October 1st, 2013 by Elma Jane
As Capital One drops support Isis’ future darkens
Capital One pulling its support points to the challenges that near-field-communications is having with scale as non-NFC mobile wallet initiatives take off, as Isis gears up for a broader launch.
Capital One was one of Isis’ three founding card issuers, and the company’s drop of support as the company prepares for a larger roll-out emphasizes the challenges in gaining scale and momentum for mobile payments. PayPal and Apple’s recently announced their own mobile payment options that also avoid NFC reflect the opportunity that marketers see in services beyond NFC.
“Capital One dropping its support for Isis is significant in what it telegraphs about the problems issuers will continue to face with the wallet provider.” “Issuers must pay each time a consumer loads their card onto the wallet.”
“The caveat is that whether or not a consumer uses the card, the issuer must pay to have it in the Isis Wallet. Card issuers are interested in encouraging card spend whereas Isis is purely interested in getting consumers to link their cards to the wallet. This conflict of interest will continue to be problematic.”
Losing support
Capital One pulling its support from Isis could indicate that the financial institution did not see a substantial amount of consumers using their mobile devices to pay during the pilot for repeat visits, which is key in driving consumer adoption ahead. The number of mobile payment options available for card issuers to partner with is clearly growing, meaning that Capital One might see a bigger opportunity elsewhere.
However, Capital One’s pull-out could be well-timed since Isis is signing new partners, and Isis has an opportunity to recover quickly. “Many financial institutions and merchant acquirers see PayPal and Apple as threats and the moves that these companies are making could cause financial institutions, payment networks and acquirers to accelerate their mobile payments efforts in response to the perceived threat.” Since Isis is looking to partner with the financial institutions, payment networks and acquirers, the moves made by Apple and PayPal could drive partners into Isis’ embrace.
Google expands mobile wallet
Yesterday Google made a significant upgrade to Google Wallet that continues to focus on NFC, but also adds additional payment options for consumers. The Google Wallet app has been updated to let consumers send money to friends and family in the U.S. via an email address. Consumers can either send money directly from their bank account or from Google Wallet balance. Additionally, the app is now available for all Android devices that run the 2.3 operating system and higher. Previously, Google Wallet was only available on select Android devices. Consumers can also store loyalty cards from retailers that can be redeemed by scanning a mobile device in-store. Similar to Apple’s Passbook, Google Wallet will now also alert consumers when they are nearby to a store where they have a loyalty program.
Google said that it plans to support the one of 29 different NFC-enabled devices with NFC, but the company’s focus on additional features points to NFC as un-scalable by itself. In fact, Yankee Group estimates that 18 percent of device owners have a mobile device that supports NFC.
Apple, PayPal news
The interest around NFC has also significantly decreased as both PayPal and Apple are rolling out their own mobile payment options. For example, PayPal recently introduced its PayPal Beacon device that lets consumers pay hands-free in exchange for downloading the company’s app. The technology uses Bluetooth to pick up when a consumer is in-store to trigger a payment.
Apple is also working its way around NFC with its iBeacon technology that is rolling out in iOS 7. The technology lets marketers use Bluetooth around stores that can then be used to push out offers and relevant deals.
Both Apple and PayPal’s announcements emphasize the slow adoption that NFC has had in the United States. Although the technology has taken off internationally, it has had a harder time picking up steam in the U.S. because of the low number of NFC-enabled devices.
Broader roll-out
After running pilot programs, Isis is gearing up for a broader roll-out nationally. To date, most of the activity around mobile wallets has focused around the payment section of mobile wallets, which do not have as strong of a value proposition as the coupon and offers side that Isis is forced to prove to merchants.
Additionally, the education behind getting consumers aware of how to use the technology is still clunky, as evidenced by a test at a participating location in Austin by a local mobile consultant.
“Anything in the digital wallet space is a high-risk/high-reward venture at the moment and there are few if any profits being made in this space.” “When that is the case, business continuation is more a question of resolve than a question of competition.” Having multiple players in the market increases the overall quantity of marketing efforts that will take place in the mobile payments arena, increasing the probability that at least one product will succeed.
Posted in Credit card Processing, Credit Card Reader Terminal, Mobile Payments, Near Field Communication Tagged with: Apple, Capital One, google, ISIS, mobile, near field communications, nfc, Passbook, payment, PayPal, wallet, wallets
October 1st, 2013 by Elma Jane
PayPal announces updated app, device for hands-free, in store payment.
A busy few days at PayPal. Late last week, the global payments giant announced a major update to its app for Android and iOS. The new features have a strong mobile payments bent. And now, the company has announced the planned roll-out of “Beacon,” which uses Bluetooth Low Energy Technology to let customers check into retail stores and pay by verbal consent.
Paypal’s President calls the solution PayPal’s “most significant contribution to date in reinventing the in-store shopping experience.”
Beacon is a new add-on technology that merchants plug into an A/C outlet. When a PayPal customer walks into a participating store and agrees to check-in, Beacon triggers a quick vibration or sound to confirm a check-in; customer’s photo then appears on a point-of-sale screen. To pay, the customer simply gives a verbal confirmation. “No wallet and no card. Nothing to do. Not even touching your phone.
BLE was chosen to resolve some problems posed by traditional geo-location, including power consumption. It will look for any store running a PayPal compatible POS system, and will only transmit information to PayPal or to the merchant if the customer agrees to check in.
The solution aims to improve on the credit-card-swiping experience. PayPal figured the only better way to pay would be to do nothing.
The company will be piloting Beacon in the fourth quarter.
New App
PayPal’s vastly redesigned app for creating a more seamless in-store shopping experience is getting a lot of kudos across the web.
A New tab called “Shop” the first thing that appears when the app is opened, it displays nearby stores or restaurants that accept PayPal payments. Users can check in and open a tab, then select various payment methods from the check-in screen. Upon payment, the app generates a confirmation alert and sends an email receipt.
You’ve really got access to your entire wallet in the app.
The app also lets you order food ahead of your arrival bypassing the line. The feature works through PayPal’s partnership with Eat24 . Dinners can pay at the table, and at some locations, order more drinks.
For the first time, the app includes a Bill Me Later tab that lets users apply to finance PayPal purchases, and it integrates coupons and offers.
The company wanted the new app to help solve problem, and that payment isn’t something they typically complain about. So they focused on other potentially problematic experiences in the retail environment, waiting in line, waiting to pay the bill at their table and keeping track of coupons.
Posted in Credit Card Reader Terminal, Credit Card Security, Digital Wallet Privacy, Electronic Payments, Mobile Payments, Near Field Communication, Point of Sale, Smartphone Tagged with: Android, app, Apple, card, credit-card-swiping, geo-location, iOS, payment, PayPal, POS, retail, system, wallet
September 30th, 2013 by Admin
Credit card processing involves three separate cost components for vendors who choose to accept this type of payment from customers for goods or services. The same cost components apply to debit cards. Only one cost component is negotiable.
The first component is an interchange fee, which is payable to the card holder’s issuing bank. It is a combination of a transaction volume percentage fee and a flat-rate transaction fee. Interchange fees are collectively agreed upon through Visa and MasterCard by a card’s issuing bank and are fixed costs.
Interchange fees take into consideration various information about a card. Types of cards include debit and credit, while categories of cards refer to commercial and reward cards. Processing methods include whether a card is swiped or manually keyed. Swiping a card is usually more economical for vendors.
Secondly, an assessment fee is charged by the card’s brand holder. Brand holders include Visa, MasterCard and Discover. Assessment fees are also fixed costs. Additionally, Visa charges a monthly fee.
The final charge is known as a processing fee. Processing fees vary among processors and is negotiable. Vendors are charged a processing fee, which can cause a difference in cost from one vendor to another. More credit card information: TopTenReviews
Jeremy is a tech blogger at TopTenReviews. He lives outside Salt Lake City, Utah
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, Credit card Processing, Electronic Payments, Merchant Services Account, Visa MasterCard American Express Tagged with: accept, assessment, cost, credit card processing, debit cards, fees, flat-rate, interchange, keyed, payment, Processing, Rates, swiped, Swiping, transaction, volume
September 30th, 2013 by Elma Jane
Facebook this week began testing a new feature dubbed “Autofill with Facebook” that aims to simplify mobile purchases by filling in customers’ credit card information for them, thus eliminating the need to type it in each time. This “Autofill with Facebook gives people the option to use their payment information already stored on Facebook to populate the payment form when they make a purchase in a mobile app,” Facebook spokesperson told the E-Commerce Times. “The app then processes and completes the payment.” The feature “is designed to make it easier and faster for people to make a purchase in a mobile app by simply pre-populating your payment information.”During the test period, which began Monday evening, the feature will show up only to Facebook users who have already provided credit card information to the social network — in other words, those who have made in-game purchases or bought gifts for friends.
Facebook has partnered with PayPal, Braintree and Stripe as financial partners on the service, which is initially available only on the e-commerce iOS apps JackThreads and Mosaic.
Ironing Out the Wrinkles Autofill with Facebook isn’t a move to compete with PayPal and credit card companies, but to complement payment services by adding a layer for convenience, much the way Facebook, Google and Amazon have created a single login that works across a network of websites.
“Facebook is not interested in being a payments company,” an analyst, told the E-Commerce Times. “Instead, it is aiming to be the entity that irons out bumps in the payment process — something it is well-positioned to do. “With Autofill, Facebook will act as the lubricant that makes the commerce experience more seamless, providing a number of benefits to all stakeholders.”
Partners in the deal ensure that Facebook will succeed in Autofill with Facebook, it doesn’t care about payments, it cares about reaping the benefits that come from making the payment experience better.”
‘The Potential to Be Lucrative’ There could be significant financial benefits as well. “This approach has the potential to be lucrative for Facebook in that it will help plug the mobile conversion gap,” McKee suggested. “If Facebook can prove to its partner merchants that an ad on its site led to a purchase, the validity of its platform can easily be proven. Ideally, this will help convince other companies to advertise with Facebook as well.”
Taking it a step farther, Facebook will also gain transaction data, which McKee believes has considerable value. “Facebook can leverage transaction data with what it already knows about us for precision ad targeting. This will increase the relevance and placement of ads on Facebook.”
The Security Factor While many mobile customers will appreciate the Autofill function, security issues still lurk in the back of every consumer’s mind. Yet while privacy concerns have been an ongoing issue for Facebook, it has a good track record where security is concerned. “Facebook has been relatively incident-free when it comes to security breaches.” “However, this is more a problem of consumer perception. Will consumers feel comfortable storing their payment credentials with a social media platform?
“Facebook is already approaching ‘big brother’ status, and this takes it one step further.” “To succeed, Facebook must provide visibility into what it plans to do with transaction data.”
‘It’s a No-Brainer’ The convenience factor, meanwhile, could be a compelling one for consumers. “It’s no-brainer useful to mobile users…who wants to enter their credit card on a mobile phone more than once?” “It could be more secure than mobile payment alternatives.” If Facebook gets past its hurdles, it will also succeed in building strengths in areas where it has been lacking to date.
“Right now Facebook isn’t super strong at the conversion side of e-commerce.” “Autofill will give them a lot of data about purchases, which might help them remedy that.”
‘Strategic Smarts and Ambition’ As for those benefits to Facebook, there are potentially many. One example,”Autofill admits them to the online payments world.”
“This is another example of the strategic smarts and ambition of Zuck.” “One gets the sense that he wants to be a major competitor for everything online.”
Posted in Credit card Processing, Credit Card Security, Digital Wallet Privacy, e-commerce & m-commerce, Electronic Payments, Mobile Payments Tagged with: Amazon, commerce, credit card, e-commerce, Facebook, google, media, mobile, mobile phone, network, payment, payment information, payment services, PayPal, platform, processes, secure, social, transaction
September 30th, 2013 by Elma Jane
National Transaction Corporation and Trams Back Office
As National Transaction Corporation Executives get to meet Sabre’s key people in Miami FL let’s know more about what Trams Back Office one of their respective products can offer.
Travel and transportation industry is evolving quickly, agility is needed in adapting to the changing customer needs. In addition to providing the right services for customers and for business.
With Trams Back Office, part of the Sabre Red travel solution, your capable to easily monitor, manage and grow your business. Trams provides right-size, right-price information technology (IT) solutions and is one of the most popular back office accounting and reporting system on the market today. It’s easy to learn and use, helping you control costs with extreme efficiency.
In addition, Trams Back Office seamlessly works withClientBase to deliver a complete solution incorporating GDS integration, CRM, General Ledger, and more.
Special Features
Credit Card Merchant – process your merchant credit card service fees and other transactions through Trams Back Office.Trams and ClientBase Products and Services has formed alliances with credit card processing companies, to bring you competitive rates and an easy-to-use interface to process agency merchant credit card service fees and other transactions through Trams Back Office.
The Credit Card (CC) Merchant Reconciliation under Payments|Reconciliation|CC Merchant Reconciliation takes the CC Merchant payments from Trams Back Office (TBO) verifies them, and sends them electronically to your credit card processor. Your credit card transactions are then processed and sent back to Trams Back Office, where TBO clears the processed items and creates the payment and the journal entry to record the activity in the General Ledger.
Add Ons
Trams Crystal Reports – measure effectiveness and efficiency by running pre-designed Crystal Reports within the Trams Back Office system. Its FREE!! Trams Crystal Reports is an add-on to ClientBase and/or Trams Back Office that offers you the ability to run pre-designed Crystal Reports in addition to those offered within the Trams Back Office and ClientBase products. TCR10 is the most recent version of Trams Crystal Reports that is integrated with Trams Back Office and ClientBase. When TCR10 is installed, you will be able to launch Trams Crystal Reports from your desktop or in Trams Back Office, using the TCR Viewer under Reports.
IC/Host Agency Export Utility- allows Independent Contractors to share invoice data with their Host Agency’s Trams Back Office system for FREE!! Agencies today are choosing to change the way they make their bookings. Many are dropping out of ARC/BSP and booking air tickets through a Host Agency. They may also book some or all of their Cruise & Tour business with a Host Agency, or continue doing those bookings as they always have. These Independent Contractor (IC) Agents working through a Host Agency, may still operate a Store Front location, or move into a “home based” environment. This utility is designed for independent contractors (IC) and host agencies to share data more efficiently. IC’s use the host’s GDS create invoices marked with their own IC code. These invoices are then interfaced into the host’s Trams Back Office (TBO) database. This utility gives the Host the ability to transfer these interfaced invoices to the IC for importing into their IC copy of Trams Back Office. To receive records from a host agency using this utility, an IC must have a copy of Trams Back Office. The utility also allows IC’s that use ClientBase to create invoices, to export those invoices and share them with the host agency.
Over View – Trams Back Office is a locally installed solution that allows agency to effectively manage entire accounting and reporting process with their Free Special Features and Free AddOns.
Posted in Credit card Processing, Electronic Payments, Merchant Services Account, Travel Agency Agents Tagged with: agencies, agency, agency's, air, Back Office, clientbase, credit card merchant, credit-card, host, payment, processor, reporting, Sabre Red, solution, store front, tickets, Trams, transportation, travel
September 27th, 2013 by Elma Jane
Mobile Payment Bandwagon
Just this month, September 2013, a number of British retailers announced their partnership with smartphone payment application Zapp, expected to launch summer 2014. Long before that, in November 2012, global coffee chain Starbucks launched a mobile payment system using Square Wallet, allowing customers to pay for their coffees with a simple scan of their smartphone. In China, the mobile payment market tripled in size over the last year, with a growing number of retailers jumping aboard the e-payments trend. Clearly, mobile payments are the new face of commerce…both for consumers and, increasingly, within a B2B setting as well. It may not be long until every type of payment…from mortgages and business loans to utilities bills and income tax…is made through mobiles.
Though it’s a trend that’s now spreading across the globe, the rise of mobile payments can be directly traced back to Africa. It’s an example of how unique conditions give rise to innovative solutions, and how those innovations catch on. Here’s a brief look at the rise of mobile payment technology and at the role Africa has played in its success.
Africa Gets There First – this notion of exchanging funds through a mobile phone really took off in Africa. When M-Pesa was launched by Safaricom in Kenya in 2007, it was a simple solution to issues specific to the region. Kenyans who lived far from banks or couldn’t afford banking fees were given the opportunity to send and receive payments through SMS messages. M-Pesa answered these specific problems, but the concept behind the service has proven to have a far broader reach. After achieving success in Kenya, M-Pesa launched in Tanzania in 2008. Despite getting off to a slow start, the mobile payment services now has 5 million Tanzanian subscribers. It has also launched in South Africa, Afghanistan, India and there’s plans to roll it out in Egypt at some point in 2013.
At the heart of M-Pesa’s success has been efficiency and security. Removing the need to travel to a bank…or even the need to log into online banking…has made the process of transferring funds far easier and faster. Eliminating the need to write a cheque, use cash or enter credit card details has made the process far more secure. Increased efficiency and improved security are qualities that everyone…not just those in the developing world…stands to benefit from.
Thus, though today’s technology has adapted and built upon the M-Pesa model, the world still has Africa…Kenya in particular…to thank for starting the mobile payment revolution.
Posted in Financial Services, Mobile Payments, Smartphone Tagged with: banking, broader, credit card, e-payments, efficiency, fees, global, innovations, innovative, messages, mobile, payment, retailers, Security, services, smartphone, sms, solution, travel
September 26th, 2013 by Elma Jane
Mobile checkout integrated into transportation ticketing app by Barclay’s Pingit
Barclay’s Pingit mobile payments service is teaming up with Corethree to bring the financial institution’s mobile checkout to public transportation customers in Britain.
Corethree offers a mobile wallet for transport ticketing in Britain. By including Barclays Pingit in its wallet, Corethree can offer users more flexibility in how they pay for tickets.
“Providing a variety of native payment solutions within the application enhances the customer experience by allowing them the same type of purchasing experience that they currently enjoy from their favorite websites and ecommerce sites.”
“In the U.S. this includes integrating with payment option like PayPal and eventually electronic wallet providers as well.”
Mobile checkout
Pingit was introduced in early 2012, enabling users to make person-to-person payments.
The app’s breadth of services have been expanded several times since to include mobile payments from NFC tags and mobile checkout for Web sites and print ads.
Corethree reports that it is the first business to integrate Barclays Pingit mobile checkout, enabling bus passengers to browse, select, purchase and use bus tickets from their mobile devices.
Over the next 12 months, Corethree and Barclays will roll out their mobile payment services to other transport operators, with the goal of reaching up to 1 million passenger journeys per day.
The service will be available via Android and iPhone devices on any mobile network.
Mobile payments entry
Public transportation organizations around the world are embracing mobile ticketing to make it easy for riders to purchase and use tickets from their smartphones. Enabling users to purchase transit tickets anywhere at any time that can be used. Last year, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority rolled out a new mobile ticketing service, giving commuters a way to purchase and display rail tickets on their smartphones.
“Transit is an integral part of consumers’ daily lives, and as such providing consumers with a secure way to pay with their phone and not have to carry cash or exact change is a great starting point for people to get comfortable using mobile payments.”
“Mobile ticketing is a great way to introduce customers to making payments from their mobile device.”
Posted in Credit card Processing, Digital Wallet Privacy, e-commerce & m-commerce, Electronic Payments, Mobile Payments, Mobile Point of Sale, Travel Agency Agents Tagged with: checkout, devices, electronic wallet, integrating, Iphone, mobile, nfc, payment, payments service, smartphone, Tags, ticket, ticketing, tickets, transportation, travel
September 20th, 2013 by Elma Jane
U.S. Bank integrates to simplify mobile money transfers with Western Union
U.S. Bank has offered Western Union Money Transfer services since 2009, but now customers can do so via mobile. According to U.S. Bank, it is the first bank in the United States to integrate the Western Union Money Transfer services into its mobile app.
U.S. Bank is collaborating with Western Union to let U.S. Bank customers use the Western Union Money Transfer services via the U.S. Bank mobile application. “Adding Western Union enhances overall digital money movement strategy.”
“Primary goal is to make it easier for customers to send money on any device to anyone across the country or around the world.” Giving customers the most convenient banking experience by delivering and allowing customers to bank anywhere and anytime they want.
Money transfer
In order to qualify for the new service, customers must have been a customer of U.S. Bank for at least a year and have a registered mobile phone and eligible deposit account. Western Union Money Transfer services let consumers conveniently pay other consumers via mobile or desktop.
Eligible U.S. Bank mobile banking customers will now see the Western Union logo in the person-to-person money transfer options. Online banking customers will see Western Union as a funds transfer option.
U.S. Bank decided to offer the new service to make moving money as convenient as possible for its customers. Customers will be able to send money around the world from the comfort of their own home.
When consumers receive a payment through the Western Union services, they can be paid in cash and use it immediately.
Mobile banking
U.S. Bank has rolled out a number of mobile initiatives in the past few years.
In July, U.S. Bank integrated with the Square digital wallet, enabling users to fund payments made via the mobile application from their bank account.
Earlier this year, U.S. Bank even offered customers the ability to pay via NFC by providing a customized U.S. Bank Go Mobile iPhone case equipped with NFC technology.
The bank also rolled out mobile photo bill pay services last year to let customers pay their bills by simply snapping a picture of the document using the camera on a smartphone or tablet.
“As device ubiquity grows, as people become more comfortable using their phones for all their banking activities, a lot of new ways to leverage a phone’s capabilities to make banking easier for customers, customers expect their bank to offer a full rich set of money management and movement capabilities on their phones, tablets and laptops.”
Posted in Digital Wallet Privacy, Electronic Payments, Mobile Payments Tagged with: banking, mobile, money, nfc, payment, transfers, U.S. Bank, US Bank, western union
Cyber Crime InfoGraphic by Vericode.
Today anyone can have an e-commerce web site set up in mere minutes. There are a lot of open source e-commerce solutions that allow a web site owner to establish a site very easily, some require just a few clicks to get going. Once you have your color scheme chosen and your navigation all set a decision on how to accept payments is inevitable. e-commerce payment gateways allow your site to connect securely to a payment processor to accept your electronic transactions. These digital transactions can be used by hackers to target your site and your customers credit card information and much more. Whether the data targeted is stored on the merchants network or on the customers mobile device, business need to implement a cyber security strategy. Read more of this article »
Posted in Credit Card Security Tagged with: credit card, DSS, e-commerce, electronic, fraud, gateway, Malware, payment, PCI, Phishing, Processing, Security, Skimming, smartphone, SMSishing, tablet
