Retailers

Independent sales organizations have a new opportunity to sign up merchants for a low-cost service that helps consumers pay bills, transfer funds internationally, reload prepaid card accounts and buy minutes for their cell phones.

Viewing the world of bloggers as a potential retail landscape, Jumio Inc. has broadened the availability of its webcam credit card reader software to anyone using a WordPress Foundation website, the company CEO says.

As Visa Inc. has been ramping up its promotion of one-time-use card data for security, Discover Financial Services is winding down its support of a similar technology.

In a move exemplifying efforts to move more cash and check payments to credit and debit cards, a national social network of babysitters and parents called SitterPals.com has signed up to use Square Inc.’s service to accept credit card payments for their services, the company announced Aug. 31.

In announcing during the past week a deal to provide terminals capable of accepting mobile payments at hypermarkets in the Czech Republic and the acquisition of a terminal-servicing company in Italy, Ingenico SA flexed its muscles in the wake of the recent acquisition by VeriFone Systems Inc. of most of Hypercom Corp.’s non-U.S. assets, an industry analyst says.

The wireless carriers involved in mobile-payments venture Isis reportedly plan to invest more than $100 million into the project.

Intuit Inc.’s deal to sell its GoPayment software application and card reader at Verizon Wireless stores could significantly accelerate competition in the fast-growing market for smaller-ticket mobile payments, one analyst suggests.

Tio Networks Corp. is looking for independent sales organizations willing to buy and set up “reverse ATMs” that collect money instead of dispensing it.

Transaction Wireless Inc. became one of the first digital gift card providers to achieve the highest level of PCI Data Security Standard compliance for its computing cloud, defined as the interconnectivity of multiple computer servers, the company announced Aug. 23.

Despite increasing activity involving mobile payments, consumers still trust credit card companies more than companies such as Google Inc., eBay Inc. or Facebook Inc.

Merchants frustated by the complexities of their monthly credit card transaction statements ought to consider having an analyst review them to avoid overcharges, in part because the industry lacks formal standards and protections, a payments processor executive says.

TransFirst LLC, a company specializing in services that bridge the gap between ISOs and processors, is purchasing an ISO that has been a longtime client.

Boku Inc. has inked an agreement with two French wireless phone carriers to offer its carrier-billing service, a deal which will extend Boku’s reach to 32 million customers in France.

A new mobile credit card reader to be offered in the United States by a European startup will accept magnetic stripe cards for payment, but the company is not concerned the U.S. move to EMV cards will affect merchant interest in the device.

Visa Inc.’s announcement that it expects old, static PINs to eventually be “eliminated entirely” in favor of dynamic authentication is facing resistance–in particular because many are not convinced that the PIN is past its prime.

Remember that five-gigabyte hard drive that WikiLeaks allegedly had that contained damaging information about Bank of America? It appears that that data stash no longer exist, having been destroyed by a former associate of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange after the two men got into a fight.

In a significant boost to mobile payments in China, the country’s sole card processor China UnionPay Co. Ltd. has formed a partnership with handset maker HTC Corp. to launch a phone with a built-in mobile-payment facility.

A new point-of-sale terminal from Vivotech Inc. capable of accepting Near Field Communication mobile payments and chip-and-PIN transactions could help position U.S. merchants to embrace EMV smart card technology and perhaps save them money on security-standards compliance costs, the vendor believes.

Independent sales organizations, which sell payment card acceptance to merchants, see a big opportunity in Visa Inc.’s decision to accelerate the switch to EMV chip-and-PIN cards in the United States.

Hearing the “click-click” of a train conductor punching small holes in paper tickets soon will become less apparent on the Long Island Rail Road when conductors begin using a smartphone device to accept card payments on the busy New York rail system.