Eye on E-Commerce: Acculynk Courts ISOs; eBillme’s Walk-in Survey

Acculynk Inc., a processor of PIN debit transactions that take place on merchant Web sites, announced this week it is adding the capability of processing credit and signature-debit transactions as well. The new service, called PaySecure Plus, will rely on processor Elavon, a unit of U.S. Bancorp, to handle credit and signature-debit payments. It will also include PIN debit processing, which Acculynk has been offering commercially for 13 months in a service it calls PaySecure. The Atlanta-based software company, which developed a method that allows consumers to enter PINs online using mouse clicks, said it plans to market the new service through independent sales organizations. “PaySecure allows the ISO community to leverage Acculynk's leading alternative, card-based, bank-sponsored payment type to generate new business,” said Tom Wilkerson, vice president of business development at Acculynk, in a statement. Acculynk officials clearly expect ISOs to give the new service a big boost, and at the same time the company feels it will enhance ISOs' offerings for e-commerce merchants. “ISOs drive significant card volume and value, but very little innovation has occurred in the last five years in this important channel,” Wilkerson said. Acculynk now has agreements with seven electronic funds transfer networks to process PIN debit transactions online, including Accel/Exchange, Pulse, and NYCE, three of the largest in the country. Not all banks in these networks, however, have agreed to participate. The company also says it is handling payments for more than 1,000 Web sites. The company says it introduced PaySecure Plus because online merchants want a single provider for all card-based processing. The new service will offer acceptance of all major credit and debit cards, according to company statements. In other e-commerce news, online payments processor eBillme recently released a survey of consumers who shop online but pay in person at walk-in locations. The results show what could be an appealing customer segment for Internet retailers. Some 55% have incomes exceeding $50,000. The average order value for this group was $251.67, a figure that is markedly higher than that for credit cards. Sixty-two percent own their own home, 69% live in single homes, and 57% are business professionals. Nearly half use a mobile phone to place their online orders. Still, 73% are underbanked or unbanked. “Walk-in customers have long been an elusive demographic that has had limited access to e-commerce,” said Marwan Forzley, president and chief executive of eBillme, in a statement. “It is clear that this can be an appealing market segment for online merchants, one that represents a high order value and a new customer to online shopping.” In February, Rye Brook, N.Y.-based eBillme surveyed 1,000 users of its walk-in payment service, which it started last year in collaboration with processors MoneyGram International Inc., IPP of America Inc., and PreCash Inc. With eBillme, consumers receive an online bill from a merchant after placing an order. They then pay the bill through their banks' online bill-pay systems. With the walk-in service, they print out the bill and take it to the walk-in location it pay with cash. The service includes more than 75,000 locations across the country.