Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
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 …
Read More »Startup Travel Portal Gives PayPal a New off-eBay Channel
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 …
Read More »Report: Online Gift Card Bazaars Will Grow with the Plastic’s Popularity
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 …
Read More »Wireless ATMs May Not Be Just for Mobile Markets Any More
Some ATM experts are expecting the number of wireless terminals to increase in coming years, and not just for mobile applications like flea markets and fairs. Fixed-location deployments, such as retail stores, may increasingly adopt untethered ATMs because of their TCP/IP connections through readily available public cellular networks and their …
Read More »MobileLime Looks to Pending Major Deals for National Expansion
Boston-based Vayusa Inc., which markets its m-commerce service under the name MobileLime, has had discussions with a national retailer and restaurant chain about offering its m-commerce network nationally. If successful, the deals could pave the way for MobileLime to reach the 172 million or so mobile users in the U.S. …
Read More »PNC Uses Windows to Deliver Ads And Coupons to C-Store ATMs
The advent of ATMs running Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating system is making it easier for banks, retailers, and other machine deployers to add revenue-generating features to the machines, including advertising. PNC Corp., a Pittsburgh-based bank, has found success in introducing advertising and couponing capability as it swaps out older ATMs …
Read More »Remittance Cards Will Top 1 Million in 2006, New Report Says
The number of Visa- and MasterCard-branded money-transfer cards issued in the U.S. will reach 1.1 million in 2006, up from 400,000 this year and just 145,000 in 2004, according to a new research study on the remittance market. The jump in the number of the prepaid cards follows the increasing …
Read More »A BioPay-Pay By Touch Patent Tiff Takes a New Twist
A simmering patent feud between rival biometric transaction processors BioPay LLC and Pay By Touch has taken another twist with Pay By Touch's acquisition of a patent covering check-cashing services, BioPay's core business. In a news release it issued last week, Pay By Touch claimed its competitor had tried to …
Read More »NACHA Survey: Most Consumers Are Familiar, Comfortable with ARC
A majority of consumers who routinely pay their bills with checks are familiar with the process of accounts receivable conversion, or ARC, and better than half express no objection to the process, according to a survey conducted for the National Automated Clearing House Association, Herndon, Va. ARC is a relatively …
Read More »Why Piggly Wiggly Decided to Roll Out Biometric Payments
Piggly Wiggly Carolina Co.'s decision to roll out a biometric payment system to all 85 stores in its chain was driven by both transaction-cost savings and customer interest, a senior executive for the Charleston, S.C.-based grocer says. In related news, Pay By Touch, the San Francisco-based company whose system Piggly …
Read More »