Payments
Our Payments category includes all aspects of accepting credit cards, including our 2-part “Primer on Merchant Accounts” and our 3-part “Credit Card Processing FAQs.” We also address cryptocurrencies, hosted payment apps, buy-now-pay-later, and more.
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Payments
EMV Credit Cards: Beware Misleading Equipment Sales Tactics
August 26, 2015 • Phil Hinke
This article is mainly for brick-and-mortar merchants, regarding the October 1, 2015 fraud-liability rule changes and misleading sales tactics surrounding the changes. The new rules are causing a high percentage of retail merchants ...
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Payments
Credit Card Processing: Detailed Statements Essential for Merchants
July 20, 2015 • Phil Hinke
I presented a Practical Ecommerce webinar last month on lowering merchant processing costs. I’ve received several questions since then regarding my views on processing statements. Therefore, I want to address ...
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Payments
Beware Hidden Increases from Credit Card Providers
May 26, 2015 • Phil Hinke
The fact that some credit card providers periodically sneak in cost increases to their merchants isn’t new. The providers often do this with a notice like this to their merchants:
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Payments
Follow-up: EMV Credit Cards and AmEx OptBlue
March 24, 2015 • Phil Hinke
This is a follow-up to two topics I addressed previously on credit card processing: EMV chip cards and the American Express OptBlue program. I described earlier this year the changes affecting EMV ...
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Payments
EMV Credit Cards, Part 2: Point-of-sale Devices, Alternatives
February 13, 2015 • Phil Hinke
This article is mostly for brick-and-mortar retailers, as the October 2015 rule changes, which I discussed in "Part 1," are specific to card-present merchants.
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Payments
EMV Credit Cards, Part 1: Who Is Responsible for Losses?
January 12, 2015 • Phil Hinke
This article is mainly for brick-and-mortar retailers. The upcoming October 2015 rule changes regarding EMV-enabled credit cards are specific to card-present...
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Payments
B2B Merchants Often Overpay for Card Processing
November 21, 2014 • Phil Hinke
Business-to-business merchants often overpay for credit card processing. There are many reasons for this, but one of the main ones is they choose a merchant account provider that doesn’t have ...
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Payments
Review Credit Card Processing in October, before Holidays
October 16, 2014 • Phil Hinke
All ecommerce merchants should take the time to review their processing statements this month before the holiday shopping season begins. Merchants need to check for the following items, and correct ...
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Payments
American Express OptBlue: Negotiating Processing Rates
September 22, 2014 • Phil Hinke
In “American Express OptBlue Program May Reduce Processing Cost,” my article in July, I explained how the new OptBlue program could reduce processing rates for ecommerce merchants, as it allows ...
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Payments
American Express OptBlue: Understanding Processing Rates
August 18, 2014 • Phil Hinke
In “American Express OptBlue Program May Reduce Processing Cost,” my article last month, I explained American Express’s new program called OptBlue. This program should lower the American Express processing cost ...
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Payments
American Express OptBlue Program May Reduce Processing Cost
July 15, 2014 • Phil Hinke
American Express recently came out with a new program called OptBlue, where the final processing rates and fees paid by the merchant are set by the merchant account provider, not ...
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Payments
Merchants Discover Misleading Credit Card Processing Fees
June 16, 2014 • Phil Hinke
I want to thank Practical Ecommerce readers for their comments on my last article series, “How to Identify Dubious Credit Card Processing Fees.” I also appreciate readers sending me suspicious ...
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Payments
How to Identify Dubious Credit Card Processing Fees, Part 3
May 15, 2014 • Phil Hinke
Editor’s Note: This is “Part 3” of a three-part series. “Part 1” and “Part 2” we published previously. The purpose of this series is to educate merchants on questionable credit ...
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Payments
Should Ecommerce Merchants Accept Bitcoin?
May 7, 2014 • Marcia Kaplan
Bitcoin, the best known of several virtual payment currencies, has made inroads into mainstream commerce, including brick-and-mortar retailers. Some ecommerce sites are already accepting Bitcoin and if you are considering ...
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Payments
How to Identify Dubious Credit Card Processing Fees, Part 2
April 23, 2014 • Phil Hinke
Editor’s Note: This is “Part 2” of a three-part series. “Part 1” we published last month. The purpose of this series is to identify dubious fees that are commonly charged ...
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Payments
How to Identify Dubious Credit Card Processing Fees, Part 1
March 25, 2014 • Phil Hinke
Editor’s Note: This is “Part 1” of a three-part series. My article last month, “Credit Card Provider Sued for Deceptive Tactics,” generated questions from merchants regarding the suit, its impact, and the hidden,
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Payments
Credit Card Provider Sued for ‘Deceptive’ Tactics
February 13, 2014 • Phil Hinke
Heartland Payment Systems, one of the largest credit card providers in the U.S., stated in a press release that it has filed a federal lawsuit against Mercury Payment Systems, also ...
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Payments
$6 Billion Visa, MasterCard Settlement Final; How to Claim
January 15, 2014 • Phil Hinke
Last month, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York approved a settlement in a class-action lawsuit between merchants (as plaintiffs) and Visa, MasterCard and other defendants. The case ...
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Payments
3 Examples of Misleading Credit Card Processing Charges
December 20, 2013 • Phil Hinke
Editor’s Note: This is part two of a two-part series. The first installment, “Feds Eyeing Credit Card Processing Industry?,” we published last month. In “Feds Eyeing Credit Card Processing Industry?,” part ...
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Payments
10 Bitcoin-like Cryptocurrencies
December 16, 2013 • Sig Ueland
A “cryptocurrency” is a peer-to-peer, decentralized, digital currency. In 2009, Bitcoin became the first cryptocurrency to trade on third-party markets. Since then, many cryptocurrencies have been developed and are actively ...
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Payments
11 Alternative Payment Options
December 9, 2013 • Sig Ueland
Alternatives to entering credit card numbers can provide customers with more payment choices, streamline checkout for mobile devices, and potentially save merchants money. Here is a list of alternative payment options.
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Payments
Feds Eyeing Credit Card Processing Industry?
November 14, 2013 • Phil Hinke
Editor’s Note: This is part one of a two-part series. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission included merchant account providers in two separate lawsuits it filed against telemarketers earlier this year. The ...
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Payments
Credit Card Processing: October 2013 Rate Changes, EMV Terminals
October 15, 2013 • Phil Hinke
Now is a good time for merchants to start noting how their provider is handling card company fee changes as well as any future rate and fee changes, especially if ...
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Payments
MasterCard Defines 5 Online Shopping Personas
October 8, 2013 • Armando Roggio
MasterCard, the payment industry leader, has defined five online shopper personas that defy traditional demographic boundaries and give online retailers a fresh way of looking at online marketing, personalization, and ...
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Payments
Avoid No-detail Credit Card Processing Statements
September 19, 2013 • Phil Hinke
I have addressed the importance of understanding credit card processing statements in previous articles. However, I’ve recently seen statements with little or minimal detail that make it virtually impossible to ...
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Payments
Latest Court Decision on Debit Card Processing Fees
August 22, 2013 • Phil Hinke
On July 31, 2013 U.S. District Judge Richard Leon sided with retailers and rejected the debit interchange rate cap set by Federal Reserve under the Durbin Amendment in 2011. The ...
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Payments
Beware Credit Card Processing Fees, Especially Refunds
July 17, 2013 • Phil Hinke
Merchants periodically send me their credit card processing agreements after they have negotiated new pricing with their existing provider or when changing providers. Usually, I find that the merchant has done a good job of negotiating rates and monthly fees. However, some of the peri...
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Payments
Credit Card Processing: Be Wary of Savings Analyses
June 18, 2013 • Phil Hinke
If you have been reading my articles, you know I do not believe business owners should give their credit card merchant statements to competing providers. Merchant statements disclose the pricing that competitors need to win over the account at the highest possible profit to them. Th...
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Payments
Blaming Credit Card Associations for Rate Changes
May 16, 2013 • Phil Hinke
Visa, MasterCard, and Discover generally change rates and terms in April and October. However, they can make changes at other times during the year, as will happen this year. Unfortunately, over the years, some providers have taken advantage of these changes by increasing their rates an...
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Payments
Bitcoins: 3 Things Online Merchants Must Know
April 18, 2013 • Armando Roggio
Bitcoin is a mostly anonymous, peer-to-peer electronic payment system that could allow online retailers to accept cash-like payments from anyone, potentially, opening up new market segments and reaching new customers. But bitcoin is not without risks. Earlier this month, a single bitco...
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