Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
While 2007-08 holiday-season spending overall fell short of expectations, e-commerce sales soared, according to final numbers compiled by Dallas-based processor Chase Paymentech Solutions LLC. Ten online merchants for which Chase Paymentech processes transactions saw their total traffic jump 29% for the season, to 108.4 million transactions. Dollar volume grew at …
Read More »A Pared-Down Pay By Touch Takes Bids for ‘Non-Core’ Units
Biometric-authentication and loyalty-services technology provider Pay By Touch is in bankruptcy, has cut costs drastically, and is shopping some of its subsidiaries, but the company's former chief executive–who is now a member of the firm's newly constituted board of directors–says Pay By Touch is solid at its core. “This company …
Read More »EC Ruling on MasterCard Interchange Could Foster Regulation in the U.S.
A European Commission ruling that MasterCard Worldwide's interchange-fee structure is illegal in that region will affect relatively few transactions in Europe but could encourage regulators?including those in the U.S.?to act on interchange, among other bleak implications for bank and network executives. “On balance, the EC decision is negative,” says Eric …
Read More »Eye on Gift Cards: A First Data Glitch Strikes the Day After Christmas
A day-after-Christmas processing glitch at First Data Corp.'s ValueLink unit, a processor of prepaid card transactions, delayed gift card authorizations at some stores belonging to Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and other, unnamed merchants. While statements released by both Wal-Mart and First Data indicate the problem was fixed Wednesday, the snafu couldn't …
Read More »AmEx Takes a Leaf from Discover’s Acquiring Strategy?with a Twist
Taking a cue from Discover Financial Services, travel-and-entertainment card leader American Express Co. on Monday said that it had enlisted processor First Data Corp. to book new small and mid-size merchants. But unlike Discover's recent pacts with First Data and other big merchant processors that involved sales of Discover-owned merchant …
Read More »A New Web Site Seeks to Broaden the Market for Merchant Portfolios
Seeking to create a more fluid market for merchant portfolios, two entrepreneurs have created a Web site to showcase assets and broker deals. Boston-based Merchantportfolios.com, which went live about a month ago, is attracting what Lane Gordon, one of the partners, refers to as a “double-digit” number of users browsing …
Read More »Study Assails Corrosive Effects of Free Terminals on Acquiring Profits
The practice of giving away point-of-sale payment terminals, which started out as a tactic to attract salespeople, has become a huge phenomenon in the merchant-acquiring business that threatens the profitability of many industry firms, particularly smaller independent sales organizations more reliant on hardware revenues than larger acquirers. That's the conclusion …
Read More »TJX’s Settlement with Visa Casts Light on Murky World of PCI Penalties
The settlement The TJX Cos. and Visa Inc. announced Friday not only shows the retailer is well on its way to disposing of the myriad problems arising out the intrusion into its computer system that potentially compromised nearly 100 million credit and debit cards, but it also gives a rare …
Read More »18 Months on, Discover Says Its Acquirer Program Is on Target
Nearly a year and a half after first enlisting bank-card merchant acquirers to sign small and mid-size merchants for Discover acceptance, Discover Financial Services LLC says the program is doing just what the company intended. “We’ve seen excellent results,” Matt Johanson, vice president of acquirer relations at Riverwoods, Ill.-based Discover, …
Read More »Heartland Sues Micros, Chase Paymentech over Restaurant Transactions
A courtroom food fight of sorts has broken out between big merchant processor Heartland Payment Systems Inc. and a leading hospitality-industry technology provider supported by a network gateway owned by No. 1 merchant acquirer Chase Paymentech Solutions LLC. Princeton, N.J.-based Heartland today said it has filed a federal antitrust lawsuit …
Read More »