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While social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest develop so-called buy buttons for the ads they sell, third-party developers are looking at extending the same technology across not only social networks but apps, mobile sites, and even emails. One of the most aggressive of these developers, Santa Clara, Calif.-based XpressBuy …
Read More »COMMENTARY: Common Errors in Merchant Funding And How To Fix Them
As I see it, there are three main areas of vulnerability for merchant cash-advance (MCA) providers: 1. Incorrectly assessing the risk. What systems do you have in place for being able to analyze and manage your risk? Many MCA funders come into the market with six months’ runway and then …
Read More »Money Taps Are Turned on Full for Payments Startups As a Record Year Looms
The gold rush in payments-startup financing that began about a year ago is likely to be even bigger in 2015, according to the latest report from CB Insights, a New York City-based investment-research firm. Last year set a record for startup funding, with $2.23 billion pouring into new payments companies. …
Read More »Global Payments Set To Debut AmEx’s OptBlue Program for Its Canadian Merchants
Processor Global Payments Inc. says it will offer American Express Co.’s OptBlue merchant-acceptance program to its Canadian merchants beginning June 24. Participation in OptBlue enables merchant acquirers and independent sales organizations to offer AmEx acceptance to small businesses and set the pricing through a one-stop-shopping option when they sell acceptance …
Read More »Green Dot Forges a ‘More Certain Path Forward’ With Five-Year Wal-Mart MoneyCard Deal
Green Dot Corp. late Monday removed a big source of uncertainty about its near-term future by announcing a five-year renewal of its contract with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to be both program manager and issuer of the Wal-Mart MoneyCard prepaid product. But while the deal secures a major source of revenue …
Read More »Interest in Tap-And-Pay Payments Is Not as Strong as Awareness, a New Poll Says
Contactless payments made by tapping a smart phone against a point-of-sale terminal are increasing, according to a Harris Poll survey released Thursday. The survey of more than 2,200 U.S. adults found that the proportion of the general population who either experienced or witnessed a contactless smart-phone payment increased from 17% …
Read More »MyCheck’s Mobile App Climbs in the Tech Race, Adds Twin Peaks as a User
The MyCheck mobile app is gaining some ground in a crowded field of applications that enable consumers to order and pay restaurant tabs. New York City-based MyCheck LLC announced Thursday that the 68-location Twin Peaks restaurant chain will offer its iOS and Android white-label app to customers for payments and …
Read More »As Real-Time P2P Heats up, Acculynk’s PIN-Based Payzur Banks on Network Links
When Acculynk Inc. introduced its Payzur person-to-person payments service two years ago, it saw it as a way of leveraging the company’s virtual PIN-pad technology along with PIN-debit networks to enable faster, guaranteed payments between individuals. n Last month, MasterCard laid down a gauntlet with its MasterCard Send, a back-end …
Read More »With Certification in Hand, Pivotal Aims FlexPoint Encryption Service at ISVs, VARs
Independent sales organization Pivotal Payments Inc. says its FlexPoint point-to-point encryption service for point-of-sale software systems has been certified by its processor, Total System Services Inc. (TSYS). FlexPoint, which launched in 2014 in Canada, encrypts payment data directly on the payment device and sends the encrypted data directly to the …
Read More »First Data Launches Clover Mini, a Compact Version of its Clover Station POS Technology
First Data Corp. has added the Clover Mini to its roster of tablet-based point-of-sale products, the Atlanta-based processor announced Tuesday. The device has the same capabilities as the countertop-sized Clover Station, but in a 7-inch screen. The Clover products offer merchants the ability to add a wide variety of apps …
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