More banks than ever now levy surcharges on ATM transactions performed by non-customers, and the fee is now higher than ever, according to new data released this week by Bankrate.com, a service of Bankrate Inc. The average ATM surcharge is now $1.60, up from $1.54 in the fall of 2005, …
Read More »No Visa Incentive Just for Contactless, But One May No Longer Be Needed
Visa USA's announcement this week of a new program to foster card transactions in the growing category of small-value payments would seem at first blush to be the bank card network's answer to some observers' long-held contention that the card associations should create incentives for the emerging technology of contactless …
Read More »ViVOtech Boss Predicts NFC Will Soon Enable Payments for E-Retailers
The chief executive of the company holding the largest market share of installed readers for contactless payments predicts the technology, assisted by near-field communication (NFC) capability, will move rapidly from the physical point of sale to e-commerce. Mohammad Khan, president and founder of ViVOtech Inc., which makes electronic wallets for …
Read More »Citigroup Will Brand 5,500 7-Eleven ATMs in Surcharge-Free Deal
In a move that quintuples the number of ATMs in its network, Citigroup Inc. today announced it will brand machines in 5,500 7-Eleven Inc. convenience stores in 31 states. The ATMs, which will bear the Citibank brand, will allow customers to withdraw cash without incurring surcharges, a feature the bank …
Read More »Mobile-Video Demand Mounting Fast, But Right Pricing Model Is Elusive
Despite low adoption so far, video delivered via mobile phones will generate $501 million in annual revenue by 2010, up from $62 million last year, according to a new study from JupiterResearch, New York. A total of 41% of cell-phone users surveyed indicated interest in receiving some form of video …
Read More »Discover Claims Retailer-Friendly Debit, But Details Remain Murky
More than a month after officially unveiling its much-anticipated entry into the signature-debit card market, details of Discover Financial Services Inc.'s debit card strategy remain sketchy. Discover's sales pitch to financial institutions to issue its debit cards is built around its ability to offer issuers an interchange rate that is …
Read More »P2P Market Is Nice, But PayPal Mobile May Have to Reach Merchants
PayPal Inc.'s new payment service for mobile phones, which the eBay Inc. processing unit is expected to launch commercially within a few weeks, will have to offer more than basic person-to-person payments to be a success, one expert observer says. “I think it will need to go beyond just P2P …
Read More »More Aussie Retailers Plan Surcharges for Credit Card Payments
In news that should interest those in the U.S electronic transactions business who are contemplating the possible effects of regulation of card interchange pricing, a new study shows that an increasing number of merchants in Australia?which three years ago introduced regulation of the fees merchants pay acquirers on card payments–are …
Read More »Consumers Put Cap on What They’ll Pay for Wireless Song Downloads
The wild popularity of song downloads has not only helped make a case for micropayments processing, it has drawn wireless carriers into the market with the idea that consumers will pay significantly more than the standard online rate of 99 cents per track for the convenience of loading songs over …
Read More »Nokia Pilots Indicate User Willingness to Pay for Mobile TV Channels
In three out of four European consumer tests of mobile television, more than half of the users said they'd be willing to pay for TV content on their handhelds, according to pilot results released today by Nokia, whose phones were involved in all four pilots. The sums these participants said …
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