Payment Options

Many merchants and retail workers are watching their lives play in slow motion when they process credit cards. To combat fraudulent transactions, the retail industry is shifting away from the traditional magnetic stripe toward tiny computer chips embedded inside cards. The chip technology, known as E.M.V. (for Europay, MasterCard and Visa), has been around for…

If you're tired of how much longer checkout at a store is taking since the rollout of new chip-enabled credit and debit cards, relief may be on the way. Visa said on Tuesday it had upgraded its software to improve the processing of chip-enabled cards and reduce checkout times. The payments company said the upgrade will…

The payments industry is evolving rapidly, between the switch to Europay, MasterCard, and Visa (EMV) in the United States this past year along with the successes and failures associated with mobile payments. With new innovations and technologies also comes a shift in consumer behavior and expectations.

Wal-Mart is rolling out new cash-back rewards for its credit and prepaid cards. The retailer's cards — the Wal-Mart MasterCard, Wal-Mart credit card and prepaid MoneyCards — will now offer 3 percent back on purchases made on Walmart.com, 2 percent back on fuel purchases at Wal-Mart or Murphy USA gas stations, and 1 percent back on…

E-commerce took a couple big leaps forward in innovation and efficiency in 2015. While it’s easy to examine past success and the trends of the previous year, the most important thing retailers can do now is use that knowledge to stay ahead of the curve. Here are three of the most important trends that online retailers…

Apple Pay is finally ready to move beyond apps. Apple has been telling potential partners that its payment service, which lets shoppers complete a purchase on mobile apps with their fingerprint rather than by entering credit card details, is expanding to websites later this year, multiple sources told Re/code. The service will be available to shoppers using…

Avi Kaner, a co-owner of the Morton Williams supermarket chain in New York, has spent about $700,000 to update the payment terminals at his stores. Trouble is, he cannot turn them on. The new terminals can accept credit and debit cards with embedded digital chips, a security feature intended to reduce the number of fraudulent purchases. But before…

Have you ever tried buying something at a store, restaurant or convention and watched the merchant fumble around with one of those Square or PayPal card readers? The idea of customers standing around and waiting for someone to take their money drives me crazy. If it wasn’t for the face-to-face, personal nature of in-store transactions,…

Contactless transactions are fast, simple and highly intuitive. They're a natural fit for the fast-paced lifestyle of today’s consumers. In a seemingly instantaneous manner, the tiny antennae embedded inside credit cards and smartphones communicate with payment terminals to transact purchases. Due to the near ubiquity of mobile devices, however, contactless payments are experiencing a mobile-heavy…

Between the switch to EMV in the United States, the success and failures of mobile payment apps from major corporations, and the debut of Walmart Pay, 2015 was a pivotal year for the payments industry. New innovations and technologies have led to a shift in consumer expectations when choosing payment providers. With the rise of…