Category: Merchant Account Services News Articles
October 11th, 2013 by Elma Jane
PayPal payments giant may finally have found a way to get people to use (Quick Response Code) QR Code.
The company is introducing Payment Code today, a new technology intended to enable shoppers to make purchases by scanning a QR code on their mobile phone, or receive a short four-digit code on their phone, to complete a purchase. “Payment code is easy to use and understand and utilizes a ubiquitous technology that merchants have and are familiar with. If the merchant has a barcode or QR code scanner, the merchant scans to complete the transaction. If the merchant doesn’t, then a four-digit code pops up on the shopper’s phone that can be entered into the PIN pad at checkout.
According to the PayPal blog, Payment Code is an extension of the company’s offerings aimed at enhancing in-store payments. Their approach isn’t to push technology for technology’s sake, but to truly make the paying experience better for consumers and to give merchants more opportunity to innovate without a costly investment. When shoppers are ready to pay, they open the PayPal app (or the specific merchant’s app) and check in at that location, which will result in the app prompting them with a QR code, or a four-digit short code, to authenticate their purchase.
Posted in Financial Services, Merchant Account Services News Articles, Mobile Payments Tagged with: app, authenticate, check in, code, costly, in-store payments, merchant, mobile, payment, PayPal, phone, purchase, QR, QR code, quick response, Scanning, shoppers, technology
October 1st, 2013 by Elma Jane
Google announced Wednesday that it is opening its Google Shopping Express service to shoppers in the entire San Francisco Bay Area, marking the official launch and first big expansion of the company’s same-day delivery service. Google began testing the retail delivery service this year among a limited set of invited consumers in a few areas within the Bay Area, but the new announcement extends the service to anyone in an expanded region ranging from San Francisco to San Jose. With the service, online shoppers can place online orders from several chain stores and have those products delivered within the day.
Also on Wednesday Google released an app for iOS and Android that allows users to browse the shopping sites and order products directly from their smartphones. New users who sign up before the end of the year can get six months of free, unlimited delivery service; it costs $4.99 per store order.
Race to Deliver
Google is not the only company to experiment with the same day delivery offerings. Walmart and eBay are both testing similar services…eBay now even offers the delivery within an hour, although consumers can only shop from a single store. Amazon is also following in the footsteps of companies like Fresh Direct and rolling out same-day deliveries on groceries to consumers in Los Angeles and Seattle. Google understands that it will have tough competition in the space and can afford to take a loss on the service at first, which is why it is offering the service for free for new users, said an e-commerce consultant. It is evident from the low price and free sign-up offer that Google is not interested in making money in the short term, that will come once there is a widespread adoption of their service…
A Lot of Challenges Ahead
Although Google is not a retail hub at its core, the company has other strenghts that could help it gain an advantage over its competitiors. Being a default search provider for many millions of users on all platforms, from desktops to tablets right through to mobile phones, can give Google an edge over Amazon and eBay.
Still the key element to a successful e-commerce platform is logistics. Google might have deep pockets and effective algorithms, but it has a a lot of cathing up to do to make sure its delivery service could compete with those of companies like Amazon and eBay, which have years of experience delivering products to consumer worlwide.
“Google certainly has the stamina and budget to give it a good run, but there are a lot of moving parts”. Being a big data company doesn’t automatically mean you’ll be good at the logistics, so they’re going to have a lot of challenges ahead.
Posted in Credit card Processing, e-commerce & m-commerce, Electronic Payments, Merchant Account Services News Articles Tagged with: Amazon, Android, app, delivery, desktops, e-commerce, ebay, google, iOS, mobile phones, online, platforms, shopping, tablets, walmart
September 9th, 2013 by Admin
September 6, 2013 – The IRS recently announced that it has ruled in ETA’s favor on proposed changes to IRS 6050W, merchant transaction reporting. ETA advocated for a one-year delay of the implementation of backup withholding (or B notice process) for merchants who have missing or incorrect TINs. ETA sent a letter to the IRS in May outlining the industry’s strong concern about the impact on small and medium sized merchants as well as the economy as a whole if backup withholding were to be started in the fall of 2013. Since that letter, ETA has been engaged in ongoing communication with the IRS to amplify the message within the government. The announcement is great news for merchants and acquirers will be given another year to work out the issues with missing and incorrect TINs.
The correspondence from the IRS to ETA reads as follows:
We are pleased to inform you that the Internal Revenue Service has decided to delay the inclusion of Form 1099-K in CP 2100 and CP2100A notices for an additional year. A formal announcement (Notice 2013-56) will be released in Internal Revenue Bulletin (IRB) Number 2013-39 scheduled to be printed September 23, 2013.
The Internal Revenue Service will not issue CP 2100 or CP 2100A notices based on incorrect name and TIN combinations reported on Forms 1099-K filed in 2013 for calendar year 2012 payments. As a result, payers will not be required to begin backup withholding on payees with an incorrect name and TIN combination with respect to these forms. Beginning in late 2014, IRS will issue CP2100 and CP2100A notices based on incorrect name and TIN combinations reported on Forms 1099-K filed in 2014 for calendar year 2013 payments.
The IRS will also provide relief from penalties for failure to include correct information under sections 6721 and 6722 for (1) incorrect name and TIN combinations reported on Forms 1099-K filed for calendar years 2012 and 2013 payments; and (2) missing and obviously incorrect TINs reported on Form 1099-K filed for calendar year 2012 payments.
We developed a document to assist payment settlement entities (PSEs) to obtain correct taxpayer identification numbers (TINs) and names from their customers. We understand that often times this process is difficult. The attached Notice 1430 can be used as a “stuffer” to include with the monthly statements sent to customers.
We appreciate our partnership with your group and value your perspective. We recognize the complexities associated with complying with these requirements and are particularly mindful of the related burdens on tax professionals, business and individual taxpayers. We continue to welcome your ideas for improvements, along with your feedback about how these requirements effect your organization and its members.
Thank you for your interest and sharing your concerns.
Internal Revenue Service
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, Credit card Processing, Merchant Account Services News Articles
