The battle to win over online merchants with low transaction fees intensified on Tuesday with the introduction by a Montreal-based startup of a payment platform that offers free processing for orders up to $40. UpClick, which started operations about 18 months ago, has more than a dozen software publishers using …

In anticipation of rising demand for contactless form factors other than credit and debit cards, Dynamic Card Solutions LLC this week introduced a product that allows bank branches to personalize key fobs, contactless stickers, and NFC-equipped cell phones on the spot. The product, called Perso-to-Go, complements an existing system the …

The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday overwhelmingly passed a sweeping credit card reform bill that leaves out retailer-backed regulation of interchange. The bill, which the Senate sent to the House Tuesday, includes a Congressional interchange study and could open the door to controls on gift cards. The House earlier …

The U.S. Senate didn't pass a credit card reform bill last week as many expected, but senators are expected to take up the issue again Tuesday. The question for the merchant-acquiring industry is whether the final bill, which is concerned with regulating credit card issuers' most controversial practices, also would …

A new payment system called BillMyParents debuted Monday that aims to tap an estimated $40 billion in potential online spending by teens and preteens, or “tweens.” But BillMyParents' success depends not just on technology, but also on the receptiveness of parents to receive e-mails or text messages from their progeny …

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. paid discount fees totaling more than $1 billion to take credit and debit cards in the 12 months ended Jan. 31. Acceptance costs now exceed health-care premiums at The Home Depot Inc. And TJX Cos. Inc. finds sagging apparel prices make it difficult to recoup acceptance costs …

After losing a nasty proxy fight last week with his company's largest shareholder, the chairman and chief executive of electronic bill-payment technology provider Online Resources Corp. seems ready to bury the hatchet. “I think it's going to work out,” Matthew P. Lawlor, who co-founded the Chantilly, Va.-based company 20 years …

Specialty payment processor BankServ, one of the pioneers of remote deposit capture, is preparing a move into the mobile-payments market thanks to its recent acquisition of the assets of Commerciant LP. Houston-based Commerciant offers merchants wireless payments software and a unique wireless terminal that scans checks and takes credit card …

A payments-focused group of heavyweight merchants is emerging from obscurity to push for new standards to protect credit and debit card data. But just how these standards would complement or possibly conflict with the existing Payment Card Industry data-security standard (PCI) remains unknown. The organization, called the Merchant Advisory Group, …

It's been implicit for a while, but eBay Inc. on Wednesday made it clear that it has big hopes for its PayPal payments subsidiary as the company evolves from its core Internet auction business. “PayPal's opportunity and its niche is to power all of e-commerce,” eBay president and chief executive …