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
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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Payments
Merchants Using Interchange-Plus Pricing Continue to Overpay
April 11, 2013 • Phil Hinke
Editor's Note: Contributor Phil Hinke is a veteran of the credit card processing industry. He now consults with merchants to help lower their processing costs, believing the credit card industry is often unfair to them. His latest article, below, addresses misconceptions with interchang...
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Payments
Credit Card Processing: How to React to a Rate Increase
March 13, 2013 • Phil Hinke
Editor's Note: Contributor Phil Hinke is a veteran of the credit card processing industry. He now consults with merchants to help lower their processing costs, believing the credit card industry is often unfair to them. His latest article, below, addresses how merchants should react to ...
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Payments
Credit Card Processing: The Cost of Not Auditing Statements
February 13, 2013 • Phil Hinke
I was a keynote speaker at a recent meeting of U.S. and Canadian merchants. Whenever I present, I invite merchants to bring their processing statements and their merchant contracts so I can audit them afterwards. Before starting, I always ask each merchant how often he audits his statem...
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Payments
U.S. Merchants Can Now Charge for Credit Card Transactions
January 31, 2013 • Phil Hinke
In November 2012, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York preliminarily approved a proposed settlement agreement with Visa and MasterCard. As part of the settlement, Visa and MasterCard were required to allow merchants to charge for certain credit card transactions ...
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Payments
How to Lower Credit Card Processing Costs and Obtain Better Terms: Follow-up
December 13, 2012 • Phil Hinke
Editor's Note: This is a follow-up article to the just completed four-part series on how to lower your debit and credit card costs and obtain more favorable terms and conditions. "Part 1: The Basics," "Part 2: Attitude," "Part 3: Preparation," and "Part 4: Negotiations" we published pre...
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Payments
How to Lower Credit Card Processing Costs and Obtain Better Terms, Part 4: Negotiations
November 13, 2012 • Phil Hinke
Editor's Note: This is "Part 4" in a four-part series on how to lower your debit and credit card costs and obtain more favorable terms and conditions. "Part 1: The Basics," "Part 2: Attitude," and “Part 3: Preparation” we published previously. Before starting any negotiations, make s...
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Payments
How to Lower Credit Card Processing Costs and Obtain Better Terms, Part 3: Preparation
October 11, 2012 • Phil Hinke
This is "Part 3" in a four-part series on how to lower your debit and credit card costs and obtain more favorable terms and conditions. "Part 1: The Basics" and "Part 2: Attitude" we published previously. Note that this series is specific to ecommerce merchants. It can be used as a g...
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Payments
Swipe Fee Settlement Bad, Retailers Say
September 25, 2012 • Armando Roggio
Several retail trade groups and merchant advocates intend to fight a pending antitrust settlement that has Visa and MasterCard paying merchants some $7.2 billion in cash and discounts. The groups claim that the court-approved agreement would perpetuate unfair trade practices, cripple in...
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Payments
How to Lower Credit Card Processing Costs and Obtain Better Terms, Part 2: Attitude
September 12, 2012 • Phil Hinke
This article is "Part 2" in a four-part series on how to lower your debit and credit card costs and obtain more favorable terms and conditions. "Part 1: The Basics" we published last month. Note that this series is specific to ecommerce merchants. It can be used as a general guide b...
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Payments
How to Lower Credit Card Processing Costs and Obtain Better Terms, Part 1: The Basics
August 13, 2012 • Phil Hinke
Editor’s Note: Contributor Phil Hinke is a veteran of the credit card processing industry. He now consults with merchants to help lower their processing costs, believing the credit card industry ...
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Payments
Visa, MasterCard Settlement Not an Automatic Win for Merchants
July 19, 2012 • Phil Hinke
Visa, MasterCard and 13 of the country's biggest banks have agreed to pay $7.25 billion to retailers in a settlement from a lawsuit over price-fixing on credit card transaction fees. The settlement, on behalf of about 7 million retailers, could be the largest antitrust class-action set...
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Payments
Avoid Credit Card Processing Proposals with AVS Fees
June 12, 2012 • Phil Hinke
Editor's Note: Contributor Phil Hinke is a veteran of the credit card processing industry. He now consults with merchants to help them lower their processing costs, believing the credit card industry is often unfair to them. His latest installment is below. There have been a few cases ...
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Payments
Credit Card Providers Increasing Rates and Fees
May 17, 2012 • Phil Hinke
Editor's Note: Contributor Phil Hinke is a credit-card veteran who now consults with merchants on lowering their processing costs. Hinke believes the credit card processing industry is often unfair to merchants. He explains his views in his articles for us, including the one below. It’...
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Payments
Credit Card Processing: Red Flags for Ecommerce Merchants, Part 3
April 12, 2012 • Phil Hinke
Editor's Note: Contributor Phil Hinke is a veteran of the credit card processing industry. He now consults with ecommerce merchants on ways to lower their processing costs. Hinke believes merchants frequently overpay for credit card processing. His piece below is the third installment o...
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Payments
PayPal, Others Envision Payment Convergence
March 26, 2012 • Armando Roggio
The new PayPal Here smartphone-enabled credit card reader is the most recent indication of how electronic payments will likely change, ridding retailers of most industry compliance requirements, enabling simple payment processing solutions, and consolidating multiple or variable proces...
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Payments
Credit Card Processing: Red Flags for Ecommerce Merchants, Part 2
March 13, 2012 • Phil Hinke
Editor's Note: Contributor Phil Hinke is a veteran of the credit card processing industry. He now consults with ecommerce merchants on ways to lower their processing costs. Hinke believes merchants frequently overpay for credit card processing. His piece below is the second installment ...
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Payments
Credit Card Processing: Red Flags for Ecommerce Merchants, Part 1
February 17, 2012 • Phil Hinke
Editor's Note: Contributor Phil Hinke is a veteran of the credit card processing industry. He now consults with ecommerce merchants on ways to lower their processing costs. Hinke believes merchants frequently overpay for credit card processing. His piece below is the first installment o...
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Payments
6 New Mobile Payment Developments
February 16, 2012 • Sig Ueland
According to investment bank Barclays Capital, purchases made on smartphones and tablets hit $5.3 billion in the U.S. in 2011, up 83 percent from 2010. While mobile purchases are dramatically growing, how mobile consumers actually pay for those items is dramatically changing. Here is ...
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Payments
Credit Card Processing: Don’t Be Seduced by Teaser Rates
January 12, 2012 • Phil Hinke
Editor's Note: Contributor Phil Hinke is a veteran of the credit card processing industry. He now consults with merchants to help them lower their processing costs, believing the credit card industry is often unfair to them. His latest installment is below. In "Durbin Amendment May Fos...
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Payments
Layaway: Retro Purchasing Process Reappears Online
January 3, 2012 • Marcia Kaplan
Layaway made a big retail comeback in 2011, with stores such as Sears, Walmart, and Kmart encouraging customers to take advantage of this retro purchase technique. Walmart discontinued layaway in 2006 but brought it back in 2011 for fine jewelry, toys, and electronics. Sears and Kmart o...
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Payments
Credit Card Processing: ‘Interchange-Plus’ Pricing Not Necessarily Fair, Part 3
December 15, 2011 • Phil Hinke
Editor’s Note: Contributor Phil Hinke is a credit-card veteran who now consults with merchants on lowering their processing costs. Hinke believes the credit card processing industry is often unfair to ...
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Payments
Credit Card Processing: ‘Interchange-Plus’ Pricing Not Necessarily Fair, Part 2
November 11, 2011 • Phil Hinke
I am a strong advocate of interchange-plus pricing. To date, I have allowed only merchant account providers that offer interchange-plus pricing to bid for my clients' business. However, I am also concerned about how some providers and salespeople appear to be pitching interchange-plus pricing as a panacea for ensuring merchants are being priced fairly.
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Payments
Credit Card Processing: ‘Interchange-Plus’ Pricing Not Necessarily Fair
October 11, 2011 • Phil Hinke
I am not only upset with what I am seeing in the in the card processing industry right now, I am disgusted with how merchants are being taken advantage of.
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Payments
Credit Card Salespeople Don’t Understand Ecommerce Merchants
September 13, 2011 • Phil Hinke
This article is my latest installment on deceptive credit card practices that harm ecommerce merchants. I have worked in the credit card processing industry since 1994 and every year I get more disgusted with the tactics used on merchants. I now own a consulting firm that advises merc...
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Payments
21 Bitcoin Currency Resources
August 17, 2011 • Sig Ueland
Bitcoin is the first decentralized digital currency. Unlike other virtual currencies—like Facebook credits, for instance—it is not run by a company or organization, nor pegged to another currency. Bitcoins are digital coins you can send through the Internet, without using a bank or cl...
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Payments
Understanding Credit Card Fees, Part 4: The Merchant Statement – Per Item Fees
August 11, 2011 • Phil Hinke
This article is "Part 4" in a series where I help you understand your debit and credit card fees. In last month’s installment — "Understanding Credit Card Fees, Part 3: Punitive Interchange Rates" — I explained how to decode your merchant statement to distinguish the actual interchange...
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