Strategies By John Stewart Thanks to new players, new tech, and new data sources, access to funding has never been so plentiful for small but growing merchants. The payments industry often celebrates small merchants as the breeding ground of transaction growth. After all, as they start up, they offer new …

  Apple Pay made it famous, but the technology to mask card credentials isn’t new. Now, though, a battle is brewing over standards, fees, and just who gets to do the tokenizing. In the world of payments, having no value has become very valuable. The payments industry is quickly evolving …

New technology is finally bringing the humble—but necessary—consumer transaction record into the digital economy. Since point-of-sale technology was first introduced, it has seen steady improvements in capability and sophistication. The last five years in particular have brought many breakthroughs in convenience, mobility, loyalty, and security, redefining the shopping experience and …

Over the past several years, during his conference calls with analysts to review Discover Financial Services’ quarterly earnings, chief executive David W. Nelms occasionally took swipes at Visa Inc.’s efforts to maintain its dominant debit card market share in the wake of the Durbin Amendment, which severely undercut Visa’s Interlink …

  Consumers want gift cards this holiday season, but are reluctant to ask for them, finds a survey from CashStar Inc., a Portland, Maine-based company that specializes in e-coupons and digital gift cards. Meanwhile the National Retail Federation forecasts that consumers will spend $31.74 billion on gift cards this holiday …

Three years after the Durbin Amendment took effect, the law’s painful impact on the cost of selling soda, candy, newspapers, and other small-ticket items remains an issue. And things may stay that way unless the newly elected Congress acts after taking office at the turn of the year, observers say. …

  Merchant-services provider Swipely Inc. says it is now managing more than $4 billion in annual sales generated by its restaurant, hospitality, and retail clients, representing a four-fold increase over 2013, the company says. Providence, R.I.-based Swipely chief executive Angus Davis says the company’s three-pronged sales approach helps. In addition …

USA Technologies Inc. on Friday announced it had secured a three-year agreement with Visa Inc. that will allow the supplier of payments technology for vending machines to continue receiving favorable small-ticket interchange pricing from the network. In the announcement, contained in a brief regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange …

  Bitcoin wallet provider Coinbase has launched a “tip” button to enable Coinbase users to make micropayments to Web-site owners. San Francisco-based Coinbase says the button can be used to make one-click payments. The default amount is 300 bits, or about 10 cents this week. Senders can choose other amounts, …

  Digital wallets, especially when used for mobile commerce, are gaining increasing favor among consumers, finds a report from the Adobe Digital Index, a research unit of Adobe Systems Inc., which carries implications for acquirers and payment gateways. In a survey of 400 U.S. consumers, Adobe found that the number …