Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
A sour economy isn't hobbling PayPal Inc.'s online-payments steamroller, but the downturn and the seemingly fragile recovery are creating some challenges for Bill Me Later, the online credit processor PayPal parent eBay Inc. bought a year ago and this week integrated with PayPal. Meanwhile, rumors continue to swirl around the …
Read More »A Startup Does Medical Payments on an Online Bill-Pay Model
A new approach to facilitating electronic payments with health-care service providers is being developed by Redwood City, Calif.-based Health Team Inc. Founded earlier this year by executives with backgrounds in online banking and bill-payment services, Health Team developed the HealthRails.com network on concepts similar to online bill pay. Currently in …
Read More »PayPal’s Push into E-Commerce Spurs New Funding Options
PayPal Inc. this week introduced new funding options that allow users to load money into their PayPal accounts with PIN debit cards or with cash, then use the funds to buy products online. PayPal's deal with First Data Corp., owner of the Star electronic funds transfer network, was announced Thursday …
Read More »Glitches with Online Transactions, While Fewer, Still Pose Issues
With the recession driving more transactions to the e-commerce channel, the ability of merchants to deliver a smooth experience from log-in to checkout has been magnified. The good news for online stores is that fewer customers are running into glitches while conducting transactions online. The bad news is that merchants …
Read More »A Google Checkout Glitch Raises Doubts About Alternative Payments
Google Inc. has apparently fixed a weeks-old problem with its Google Checkout online-payments system that prevented merchants from processing recurring transactions, such as subscription fees. While Google says the little-publicized glitch affected only a small number of merchants, other observers say this and outages experienced by other alternative payment services?such …
Read More »A Pitch to Newspapers Highlights Google’s Plan for Micropayments
With the popularity of digital content on the rise, processors are starting to see opportunity in a business that seemed moribund only a few years ago?handling transactions that average roughly $5 or less. The latest entrant, or, more properly, entrant-to-be, in this business is Google Inc., which is working on …
Read More »Wells Brings Remittances to the Internet for ‘Tech-Savvy’ Users
The money-transfer business just got a bit more competitive. Wells Fargo & Co. on Wednesday said it has added an online feature to its ExpressSend service, enabling customers to send money to seven countries from their computer keyboards at any time. “It's in response to our customers' wants,” Steve Clark, …
Read More »Moneta’s Bank-Centric Strategy Gives It a Lift with Online Retailers
Alternative-payments processor Moneta Corp. this week announced the addition of three online merchants to its roster of clients and next week will sign a major Internet housewares retailer, says Guido F. Sacchi, chief executive of the Atlanta-based company. In all, some 20 merchants will be signed by month's end, he …
Read More »New Intuit Payment Service Could Vie for Consumer Transactions
Intuit Inc. has quietly introduced an online-payment product that may be aimed initially at small businesses looking for ways to let other businesses pay them electronically, but could move into consumer payments later on. The new service, called Intuit PaymentNetwork, charges a flat 50 cents per transaction, with no set-up …
Read More »Despite Gonzalez Indictment, No Easy Answers for Merchants
This week's indictment of the alleged criminal mastermind behind the biggest and most notorious data breaches the card industry has ever sustained isn't likely to deter others from stealing card information. Indeed, merchants and processors counting on the charges brought on Monday against Albert Gonzalez (Digital Transactions News, Aug. 17) …
Read More »