n n n n Inner Fence refers applicants to its ISO partner, Dublin, Ohio-based Merchant Focus Inc., for merchant accounts. The service uses the Authorize.net gateway for access to the payment networks. Merchants pay a $25 monthly fee, plus 24 cents and 1.74% to 3.79% of the sale, depending …

Marketing via social-network tools, long thought to be a feature primarily of e-commerce, is rapidly moving to the physical point of sale as merchants seek new ways to generate sales and independent sales organizations look for ways to differentiate themselves. This move to the point of sale, meanwhile, has been …

  Why Prepaid Cards Need Marketing TLC Regulation, public ignorance about prepaid cards, and negative publicity worry prepaid card executives, according to a recent survey. Researchers from Boston-based Aite Group LLC polled 24 senior executives during March’s Prepaid Expo USA conference in Orlando, Fla., and asked them to rate their …

  Cover Story Mobile-payment schemes proliferate but innovations abound in all corners of the new world of electronic-payment systems competing for consumer and merchant adoption.   By John Stewart, Jim Daly, and Linda Punch       We’re putting on weight. First published in 2009, Digital Transactions’ Field Guide to …

Acquiring Peter Lucas The low margins earned on vending-machine sales have historically worked against card acceptance. But now, with evidence of a sales lift from cards, processors and gateways are pushing into vending harder than ever. It’s a frequent scenario: A family is out for fun at an amusement park. …

PayPal Inc.’s move into the physical point of sale is likely to involve handset-based services that make shopping and buying easier for consumers rather than a direct assault on the checkout counter, according to one expert who follows electronic payments. PayPal will most likely integrate its payments platform with applications …

Retailers, other merchants, and processors are increasingly embracing online and mobile forms of gift cards and related prepaid products as they seek to give customers as many payment options as possible, according to executives who spoke at this week’s Prepaid Expo USA in Orlando, Fla.   “If you’re not in …

Big debit card issuer TCF Financial Corp. might need to lay off more than 2,000 employees to offset potential revenue losses if the Federal Reserve Board’s most draconian debit interchange price-control proposal takes effect, TCF said in recent court filings. Wayzata, Minn.-based TCF also said that its annual revenue loss …

Tuesday is the final day for commentators to submit their opinions to the Federal Reserve Board about the board’s proposed rules to implement the interchange regulations and other debit card provisions of the Dodd-Frank financial-reform law’s Durbin Amendment. Samples from the approximately 2,700 comments that have rolled in over the …

The new Isis mobile-payments venture has recruited some merchants as it builds the acceptance side of its network, the Isis executive overseeing the merchant effort said on Wednesday. “We do have signed merchants at this point,” Jim Stapleton, head of sales and account management at Isis and a veteran of …