Amazon Web Services 2009 Startup Challenge includes a prize from Amazon Payments for the AWS Start-Up Challenge finalist with the most creative monetization strategy and use of Amazon Payments solutions. Winner of the Amazon Payments prize will go home with $10,000 in combined cash and Amazon Payments credits. Details here.

eBillme has announced it will give consumers 1% cash back for every purchase made using its cash checkout option. According to the company, "in order to qualify, online shoppers select eBillme for checkout at one of over 800 online merchant sites offering the credit card alternative payment option. Consumers can then sign-up for eBillme's cash back rewards and immediately start earning 1% cash back for every order. Once $10 in rewards has been earned, the cash can be redeemed on eBillme merchant sites, or shoppers may choose to continue earning before redeeming." READ MORE

Following the TechCrunch story earlier today about PayPal's Application Platform, Osama Bedier, VP of platform and emerging technology at PayPal, has posted an article on the PayPal Blog saying: "...it is true that PayPal will be the first and only global payments platform open to third-party developers allowing them to easily monetize their ideas."

NYCE Payments Network has published results from a consumer survey finding that "consumers who limit their online shopping say they would make more purchases online if their financial institution offered them a safe payment method." A summary presentation on the survey findings is available online. READ MORE

The PayPal Blog notes that JP Morgan has recently published an "in-depth analysis on the PayPal business".

In a post on PaymentsViews.com titled "eRetailer Tender Type Acceptance Analysis", Glenbrook's Russ Jones takes a look at a recent Internet Retailer study of the top 500 retail web sites and does some additional tender type analysis to see what we could learn about acceptance trends across various alternative online payment methods.

Across the top 100 online retailers, Russ found that "87% of the Top 100 accept a form of payment other than the main four payment card tenders. 72% took at least five types of tenders — the four main tenders plus one alternative. On the far end of tender types diversity, 11% of the Top 100 took at least 8 different types of tenders."

Russ notes that this analysis is specific to online retailers based in the United States. Our analysis at Glenbrook indicates that about 60% of the global eCommerce market is now outside the United States — and tender type acceptance (and acceptance strategies) vary greatly country-to-country. If you're looking to sort out your global acceptance strategy, contact Russ Jones directly for further assistance.

PayPal has released a new survey released finding that nearly half (45 percent) of online shoppers have abandoned their carts multiple times in the past three weeks due to high shipping costs, security concerns and lack of convenience. According to PayPal's survey, the average cost of abandoned goods in U.S. shopping carts is $109. READ MORE

Javelin Strategy & Research has released a new report evaluating providers of alternative payment solutions for online retail transactions. The report, Predicting Alternative Payments Vendor Success: Balancing Needs Among Banks, Merchants, and Consumers reviews services provided by nine vendors: Acculynk, eBillme, HomeATM, Mazooma, Moneta, NACHA SVP, Noca, SeerGate, and Verient. READ MORE

On the New York Times Bits blog, Saul Hansell writes about PayPal's fraud risk management techniques - noting that "you may not have ever bought anything with PayPal, but it’s got a file on you anyway, just in case."

PayPal CEO Scott Thompson was interviewed at Wired's first Business Conference - “Disruptive by Design” - held in New York earlier this week. In the interview, Scott talks about the history of PayPal, how the company innovated to integrate with national payment systems in many countries around the world, and the innovations in risk management that have been fundamental to PayPal's success.

Read Scott's blog post about the interview - and you can watch the full video of the interview here. Highly recommended!

BusinessWeek's Douglas MacMillan writes about meeting with PayPal president Scott Thompson recently where he dispelled rumors that PayPal might follow its sister business unit Skype and be spun out of eBay. Thompson noted that the acquisition last fall of Bill Me Later was easier to accomplish with the strength of eBay's balance sheet.

In a post titled "Beaucoup Bucks" over on our sister PaymentsViews.com website, Glenbrook's Carol Coye Benson takes a look at Boku, the new online payments service that was announced yesterday. Carol begins: "Boku is drop-dead easy for the consumer. The online demo is stunning in its simplicity. Never, ever, underestimate the importance of ease of use for a consumer. Especially for spontaneous purchases. In my opinion, this is right up there with 1-Click."

BOKU has announced the launch of a new mobile payments service, along with the acquisition of both Paymo and Mobillcash businesses -- two leading providers in the global mobile payments industry.

According to BOKU, its mobile payments service "enables global consumers to make online purchases of digital and virtual goods with their mobile phones. The company is creating a new standard for mobile transactions by bringing bank-grade mobile payments to the Web, and enables merchants and publishers to provide fast and reliable mobile payments to over 1.6 billion consumers globally. In a related announcement today, the company raised $13 million in venture funding led by Benchmark Capital, with participation from Index Ventures and Khosla Ventures, and unveiled its management team." READ MORE

ThreatMetrix has unveiled a new mobile security application for smartphone users called SafeAndSurf - a web browser that securely stores a smartphone user's personal data until he or she is ready to sign-on to a social network, execute an online banking transaction, or complete an ecommerce purchase. According to the company, "SafeAndSurf is the only mobile security application to safeguard a smartphone user's personal information and also allow the user to automatically insert that information to transaction data fields, a combination that allows consumers to shop, bank and play on their smartphones more safely and easily." SafeAndSurf is available today for use on the Apple iPhone. READ MORE

Merchant e-Solutions has announced the addition of Visa and MasterCard automatic account updating services for e-commerce and card-not-present merchants that specialize in recurring billing. According to the company, "pproximately half of all card accounts change annually in an issuing bank's portfolio, which can lead to denial of transactions billed to outdated cards." READ MORE

Accertify has announced that its Interceptas platform has been chosen by eHarmony, the online service that uses relationship science to match singles seeking long-term relationships. READ MORE

Over on The PayPal Blog, Bill Clark, an analyst in the risk team at PayPal, writes about why PayPal has rolling seller reserves in place. He notes that "PayPal may require that a small percentage of some of our sellers’ payment volume be held in their account for a period of time, sort of like a security deposit to cover future chargebacks and reversals."

Emirates has announced it has implemented GlobalCollect’s payment processing service to offer alternative payment solutions for bookings on www.emirates.com. Starting in 37 countries across the world, customers can choose from a range of alternative payment methods hosted by GlobalCollect, including local credit and debit cards, local bank transfers, real time bank transfers, cash (Western Union Quick Pay), direct debits, and eWallets (PayPal). READ MORE

PayByCash, a subsidiary of PlaySpan, has announced the availability of the PayByCash Code, a pre-paid product for consumers in 180 countries that provides a streamlined way to make Internet purchases. According to the company, "using a PayByCash Code is similar to using a credit-card but without the activation hassles that make store-purchased prepaid cards challenging for many consumer demographics." READ MORE

Sony Music has announced it has signed an agreement with GlobalCollect and Materna GmbH to create a retail offering on its labels’ artist websites across the EMEA region to enable consumers to download digital content. According to the two companies, Sony Music is using GlobalCollect’s portfolio of local and international payment methods to facilitate all related e-payment transactions. With the help of a widget, Sony Music is driving traffic directly to the website of an artist to allow fans to share information and to download the artist’s repertoire. GlobalCollect’s single-interface online payment platform, WebCollect, offers fans a broad array of payment products from credit cards to alternative payment methods to purchase MP3 music downloads. At a later stage, the e-commerce offer will be expanded to include artist merchandise, concert tickets, and more. READ MORE

eBIZ.mobility has announced a new Facebook payment plugin for its OneTouch Online Purchasing payment processing system. According to the company, "the new payment plugin allows application developers to monetize their Facebook traffic in 26 countries by adding an alternative payment option into their offerings." OneTouch says it "provides developers with a 77% revenue share and settles monthly." READ MORE

Socialwise, Inc. has announced the launch of BillMyParents, an online youth payment system that the company says "gives teens the freedom to shop online and parents the control over these purchases--all in a simple, automated system that keeps credit card numbers and other personal information safe and secure." READ MORE

In an article titled "BillMyParents makes it easy for kids to spend parents' money", CNet's Rafe Needleman takes a look at BillMyParents - saying that "I believe this service's primary challenge is one of sales. It needs to get some merchants on board."

The Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce has announced that its estimate of U.S. retail e-commerce sales for the first quarter of 2009, adjusted for seasonal variation, but not for price changes, was $31.7 billion, an increase of 0.7 percent (±1.1%)* from the fourth quarter of 2008.

The first quarter 2009 e commerce estimate decreased 5.4 percent (±2.5%) from the first quarter of 2008 while total retail sales decreased 10.2 percent (±0.4%) in the same period. E-commerce sales in the first quarter of 2009 accounted for 3.5 percent of total sales.

Total retail sales for the first quarter of 2009 were estimated at $909.6 billion, a decrease of 1.8 percent (±0.4%) from the fourth quarter of 2008.

Amazon Payments has introduced a free processing offer (through 9/30/09 - subject to certain conditions) for new users of its various payment services.

IMshopping has announced its beta launch of what it's calling "the first human-assisted shopping website and Twitter shopping service where knowledgeable shopping guides respond to product questions and provide personalized recommendations for users. It’s like a Shopping 411 information service. The site offers the experience of going into a store, speaking with a knowledgeable expert and being guided to the best products for your needs." READ MORE

CyberSource has announced the availability of its Airline Online Fraud Report, a study of the impact of online fraud on the airline industry. CyberSource commissioned the study in association with Airline Information LLC. It can be downloaded at: http://forms.cybersource.com/forms/airlinefraudpr. READ MORE

Noting that US consumers spend $1 Trillion annually on recurring transactions and installment billing, Litle & Co. says it believes that in order to remain competitive, merchants -- particularly online, membership and subscription services businesses -- must embrace and support these transaction types as part of their overall offering. The company has developed a list of "Recurring Transactions Best Practices" to hel merchants take advantage of recurring transactions to convert traffic into long-term customer relationships and to maximize revenue opportunities. READ MORE

PayPal Australia has announced "a new programme to help more organisations get online and take advantage of the Internet to open up new revenue streams. With e-commerce expected to continue to grow in the coming years, PayPal will launch a ‘Certified Developer and Partner Program’ to recruit developers and solution providers to help meet the growing demand for online payments outside of the retail sector. In addition, the company has made new tools and resources available to help organisations such as charities, foundations, schools and universities start accepting online payments and donations easily." READ MORE

Saul Hansell of the New York Times has a post on the BITS blog titled "Undoing Meg Whitman’s eBay" in which he looks at the recent actions by eBay CEO John Donahue undoing several of the acquisitions done by former eBay CEO Meg Whitman. Hansell writes that Donahue is, however, excited about PayPal - but asks what PayPal is trying to be - and questions whether it adds value.