Not surprisingly, Amazon.com Inc. disclosed this week that it would no longer accept Bill Me Later Inc., the fast-growing online credit system now owned by Amazon archrival eBay Inc. But at least one analyst expects the damage to Bill Me Later will be minimal despite the loss of access to …
Read More »RemitPro Launches All-in-One Pricing for Remote Deposit Capture
Seeking to expand its market for software and services that allow merchants to submit checks for electronic processing, Omaha, Neb.-based RemitPro Inc. is introducing what is says is the only offering that bundles a check scanner, remote deposit capture software, transaction service, and maintenance in one package for a single …
Read More »Processors Jockey for Position in Fast-Growing Digital-Content Market
While most attention in e-commerce is focused on enabling payments for Web sites run by major chains, airlines, and other hard-goods merchants and sellers of high-end services, some processors have begun to carve out stakes in a corner of online commerce that doesn't get as much notice?digital goods. This week, …
Read More »Eyeing Debit, Visa Posts Its Canadian Interchange Rates on the Web
In another sign of sweeping changes in the Canadian payment card market, Visa Inc.'s Visa Canada unit last week published interchange rates on its Web site for the first time. The posting comes at a time when merchants are complaining about higher rewards-card acceptance costs and expressing fears that possible …
Read More »A New LML Patent Could Bring It a Bonanza in E-Check Fees
A Canadian transaction processor has begun enforcing a recently reissued U.S patent whose long list of claims could potentially allow it to control several of the most popular electronic-check applications on the automated clearing house network. Indeed, if LML Payment Systems Inc. succeeds with an infringement suit it brought last …
Read More »Bling Nation Harnesses Contactless for an On-Us Payments Network
A startup company called Bling Nation Ltd., which debuted this week, plans to combine contactless-payment technology with an on-us approach to debit transactions that it says will cut transaction costs for both community banks and merchants. The Palo Alto, Calif.-based processor is in discussions with five financial institutions and plans …
Read More »Will New DoJ Inquiry Lead to More Litigation for Card Networks?
Recent U.S Department of Justice demands for documentation about the payment card networks' acceptance rules have the merchant-acquiring industry wondering if the networks are in for another confrontation with antitrust authorities. If so, the issue will involve how much freedom card-accepting merchants should have to seek other forms of payment …
Read More »Moneta Seeks Growth in Alternative Payments by Working with Banks
With interest in so-called alternative-payments providers running high among merchants and consumers, Moneta Corp. recently announced a new management team and this week unveiled a strategy for capturing online transaction share from both bank cards and other alternative players. Speaking to Digital Transactions News, Guido Sacchi, the Atlanta-based company's newly …
Read More »A Slumping Economy Hits AmEx’s Merchant-Acquiring Machine
With the economy losing steam, American Express Co.'s lucrative merchant business is slowing down. U.S. card-billed business grew only 4% to $120.3 billion in the third quarter from $115.2 billion a year earlier, and many of the other numbers related to AmEx's U.S. merchant-acquiring business showed little growth. AmEx's core …
Read More »An ACH-Based Bill-Pay Pilot Promises Fee Income to Banks
An electronic bill-presentment and ?payment system that uses the automated clearing house network picked up some momentum recently with the addition of a second participating bank to its pilot program and could gain more as processors serving thousands of banks start linking to the system. Dollar Bank, a Pittsburgh-based thrift, …
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