While social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest develop so-called buy buttons for the ads they sell, third-party developers are looking at extending the same technology across not only social networks but apps, mobile sites, and even emails. One of the most aggressive of these developers, Santa Clara, Calif.-based XpressBuy …

By Dan Leberman Every business owner needs to process customer payments, but selecting a payment processor can be very confusing. To make the selection simpler, get started by identifying and prioritizing the most important factors for your business. Based on PayPal’s own best practices, here are top considerations for every …

Confidence in the security of new payments systems is not high among businesses executives, finds the “Data Security in the Evolving Payments Ecosystem” report released Monday by the Ponemon Institute LLC. In the report, commissioned by Experian, 36% of respondents said they are not confident about the security of a …

Improving online conversion rates, especially for mobile commerce, depends on providing many options for faster checkout experiences. That’s the assertion of the newly released “Mobile Commerce Forecast 2015-2018” from Mark Beccue Consulting Inc. Beccue predicts that global mobile-commerce payment volume will grow from $187.5 billion in 2014 to $744 billion …

  Consumers holding credit cards issued by private-label card issuer Synchrony Financial and credit and debit cards issued by U.S. Bank will be able to use their cards with Samsung Pay, a mobile-payment service available this summer. Samsung Electronics Co. announced Samsung Pay Sunday. It can use either near-field communication …

Online-payments provider Braintree says 2014 was a banner year for the Chicago-based unit of PayPal Inc., with total transactions growing to 2.8 times the 2013 tally. In a blog post, chief executive Bill Ready also said that Braintree’s mobile transactions in the fourth quarter increased to four times the number …

Cover Story By John Stewart Putting the Silk Road and Mt. Gox disasters behind it, the Bitcoin train is picking up speed. But what’s the real destination? If you want to get an idea of how far Bitcoin has come, take a look at what people are buying with it. At …

Endpoint The proposal would do some useful things, but that advantage is outweighed by its—and the Bureau’s—disadvantages, says Eric Grover. Rule by regulatory mandarins is not only unconstitutional, it suppresses payments competition and innovation, and consequently consumer choice and value. On Nov. 13, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released its …

AcquiringBy Jim DalyVolumes have been written about how Apple Pay benefits, or doesn’t benefit, consumers, merchants, card issuers, and even payment networks. But what about merchant acquirers? Train a cold eye on the new Apple Pay mobile-payment service for Apple Inc.’s recently introduced iPhone 6 models and the upcoming Apple …

  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 …