2006-09-01T01:05:00-07:00 Practical Ecommerce info@practicalecommerce.com http://www.practicalecommerce.com/ Copyright 2007 Confluence Publishing DBA Practical Ecommerce http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/277/The-Rising-Tide-of-Alternative-Payment-Systems 2006-09-01T01:05:00-07:00

Alternative-payment systems are flowing into the payment processing industry. During the last two years, many new options have been announced, re-announced, tested, trialed, released or re-released. Many others are in development. Marc Abbey, a Partner of First Annapolis Consulting, said this innovative surge in alternative payments means that firms processing credit-card transactions (Independent Sales Organizations or ISOs) and merchant-level salespeople (MLSs) will have greater sources of revenue, but their businesses will also be more complex. “The development of alternative payment systems is well ahead of merchant demand at this time,” Abbey said. “So it is an extremely difficult time for ISOs and MLSs to pick the winners and losers. Most of these companies are completely speculative right now.” Ken Musante, president of Humboldt Merchant Services, agreed. “Which one of these systems the consumers will accept will be the driving force for which solutions...