Payment processing

Sean Harper, director of products at Groupon Payments, shares his vision of the future of mobile payments and details why Groupon believes its business model can stand out among both traditional card terminal providers and mobile payments processors.

Plimus Inc., an e-commerce services provider, attracted more than 5,000 customers in 145 countries without much marketing. That user base hints at the growing demand for processing technology that equips merchants with payments mechanisms on their e-commerce websites.

Go Daddy will implement First Data Corp.’s technology to provide online payments processing services to small businesses.

Merchants in the British Virgin Islands will soon have a new mobile card reader available to accept card payments through their smartphones.

Green Dot is taking a lesson from Radiohead, oddly enough, and giving customers control of one of the company's mobile bank account fees.

PayPal, facing a growing tide of consumer complaints, is changing its approach to fraud monitoring. But the eBay unit has provided few details of its plans, leading some to wonder whether it will be able to appease the consumers that say they've been wrongfully ensnared in its fraud-fighting net.

Citibank India announced the launch of a mobile and tablet card reading device today developed by Ezetap Mobile Solutions.

Amazon.com Inc. has added an in-app purchasing feature for games and other programs developed for the Web, Mac and PC.

Seth Priebatsch, the 24-year-old founder and head of the mobile payment system LevelUp, has made his company a serious player in the emerging payments market — yet he also sports the less-than-serious job title of "chief ninja." The nickname, he explains, has much to do with his approach to running a business.

Walmart and the other Merchant Customer Exchange members recently announced they would opt for a software-based mobile wallet instead of one based on Near Field Communication hardware. Is this a blow to NFC's future or does the technology have enough supporters to eventually change how people pay?

As the U.S. continues its conversion to EMV chip-card technology, the Durbin amendment's requirement for supporting multiple debit networks is presenting yet another challenge to overcome.

Many companies are trying to repurpose iPads as payment terminals. Leaf, a Cambridge, Mass.-based startup, instead created a commerce-specific tablet for small-business owners.

The concept of making anonymous online transactions is in the spotlight because of the prominence of the digital currency Bitcoin, but most consumers remain uneasy with the cryptocurrency's instability and risk. An alternative for the privacy-minded might sprout from Tor, or The Onion Router.

Square has built its reputation as a quick and simple way for micro-merchants to accept card payments, but the company says it has proven it can serve the more demanding needs of larger retailers.

Payments acquirer WorldPay US is working with Discover Financial Services to allow merchants with brick-and-mortar stores to accept PayPal at the point of sale.

The mega-retailers' Merchant Customer Exchange venture argues that the mobile-payment system it is developing will appeal to retailers in a way no other mobile wallet can. That’s leaving some companies divided on which mobile approach is best—MCX's focus on gaining retailer acceptance or the emphasis on consumer adoption championed by Isis and others.

PayPal Inc., pushing ahead with its drive to become the payment option of choice at the point of sale, has entered an agreement with hardware maker NCR Corp.

Jumio Inc. has released an Android version of its Netswipe Mobile technology for accepting card payments with a phone's camera.

"We're open to partnering and playing with the existing networks, but not under the existing rule base," says Jamie Henry, senior payment director of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. "The existing rules that are in place for card-based payments are not going to be acceptable for mobile-based payments."

Heartland Payment Systems has signed a multi-year contract extension with ABM Parking Services to continue processing payments at ABM’s parking locations nationwide.