Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
A downward-spiraling economy is accelerating what had already been a rapidly developing trend for startups to introduce online payment methods as alternatives to bank cards. Indeed, one such company, Miami-based Mazooma Inc., launched a cash-based commercial service on Tuesday with the premise that consumers are looking for ways to buy …
Read More »Pricing Doesn’t Tell the Whole Story About Merchant Attrition
Pricing is by far the biggest reason merchants cite when asked why they left their previous payment card processor, but there’s more to the attrition story than meets the eye, according to a new study by Aite Group LLC. “Pricing is only the proverbial straw that breaks the camel’s back,” …
Read More »MasterCard: Paper Not Opening Salvo in ’09 Interchange Wars
Interchange, the most controversial part of credit and debit card pricing, is the subject of a background paper MasterCard Inc. posted on its Web site last week, just ahead of the inauguration on Tuesday of a new president and his administration. A MasterCard spokesperson tells Digital Transactions News the document …
Read More »Maverick Launches with Merchant-Issued Debit Cards, Prepaid Cards
Processors' experimentation with debit cards is taking on even more variety with the entry of Wilmington, Del.-based startup Maverick Network Solutions Inc. into the market. Maverick, which has brought together a handful of long-time payment-industry executives and received $1.5 million in venture funding in December, expects to begin a pilot …
Read More »Bill Me Later Not Likely to Suffer from Its Ouster from Amazon
Not surprisingly, Amazon.com Inc. disclosed this week that it would no longer accept Bill Me Later Inc., the fast-growing online credit system now owned by Amazon archrival eBay Inc. But at least one analyst expects the damage to Bill Me Later will be minimal despite the loss of access to …
Read More »RemitPro Launches All-in-One Pricing for Remote Deposit Capture
Seeking to expand its market for software and services that allow merchants to submit checks for electronic processing, Omaha, Neb.-based RemitPro Inc. is introducing what is says is the only offering that bundles a check scanner, remote deposit capture software, transaction service, and maintenance in one package for a single …
Read More »Processors Jockey for Position in Fast-Growing Digital-Content Market
While most attention in e-commerce is focused on enabling payments for Web sites run by major chains, airlines, and other hard-goods merchants and sellers of high-end services, some processors have begun to carve out stakes in a corner of online commerce that doesn't get as much notice?digital goods. This week, …
Read More »Eyeing Debit, Visa Posts Its Canadian Interchange Rates on the Web
In another sign of sweeping changes in the Canadian payment card market, Visa Inc.'s Visa Canada unit last week published interchange rates on its Web site for the first time. The posting comes at a time when merchants are complaining about higher rewards-card acceptance costs and expressing fears that possible …
Read More »A New LML Patent Could Bring It a Bonanza in E-Check Fees
A Canadian transaction processor has begun enforcing a recently reissued U.S patent whose long list of claims could potentially allow it to control several of the most popular electronic-check applications on the automated clearing house network. Indeed, if LML Payment Systems Inc. succeeds with an infringement suit it brought last …
Read More »Bling Nation Harnesses Contactless for an On-Us Payments Network
A startup company called Bling Nation Ltd., which debuted this week, plans to combine contactless-payment technology with an on-us approach to debit transactions that it says will cut transaction costs for both community banks and merchants. The Palo Alto, Calif.-based processor is in discussions with five financial institutions and plans …
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