Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
With chargeback rates running well in excess of 1% on Internet transactions, Visa International and MasterCard International have for some time been pushing a form of online cardholder authentication, called 3D Secure, that is intended to make cardholders, issuers, acquirers, and merchants feel confident that Web payments are legitimate. But …
Read More »A Survey Shows How Fears of ID Theft Undermine Web Transactions
A survey of consumers released today reveals that while most say they are more informed about identity theft, they feel no safer from it than they did a year ago, and more consumers are reluctant to give online retailers personal data than was the case last year. The survey of …
Read More »MyDoom Hardly Makes a Dent in Web Performance
MyDoom, characterized by many experts as one of the most virulent viruses ever to hit the Internet, has had only a slight impact on Web transaction speed and page availability, according to Keynote Systems Inc., a San Mateo, Calif., company that measures Web site performance. Keynote analysts credit the nature …
Read More »A New Online Processor Charts An Ambitious Course
Digency Inc., an El Dorado Hills, Calif.-based third-party processing startup specializing in Internet payments, has begun processing transactions for a handful of merchants and now looks to execute an ambitious business plan that calls for the company to earn $13 million in fee revenue in 2004 from some 240 online …
Read More »Record Online Spending Brings Record Strains
The record transaction volume recorded online this holiday shopping season also put record strains on Web sites' ability to handle the load. According to data from Keynote Systems Inc., a San Mateo, Calif.-based site-performance management company, both response time and success rate for Web transactions improved in the week ending …
Read More »Wal-Mart’s 88-Cent Siren Song
The market for ultra-low-ticket song downloads from online music stores continues to heat up. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has launched a service on its Web-based operation, Walmart.com USA LLC, that offers single songs for 88 cents, or 11 cents cheaper than what has become the 99-cent standard price for songs available …
Read More »Special Report: Online Fraud’s Hidden Impact
Separate studies of online transaction fraud released this week cast new light on the problem of fraudulent Web transactions. The rate of online fraud is declining, according to a survey of online merchants conducted in October by CyberSource, Mountain View, Calif., a processor of online transactions. But indirect costs resulting …
Read More »Micropayments Could Hit 10% of All POS Transactions
Transactions amounting to $10 or less could potentially amount to at least 10% of all point-of-sale payment transactions processed annually in North America, a bonanza of transaction volume that goes a long way toward explaining why giant card companies and small startup processors alike are chasing the so-called micropayments market. …
Read More »A Cryptographer Says He Holds the Key to a Digital Currency
The dream of a digital currency, a form of money invented just for electronic transactions and just as anonymous as cash in the physical world, is at least as old as the original concept of the Mondex smart card 10 years ago. Next came Cybercash, Digicash, Beenz, Flooz, and others. …
Read More »Survey: Better Content Might Ignite Online Micropayments
A survey released today at a conference on micropayments reveals the extent to which Americans are willing to buy content from Web sites at prices measured in the pennies. Extrapolations from the survey show that 4 million Americans made micropayments for digital content costing $2 and under in the past …
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