Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
The expected surge in gift cards received this holiday season may cause a problem for online merchants that try to match billing addresses given by consumers at checkout with those on file with issuers before authorizing transactions, says ClearCommerce Corp. Online retailers will usually set their address-verification systems (AVS) to …
Read More »Visa Logs Busiest Weekend Yet for This Year’s Holiday Season
Visa U.S.A. says spending on its cards over the past weekend was the strongest yet seen this holiday shopping season, exceeding spending during the so-called Black Friday weekend after Thanksgiving by 15%. Indeed, Black Friday itself now ranks third in Visa spending, behind the volume reached this past Friday and …
Read More »BitPass Rolls out a Hosted Service for Small Sellers of Digital Content
Bitpass Inc., a 2-year-old processor of micropayments on the Internet, has rolled out a new service allowing individuals and small businesses to sell music, photos, or other digital content without creating an e-commerce site. Palo Alto, Calif.-based Bitpass says it will host the content for sellers and handle payments, “from …
Read More »CyberSource Sees Online Holiday Traffic Peaking Next Tuesday
CyberSource Corp. predicts that the increase in holiday spending online will be about equal with the rise in volume seen during the same time in 2003, disputing the estimates of some observers that e-commerce traffic growth will be lower this year. Growth last year in the fourth quarter was 25% …
Read More »Apple’s iTunes Begins Accepting PayPal for Song Downloads
Apple Computer Inc.'s iTunes Music Store has announced it is accepting PayPal in the U.S. for payment of song downloads, audiobooks, and gift certificates, effective today. The development represents a major breakthrough for the San Jose, Calif.-based payments unit of eBay Inc. and comes a year after the company slashed …
Read More »Two Canadian Companies Begin a U.S. Expansion for Online Debit
Two rival online payment companies in Canada are making moves to expand the market for Web-based debit payments to the U.S. Toronto-based UseMyBank Services Inc. has linked with processors in both Europe and the U.S., while Othentik Technologies Inc., Montreal, has signed a deal to license its software to US …
Read More »Paymentech Breaks into Small Payments with Pepsi Vending Deal
Paymentech L.P. is breaking into the market for small-value transactions with an agreement it announced today with Pepsi Cola North America to process credit and debit card payments at vending machines. Pepsi bottlers have deployed “several hundred” machines in high-traffic locations in the U.S., such as malls, hotels, and casinos, …
Read More »Visa’s Web, QSR Volume Get a Big Boost from ‘Black Friday’ Activity
Merchant channels that are converting to electronic payments, such as fast food, or are heavily dependent on them, such as the Internet, continue to benefit from the impetus lent by the holiday shopping season. Visa USA's credit and debit card statistics for so-called Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, indicate …
Read More »Visa Report: Early Holiday Spending Drives Big Jumps in Transactions
With a month to go until Christmas, holiday spending by consumers is driving double-digit increases in electronic transactions, according to the latest report from Visa USA, which is tracking spending on its cards each week from early November until early January. Total spending on all Visa-branded cards hit $23.1 billion …
Read More »Phishing Sites Multiply, Taking a Toll on Online Transaction Potential
Recent survey statistics document a continuing rise in both phishing sites and attacks, and underline the toll such security problems are taking on consumer confidence when conducting online transactions. In its latest report, the Anti-Phishing Working Group says the number of unique Web sites engaged in phishing fraud jumped to …
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