Payment fraud and identity theft are issues that retailers and credit card processors have battled for years. One of the reasons EMV became a standard across the US is it had a proven track record of cutting down in-person fraud. And in the years since EMV became mandatory, fraud at retail terminals has dropped significantly. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean fraud is no longer an issue businesses need to think about. At the same time that in-person fraud has fallen, online fraud has continued to grow at a rapid pace. This is something that's affected everyone from small businesses to massive corporations. Because fraud remains a very real threat for businesses of all sizes, we want to cover a specific type of fraud that's becoming increasingly prevalent. Synthetic ID Fraud 101 With the standard approach to credit card fraud, there was generally only a small window of time before a victim realized what was happening and canceled their card. This is why a thief would test a stolen card with a few small transactions and then move to much larger amounts if… Read more

Not long ago, we wrote a post covering why chargebacks happen, along with what businesses can do to reduce them. Regular visitors to our site may have noticed that this wasn't our first discussion of chargebacks. There are a few reasons why this topic comes up on a fairly frequent basis. Not only can chargebacks be a very costly issue for any business that doesn't fully understand how to handle them, but the rules around them change and evolve. In fact, it appears Visa is in the process of changing exactly how it deals with chargebacks. Visa is Working to Protect Merchants When you hear that a large payments company is changing their policies, it's easy to assume that the changes will ultimately create a burden for merchants. The good news with this latest change is that that's not the intended goal. Instead, Visa is making these changes with the intent of protecting merchants from unscrupulous consumers. Before we dive into exactly what Visa is changing, it's worth doing a quick refresher on the issue of friendly fraud. This phrase refers… Read more

After a winter that's been especially cold in many states, warmer weather is finally starting to arrive across the US. Lots of people have also recently received their tax refunds. This means that after a first-quarter slowdown, plenty of consumers are primed to do some spending. If you want to put your business in the best position to receive some of those early summer dollars, we have five great tips to help you kick off the season: Host a Special Event One of the best ways to remind your customers about your business is to host a special event. Because summer is such a broad topic, you can have a lot of freedom in regards to what you make the event all about. Getting people out and to your business can help set the tone for a very successful summer. Emphasize Travel This is a time of the year when many people are thinking a lot about travel. Since that's the type of content they want to consume, you can tap into those feelings by centering some of your social… Read more

Earlier this year, WhatsApp rolled out a beta test of P2P payments. Like many messaging apps, WhatsApp is putting a lot of resources behind empowering their users to move money around. Their latest effort in this space is supporting payments via QR codes. The way this will work is users will be able to pay businesses by simply scanning a QR code. As of now, this feature is limited to Android beta users, but WhatsApp is expected to do a wider roll-out soon. Not only is this feature appealing to the individuals who use WhatsApp, but it ties in nicely with the company's recent release of a free Android app for small and medium businesses. The other really interesting aspect of this announcement is the use of QR codes. Because this was once a very promising technology that seemed to fade into obscurity, we want to take a brief look at the history of QR codes, and then explore if this may be the year they make a big comeback. A Quick History of QR Codes The history of QR… Read more

Women account for at least $5 trillion in annual spending across the US. Some estimates peg this figure as high as $15 trillion. Regardless of where the exact figure falls, women currently control over sixty percent of US personal wealth. Another very significant data point that may come as a surprise is that at least forty percent of working women earn more than their husbands. Although these stats are extremely compelling, plenty of retailers are still under the impression that their primary customer base is male. However, the reason that assumption is more commonly wrong than correct is that 85% of all consumer purchases are made by women. That includes over fifty percent of purchases of traditionally "male products" like electronics and vehicles. In a world where retailers of all sizes are facing plenty of challenges and uncertainty, ignoring the consumer preferences of women can be a very costly mistake. To help your business gain some actionable insight into this topic, we want to look specifically at how women's use of credit cards differs from men. Different Purchasing Patterns When presented… Read more