immerce, it basically means the same thing. These terms mean buying or selling something electronically, and the time has never been better to jump in. If you have something you’d like to sell on the Net, new technologies have … Continued

• Boost Your Business With A Merchant Account - January 4, 2012

  It’s a fact. Companies who accept credit card payments for goods and services tend to generate higher revenues than those who only accept cash. According to industry statistics, the average credit card sale is $40 versus just $9 for the average cash sale.* If that isn’t enticement enough, consider the disadvantage you may face if … Continued

• Plastic Fantastic – A Beginner’s Guide to Accepting Credit Cards - January 3, 2012

    Accept Credit Cards… Free! Real Merchant Account – No Leases – NoSetup Fee, No Application Fee, lowest monthly fees – and more! Click here to process credit cards for free with our featured merchant account provider!     by: James Esch THE SOUND OF ONE CARD SWIPING Face it, the cash economy is winding … Continued

• Retail Merchant Accounts & POS Swipe Terminal Guide - January 3, 2012

  As a retail merchant, you should know what you’re doing when it comes to choosing a merchant account provider and a Point Of Sale terminal solution. Selecting the wrong merchant account provider can mean paying high priced leases on a terminal your business doesn’t need, and even paying high monthly fees. Don’t be caught by … Continued

• Credit Card Processing: Can High Risk Businesses Get a Merchant Account? - January 3, 2012

  By: Scott Burke Is your business considered high risk? And can you still get a merchant account? In credit card processing, there are many different reasons why a business may be considered high risk. – First, it may be the actual business industry that has been tagged “high risk”, such as travel, multi-level marketing (MLM), … Continued

• Merchant Account Risk – Who Takes it On? - January 3, 2012

  Joe Thompson/MerchantSeek Have you ever wondered why most providers of real merchant accounts go through verifications and checks on not only your business but also on your individual processing history as an owner (unless you are a 501c3 Non-Profit)? And why approvals can take from 1-5 days for merchant accounts? You probably ask “Why are … Continued

• Merchant Account Interchange Plus Pricing - January 3, 2012

  Depending on your customer base; sometimes the typical bundled Qualified, Mid Qualified and Non-Qualified pricing plans that you’ll find offered by merchant providers may not not best for your business. If you are seeing a large majority of “Non-Qualified” transactions on your statement you may want to look into the Interchange Plus pricing plan. Interchange … Continued

• Merchant Phishing Attacks – Learn How To Minimize Them - January 3, 2012

  Phishing is the term given to a specific fraud, whereby a criminal, using a process of social engineering and/or simply posing as somebody else (for example, an official from the victim’s bank), extracts sensitive data about the victim. The data can be anything from email account passwords to credit card details; anything that could enable … Continued

• Merchant Processing Services for Accepting Credit Cards Online - January 3, 2012

  Summary: Secure merchant processing services allow businesses to accept credit cards, debit cards and ACH payments. This flexibility can improve customer service and increase profits. The ability to accept online payments is critical to maintaining a competitive edge in today’s evolving market. With access to the Web everywhere they go, consumers rely on the Internet … Continued

• Why Contractors and Roofers Should Accept Credit Cards - January 3, 2012

  Contractors and Roofers work in a very competitive and dynamic industry that requires constant change and adoption of new practices that fit the needs of their clients. They are often asked (or expected) to do more on a given job than initially discussed. Therefore, in tough economic times and in a very competitive field, the … Continued

• Upgrade Your Online Merchant Capabilities with a Merchant Cash Advance - January 3, 2012

  For any business that is beginning to handle credit cards online, the process of jumping up to this level of service can be exciting. You are now able to manage a greater volume of business in a much more professional environment. In a single movement forward, the size of your market can grow exponentially. But … Continued

• Smartphone Popularity Driving Creation of Mobile Wallet Offerings - December 20, 2011

  The proliferation of smartphones in the United States is driving a wave of new mobile wallet initiatives, but pundits are divided in their opinion about which firms will take the lead in spurring widespread adoption of the payment method. AT&T, American Express, Discover, First Data, Google, Citi, Sprint, MasterCard, Verizon, T-Mobile, and Visa have all … Continued

• Mobile, NFC, and Contactless Payment Options Expanding Exponentially - December 12, 2011

  Competition in the mobile / contactless / near-field communication payment segment is heating up thanks to the proliferation of hand-held mobile point-of-service (POS) devices and of applications that allow smartphones to function in much the same manner. Some of the major contenders include: Verifone’s PAYMEDIA Solutions, Ingenico, the ViVOpay 8100 terminal by ViVotech, Google Wallet, … Continued

• U.S. Acceptance of EMV Standard Will Change Payment Landscape - December 6, 2011

  Emerging technologies are having a major impact on electronic business today. The mainstream adoption of the Europay / MasterCard / Visa, or EMV standard is a prime example. EMV is a global interoperational standard for integrated circuit or “chip” credit cards. The necessary technology to support this standard is poised to elevate the level of … Continued

• Paypal founder Peter Thiel says: If I’d Known, I Would Never Have Started PayPal - May 25, 2011

  An interesting article with PayPal’s founder Peter Thiel reveals that had he known about the difficulties in the payments space, he would have never founded Paypal. Though we aren’t sure of the specific difficulties he is referring to, this article pretty much makes the point that many payment professionals have been trying to make to … Continued

• Important information on Visa/MC PCI Compliance for Internet Merchants and Merchants that Store Card Data - June 3, 2008

  The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is a relatively new initiative backed by Visa, MC, AMEX, Discover, and JCB to ensure best practices of protecting cardholder data. The PCI DSS scanning requirements applies to all merchants that store or process credit card information via the Internet. According to the PCI Compliance Guide … Continued

• Retailers Want Banks to Store Card Data - October 22, 2007

  The National Retail Federation (NRF) is calling for the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Security Standards Council to stop requiring merchants to store card data. The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is a set of mandatory requirements for protecting cardholder data, which are governed by the PCI Security Standards Council. These requirements apply … Continued

• Cell Phone Payment Processing with Swipe Terminal - November 15, 2001

  AIRCHARGE releases Revolution NPK. Swiped credit card transactions on CDMA networks with the Kyocera QCP-6035 Palm phone. AIRCHARGE has added a new product called the Revolution NPK. The Palm™ OS based solution is built off of the Kyocera QCP-6035 Palm phone that has converged cell phone with PDA, and now credit card processing. All in … Continued

• Implement Multiple Payment Acceptance Faucets - April 13, 2001

  By: Jim Conley II, MerchantSeek.com It’s a known fact that offering credit card acceptance on your website is crucial to your online success. Is it enough, though? In some cases probably, but don’t forget, there are many people who don’t own a credit card. And some don’t feel safe providing credit card information over the … Continued

• Why Retail & Internet Merchant Account Rates Differ - April 6, 2001

  Originally By: Jim Conley II, MerchantSeek.com Updated May 2, 2012: When merchants apply for a merchant services account, they are often drawn up in confusion by the different rates for retail, Internet and Mail Order/Telephone Order (MOTO) transactions. This is particularly true of the discount rate and per transaction fees that apply to these business … Continued

• Profiting From Pay-Per-Click Search Engines - March 16, 2001

  By: Jim Conley II, MerchantSeek.com Search engines come in all shapes, sizes and forms. There are your free-submission type search engines like AltaVista, Excite and Google. Then there are your pay-for-inclusion directories like Looksmart and Yahoo. Lastly, you have pay- per-click search engines. GoTo.com being the most famous of them all, pay-per-click search engines have … Continued

• Be Genuine! - March 9, 2001

  I had no idea what in the world to “talk” about this week for the editorial section until Wednesday night. I frequent a web marketing forum (message board) several times a day and help people with their payment acceptance and e-commerce questions. On this particular evening I had a post directed to me saying my … Continued

• Making & Using Effective Pop-Up Windows - March 2, 2001

  Everyone is familiar with pop-up windows. They are usually filled with advertisements and are usually closed before they even have a chance to load. Most people view them as annoyances and will sometimes even leave the site they are on if one appears. But what if I told you there was a way to use … Continued

• Part 1: Encourage Repeat Sales & Customer Loyalty - February 23, 2001

  There are a few good ways to get repeat sales and increase customer loyalty. The one strategy that I want to focus on this week is starting your own opt-in newsletter. Now don’t cringe or click the delete key. Having your own opt-in newsletter is critical to your online success. That’s one of the reasons … Continued

• Maximize Your Message Board/Newsgroup Postings - February 16, 2001

  Newsgroups have been around since two days before dirt was new. But still today they can be a decent marketing tool for your business. Times have changed though, and just like with search engines, you shouldn’t focus a majority of your time on posting to newsgroups. There are thousands of them out there, most of … Continued

• Make An Announcement - February 16, 2001

  Since this week’s feature article is shorter than what I normally put out, I thought I would combine two great marketing techniques into one issue. So this week you’re going to get a double dose of great ways to promote your website. A few issues back I talked about using news releases to announce new … Continued

• Forget SPAM, Use Direct E-mail Marketing - February 9, 2001

  E-mail can be a very powerful and effective marketing tool, when properly used. Unfortunately, all too often many abuse this great tool by shooting out unsolicited “spam” e-mail to large numbers of people who haven’t asked to receive it. While spam is cheaper then targeted, opt-in e-mail it’s much less than stellar performance is not … Continued

• Going Back to the Basics - February 9, 2001

  With the announcement earlier last week of Go.com (formally the search engine, Infoseek) leaving the Internet and eToys.com firing the rest of it’s staff and packing up, it makes you wonder why so many dot-coms are failing. I have the reason for you, they skipped the basics and thought they had to spend millions in … Continued

• Low Cost E-zine Advertising - January 5, 2001

  Locating effective, low cost marketing techniques that will work for your business can be difficult. More often than not, finding a low cost promotion solution is a lot easier than finding one that is both low cost AND effective. For marketers who don’t have a whole lot of capital to work with e-zine advertising can … Continued

• Making Your First Impression - December 8, 2000

  Everyone knows the power of the first impression. You’ve taken this into consideration when you developed your website. You’ve also heard about how the typical Internet user only visits a few sites each week, and that many times they are referred to new sites by word of mouth. Now think about your website and ask … Continued

• Are Search Engines Worth ALL Your Time? - December 8, 2000

  Chances are this is not the first time you’ve read an article mentioning search engines. You know, the ones that talk about meta tags and keywords and all that jazz to get you higher rankings? Well, is all the search engine buzz really worth ALL your marketing time? I can answer that for you in … Continued

• Is PayPal Safe For Sellers? - December 1, 2000

  X.com PayPal is an online payment service provider. PayPal blew in on the Internet scene about a year ago. Their slogan was “Free safe way to send and receive payments online.” Recently, PayPal instituted a business type of account requiring bank account verification and promising that a verified business account would never be subject to … Continued

• 10 Ways To Improve Your Website Sales Copy - December 1, 2000

  There are a number of ways to make improvements on your website sales copy. You do have persuasive sales copy don’t you? Only about 10% of the e- commerce websites on the Internet actually incorporate good sales copy. This weeks article will focus on 10 ways that you can improve your sales copy. If you … Continued

• Avoid Credit Card Fraud & Chargebacks - November 17, 2000

  Merchants need to avoid credit card fraud at all costs. It goes without saying getting hit by fraudulent orders affects the bottom line of any business. I was reading an article a while back about one of the bigger travel agencies on the Internet who wasn’t able to get out of the red ink simply … Continued

• 5 Ways To Optimize Your Sales Growth - November 17, 2000

  I visit a number of web sites every day and time and time again I see some of the most basic mistakes being made. Even though the mistakes may be small ones, they can have a MAJOR impact on your sales and even your businesses credibility. Today I’m going to share with you some tips … Continued