The Direct Response Forum (DRF) has released survey results from this years annual event held in Memphis in August. The merchant survey showed interchange fees the #1 concern of payment professionals (57% of the respondents), CNP Chargeback Rules are #2 concern, and PCI compliance the #3 concern. The DRF is a forum for CNP merchants; this year event attracted 420 payment professionals that collectively represent billions of dollars in card-not-present credit and debit card transactions every year.

comScore has released its Q2 2010 U.S. retail eCommerce sales estimates, which showed that online retail spending reached $32.9 billion for the quarter, up 9% versus year ago. This growth rate represented the third consecutive quarter of positive year-over-year growth following a year of flat or negative growth rates. READ MORE »

RSA has publised a new security brief titled "Secure Payment Services: Card Data Security Transformed" which is available for download from their website. According to the company, "the new RSA Security Brief introduces a model for outsourcing credit card data security called "secure payment services." Secure payment services transfer safeguarding card information to outside service providers, improving electronic card data security while simultaneously reducing the time, complexity and cost of achieving PCI compliance for merchants."

Apple has introduced a new Apple Store iPhone application that provides a new interface to buying from the online Apple Store. In addition to shopping from the application, it provides the location and directions to the nearest Apple retail store, allows scheduling of Personal Shopping, Genius Bar, and One to One appointments, and sign up for workshops and events at local Apple Stores. [Editor's note: I used the new Apple Store app to reserve my new iPhone 4 for pickup next week!]

Earlier today, the British Retail Consortium published its Cost of Payment Collection Survey 2009. The survey, based on data covering 53% of total UK retail sales, found that debit cards are the most used form of payment representing 44% of UK retail sales. Cash represents 32% of sales - but 58% of transactions - while credit cards represent 21% of sales. Cheques acceptance is minimal - only 1% of sales.

In terms of costs per transaction, debit cards were 8.5 pence, cash 2.1 pence, credit cards 33.3 pence, charge cards 50.3 pence and cheques 38.6 pence. The weighted average costs across all tender types was 8 pence.

In a separate press release also issued today, the BRC asked for the UK Government to intervene the reduce the fees retailers pay to banks for card acceptance.

CoreLogic Credco has announced the introduction of OneCheck, a suite of merchant verification and risk mitigation products, provided through a newly established merchant services division. According to the company, "OneCheck is the industry’s most flexible and competitively priced suite of merchant verification solutions available. It instantly collects, sorts and combines hundreds of decisioning data elements into an easy-to-read comprehensive report – all in a single transaction. The result is a consolidated one-source solution for fast, reliable risk mitigation and merchant prequalification." READ MORE »

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) said in a press release today that, "as part of its promised clampdown on irresponsible banking behaviour, the new Government should intervene to cut the excessive charges banks levy on retailers for accepting plastic. The combination of unjustifiably high card charges and growth of non-cash payment methods promises big windfalls for banks and a financial blow for shops and customers." READ MORE »

Target has announced that beginning this fall customers will receive 5 percent off at check-out every day when they use a REDcard at any Target store or on Target.com. Target’s REDcards include the Target Credit Card, Target Visa Credit Card and Target Check Card debit product. READ MORE »

First Data Corp. has published a new white paper titled "Where Security Fits in the Payment Processing Chain" that provides an overview of security vulnerabilities and identifies cost-effective technology-based solutions that are readily available today to help merchants security sensitive data and improve their PCI compliance.

The US Department of Commerce has announced that retail sales for April 2010 increased 0.4 percent from the previous month and 8.8 percent above April 2009.

Target Corporation has announced that all new qualified credit card applicants will receive the Target Credit Card, a credit product accepted at all Target stores and Target.com. Effective April 29, 2010, Target will no longer issue the Target Visa Credit Card to new credit card applicants. Existing Target Visa Credit Card holders will not be affected. READ MORE »

Ingenico has introduced the Ingenico ROAM suite of mobile applications - including ROAMpay and ROAMbuy - to help sales agents, mobile workforce professionals, and merchants reach and service consumers on their own mobile phones. The applications result from a strategic investment Ingenico made recently to work with ROAM Data Inc., a Boston-based mobile application service provider. According to Ingenico, "ROAM's patented technology enables it to be the only provider to dynamically deliver business and payment applications to nearly 200 million US customers, regardless of carrier on hundreds of different devices from smartphones to feature phones running J2ME and Brew." READ MORE »

In an article titled "iPhone credit card swipe war heats up", Jessica Bruder writes for CNNMoney.com about several new approaches to enable iPhones to become point-of-sale devices for payment card acceptance: Square, VeriFone Payware Mobile, and Mophie - among others.

Bruder writes: "They're battling each other for the hearts -- and wallets -- of mobile merchants, promising an improvement over the clunky, hardwired credit card terminals that have been a staple of brick-and-mortar commerce for decades."

Target has announced that shoppers no longer have to carry their Target GiftCards in order to redeem them, thanks to the new Target Mobile GiftCard. Using Target’s mobile technology, any shopper can save GiftCard information to a PIN-secure account on the Target.com mobile site. Target says that "all that’s needed is a mobile phone with Internet capabilities which a guest can use to retrieve GiftCard barcodes for scanning at checkout." READ MORE »

MasterCard has announced MasterCard Advisors Merchant Solutions - calling it a "first-of-its-kind suite of information products, data analytics and marketing services [that[ will enable decision makers across merchant organizations to understand spending activity in their industry category; evaluate their sales performance against their competitive set; and focus direct marketing efforts to target the very best prospects and hard to reach segments." READ MORE »

Fiserv has announced Deposit Manager, "an integrated cash deposit solution that is designed to allow financial institutions to offer their retailing clients an improved way to handle end-to-end cash operations." READ MORE »

ACI Worldwide has announced the availability of a report by Retail Systems Research (RSR), examining the future of retail payments. The research was sponsored by ACI Worldwide and "highlights the need for retailers to review and upgrade their payment systems, to ensure they can remain innovative and meet changing customer needs." READ MORE »

The Payments System Research Department of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City has released a Payments Systems Briefing titled "An Update on Interchange Legislation in the United States" by Research Associate Christian Hung. The briefing "provides a summary of recent developments in interchange legislation in the United States as well as the recently released Government Accountability Office report detailing its findings on interchange fees."

Wildcard Network has announced the launch of its free Wildcard iPhone application - now available in the iTunes Store.

According to the company, the "Wildcard app brings gift cards to life by offering a convenient and intuitive way to manage and gift on the iPhone." Using the app, you can buy and use gift cards from the iPhone. When you need to make a purchase, the app displays a bar code that the merchant's POS scans.

In an article titled "Hurdle Emerges for Stores Pitching Credit Cards", Robin Sidel writes for the Wall Street Journal about concerns that some major retailers have with proposed Federal Reserve regulations that would "force retailers to gather more financial information from customers— including how much they earn— before giving them credit."

Cardlytics has announced the expansion of its transactional marketing platform for national, local and online retailers - saying that its "patent-pending platform enables retailers to deliver targeted promotional offers to consumers through their online banking statements. These offers are delivered as cash or other reward incentives, which are earned once the consumer makes a qualifying purchase with a debit or credit card, whether in-store or online. ... With its unique tracking capabilities, Cardlytics is the first platform to target and track both offline and online consumer redemptions via digitally targeted ads." READ MORE »

A few minutes ago, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey tweeted about his new company: Square - a new way to accept payments. Checkout his tweets, the new Square twitter tweets and the new Square website. More information about Square is in this TechCrunch article including a video demonstration and an interview with Dorsey..

In an article titled "Bar Owner Stood Firm and Won Lower Fees", Keith Bradsher writes for the New York Times from Sydney, Australia about how The Merivale Group, Sydney’s largest operator of upscale restaurants and bars, successfully negotiated a lower merchant fee for acceptance of American Express cards. The tactic they used? In a word: Surcharging. The regulatory environment in Australia allows merchants to surcharge card fees to consumers.

In an article titled "Shady Shoppers Beware" in today's Wall St. Journal, Emily Maltby writes about how some merchants are fighting customers who tend to chargeback purchases by using services such as those offered by BadCustomer.com and Ignify.

The National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) released the following statement in response to today's release of the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, "Credit Cards: Rising Interchange Fees Have Increased Costs for Merchants but Options for Reducing Fees Pose Challenges."

"The GAO confirmed key problems that we have raised about credit card interchange fees, also known as 'swipe' fees," said Lyle Beckwith, NACS senior vice president of government relations. "They found that the 10 largest banks have a stranglehold on this market, have used it to raise their fees, which all consumers pay, and that small businesses and low-income, cash-paying consumers get the worst deal from this arrangement."

"And though Visa and MasterCard claim that swipe fees have not been increasing, and that credit card use increases sales for merchants, the GAO report solidly debunks both of those claims," said Beckwith. "The GAO report should sound the alarm that it is time for Congress to reform swipe fees."

The GAO report confirmed many of the most harmful aspects of unfair, hidden fees swipe fees that are incurred every time a consumer pays by debit or credit card. The report shows that the credit card companies and their issuing banks mislead the public about their increasing rates and about the benefits of credit cards to businesses. The report also outlines an unfair, anti-competitive system that hurts Main Street businesses and their customers in order to pad the banks' bottom lines, with little relation to the actual costs of processing payments.

The report makes it clear that, unless Congress acts to bring competition and transparency into the interchange system, the big banks and credit card companies will keep lining their pockets at the expense of small businesses and consumers nationwide.

CyberSource has announced the results of its latest annual survey of eCommerce fraud finding that "merchants in 2009 were fighting back against fraud, and seeing considerable evidence of success. U.S. and Canadian merchants expect to lose about $3.3 billion to eCommerce fraud this year, down from $4 billion last year. This is the first drop in estimated revenues lost since 2003. The percentage of revenue merchants predict they will lose in 2009, on average, is 1.2%, the lowest estimate in the 11-year history of the survey." READ MORE »

According to a new report released today by LexisNexis® Risk Solutions, U.S. merchants are incurring $191 billion in fraud losses each year. The 2009 LexisNexis® True Cost of Fraud Benchmark Study discovered that merchants must absorb nearly 10 times the identity fraud cost incurred by financial institutions. Retail merchants experience a massive $100 billion in losses solely attributed to identity fraud, which escalates to $191 billion when factoring in the additional cost of lost and stolen merchandise. The study also found that merchant fraud losses amounted to more than 20 times the total value of consumer fraud victim losses which totaled approximately $4.8 billion in 2008. READ MORE »

Vesdia has announced that it has been selected by Upromise, a free online service that helps its members earn money for college, as its new preferred provider of brick-and-mortar and catalog merchant services.

Vesdia says it "will provide more ways to save through a consistently expanding network of leading national, regional and local brick-and-mortar merchants. Through the Vesdia network, Upromise members can now earn money in their college savings account or pay down eligible student loans when shopping at an increased assortment of new retailers, and Vesdia merchant partners will be marketed through one of the most coveted loyalty programs in the United States." READ MORE »

Starbucks has announced a new customer loyalty card program called My Starbucks Rewards, which will launch on Dec. 26, 2009 in all U.S. Starbucks stores. Consolidating its two current programs, Starbucks Card Rewards and Starbucks Gold card, the new program "delivers value with no annual fee, allows members to use one registered card (any Starbucks Card) and provides customized rewards that increase with frequency of use." READ MORE »

Sears has announced new benefits and new features to provide more retail value to Sears card customers, including Credit Score Access (Sears is the first major retailer to offer its cardholders access to their credit score at no additional cost), Monthly Cardholder-only Sales and a new Sears Platinum MasterCard with a new Sears Choice Rewards program. READ MORE »