Category Archive: 'Card Processing'

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Could the End of Credit Cards Be a Good Thing for Subscription Sites?

Date: November 29, 2011 Topic: Card Processing, Recurring Billing Tags: , , ,

A small 12-person start-up in Des Moines, Iowa is creating a lot of buzz recently with their mission to kill credit cards.

Dwolla lets consumers pay bills and make purchases with the cash in their bank account when shopping online, a previously credit and debit-only platform. According to Business Insider owner and founder Ben Milne started Dwolla after losing $55,000 a year in interchange fees while running his first start-up.

By networking with financial institutions, Milne was able to create a platform that lets people pay for purchases through their bank account, including recurring payments. This can be good news as retailers no longer have to deal with card expiration dates or interchange fees (Dwolla bypasses the dreaded ACH system). People who get paid only get charged $0.25 (that’s right, a quarter) for every transaction, no matter how small or large.

However, it’s unclear whether there are any additional bank fees, and if not, whether it will remain that way. Also, payments may not go through if consumers don’t have enough money in their bank account, causing frustration for both you and your consumers. And since you don’t own the customer’s bank info, you cannot transfer it if you are sold, which has been a major problem for membership sites using other payment alternatives, such as PayPal.

Posted by MinalB21
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British Online Men’s Mag Blokely Launches Paywall; (Oddly) Offers Weekly Memberships

Date: November 7, 2011 Topic: Card Processing, Launches Tags:

blokelyBlokely, a UK-based “cracking good read” for men, has launched a paywall in front of about 90% of its content. (There’s still a regular free story for men who are “afraid of committment”.)

In an unusual spin on typical membership site offers, Blokely offers weekly auto-renew subscriptions as one of its options. We predict this will be a nightmare for the payments processing department. The offer is strongly positioned as £2.50 pounds per week vs £3.95 per month, presumably to push men to a what-the-heck upsell. They’d do better, though, if they offered £3.50 pounds per week vs £3.95 per month, because then the savings are more overt. And, as every subscription marketer knows, really obvious works really well.

Posted by Anne Holland
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American Express, Verizon Wireless Join Forces on Mobile Payments

Date: August 1, 2011 Topic: Card Processing Tags: , ,

It seems that as fast as I turn my head these days, there’s big news in credit card processing, especially in the mobile space. Here’s a big one:  Verizon Wireless and American Express announced today that are joining forces to offer mobile payments using one’s cell phone number and a pin number as authentication, rather than a credit card number.

According to AllThingsD.com, 100 million Verizon subscribers will be able to use the new service to shop on any Internet-connected device, including a PC, phone or tablet. Subscribers will have to sign up for a Serve account through American Express, which can be funded by any bank account or credit card.  One potential hurdle  is that online retailer will also have to integrate Serve in order to take these payments. These various steps could make the road to widespread adaptation bumpy.

“Yes, they have to be Verizon and a Serve customer, but we are preloading a number of devices — smartphones or tablets — with the Serve app, and when you preload there’s a much greater uptake,” said Dan Schulman, group president, Enterprise Growth, American Express told AllThingsD.com. Amex’s deal with Verizon isn’t exclusive so American Express could be partnering with other mobile companies soon.

If you’re interested in learning more about credit card processing and accepting mobile payments for your subscription site, we have a collection of great payment processing resources at our sister site SubscriptionSiteInsider.com

Posted by KathyMcCabe
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New Technology Turns Webcams Into Credit Card Readers

Date: July 26, 2011 Topic: Card Processing Tags: , ,

Software company Jumio today introduced a solution called Netswipe Scanning which will allow your subscription site customers to use their webcams as credit card readers. Basically the customer is prompted to hold up the credit card to his or her webcam and Netswipe scans it and inputs the data into credit card processing.  Here are a few potential advantages of using this technology:

  • Reduction in fraud.  Netswipe turns a “card not present transaction” into an “online card” present transaction. A card present transaction lowers the risk of fraud significantly.
  • Works with your existing payment provider.
  • Customers might be more likely to complete a transaction? This is up for debate as the only data so far is from a focus group run by Jumio which concluded 79%  completed a transaction with Netswipe vs. 48% without.

One question I immediately asked when reading about Netswipe: Is this solution PCI compliant?  Here’s what Jumio says on its site: “If you use Netswipe Scanning or Netswipe Recycle Swipe you will need to demonstrate that your system can handle this data securely and that you are taking full responsibility for your PCI DSS compliance. One part of this is the need for us to see a clean Vulnerability scan being made on your systems.”

Posted by KathyMcCabe
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Braintree Payment Solutions Getting Lots of Buzz

Date: July 19, 2011 Topic: Card Processing Tags: ,

We’re always on the lookout for the best payment solutions for subscription sites. Braintree Payment Solutions has gotten lots of buzz recently. Just last month, the Chicago-based company raised over $34 million in Series A funding. Braintree also keeps signing on big name clients such as Living Social, OpenTable, Picknik, etc. Here are some things to know if all the buzz has you considering Braintree as a payment solution:

  • Braintree is an all-in-one  solution – offering merchant account, gateway and recurring billing.
  • The company is big on avoiding deceptive pricing and fee structures and offers a “truth in pricing” guarantee.
  • Braintree takes PCI Compliance very seriously and it looks like it does a good job getting you set up with PCI best practices right away.
  • Braintree doesn’t lock you into a contract and doesn’t charge a cancellation fee if you terminate your account.

Are you using Braintree as your payment solution? Give us your feedback below.

Posted by KathyMcCabe
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