Dear Class of 2016 – CONGRADUATIONS! You’re about to enter the workforce. Did you see all those credit card companies – Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover – exhibiting at random places on your campus the last few weeks of classes and exams? They’re there to sign you up for a credit card with incentives…
Blog
New FDA Rules on E-Cigarettes: What Will They Mean for Merchants?
For fear of “hooking a new generation on tobacco,” the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced sweeping changes for the electronic cigarette industry on Thursday. The 499-page document detailing the FDA rules on e-cigarettes included reforms on age limits, manufacturing and ingredient details and significant more oversight by the FDA. E-cigarette merchant accounts have consistently…
3 Reasons Virtual Check Solutions are Getting Popular
In the first quarter of 2016, Instabill merchant account managers sold very few virtual check solutions – enough to count on one hand. In April, however, our virtual check options surged in popularity and into the double digits. When our merchant account managers are pursuing leads and offering our merchant services, we are sure to…
Cinco de Mayo: A Holiday With Ties to Debt Collection
Foreign holidays seem to take on a life of their own in the U.S., which makes sense. This is a country of immigrants. There’s St. Patrick’s Day, on which Americans seem compelled to pack the local pubs, but is actually a religious occasion in Ireland. And there is Cinco de Mayo, the Mexican holiday that…
Effective Strategies That Will Reduce E-Commerce Fraud
There is a pivotal scene in the film Taxi Driver, when Travis Bickle (expertly played by Robert DeNiro), is well into the depths of madness and utters the famous profane-laced rant, “Listen you … Here is a man who would not take it anymore…A man who stood up against the scum…Here is a man who…
Why You Need P2P Encryption and Tokenization – Today
In the U.S. e-commerce industry, convenience seems to be the antithesis of security. Merchants’ stagnant adoption to 3D secure, at least from what Instabill merchant account managers have seen, is proof of such. In the age of the data breach, however, that school of thought can result in the loss of a business. 3D secure…
MMJ, CBD and Collections: Our Takeaways From Transact 16
When Instabill exhibited at the Transact 16 convention and tradeshow last week, we took note of several recurring themes and popular discussion points when visitors dropped by our booth. Transact 16, held Apr. 19-21 at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, didn’t disappoint. Here are some of the more popular inquiries we faced: Q: Can Instabill…
The One Hiccup with EMV Credit Cards
If your Netflix abruptly stops working, don’t be alarmed. If you start receiving renewal notices from the newspaper or weekly magazine to which you subscribe, you’re not alone. If you start receiving hate mail from the toll collection company, there’s a reason for it. Hopefully by now, most consumers in the U.S. have received their…
Merchants Fighting Friendly Fraud With Compelling Evidence
Friendly fraud is becoming more rampant each year, but e-commerce merchants are fighting back. To most merchants, friendly fraud and chargebacks used to be considered as a measly ‘cost of doing business’ that merchants begrudgingly absorbed. For many reasons, this school of thought is no longer acceptable and even dangerous for two reasons: Visa’s new…
3 Dangers High Risk Merchants Don't Think About
High risk, high return. It is the creed of high risk merchants and their payment processors who, more than ever, are facing scrutiny and review from entities such as the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC). It was well-discussed Tuesday in the session entitled ‘Art and Science: The Ever-More Difficult World of…