What Congress and the Fed Giveth, the Associations Taketh Away I’ve been talking about the new era of debit card economics since October when new debit card fee limits became law following the Fed’s Reg II ruling. Merchants received hard fought gains from this ruling and most merchants should be realizing savings– for now. But, as I warned in my initial post, one could predict that future card brand enhancements would reflect systemic credit card pricing changes. Now, nearly five months after the new regulations came out, the usually stable card brand fee structures have changed dramatically with recent fee [...]
Tagged as:
Credit card,
Debit card,
Durbin,
Interchange fee,
Issuing bank,
Merchant
We’re starting a new series, Fundamental Fridays, focused on bringing you basic and practical content on a weekly basis. Read on Friday and start implementing on Monday. Earlier this week we talked about friendly fraud and steps you can take to help protect your business from fraud. Today, we want to offer you advice for avoiding chargebacks: Chargebacks occur when a customer disputes a charge on a card. The customer contacts his/her card issuer and initiates the process through your payment processor. Your processor will charge a fee for each chargeback you receive. You have the right to fight the [...]
Tagged as:
Authorization,
Card security code,
Chargeback,
Issuing bank,
Merchant account
Valentine’s Day has arguably become a “Hallmark Holiday,” wildly celebrated mostly for commercial purposes. In fact, according to the NRF’s 2012 Valentine’s Day Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey total spending is expected to reach $17.6 billion. Further, online retailers can expect nearly 1 out 5 will shop online for gifts this Valentine’s day (an increase from last year). And while online merchants hope it’s all roses this Valentine’s Day how can you protect yourself from fraud — one of the greatest risks of conducting business online? According to CyberSource’s 2012 Online Fraud Report merchants reported a 33% decrease in the [...]
Tagged as:
CyberSource,
Fraud,
Friendly Fraud,
Payment Processing
In 2011 we saw a number of upstarts in payments. Start-ups, like Square, hit the industry with new ways to process payments. But, will this trend continue? Tom Pouliot doesn’t think so. With the recent Durbin Amendment and subsequent regulation a great deal of margin has been taken away. Upstarts have been forced to put the burden on the cardholder and this is not a good consumer proposition. Still, Tom is optimistic about the future of payments. Listen to this episode of Payments Radio to hear why Tom thinks we will continue to see a trend back towards the practices [...]
Tagged as:
Durbin Amendment,
Merchant,
Payment,
Payments Radio,
Tom Pouliot
In 2011 we saw the breakdown of merchants versus big financial machines, most notably with the Durbin Amendment. Enter 2012 and we see the fight continue with the NRF (among others) turning to the courts to sue the Federal Reserve over such debit card fee swipes. In this episode of Payments Radio, Tom Pouliot answers the question: Is regulatory oversight something we can expect to continue? Tom shares his take on why he thinks regulatory oversight will only get worse in 2012 and why he fears that communication between merchants, acquirers, and card brands will stop. Tom also discusses his [...]
Tagged as:
Federal Reserve System,
Payments Radio,
Regulation
The latest buzzwords as of late have undoubtedly been Big Data. As more and more merchants look to map their business intelligence information to marketing initiatives, where does payments data fall into this mix? In a recent Payments Views article Russ Jones points out more and more clients are asking “Who knows what in payments?” Especially those that see an increasingly close relationship between payments and marketing and want to better understand how insight from payments transaction data can enhance marketing initiatives. What will we see this year, in terms of merchants beginning to look at payments data, as they [...]
Tagged as:
Big Data,
Payment Processing,
Payments Radio,
Tom Pouliot
The generational influence, as it pertains to ecommerce, continues to help shape the commerce industry and how consumers interact with merchants. What happened more than 10 years ago, the first ecommerce, is very real now. In the midst of another shift, from internet to mobile, we continue to see the generational impact on the industry. What innovation is required from processors and acquirers to help drive successful merchants? We’ve already discussed the simplicity consumers demand and it is now time for processors and acquirers to simplify their process to help merchants succeed in this dynamic industry. In this episode of Payments Radio, Tom [...]
Tagged as:
Consumer,
Durbin Amendment,
Electronic commerce,
Merchant,
Mobile payment
What’s real about mobile in 2012? In this episode of Payments Radio, Tom Pouliot tackles one of the hottest industry topics – mobile. Many thought 2011 would be the year of mobile payments but there is still a lot to be learned. Where does the payments industry go from here in 2012? One thing is for sure, mobile payments “have yet to hit their stride,” according to Pouliot. Hear what else Tom has to say about NFC, new innovations in mobile and more. What do you think 2012 has in store for mobile payments? Leave your thoughts in the comments. [...]
Tagged as:
Mobile commerce,
Mobile payment,
NFC,
Payments Radio
It is episode 3 in our new season of Payments Radio. We are discussing industry trends for 2012 and have already touched based, with Tom Pouliot, on the Durbin Amendment– where we are today and the “anarchization” of payments. In today’s broadcast we talk to Tom about the simplicity consumers are beginning to demand when it comes to interacting with merchants. Tom looks at why the payments industry needs to innovate, at pace, with the changing habit of today’s consumers. Listen to the audio below and be sure to leave thoughts in the comments section. What are your consumers initiating [...]
Tagged as:
Mobile payment,
Payments Radio,
Tom Pouliot
We are on the road to richer payments in 2012 with payments evangelist Tom Pouliot. We sat down with Tom to discuss all things payments and what’s ahead for 2012. In episode 1, Tom talked about the big industry shake up in 2011 — the Durbin Amendment and where we stand today. In this episode, Tom coins the term the “Anarchization” of Payments and looks at the new paradigm of card not present transactions. Next time, Tom will discuss the simplicity consumers are demanding when it comes to payments. Can’t wait for the entire series to unfold? Access the complete [...]
Tagged as:
Payment,
Payment Associations,
Payments Radio,
Tom Pouliot
