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Credit Card Processing — News
Cookie Profits Rise for Girl Scouts Using Mobile Processing
Girl Scouts of America in Ohio are participating in a pilot program utilizing mobile processing dongles on smart phones have experienced a 13 percent rise in sales last year, according to a report by the Christian Science Monitor. Not having cash will no longer silence a siren’s call — indulgence in Thin Mints and Samoas is at an all-time high, with the Girl Scouts recently have their biggest order of restock in their history. Girls Scouts have previously experimented with credit card machines, but the ones they were utilizing were slow and cumbersome and didn’t yield the results they had anticipated. Good thing they gave it another try! Swipe fees with mobile processing range from 1 to 3 percent and the net profit is deposited directly into a checking account. The process is relatively safe as the phones cannot store the credit card number and the transaction goes through various … Continue reading
Isis Project Seeks Cohesion in Mobile Payments Industry
Isis, a joint venture announced in November 2010 between telecommunication powerhouses Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile, was created to build a mobile payments network for secure, point-of-sale, purchases through mobile devices. Visa, the largest U.S. payment network generating local revenue of $5.135 billion in 2011, along with processing giants MasterCard, American Express, and Discover, are joining Isis; lending their already established payment networks to further the mobile payment movement. The benefit to these processors is a higher propensity for their individual networks being used, and thereby allowing them more revenue through transaction fees. Mobile payments have been the next logical step in the evolution of payment processing, and the result of this venture creates a tremendous benefit for telecommunications because the success of Isis will lead to an increase in economic pressure to not only purchase more mobile devices, but to use them more frequently.
Discover Financial Aims to Penetrate the Rapidly Emerging Indian Market
Discover Financial Services, the last of the four major American credit card companies to enter the Indian market, has announced a partnership with National Payments Corporation of India in an effort to capitalize on the country’s booming payment processing industry. Credit card transactions have exploded in volume by an astounding 58 percent between Q2 through Q4 in 2011 compared to 2010, rising from $9.3 billion to $14.3 billion. Growth expectations are estimated to be between 20 to 30 percent for the new few years. Discover issues its own credit cards, which has prevented it from fully competing with top processors Visa and MasterCard, which conduct transactions on behalf of banks and creditors. But to effectively compete in emerging Asian markets like China and Korea, Discover is teaming up with credit issuers from each nation, allowing them to process payments and diversify consumer options. Discover cards will be accepted at point-of-sale … Continue reading
Update: Global Payments loses PCI Compliance Status
Global Payments Inc., the company responsible for allowing up to 1.5 million (CreditCardProcessing.net had initially reported the number as 10 million, the original estimate) accounts to be breached has been removed from Visa’s list of PCI compliant processors, though the company is still actively enrolling merchants for their services. Critics of PCI compliance have suggested that many processors rely solely on its standards, which they view as a bare minimum security precaution. Others have called the magnetic strips on the back of credit cards into question citing that the technology is dated and allows for information to be easily stolen. Though the situation is believed to be contained, customers with accounts that have been breached are encouraged to monitor their accounts for any suspicious activity. Global Payments Inc. has reported that the breach did not include Social Security numbers, addresses or names and was limited to only North America.
Up to 10 Million Mastercard and Visa Cards Breached
Mastercard has confirmed that U.S. based payment processor Global Payments Inc. has had a security breach, potentially compromising up to 10 million credit card accounts. The Secret Service has confirmed the incident and is currently investigating. Mastercard has taken immediate steps to minimize the damage, releasing a statement Friday addressing the issue. “As a result, we have alerted payment card issuers regarding certain MasterCard accounts that are potentially at risk,” Mastercard’s representatives wrote. “MasterCard’s own systems have not been compromised in any manner.” Visa is also investigating, according to Brian Krebs, a former Washington Post reporter who broke the story on his blog Krebs on Security. The breach apparently took place between in January and February, 2012, with enough information being stolen to produce counterfeit cards. Visa just released a statement, writing “Visa Inc. is aware of a potential data compromise incident at a third party entity affecting card account … Continue reading
Ticketing Credit Card Processing Dongle
An increasing number of companies are joining the credit card processing industry, with small credit card readers that work with smartphones and iPad’s. There are several of these instant and mobile readers on the market, including the Square, PayPal Here, and now, the “At the Door” reader offered from ticketing company, Eventbrite. The At the Door reader is $10 to obtain, but Eventbrite reimburses the $10 the first time you use the card reader to process a credit card. If you need more than one readers, additional At the Door units cost extra. All At the Door card readers can be ordered from Eventbrite. Processing Fees Waived To help introduce their new card reader to the market, Eventbrite has waived the fees they normally charge to process credit cards. For now, the 2.5 percent of the ticket price processing fee and the 99 cent fee per card are waived, and … Continue reading
Use Constant Contact? Consider BluePay for Credit Card Processing
For three years in a row, Chicago merchant account provider, BluePay, has been recognized as an All Star by Constant Contact, for excellence in marketing. All Star companies are ranked according to the frequency of use in Constant Contact campaigns and events; survey completion rates, social feature use and click-through rates among other criteria. To be named a Constant Contact All Star, the company must rank among the top 10% of Constant Contact’s customer base. Constant Contact provides email, event, and social media marketing services to small business owners, in an effort to help businesses create and maintain good relationships with their customer database. BluePay offers credit card processing services including credit card payments, ACH payments, mobile credit card processing, and accounting integration for small business owners.
New Credit Card Processing Option from PayPal: PayPal Here
Many online business owners rely on PayPal for credit card processing, but it’s not as convenient for a business that also has a storefront location or one that meets with customers in person. In order to become more convenient for cab drivers and small merchants looking to accept credit cards through PayPal, the company has created a card-swiping device called “PayPal Here,” that works with smartphones, to accept payments from American Express, MasterCard, Visa and Discover cards. The reader is a great option for individuals who sell direct sales products at in-home parties, or craft fair vendors and similar sales professionals. Many small business owners who already use PayPal to process payments from customers will find the new PayPal Here card reader extremely convenient, as it won’t require another merchant account or bank account. They can simply plug the thumb-sized reader into their smartphones, and accept credit cards and have … Continue reading
SnapTags: The New Player in Mobile Payment Processing
As QR Codes slowly gain traction in North America, their reach is being threatened by a new sleek and sexy form of image codes known as SnapTags. These new displays allow for companies to create scannable images with their logos prominently featured that facilitate communication between advertisers and consumers, and as of last month, even trigger payment mechanisms. QR Code technology, which was created by a subsidiary of Toyota in 1994, had a long road to application from factories and into the toolbox of marketers. Enthusiasts will cite the fervent use of QR Codes in Japan as a testament to their undeniable future application worldwide, but the fact of the matter is QR Code excitement has become relatively stagnant in America over the last couple years. Unfortunately for these black and white squares, they have an Achilles ’ heel — only 1/3 of Americans have smartphones capable of installing QR … Continue reading
Cash Back Popular Choice for Reward Credit Cards
A survey conducted mid-January found that 45% of all offers for reward credit cards in 2011 were of the cash back variety. It’s no surprise that cash back is a very popular option for reward cards — everyone can use cash. Other popular reward cards are for gas savings, airline points, and amusement park dollars, but those are more niche markets where cash is universal. The survey took a look at 19 different credit card issuers with 50 different cash back reward cards. It was reported that the most common percentage of cash back awarded is at about 1%. However, rates can vary from card to card and offer to offer from less then half a percent upwards to 6%. Most of the card cash back offers have a tiered cash back program, with purchases at supermarkets and grocery stores giving back a higher percent, most often about 3%. Gasoline … Continue reading
