Category: Mobile Payments
January 21st, 2016 by Elma Jane
Merchant accounts are as varied as the merchants themselves and the goods being sold.
What kind of account would you fall under:
High Risk Merchant Accounts – Finding a processor who is willing to take your account can be more challenging. High risk merchants range from travel agencies to multi-level marketing companies, credit restoration merchants, casinos, online pharmaceutical companies, adult/dating merchants and many other.
Internet based merchant account (Ecommerce/Website order processing) – E-Commerce is a booming market, with so many people buying and selling goods online due to the wide reach and easy access to the internet.
Mobile or Wireless merchant account – This merchant is specifically designed for small businesses, solo professionals, and mobile services (including lawyers, landscapers, contractors, consultants, repair tradesmen, etc), who are constantly on the move and require a payment to processed on the spot.
MOTO (Mail or Telephone order) – This enables phone based or direct mail orders processing for customers who can buy your product or service from the comfort of their home. Since there is no card present there is no need for traditional equipment.
Multiple Merchant Accounts – Some businesses can have merchant accounts of a couple or all different types. Merchants who fall into this category are called multi-channel merchants as they sell their goods through a number of different channels. Most commonly this is related to retail stores who also have an online presence to sell their goods. This is very common in today’s competitive market where constant contact with customers is critical to success.
Traditional Account with Equipment – Most commonly used for retail businesses (grocery, departmental stores etc) where the transactions are processed in a face to face interaction also known as Point of Sale (PoS).
Interested to setup an account give us a call at 888-9962273
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, e-commerce & m-commerce, Mail Order Telephone Order, Mobile Payments, Mobile Point of Sale, Point of Sale, Travel Agency Agents Tagged with: account, card, card present, credit, customers, e-commerce, high risk merchant, internet, merchant accounts, merchants, mobile, mobile services, moto, multi-channel merchants, payment, point of sale, POS, processor, transactions, travel, travel agencies
January 18th, 2016 by Elma Jane
EMV + NFC = BIG PLUS FOR YOUR BUSINESS
The business is already making upgrades, so If you’re a merchant, business owner who’s still on the fence about upgrading your payment processing equipment to accept EMV cards why not take that upgrade a step further and add NFC while adding EMV systems?
Not only will the upgrade help prevent potential financial responsibility for fraudulent transactions, but you can also realize the added benefit of being able to process NFC transactions at the same time.
Customers want the ability to pay with a mobile device, and NFC will allow for such transactions to go on.
Having NFC tools in place will help provide a valuable note of future-proofing to systems in place, being ready for it will be to the business’ benefit.
EMV and NFC technology is just good business sense for three important reasons Added Security, Economic Sense and Staying Current.
For more information about terminal upgrade and features that suits best for your business give us a call at 888-996-2273.
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, EMV EuroPay MasterCard Visa, Mobile Payments, Near Field Communication, Point of Sale, Smartphone Tagged with: cards, customers, EMV, merchant, mobile, nfc, Security, transactions
December 16th, 2015 by Elma Jane
Google’s contactless payment solution, Android Pay, will now be available through the mobile checkouts of several Android apps in the U.S.
With this addition, it avoids having to pull out your card everytime you make a purchase, meaning card data never makes it to the merchants. A good news for anyone who is concerned about privacy.
Android Pay is compatible with all Near Field Communication (NFC) or Host Card Emulation (HCE) enabled devices using any OS released since KitKat.
With Coca-Cola signing up as the first merchant in the Google program, a new loyalty program was recently released for the mobile wallet, by tapping your phone on an NFC-enabled Coke vending machine, you’ll get a Coke and get points added into your Android Pay Account for future purchases.
http://www.pymnts.com/news/payment-methods/2015/android-pay-now-in-app-payment-option/
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, Credit Card Security, Mobile Payments, Smartphone Tagged with: Android Pay, card, card data, contactless payment, HCE, host card emulation, loyalty program, merchants, mobile wallet, Near Field Communication, nfc, payment
December 11th, 2015 by Elma Jane
The use of in-store mobile payments increased in the US this year, from 5% in 2014 to 18% in 2015, research reveals, with approximately one in five consumers using their phone to make a payment at the point of sale.
The most popular uses of mobile payments in the US:
Public Parking (19%)
Gas Station Purchases (18%)
Coffee Shops and Fast Food Dining (17%)
Paying for Groceries (16%)
Public Transportation (16%)
Paying for a Taxi (16%)
Paying for restaurant bills (15%)
Checking out of a Hotel and Paying the Bill (13%)
Shopping for Clothing (12%)
Shopping in General on the High Street or in the Mall (10%)
Other (7%)
US consumers aged between 25 – 34 were seen as driving the largest portion of mobile payment activity at 36%, with those aged from 45-74 accounting for less than 10% of activity.
Half of the survey’s 2,000 respondents in the US cited security concerns as the main reason for not using mobile devices for in-store payments, while consumers place the greatest trust in traditional financial institutions like banks (49%) for provision of payment services.
Mobile technology is now moving beyond simply being a mode of communication and advancing towards the era of the always-connected consumer, says US telecommunications sector leader at Deloitte.
http://www.nfcworld.com/2015/12/11/340588/store-mobile-payments-increase-four-fold-across-us/
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, Mobile Payments, Mobile Point of Sale Tagged with: banks, financial institutions, Mobile Payments, payment services, payments, point of sale
December 10th, 2015 by Elma Jane
WALMART LAUNCHES QR CODE MOBILE PAYMENTS SERVICE
Customers at US retail giant Walmart will soon be able to pay for purchases by scanning a QR code at the point of sale using Walmart Pay. Walmart Pay will be integrated into the Walmart app, the retailer’s own mobile payment service introduced in selected stores this month, with a nationwide launch expected in the first half of next year.
With this launch, Walmart becomes the only retailer to offer its own payment solution that works with any iOS or Android device, at any checkout lane, and with any major credit, debit, prepaid or Walmart gift card all through the Walmart mobile app.
Walmart Pay will allow for the integration of other mobile wallets in the future.
http://www.nfcworld.com/2015/12/10/340527/walmart-launches-qr-code-mobile-payments-service-in-the-us/
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, Mobile Payments, Mobile Point of Sale, Point of Sale Tagged with: credit, debit, gift Card, mobile payment, mobile payment service, mobile wallets, payment service, payment solution, point of sale, prepaid
December 7th, 2015 by Elma Jane
Most payments will probably be made with apps in phones or smartwatches in less than a decade from now, using NFC, biometrics or other mechanisms that don’t involve swiping or using plastic cards.
If your mobile device has an integrated NFC chip, you can use a mobile wallet app like Apple Pay and Android Pay to pay for items that support NFC transactions at a retail store. Simply wave your device near an NFC compatible terminal to pay, no card swiping required.
Both Apple Pay and Android Pay have fingerprint scanners on phones, you can enable payments with just a fingerprint scan.
In some countries, it’s easy for consumers to get credit cards with imbedded NFC chips. This means that you may be able to wave your card at the terminal instead of swiping, no phone required. In America, though, because NFC hasn’t caught on until recently, analysts expect that NFC via smartphone and smartwatch services such as Apple Pay and Android Pay will dominate contactless transactions in the next few years.
Just as credit cards replaced cash, credit cards will be replaced by digital payments which will continue to rely on the credit infrastructure but will obscure the plastic card itself.
As consumers, we love to see better products. When it comes to payments, we need Standards and Reliability.
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, Mobile Payments, Mobile Point of Sale, Near Field Communication, Smartphone Tagged with: biometrics, cards, contactless transactions, credit cards, digital payments, mobile wallet, nfc, NFC chip, payments, smartphone, terminal
December 4th, 2015 by Elma Jane
The payments world continues to reinvent itself almost daily, predictions have now become reality. Demand for mobile payments are growing, with the increasing mobile internet penetration that enables the users to process Mobile Point-of-Sale (MPOS) and close the sales process quickly. Moreover, the rising adoption of tablets and smartphones across the globe allows the retailers and merchants to integrate MPOS into their payment systems.
Mobile presents a tremendous opportunity for merchants today. The usage of cloud-based solutions is expected to fuel the MPOS market. These solutions enable merchants to access customer information and product data across multiple platforms. Large amount of data would require highly compatible Mobile Point-of-Sale (MPOS) that will capture information such as payment preferences, and buying behavior to fuel the market. MPOS would also enable merchants to store a large amount of data that can be accessed from anywhere across the globe by authorized personnel. The value that this channel can provide is very powerful creating new business opportunities.
Interested in Electronic Payments give us a call now at 888-996-2273
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, Mobile Payments, Mobile Point of Sale Tagged with: merchants, mobile, mobile internet, mobile point of sale, MPOS, payments, point of sale
December 3rd, 2015 by Elma Jane
Industry professionals agree that mobile payments technology has surpassed e-commerce as the trend in the daily spending behavior of modern retail customers.
E-commerce’s impact on consumer spending has actually decreased, but it seems that the ability to pay with mobile devices has finally swayed consumers away from their computers.
The payments outlook has changed rapidly with the increasing availability of mobile technologies to the average retail consumer within the last year. Products like Apple Pay, Android Pay and Samsung Pay have totally altered the landscape of payment options.
Small Businesses will have to adapt in order to keep up with the rapid pace of technological developments. The evolution of payments technologies not only alters how consumers spend their money, but how that money is processed during a transaction.
There are still some concerns over cyber risks and data security, which led 58 percent of surveyed professionals to agree that point-of-sale debit and credit card transactions were still the safest form of payment, while mobile payments garnered 20 percent of support. But hypothetical worries over security aren’t real enough to slow mobile payments’ momentum moving forward.
Mobile payments transaction value is expected to hit $8.71 billion by the end of 2015. That figure will triple to $27.05 billion in comparison to 2016, according to new research; as a bigger base of consumers begin to use their phones for point-of-sale transactions and a wider range of merchants begin to accept mobile payments. By 2019, essentially all mobile payment transactions will be done on smartphones.
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, e-commerce & m-commerce, Mobile Payments, Point of Sale Tagged with: credit card, credit card transactions, debit, e-commerce, merchants, Mobile Payments, payments technologies, point of sale
November 20th, 2015 by Elma Jane
LG is planning to launch its mobile payment service by December in a bid to compete in the global mobile payment market that is already dominated by tech majors such Apple Pay, Samsung Pay and Android Pay. The service solution dubbed as LG Pay. Some observers have said it will likely follow Samsung to the US, as well since it has trademarked the product name both at its homeland, South Korea and United States. The company broke the news in its Facebook page.
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, Mobile Payments Tagged with: Android Pay, Apple Pay, global mobile payment, mobile payment, Samsung Pay
November 17th, 2015 by Elma Jane
Within the payment processing industry, Merchant accounts are categorized according to how they process their transactions.
There are two primary merchant account categories:
Swiped (Card Present) and Keyed (Card-Not-Present).
Swiped or Card-Present Transactions: Are those in which both the card and the cardholder are present at the time the payment is processed, they physically swipe their customers credit card through a terminal or point-of-sale system.
The sub-categories within this group include:
Retail Merchants – Normally conduct their business in an actual storefront or office space. They primarily use counter-top terminals or Point-of-Sale systems. Restaurant Merchants – Requires a special set-up that allows for tips to be added to the final sale amount by settling the transaction with an adjusted price that will include the tip amount.
Wireless / Mobile Merchants – They use wireless terminals or mobile phones to run these transactions in Real-Time. Have the ability to accept credit cards transactions wherever they are located out on the road.
Hotel / Lodging Merchant – Will authorize a customer’s credit card for a certain sale amount.
Card-Present Transactions also include grocery stores, department stores, movie theaters, etc. Card acceptance settings where cardholders use unattended point-of-sale (POS) terminals, such as gas stations, are also defined as card-present transactions.
Keyed-In or Card-Not-Present Transactions: Whenever the transaction is completed and the cardholder (or his or her credit card) is not physically present to hand to the seller.
The sub-categories within this group include:
Mail Order / Telephone Order (MOTO) – The customers card information is gathered via over the phone, fax, email or internet and then manually key-entered into a terminal or payment gateway software. Once the transaction is approved and completed, the product is then shipped to the customer for delivery.
eCommerce / Internet – Conduct ALL of their business over the internet through a web site. So all credit card transactions are processed online via a payment gateway in real-time. The payment gateway is integrated into the web sites shopping cart. The cardholders card is charged instantly.
Travel Merchants is one example of Keyed or Card-Not-Present Transactions.
Start processing credit card payments today whether Swiped or Keyed.
Give us a call now at 888-996-2273 so more details!
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, e-commerce & m-commerce, Mail Order Telephone Order, Mobile Payments, Mobile Point of Sale, Point of Sale, Smartphone, Travel Agency Agents Tagged with: Card Not Present transactions, card present, card-not-present, card-present transactions, cardholder, credit card, credit card payments, credit card transaction, ecommerce, keyed, Lodging Merchant, mail order, merchant accounts, merchants, mobile merchants, moto, payment gateway, payment processing, point of sale, POS terminals, Restaurant Merchants, Retail Merchants, shopping cart, swiped, telephone order, terminal, transactions, travel merchants