Marketing

Atlanta is where J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. will begin its rollout of contactless cards, starting June 1, the bank announced today. Chase, which said last week it would begin issuing the chip-equipped cards this summer in a region-by-region rollout (Digital Transactions News, May 19), says almost 1 million of …

Contactless payment technology picked up momentum with yesterday's news that 7-Eleven Inc. is adopting the technology chainwide and that Sheetz Inc. has completed installations at all 309 of its stores. And, contrary to some observers' argument that contactless payment will be held back by the absence of special breaks on …

Valista Ltd. says it has developed the first software product capable of handling payments for digital content offered by multiple merchants on the platforms of wireless operators and Internet portals. The payments software, which the Ireland-based company refers to as a “revenue-assurance” solution, allows operators and ISPs to manage payments …

Surprisingly sub-par performance by credit card issuers' Web sites may be channeling customers to more expensive alternatives for service, such as corporate call centers, reports a new study by Keynote Systems Inc. The San Mateo, Calif.-based company, which measures Web site performance in various industries, says in a summary of …

United Bank Card Inc., which earlier this week announced it is selling a portfolio of 15,500 merchants to Optimal Payments Corp. for $44 million, said today it will use the cash to add new departments and hire more staff to help cope with rapid growth. Jared Isaacman, founder and chief …

Micopayments processor BitPass Inc., Menlo Park, Calif., is moving into uncharted territory for digital content by enabling payments for episodes of a new film being produced by a studio controlled by Daniel Myrick, best known as creator and co-producer of “The Blair Witch Project.” The so-called webisodes of “The Strand,” …

A Manhattan-based startup company is bringing the concept of check guarantee to the business of processing card-not-present payments. Precharge Risk Management Solutions, founded less than two years ago, has only in the past few months been actively marketing its service but has already signed up more than 1,000 online merchants, …

Having recently agreed to standardize their protocols for transaction-data protection primarily at online merchants, the card networks are beginning to push for improved security of stored data at brick-and-mortar retail locations, as well. The move comes in the wake of alarming breaches of card-transaction data at physical retail stores, including …

Internet transaction processor PayPal Inc. will handle settlement of payments between travel agents and hotels, car-rental agencies, and other non-airline travel suppliers as part of a single-source, electronic booking portal offered by a San Francisco-based startup company. The deal helps PayPal further its strategy of moving more payments outside the …

Although it's a minuscule portion of the total value of retailer-issued gift cards sold in the U.S., the nascent aftermarket for these cards is set for a boom, according to recent research by TowerGroup Inc., Needham, Mass. About 4,500 cards are currently available for auction on a number of recently …