Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
The Electronic Transactions Association announced today new initiatives intended to appeal to individual merchant-level sales agents. Traditionally a trade organization for larger ISOs and acquirers, the Washington, D.C.-based ETA says it will give merchant-level salespeople access to ETA products, services, and conferences at reduced rates. While association membership is open …
Read More »Network Security: One Step Ahead of the Bad Guys?
This week's outbreak of yet another computer-network virus has served as a reminder to the online transactions industry that the networks they rely on for e-commerce?and increasingly for ATM and point-of-sale traffic?are vulnerable to malicious code. Although the latest outbreak, called the “bagle” virus, was quickly brought under control after …
Read More »MasterCard Survey: Rejecting Debit Could Hurt Sales
Just weeks after Wal-Mart Stores Inc. informed MasterCard International Inc. that the chain would stop accepting MasterCard debit cards effective next month, the bank card company has released a consumer survey showing that merchants who reject debit cards risk losing sales. Sponsored by MasterCard and conducted by Harris Interactive, best …
Read More »Peppercoin Scores Another Online Song Merchant
Peppercoin Inc., the Waltham, Mass.-based provider of software to process very small online transactions like payments for 99-cent songs, has signed up another new client in the red-hot market for online music. Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, a non-profit record label belonging to the Smithsonian Institution, announced it had signed on with …
Read More »iPayment Looks to Agent Banks for Growth
Nashville, Tenn.-based independent sales organization iPayment Inc. expects on Wednesday to close on its $55 million cash acquisition of an agent-bank portfolio from First Data Corp. The portfolio consists of 18,000 small merchant accounts controlled by 170 agent banks and generating about $4 billion in annual card volume. First Data …
Read More »Wal-Mart’s 88-Cent Siren Song
The market for ultra-low-ticket song downloads from online music stores continues to heat up. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has launched a service on its Web-based operation, Walmart.com USA LLC, that offers single songs for 88 cents, or 11 cents cheaper than what has become the 99-cent standard price for songs available …
Read More »Peppercoin Signs Blue Note and Goes Commericial
Peppercoin Inc., a Waltham, Mass.-based micropayments startup, announced today it has signed on to process payments for Blue Note Records, a unit of EMI Music Publishing. Beginning in the first quarter of 2004, Peppercoin will deploy its technology to handle purchases of single songs from Blue Note's site, www.bluenoterecords.radioplayer.com. The …
Read More »PayPal Chops Its Fees for Online Music Marketers
Online payments processor PayPal announced today a major reduction in its transaction fees exclusively for the burgeoning digital-music market, effective immediately. In what amounts to the Mountain View, Calif.-based processor's first serious foray into micropayments, it is offering pricing of 2.5% plus 9 cents for online song downloads, as compared …
Read More »Peppercoin Signs Blue Note and Goes Commercial
Peppercoin Inc., a Waltham, Mass.-based micropayments startup, announced today it has signed on to process payments for Blue Note Records, a unit of EMI Music Publishing. Beginning in the first quarter of 2004, Peppercoin will deploy its technology to handle purchases of single songs from Blue Note's site, www.bluenoterecords.radioplayer.com. The …
Read More »Wendy’s Beefs Up Credit Card Acceptance
Wendy's International Inc. announced today that more than 3,000 of its U.S. stores now accept credit cards and that more locations are being added to the program each week. By year's end the fast-food chain expects to have more than 70% of its U.S. outlets accepting cards using its satellite …
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