Payment Options

Kmart is introducing a rent-to-own program charging the equivalent of 100-plus percent annual interest, a move into a business that's drawn criticism for hurting low-income consumers. The Lease-to-Own program touts instant gratification — customers without credit take a product home right away, make biweekly payments, then decide whether to buy out or return the product. A typical deal could turn a $300 television into a $415 purchase. Sears Holdings Corp., which owns Kmart, debuted a similar program at its namesake stores earlier this year.

Gift cards are a tried-and-true strategy for influencing purchase decisions and, as such, have proven to be a lucrative revenue stream for small and big-box retailers alike. Today, gift cards take many forms and represent more than $110 billion in sales. Tomorrow, however, holds something much bigger for retailers with gifting programs. There's a "branded currency" revolution on the horizon; those retailers that can make the transition from a traditional gift card program to a comprehensive branded currency strategy will have the opportunity to increase online and in-store sales, drive new customer acquisition and grow loyalty.

In the spirit of the season, I thought I'd check in with North Mankato, Minn.-based HalloweenCostumes.com, a leading online Halloween costume destination, to see how it was faring this season. HalloweenCostumes.com was started 10 years ago out of a garage; today it receives hundreds of thousands of costume orders during the Halloween season. The company attributes its growth and success to several factors, including leveraging scalable technology from partners such as PayPal, Google and Amazon.com.

Federal regulators are probing eBay's Bill Me Later for potential consumer abuses associated with its money-lending practices, the company disclosed in a regulatory filing. Bill Me Later, which eBay absorbed in 2008 through a PayPal acquisition, has previously come under fire for charging deferred interest and is fighting a lawsuit in Utah, where its current and former issuing banks are chartered.

Identity theft and consumer fraud are synonymous with internet scams. From complaint boards to value-added upsells solicited by credit card companies, when it comes to fraudulent online activity, the most common offender is seen as a vicious criminal. However, a different type of fraud is taking the lion's share of this nomenclature by storm, boasting an explosive growth rate when it comes to online transactions. The criminal behind the scenes is one who is very rarely recognized. This is what's being referred to as "friendly fraud."

PayPal will introduce a new way for people to pay for goods in-store with their phones in another bid to extend its business beyond online retailers. The Payment Code feature, announced yesterday, will allow PayPal users to pay for things in physical retail stores by scanning a QR code generated in the app, or by using a one-time four-digit code in stores that use PIN codes but don't have a scanner.

There are so many different shopping cart providers today, how do you know what to look for when selecting one? The answer ultimately lies in knowing which software will adapt and grow with your business best. As I see it, there are five absolutely critical things that must be considered when setting up an online store and selecting an online shopping cart:

Billabong is a global omnichannel retailer of surfwear and extreme sports apparel that has a presence in more than 100 countries, including 110 brick-and-mortar stores in the U.S. With its extended reach and strong international customer base, Billabong frequently saw customers from around the world shopping in its U.S. stores. To provide these international customers shopping in the U.S. as seamless an experience as possible, Billabong recently installed a "Pay in Your Currency" payment solution in 85 of its stores across the country.

Uniqul, a Finnish startup, has patented and tested a unique payment system that does away with many security worries about paying for items in a store. In Uniqul's system, your face is your PIN. The company is going to roll out terminals in the Helsinki area soon. The actual mechanism is as simple as it sounds: To confirm a transaction at point of sale, the user simply has to present their face to the camera, watch for their

In 2011, PayPal debuted PayPal Access, a payments identity technology that allows you to carry your payments identity to various retailers on the web. It's essentially a cross between Amazon.com's payments platform and Facebook Connect. Yesterday, PayPal announced a new name for the product, Log In With PayPal, and added a number of new features, including mobile support. With Log In With PayPal, instead of signing up with a specific retailer's credentials on a site, you sign up with your PayPal account, which would include all of your financial, shipping and billing information, as well as your purchase history.