E-Commerce

Real-time payment fraud is on the rise, even before the expected July launch of the Federal Reserve’s FedNow service. Some 71% of financial institutions reported an increase in consumer account takeover fraud using real-time payment networks from 2021 to 2022, according to a February and March survey of financial-institution executives internationally …

PayPal has been known for some time as a major alternative for checkout online, but now the company is making it plain it’s putting considerable resources behind checkouts where its services function entirely in the background. So-called unbranded checkout, led by the company’s Braintree processing platform along with a relatively …

Payrange Inc., a payments provider for the vending and unattended-retail market, announced it has acquired Vagabond, a cloud-based provider of business intelligence for the convenience-retail industry. Terms were not announced. Sales of contactless cards helped payment card manufacturer CPI Card Group Inc. increase overall first-quarter sales 8% year-over-year to $120.9 million, with sales …

Merchants’ price for accepting credit cards has remained steady for years, according to data released Monday by the Electronic Payments Coalition, an advocacy group representing the payment card industry. The EPC’s release comes as widespread and longstanding merchant complaints about the cost of card acceptance have sparked efforts by federal …

Payments processor Virsympay, which serves small and medium-size businesses, launched a gateway that supports Google Pay and Apple Pay transactions along with conventional card and automated clearing house payments. Money transfer provider Paysend said Spanish-language content and media company TelevisaUnivision has become a shareholder in the company as part of a multiyear deal …

Presto Automation Inc., a provider of artificial intelligence-based solutions for drive-through restaurants, is rolling out its voice-ordering system at participating Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s drive-throughs nationwide. San Carlos, Calif.-based Presto had been piloting the technology at select Carl’s Jr. and Hardees locations. Carl’s Jr. and Hardees, which together have about …

GoDaddy Inc. reported payments volume from its various commerce services surpassed $1 billion annualized in the first quarter. The Web registrar has launched a number of payments initiatives in the past year, most recently a service that supports transactions through Microsoft Teams. Thinkific Labs Inc., a platform that supports creating, marketing, and …

Buoyed by Cash App, services, and a move up market Block Inc., parent of Square and Afterpay, generated nearly $5 billion in first-quarter revenue, a 25% increase from $4 billion in the same quarter a year ago. Its transaction-based revenue of $1.42 billion was a 15% increase from $1.29 billion …

Shift4 Payments Inc. is still waiting on approval from European regulators to complete its $525-million Finaro acquisition, but in the mean time the Allentown, Pa.-based processor has been busy expanding in its home market. That expansion includes yet other acquisitions aimed at consolidating Shift4’s grip on the restaurant point-of-sale market, …

Stripe Inc. has expanded its partnership with Thinkific Labs Inc., a platform for creating, marketing, and selling online learning products, to distribute Stripe Apps to its network of instructional course creators. The agreement makes Thinkific the first platform provider supporting embedded payments to distribute Stripe’s apps to its customers. Gaining …