Payments Research and Industry Data
Maintained to reflect market changes, statistics, network rules, pricing structures, and prevailing cost dynamics.
Most Recent Analysis
Payment Processing for Accountants and Accounting Firms
An accounting firm can finish a tax return on time and still spend weeks collecting the fee. A client forgets a cheque, an invoice gets buried in email, or a monthly bookkeeping payment needs another reminder. Payment processing should make those moments easier without creating more reconciliation work for the
When credit card processing goes bad
It is unfortunate but sometimes there are issues in payments and credit card processing. They range from small annoyances to mission critical problems. Here’s some
February 23, 2020
Top reasons businesses should accept credit cards
Accepting credit cards cost money for a business. That is likely the main reason a business might not want to accept credit cards. It costs
February 23, 2020
What is interchange plus in payment processing?
Interchange plus pricing, sometimes called cost plus, is one of the common ways that payment processors price their services for merchants. There are two other
February 23, 2020
History of Credit Cards
There is a long history of retailers or financial institutions providing credit for customers. In the 1800s and early 1900s, imagine going into your local
February 23, 2020
Credit card and payment processing industry overview
The payment processing industry is a sector of the financial industry that handles electronic payment transactions. It includes companies that provide payment processing services, such
February 23, 2020
Declining use of cash. Cash vs Credit Cards.
It’s been a decade long trend. People are using cash less in favour of credit card and debit card payments. It’s a trend that will
February 23, 2020
What is a chargeback in payment processing?
Chargebacks can have negative implications for merchants. They result in financial losses as the revenue from the sale is lost along with associated fees. Dealing
February 23, 2020
How to create a return policy
A return policy is a must. Whether you allow returns or you don’t, a policy should be clear. There are statistics out there that around
February 23, 2020
What are basis points?
When you’re in payments, you’re in an industry with thousands of competitors in a complex value chain. In fact, most of the industry involves just
February 23, 2020
Future delivery and payment processing
Future delivery is an important situation for some merchants in payment processing. It’s good to know how to deal with it and your payment processing
February 23, 2020
What you need to know about payment aggregation
Payment aggregators (aka third-party processors) are service providers that allow other businesses to accept credit cards without having to set up a merchant account. They
February 23, 2020
How does billing cycle impact merchant account rates?
Billing cycles are one of the most important components that payment processors use to determine the risk level of a business. They determine the risk
February 23, 2020
Merchant account closed, frozen, or on hold
It has happened to many businesses before and it’s not a good experience. You are halfway through a busy day and a colleague tells you
February 23, 2020
Most common reasons for chargebacks
If you know why consumers do chargebacks, you can work on preventing them. Chargebacks are one of those things that you should pay attention to
February 23, 2020
Payments statistics: credit, debit, cash, checks, EFT…
You want to get an understanding of how people are paying for things. Here’s a set of stats to give you the lay of the
February 23, 2020
The benefits of contactless debit and credit card payments
Contactless payment is when a consumer taps their card on the payment terminal (point-of-sale, POS) to authorize a transaction. There’s no PIN, no signature. It’s
February 23, 2020
The difference between credit card and debit card rates
As a merchant, you need to know there is a difference between the merchant fees of credit cards vs debit cards. In the end, credit
February 23, 2020
Is it worth it for businesses to accept credit cards?
It costs money for a business to accept credit cards. It would be nice if it was free, but it isn’t. The cost is generally
February 23, 2020
What is the effective rate in payment processing?
The credit card processing industry has some of the most complex pricing of any industry. To make it more difficult, the industry is so competitive
February 23, 2020
Payment processors vs ISOs
Payment processors and ISOs (Independent Sales Organizations) mostly sell the same products and services. In the end, ISOs resell products and services from processors and
February 23, 2020
What are personal guarantees and why have them?
When getting a merchant account, many payment processors will ask for a personal guarantee. There are some cases where this may not happen, for example
February 23, 2020