Ed McKinley

Some independent sales organizations intentionally make merchants' monthly statements as confusing as possible — even as others are working to dispel the mysteries of billing.

Merchant Warehouse, a Boston-based independent sales organization, says its Genius Customer Engagement Platform accepts Apple Passbook, a function the company views as part of a nationwide shift toward mobile payments.

International Merchant Solutions has signed a multiyear deal with Phoenix Managed Networks for PhoeniXSentry, a cloud-based network management service and built-in firewall router.

More consumers are using mobile devices to pay for online purchases, but small merchants aren't doing much to accommodate them.

American card issuers and acquirers are "dragging their feet" on the transition to the EMV chip card standard, but some companies hope to speed the transition by making a clear business case for the technology.

Visa is offering a new data encryption service that could compete with third-party security vendors' offerings. The service's launch also indicates the card brand's growing desire to push beyond the requirements of the Payment Card Industry data security standards.

The merchant wasn't interested in buying, but Joe Porco handed him a business card anyway. The merchant disdainfully threw the card into a waste basket ... and three years of perseverance later he was doing business with the merchant.

Intrix has introduced Invoice Creator, a module for its payment gateway that enables merchants to create and manage invoices from a virtual location.

Independent sales organizations, banks and processors can now offer merchants a virtual business center with 24-7 access to information, services and tools.

ID Tech, a supplier of point-of-sale devices, has agreed to begin outfitting its SecureMag readers with TransArmor data encryption and tokenization from First Data.

VeriFone is supplying retailer Beall's with customer-facing point-of-sale devices that feature color displays and the capacity to adapt to changes in payments.

Merchant acquirers and tech companies are collaborating on mobile payments issues in a new group formed by the Electronic Transactions Association, the Washington-based trade group announced Thursday.

Merchant acquirers and tech companies are collaborating on mobile payments issues in a new group formed by the Electronic Transactions Association.

Until recently, the acquiring industry viewed Google and other high-tech firms as interlopers in the payments business. Now, acquirers are courting those very companies as potential business partners.

Heartland Payment Systems Inc. could have chosen any town in the United States for its “city immersion campaign” marketing push. So, why did it pick Lincoln, Neb.?

Gary Peterson used to discourage merchants from accepting Discover cards. He resented the card brand because its 800-member sales force competed with his independent sales organization. But those bad old days of the '90s have ended

Uncertainty plagues the acquiring business. Recently introduced disruptions include merchants' new freedom to quote interchange fees to consumers, and one company's claim to banish interchange entirely.

Isis is seeking independent sales organizations to promote mobile payments to merchants in a test of its mobile wallet this year in Salt Lake City and Austin, Texas.

CHICAGO — A small "sound off" session here Thursday at a trade show could signal the beginning of better communication between acquirers and the rest of the payment industry.

Recurring revenue and a recent spate of publicity are luring potential buyers into the acquiring industry's merger-and-acquisition market.