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After beefing up its bill-payment services through two acquisitions in 2013, ACI Worldwide Inc. is now turning its attention to fraud prevention. The Naples, Fla.-based payments-software firm on Monday announced that it plans to buy prominent e-commerce fraud-detection and prevention services provider Retail Decisions Plc (ReD) for $205 million in …
Read More »Twitter, Facebook Make Payments Moves, But Do They Threaten Payments Firms?
Twitter Inc. and Facebook Inc. both made moves in the electronic-payments space this week, but analysts question whether the giant social networks are preparing frontal assaults on the payments industry. Menlo Park, Calif.-based Facebook on Thursday revealed that it is testing a “Buy” button that will let members buy products directly …
Read More »Visa Revamps Its Online Wallet, And Gives It a New Name: Visa Checkout
Visa Inc. says its new online payment service, Visa Checkout, should help improve conversion rates for e-commerce retailers by making it easier for consumers to pay. The service, available in the United States, Canada and Australia, enables consumers to pay online on any device, Visa says. Visa Checkout replaces the …
Read More »PayPal Brushes off a ‘Challenging’ Period for Parent eBay, Posting Solid Gains
PayPal Inc. enjoyed a solid quarter of growth despite what eBay Inc. chief executive John Donahoe characterized Wednesday as a “challenging” first half. One of the biggest of these challenges, according to Donahoe, was a data breach that occurred in late February or early March and that led PayPal parent …
Read More »Canada’s Optimal Payments Buys Two ISOs To Gain U.S Foothold in E-Commerce Payments
With an eye on expanding its international payments capabilities, Optimal Payments Plc bought two U.S. independent sales organizations that cater to e-commerce merchants, the Montreal-based company announced Tuesday. n Meritus posted 2013 revenues of $74.4 million, and Global Merchant Advisors $8.3 million. Both company names remain in place, Lewin says. …
Read More »GoDaddy’s Get Paid Integrates Invoicing and Other Business Tools With Payments
Online domain company GoDaddy’s new Get Paid service combines payment acceptance for small businesses from up to three payment companies with invoicing and expense-management capabilities. That caters to demands from merchants wanting more than payment processing, says one industry analyst. Get Paid draws its payment data from PayPal, Stripe, …
Read More »Not Content Targeting Financial Services, Phishers Widen Attacks to New Brands
Online fraudsters are attacking a much wider variety of brands, including grocery stores and Bitcoin exchanges, showing a growing level of sophistication in their efforts to gull unsuspecting customers out of their money, according to the latest quarterly report from the Anti-Phishing Working Group Inc., an 11-year-old organization made up …
Read More »E-Commerce Gateway Services Provider Digital River Flows Into Bitcoin’s Expanding Sea
Payment-gateway services provider Digital River Inc. announced Monday that it is adding Bitcoin as a payment option for its small and mid-sized U.S. e-commerce merchants. The Minnetonka, Minn.-based firm thus apparently becomes the first U.S.-based gateway to support the leading virtual currency. n “Bitcoin continues to attract more mainstream attention,” …
Read More »Beyond Credit Scores: Affirm Launches Deferred And Installment Credit for Online Sales
Transactional credit providers have been few and far between. Bill Me Later launched 14 years ago and was snapped up by eBay Inc. in 2008. BillFloat Inc. started up four years ago and has changed its name to Better Finance Inc. It’s a challenging business requiring close attention to funding costs and …
Read More »Amazon Finesses Payments by Adding Recurring Billing to Its Log in And Pay Feature
Recurring billing is now available from Amazon Payments, putting the online payment service from Amazon.com Inc. on more equal footing with competitors that already offer the feature. n And when consumers update their payment cards, such as to replace an expired card, the update applies to payments made to merchants. …
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