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A Seattle-based startup that has been quietly testing a contactless payment system intended to be branded and controlled by merchants is now marketing the system as a way for retailers to control rising card-acceptance costs. Accelitec Inc. says its PayPilot system, which includes token dispensers, tokens equipped with chip-and-transmitter inlays, …
Read More »The Dark Side of Stored Value: Bad Debt for Web Retailers
The booming business in gift and other stored-value cards, which represent an increasing share of sales for merchants of all sizes, is beginning to have an ominous side effect for online merchants: a hike in bad debt. The prepaid plastic, which carries a fixed value in cash and can benefit …
Read More »Survey: Gift Cards Are Growing in Popularity As Customer Incentives
Customer incentives represent a growing new niche for gift cards, according to the results of a new survey. Of some 68 decision-makers canvassed, 52% said they are likely to offer gift cards as a customer incentive in the next 12 months. Of all industries represented in the survey, restaurants represent …
Read More »Debitman Readies a Stored-Value Card for a Late ’05 Launch
Debitman Inc., a non-bank PIN debit network linking tens of thousands of merchant locations, will launch a PIN-secured stored-value card by Sept. 30 that will bear merchant branding on the front, with Debitman's mark on the back. John K. Lannan, chief executive of the Chico, Calif.-based company, says heavy-duty marketing …
Read More »Prepaid Card Issuers Seek an ‘Edge’ by Linking to Banking Products
A pair of companies specializing in stored-value products for the underbanked population are reaching beyond prepaid cards to extend credit and savings options to their cardholders. Next Estate Communications Inc., which launched its Green Dot Financial Network to support check-cashing and prepaid cards, already offers its cardholders a program to …
Read More »Efunds Moves into Stored-Value Processing with WildCard Acquisition
Efunds Corp. signaled its intention to move aggressively into the burgeoning market for prepaid products today with an announcement that it is buying WildCard Systems Inc., a Sunrise, Fla.-based processor, for $228.8 million in cash. The deal, which is expected to close early next month, will add prepaid debit to …
Read More »Report: Online Gift Card Bazaars Will Grow with the Plastic’s Popularity
Although it's a minuscule portion of the total value of retailer-issued gift cards sold in the U.S., the nascent aftermarket for these cards is set for a boom, according to recent research by TowerGroup Inc., Needham, Mass. About 4,500 cards are currently available for auction on a number of recently …
Read More »Hybrid Plans Are Helping to Fuel Dramatic Growth in Prepaid Wireless
Mobile virtual network operators are finding success in re-selling carriers' prepaid wireless service in part through their efforts to penetrate the youth and elderly markets, which are far less saturated than other age groups, according to a leading researcher. Adding to the MVNOs' ability to pick up new subscribers in …
Read More »Mobile-Gaming Boom May Force Changes in Mobile Payments
The booming market for mobile games is set to overtake that for ring tones as the largest digital-content market in m-commerce, with carrier-based billing remaining the dominant payment model for the foreseeable future. According to the most conservative projection offered by experts speaking this week at a conference on the …
Read More »Visa Reports 18% Volume Boost for ’04 with Drop in Chargebacks
Visa USA reported yesterday its total dollar volume in 2004 reached $1.3 trillion, up 17.9% from the previous year. Total sales volume, or dollars on Visa products at the point of sale, hit $1.045 trillion, an increase of 19.1%, the San Francisco-based bank card network says. All Visa-branded cards in …
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