Retailers

Some payments organizations want the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service to clarify aspects of a law that takes effect next January requiring acquirers to report merchant credit and debit card transactions to the IRS, and they want penalty fees mitigated in the early stages of enforcement, according to comments submitted to the government agencies.

Not all marketing tactics merchant-service providers use are equally effective at piquing merchants’ interest, some observers note. Independent sales organizations often go through multiple marketing techniques to determine which ones are less effective.

Merchants that sell needs-based products, such as food, building materials or vehicle-repair supplies, have experienced less decline in transaction volumes during the recession than have merchants that sell less-necessary goods, such as luxury or entertainment items, observers note.

Independent sales organizations should ensure the legal names and Internal Revenue Service taxpayer identification numbers of their merchant customers match the IRS files, Jill M. Miller, attorney at Jaffe Raitt Heuer & Weiss, P.C., advised attendees at the Northeast Acquirers Conference in Dover, Vt., this week.

Consumers who bank or initiate retail purchases online already can secure those transactions through a variety of means, including passwords used only for the Web, card readers that plug into personal computers or challenge-response procedures that can include images they preselect.

As issuers mail out contactless credit and debit cards by the millions, it is not clear how often they are being used.

Fear of foreign manufacturers one day invading the United States and other developed markets with low-cost hardware is another headache plaguing the world’s top payment-terminal makers (see main story).

The world’s leading payment-terminal manufacturers expect to see a modest uptick in demand this year after a lengthy, recession-driven sales slump. France-based Ingenico, along with U.S.-based VeriFone Holdings Inc. and Hypercom Corp., all are cautiously optimistic about this year’s sales outlook, partly because of improving economic trends in certain global regions and new data-security mandates that will require certain merchants to replace existing terminals.

Ingenico SA this week added the chairman title to CEO Philippe Lazare’s role at the France-based point-of-sale terminal maker. Jacques Stern, who had been Ingenico’s chairman since 2007, remains a director of the company.

PayPal Inc. may face its most crucial test this year as it seeks to broaden its reach.

Mobile-payments company Apriva announced this week the launch of the AprivaPay and AprivaPay Professional mobile-payment services. The move means Apriva resellers, including ISOs, banks and merchant acquirers, now can resell Apriva’s integrated mobile-payment product.

Ingenico SA generated $976.3 million (691.4 million euros) in revenue in 2009, a 5% decrease from $1.03 billion the previous year, according to preliminary financial results the France-based point-of-sale terminal maker released yesterday. Ingenico’s preliminary results do not include net-income figures.

A general approach to marketing for ISOs seeking new clients is more likely to fail than would a campaign that targets specific merchant segments and generates referrals, some observers believe.

Heartland Payment Systems Inc. this week announced it will offer members of the National Restaurant Association a suite of payment products that includes card processing, check services, and payroll, tip-reporting and compliance reports as part of an agreement between the payment processor and the Washington, D.C.-based trade group.

Bank of India is looking to acquire more than 100,000 point-of-sale terminals this year as part of its POS-network expansion drive, an official from the Mumbai-based financial institution tells PaymentsSource.

Elavon, U.S. Bancorp’s merchant-acquiring unit, has purchased Citizens National Bank’s portfolio of more than 300 merchant-processing accounts, according to the companies. Terms were not disclosed.

SourceMedia Inc., publisher of PaymentsSource, today announced the appointment of Douglas J. Manoni as chief executive officer. He replaces James M. Malkin, who has left the company.

Merchant cash-advance company AdvanceMe Inc. this week announced it has added data to its statements to enable merchants to compare their monthly card sales from the same month a year earlier and how their sales measure up against a peer group.

EProcessing Network LLC, a Houston-based online payment gateway company, says its ePNJPOS payment software now supports VeriFone Holdings Inc.’s PINpad 1000SE PIN pad.

The difference between Mophie LLC’s payment card reader for Apple Inc.’s iPhone and similar products competitors have debuted is that Mophie’s Marketplace product will work with any merchant account, according to the Paw Paw, Mich.-based provider of technology accessory products such as smartphone batteries. Retailers can set up a merchant account through Mophie or use an existing account, and “this is the main difference between the Marketplace and competitors,” says a company spokesperson.