Tag Archives: Host Merchant Services

AmEx To Refund $85 Million To Customers

For this edition of the Official Merchant Services Blog, we take a look at yet another case of troubling consumer card practices. Last week, we covered the news that Discover had been hit with a $200 million dollar fine by the U.S. Government for deceptive practices. Just today, American Express entered into a settlement with Bank Regulators, involving the company’s missteps in U.S. card practices.

American Express reached a settlement with several regulatory agencies to resolve previously disclosed card practices problems involving several of the company’s subsidiaries. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (FRB), Office of Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), and Utah Department of Financial Institutions (UDFI) all agreed upon the settlements with AmEx.

The regulators cited violations including those relating to certain aspects of debt collection practices, credit card solicitations, late fee charges, the reporting of disputes to credit bureaus and new account approval processes. Reportedly, American Express has cooperated fully with the FDIC, CFPB, FRB, OCC, and UDFI. The company is strengthening its internal compliance processes and will continue to work closely with its regulators.

The settlement includes plans for developing a remediation process for each of the cited violations and an agreement to pay fines totaling $27.5 million. In accordance with the settlement, the company will establish funds totaling $85 million for customer refunds through its subsidiaries. The majority of those refunds are related to debt collection practices and late fee charges. Impacted customers will be notified as soon as possible.

Some of the subsidiaries involved include American Express Centurion Bank; American Express Bank, FSB; and American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc.

If you are an AmEx customer, be on the lookout for any notifications that may imply you are entitled to a refund. We will keep an eye on this story, as well as any other settlements for malicious card practices involving major U.S. Credit Card companies that may arise.

Durbin Double Down [2023 Update]

In this installment of the Official Merchant Services Blog, we look at the actions several retail trade groups and merchant advocates have taken to further the fight against the antitrust settlement proposed by Visa and MasterCard. We have touched upon this subject several times before, however these steps may have been the most drastic yet.

In an open letter last week to leading members of congress, the National Retail Federation (NRF), the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA), and seven other large retail-related groups expressed their frustration with the pending litigation in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, saying that the outcome could further “entrench the Visa/MasterCard duopoly.”

The groups called on congress to pay attention to the state court settlement, in an attempt to escalate the issue and garner attention from lawmakers and Americans.

The groups argue, “The proposed settlement, which was negotiated by Visa, MasterCard and lawyers purporting to represent the merchant community, is one-sided and preserves the very anti competitive actions that were the genesis of the lawsuits.”

“Given the important oversight role of Congress and your continued interest in this important issue, we write today to urge you to reject the false claims from the card networks and their representatives.” The letter also stated “The proposed settlement does nothing to resolve the failures in the electronic payment market and continued Congressional involvement in these issues is imperative. We look forward to keeping you fully informed as the legal process moves forward and the chorus of objections grows.”

RILA’s Brian Dodge described the problem retailers face, “Visa and MasterCard centrally set fees that are ultimately paid by merchants and collected by issuing banks. With two fee schedules imposed by two companies that control 70 percent of the marker there is no meaningful competition.”

The groups argue that the $7.2 billion dollar settlement is not the problem, even going so far as to accuse Visa and MasterCard of using the pending settlement exchanges as penitence for maintaining the status quo.

In a statement released in July, just after the settlement was announced Visa said it believes that the settlement is in the best interests of all parties involved. “This agreement should remove the distraction of litigation for all parties,” said Joshua R. Floum, general counsel of Visa Inc. “We will go forward with a focus on helping retailers grow their businesses and providing them with efficient and valuable payment options.”

On October 3^rd, these retail and trade groups will appear before a court seeking to order the Federal Reserve Board to start over in devising regulations for implementing the controversial amendment’s provisions because the Fed allegedly did not follow the amendment’s dictates in setting the debit card rules now in place. The trade groups and retailers sued the Fed last November in an effort to start the rule-setting process anew. In a May filing, the plaintiffs said the board “manufactured ambiguity” in its interpretation of the amendment’s language. A Federal Reserve spokesperson would not comment about the upcoming hearing, although attorneys for the Fed said the board properly implemented the law’s directives regarding the authorization and settlement costs that could be considered in regulating debit card interchange, as well as which costs to exclude.

Retail groups continue to fight both the Interchange settlement and the Federal Reserve Boards Durbin rules. There seems to be no end in sight for this case, and only time will tell if the Fed will be forced to reset its Durbin amendment rules and regulations and start anew.

Industry Terms: Basis Points

This is the latest installment in The Official Merchant Services Blog’s Knowledge Base effort. Well we want to make the payment processing industry’s terms and buzzwords clear. We want to remove any and all confusion merchants might have about how the industry works. Host Merchant Services promises: the company delivers personal service and clarity. So we’re going to take some time to explain how everything works. This ongoing series is where we define industry related terms and slowly build up a knowledge base and as we get more and more of these completed, we’ll collect them in our resource archive for quick and easy access. Today’s term is Basis Points, a term used frequently in the industry and one that is pretty simple to understand but very important to all merchants that take credit cards because they apply to every pricing structure out there.

Basis Points

Basis Points are a unit of measurement with a value equaling one one-hundredth of a percent ( ¹/₁₀₀ of 1%). Basis Points, typically denoted as bp, are sometimes referred to colloquially as “bips” or “beeps.” The same unit of measurement is rarely called a permyriad — literally meaning ‘for every myriad ten thousand’ — and will have a strange looking symbol that looks like a percent sign with two extra zeroes at the end.

It will look like this: 100‱

Basis points are frequently used to express differences in many financial and economical areas such as yield differences between bonds, changes to interest rates, equity indices and fixed-income securities. In a lot of news stories from the media, basis points are used to refer to reports from a central bank’s changes to prevailing interest rates.

The term basis point has its origins in trading the “basis” or the spread between two interest rates. Since the basis was very small, the numbers are quoted multiplied up by 10000, and so a full point movement in the basis is a basis point.

The measurement helps in financial analysis because it avoids the ambiguity between relative and absolute discussions about interest rates by dealing only with te absolute change in numeric value of a rate.

But What About Credit Card Processing?

The term basis point in reference to credit card processing and merchant accounts is typically used to refer to the percentage of a sale that a merchant pays to the service provider to process a credit card transaction.

They tend to be used to refer to the discount rate that merchants pay to process plastic. Since credit card processing discount rates are typically less than 5% — with most being less than 2.5% — fractions of a percent often come into play. So basis points make it easier to discuss these tiny amounts without having to resort to extended decimals or fractions.

Discover To Pay $200 Million For Deceptive Practices

Today the Official Merchant Services Blog will investigate the more than $200 million dollar fine that the U.S. Government issued on Discover Bank. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) and Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB) have ordered Discover to refund approximately $200 million to more than 3.5 million of its customers, as well as pay a $14 million civil penalty to the government. The order comes after the FDIC began investigating Discover last year for deceptive telemarketing practices and sales tactics used to sell consumers various credit card products, such as payment protection, credit score tracking, identity theft and wallet protection.

Consumers reported that these telemarketers would downplay key words during the calls and also used scripts that misled the customer about whether they would actually be paying for the product. Some Discover customers thought the products were free because of the use of such words as “benefits.”

Some consumers asked for reading material on the products before purchasing them, however they found themselves being billed for the products before receiving the materials. Some customers were even fully enrolled in the programs without permission, according to the FDIC and the CFPB.

The telemarketers also did not disclose eligibility requirements for certain payment protection benefits, such as exclusions for pre-existing medical conditions and certain employment limitations. Discover is not only required to pay the refunds and civil penalty, but also must make changes to its telemarketing strategies for the products involved. The company must submit a compliance plan to the CFPB and FDIC for approval.

“Discover has worked hard over the past decade or so to reinvent its brand into one of a first class credit card,” David Johnson, principal with Strategic Vision, (Discover’s PR Company) told CRM Buyer. “This is not something consumers are likely to forget. It will become part of the Discover narrative.”

Unfortunately for Discover, I’m inclined to agree. This is not a story that is going to go away any time soon and we will be on top of any updates or appeals. While on the topic of Discover however, I find it necessary to remind our reader base and all merchants that the ‘Add Discover On Discover’ program is ending in the coming months, and you should know when you will start being charged for the service. The program started back in 2011, and offered free Discover card processing to customers who could show they had not taken Discover cards for at least six months. In this way, the program really targeted non-Discover Card merchants and was a strong effort to increase the usage of Discover in retail outlets.

Here’s a quick reference chart for the schedule:

Host Merchant Services continues to adhere to its customer service philosophy of transparency and education. We do not want any merchants confused or unaware of the fees they are charged on their statements. If you have any questions about this program or Interchange and its rates, please contact us.

Bank of America Cutting Jobs

The Wall Street Journal, citing a document they obtained on September 20, revealed Bank of America has plans to cut 16,000 jobs by the end of the year.

This move is not exactly surprising news since the company had already discussed plans to shave 30,000 jobs in a plan to trim jobs and cut costs by the end of 2013. The move, however, does accelerate the earlier plan from cost cutting that would take more than a year — and eliminate annual expenses by $5 billion — to cost cutting that will happen right now. The overall plan of cutting 30,000 jobs is designed to help the company offset unprofitable moves such as the 2008 takeover of Countrywide Financial Corp.

In fact, Forbes, in this article reporting the news of the job cuts, characterizes the mortgage section of the bank as something that “has hamstrung the bank” citing specifically the acquisition of Countrywide. The article notes that 3,200 of the job cuts could come from the division overseeing new mortgages.

Overall, these proposed cuts will bring Bank of America’s workforce down to 260,000 overall employees by year’s end — a number that drops the bank from being the biggest employer in the U.S. banking industry. After this round of cuts hits the company’s bottom line, Bank of America would fall behind Wells Fargo and JP Morgan Chase.

The Official Merchant Services Blog is citing these cuts because beyond the issues brought up with Bank of America’s acquisition of Countrywide, one of the other key factors in the bank losing profits was the Durbin Amendment. Back on October 13, 2011 we reported Bank of America felt a huge national backlash based on its reaction to the Durbin Amendment. The bank decided to offset losses it would incur from the legislation’s hardcap on debit swipe fees — losses which Forbes reported in March 2012 to be $441 million in Q4 of 2011 when compared to Q4 2010 — by initiating a $5 monthly transaction fee for using their debit cards.

This type of move was predicted by Host Merchant Services in its Durbin Amendment analysis, and was embraced by a host of large, debit card focused banks, besides just Bank of America. JP Morgan Chase, Sun Trust, Regions Financial Corp., and Wells Fargo all had plans to charge a similar fee. But consumer backslash was intense, media scrutiny was focused, and Bank of American in particular felt the brunt of the Occupy Wall Street movement at the time. So the banks all backed off of the idea to implement these added fees.

The hardcap being what it is, however, left Bank of America with the continued problem: Losses.

So as part of a combination of bad moves, Durbin included, the bank is faced with the decision that to stay profitable they have to cut jobs. Some analysts, such as Anthony Polini, for the investment firm Raymond James, feel these belt-tightening measures are evidence of an agile and healthy company. “The company is doing great,” the analyst said in this article, “It’s another phase of expense control.”

The bank’s stock price took a hit based on the news as shares closed down 0.82 percent to $9.11 on Friday.

industry terms: MasterCard cross border fee

This is the latest installment in The Official Merchant Services Blog’s Knowledge Base effort. We want to make the payment processing industry’s terms and buzzwords clear. We want to remove any and all confusion merchants might have about how the industry works. Host Merchant Services promises: we deliver personal service and clarity. So we’re going to take some time to explain how everything works. This ongoing series is where we define industry related terms and slowly build up a knowledge base and as we get more and more of these completed, we’ll collect them in our resource archive for quick and easy access.

Today we will define the MasterCard Cross Border Fee. MasterCard charges an additional fee to merchants for all transactions acquired in the United States that involve a credit or debit card issued outside of the United States. For example, if a cardholder uses a Canadian-issued MasterCard to make a purchase from a business here in Delaware, that merchant will be assessed a cross border fee for accepting an international card.

Introduced in 2006 by MasterCard, the fee was originally 10 basis points. Since then, it has been raised to 30 basis points in 2007, and then to the current level of 40 basis points in 2008. The cross border fee is initially charged to acquirers, who then pass the fee on to merchants.

If the transaction is settled in U.S. dollars, the cross border fee is 40 basis points (0.40%) above the interchange rate for that card. If settled in a foreign currency however, the fee is increased to 80 basis points (0.80%). This fee, along with MasterCard’s acquirer program support fee, are the only two volume-based fees that MasterCard charges on transactions involving credit cards issued in another region than where they are acquired.

NRF Opposes Interchange Settlement

It’s been a little while since the Official Merchant Services Blog touched on the increasingly sensitive topic of the Credit Card Interchange Settlement. We first talked about the possibility of ‘The Big Cash Comeback’ when the settlement was first announced, and later we discussed the opposition to the settlement.

Seven years after the first lawsuits were actually filed against the bank card networks and some leading banks, a tentative settlement was reached on July 13 of this year. The agreement has had many mixed reviews, and some big name retailers have come out against it, including most recently the National Retailers Foundation, the nations largest retail trade association. The NRF’s members operate 3.6 million stores nationwide, however the organization itself is not involved in the lawsuit, which includes individual and class merchants as well as trade-group plaintiffs.

Under the proposal, the main defendants, Visa and MasterCard will pay $6.6 billion in damages and temporarily reduce interchange rates to save merchants another $1.2 billion. Merchants also will get greater freedom to surcharge card transactions and could form bargaining groups to negotiate interchange with the networks. In return, the networks will be freed from future legal challenges from merchants regarding interchange rates and merchant rules, even from merchants that didn’t participate in the current lawsuit.

I think the key points here are the temporary reduction of interchange rates as well as the fact that all merchants give up their rights to sue Visa and MasterCard upon accepting the settlement. Merchants will most certainly be satisfied by the reduction of interchange rates, but the drop will only be temporary. After a few months Visa and MasterCard will raise them again, and continue to collect outlandish fees for credit card transactions. Also, not every merchant is involved in this suit. I don’t think it’s a good deal for merchants to give up any of their rights, particularly the rights to any future litigation.

The National Association of Truck Stop Operators (NATSO) released a statement on Monday, announcing their dismissal of the settlement, “We joined this lawsuit in search of real reform to a broken system, one that is shielded from normal competitive forces. This proposed settlement does not achieve this goal. It lacks meaningful fixes to a system that allowed Visa and MasterCard to set artificially high swipe fees and provided retailers and consumers with no choice except to pay.”

This statement echo’s the cries of dissenters, who say the settlement protects the status quo more than anything, and will not change the way the networks set interchange.

In conclusion, the settlement still faces harsh criticism, and Visa and MasterCard have not had much to say to those who oppose it. Only time will tell if the plaintiffs decide to accept the deal, or push back for a settlement more in their favor. Host Merchant Services will keep you informed of all the latest news involving this legal battle between the merchants and the card-issuing giants.

PCI Guidelines for Mobile Apps

Today the Official Merchant Services Blog will examine the PCI Security Standards Council’s most recent guidelines, and their slow crawl towards comprehensive security requirements for mobile devices.

On Thursday, the PCI Security Standards Council released a set of best practices geared toward software developers of mobile devices. These guidelines come four months after they released some guidance about mobile payments for small businesses.

The PCI Council, based in Wakefield Massachusetts administers the Payment Card Industry data-security standard and affiliated standards for secure payments software and also PIN-based transaction devices. The guidelines were released during the Council’s annual North American meeting in Orlando, Florida on Thursday, after hinting at a possible PCI clarification in early September. Present at the gathering were security assessors, merchants, processors and vendors, all preparing for the update of the main PCI standard next year.

The Council announced that it is starting to approve hardware for mobile payments such as card readers that plug into smart phones or tablet computers. The Council has not delved into the approval of software for mobile payments and have they made it clear when that will happen. They have however, announced that more guidance for merchants will come next year and that they will continue to take input from the payments industry on the serious task of protecting card holder data when payments originate from mobile devices.

Correcting software vulnerabilities is the most important aim of the Council’s new guidelines, as app developers crank out new programs for processing payments on smart phones and tablets everyday. The guidance covers everything from the payment transaction, access protection, and remote disablement of a missing device.

The last point is arguably the most important aspect of a new mobile PCI security system. Since mobile payments are true to their name, mobile, the chance of someone running away with your credit card terminal is an increasingly possible risk. The same applies for any tablets acting as POS systems in a store. An unlucky shopkeeper may open up in the morning only to find part of his or her POS system missing, and all cardholder data inside compromised. This is what the PCI Security Standards Council seeks to avoid.

Industry Terms: Credit Card

Welcome to The Official Merchant Services Blog’s Knowledge Base effort. We want to bring clarity to the payment processing industry’s terms and buzzwords. We want to remove any and all confusion merchants might have about the industry. Host Merchant Services promises: the company delivers personal service and clarity. So we’re going to take some time to explain how everything works. This ongoing series is where we define industry related terms and slowly build up a knowledge base and as we get more and more of these completed, we’ll collect them in our resource archive for quick and easy access. Today we decided to get as basic as possible. Our term is credit card. No, really, credit card. We noticed that we’ve been adding to this database for months now and kind of skipped over the most basic element of the industry.

Credit card processing hinges on the use of credit cards. So, without further hullabaloo:

Credit Card

A credit card is a payment card issued to users as a system of payment. It allows the cardholder to pay for goods and services based on the holder’s promise to pay for them. The issuer of the card creates a revolving account and grants a line of credit to the consumer (or the user) from which the user can borrow money for payment to a merchant or as a cash advance to the user.

Credit cards are issued by a credit card issuer, such as a bank or credit union, after an account has been approved by the credit provider, after which cardholders can use it to make purchases at merchants accepting that card. Merchants often advertise which cards they accept by displaying acceptance marks – generally on stickers depicting the various logos for credit card companies like Visa, MasterCard and Discover. Sometimes the merchant may skip the display and just communicate directly with the consumer,saying things like “We take Discover” or “We don’t take credit cards”.

When a purchase is made, the credit card user agrees to pay the card issuer. The cardholder indicates consent to pay by signing a receipt with a record of the card details and indicating the amount to be paid or by entering apersonal identification number (PIN). Also, many merchants now accept verbal authorizations via telephone and electronic authorization using the Internet, known as a card not present transaction (CNP).

Electronic verification systems allow merchants to verify in a few seconds that the card is valid and the credit card customer has sufficient credit to cover the purchase, allowing the verification to happen at time of purchase. The verification is performed using a credit card payment terminal or point-of-sale (POS) system with a communications link to the merchant’s acquiring bank. Data from the card is obtained from a magnetic stripe or chip on the card; the latter system is implemented as an EMV card. For card not present transactions where the card is not shown (e.g., e-commerce, mail order, and telephone sales), merchants additionally verify that the customer is in physical possession of the card and is the authorized user by asking for information such as the security code printed on the back of the card.

Each month, the credit card user is sent a statement indicating the purchases undertaken with the card, any outstanding fees, and the total amount owed. After receiving the statement, the cardholder may dispute any charges that he or she thinks are incorrect. The cardholder must pay a defined minimum portion of the amount owed by a due date, or may choose to pay a higher amount up to the entire amount owed which may be greater than the amount billed. The credit issuer charges interest on the unpaid balance if the billed amount is not paid in full (typically at a much higher rate than most other forms of debt). In addition, if the credit card user fails to make at least the minimum payment by the due date, the issuer may impose penalties on the user.

Merchants

For merchants, a credit card transaction is often more secure than other forms of payment, because the issuing bank commits to pay the merchant the moment the transaction is authorized, regardless of whether the consumer defaults on the credit card payment. In most cases, cards are even more secure than cash, because they discourage theft by the merchant’s employees and reduce the amount of cash on the premises. Finally, credit cards reduce the back office expense of processing checks/cash and transporting them to the bank.

For each purchase, the bank charges the merchant a commission (discount fee) for this service and there may be a certain delay before the agreed payment is received by the merchant. The commission is often a percentage of the transaction amount, plus a fixed fee (interchange rate). In addition, a merchant may be penalized or have their ability to receive payment using that credit card restricted if there are too many cancellations or reversals of charges as a result of disputes. Some small merchants require credit purchases to have a minimum amount to compensate for the transaction costs.

Costs to merchants

Merchants are charged several fees for accepting credit cards. The merchant is usually charged a commission of around 1 to 3 percent of the value of each transaction paid for by credit card. The merchant may also pay a variable charge, called an interchange rate, for each transaction.

Merchants must also satisfy data security compliance standards which are highly technical and complicated. In many cases, there is a delay of several days before funds are deposited into a merchant’s bank account. Because credit card fee structures are very complicated, smaller merchants are at a disadvantage to analyze and predict fees.

Finally, merchants assume the risk of chargebacks by consumers.

For more information on how Credit Card Processing works, view our step-by-step guide here.

Mobile Payments Made Live![2023 Update]

I’m back to once again speak about Mobile Payments and their presence in Delaware. In case you missed my last blog, it’s here. It’s really finally here. Barclaycard Mobile Wallet is an active program that participating merchants at the waterfront in Wilmington, DE, and along Main Street in Newark, are using. Right now you can use your phone to buy stuff!

So that’s exactly what I did. I set out to visit some shops and buy some stuff. To give this test run some authenticity, I decided to try and buy things I actually needed. Let’s see how the process works and how useful it is for real-time shopping!

But first, I needed to update my settings. After downloading the application, and adding a credit card to my account, I had noticed I wasn’t seeing any offers. Kara from Barclaycard saw my blog and reached out to help me.

So I needed to add another step in our process for getting the technology up and running. It may seem like a bit much at first, but trust me, it’s fast and easy to initialize.

Kara noted that I needed to add locations to my account to get the offers to show up. ZIP codes are the easiest way to do that. Wilmington’s ZIP is 19801, and Newark’s is 19711.

The Revised Set of Steps

So now, our updated steps to bring the power of mobile purchases right to your hot hands look like this:

Step 1: Visit this site and register for an account. This is key. You can’t just download the app and go. You need to register online first. Since you’re here online reading this blog, you can take a moment to click that link and get that out of the way.
Step 2: You go through the process of setting up an account. Choose a username, password, give your information.
Step 3: You add the card you want the wallet to charge.
Step 4: You can then download the app from the app store or google play store.
Step 5: Activate the app on your phone, and go through the log in process. You’ll be asked for your passcode, and to log in with your username and password, and even one of the additional security questions.
Step 6: Go to settings — the gear icon — and go to offer locations. Add locations. Use the ZIP code that works best for you (I used both). Then you go to …
Step 7: BOOM! Start buying stuff!

The Buying Stuff Part

Thanks to Kara’s timely advice, I had offers streaming through my phone immediately. Armed with mobile purchasing power and enthusiastic curiosity, I leapt from my centralized blogging and news update headquarters — taking this story live and direct to the macadam of Main Street Newark.

My first target was National 5 and 10, located on 66 E. Main Street. Boasting the world’s largest selection and lowest prices for University of Delaware merchandise, I decided to zero in on … art supplies. I needed a sketch book and a new pencil and eraser set to continue to design and draw projects like this more than I needed a new Blue Hens ball cap.

So I went to work racking up an impressive spree of supplies:

Mechanical Pencil with lead refills, 0.5 mm fine point lead size. For the nitty gritty line work.
Hi-Polymer Pentel white plastic art eraser. Because they take the pencil marks away but leave the ink behind.
5.5 x 8.5″ sketchbook, to help me rough out all my creative ideas.
And to get my purchase up over $10, four 5 x 9″ bubble mailer envelopes, so I can send slick prints of my best portfolio pieces to people interested.

Total: $11.24

I took this stash of artistic loot to the one counter that was open. When it was my turn I happily stepped up and asked if I could purchase these with the Barclaycard app, and flashed my phone at the cashier. This caused quite a stir, as it seems I was the very first customer to utilize this technology. Excitement buzzed in the air. We moved this transaction over to the other side of the area where the Barclaycard Mobile Wallet Terminal was kept. Another cashier took over the transaction, but a crowd began to form. The owner came over to see this landmark purchase of a pencil, eraser, sketchbook and some envelopes take place. Customers took notice. And then it happened.

The cashier rang up the items. I had my phone out and the app open. I was prompted to scan the QR Code on the terminal. The app took over and in a flash my payment was recorded. I approved it with the click of a button. The cashier printed out my receipt and just like that it was over. Payment made. Stuff bought. Once the wow factor wears off, the process will turn out to be very easy. As fast as swiping a credit card, with none of the hassle of keeping a card on you in your wallet. Mobile wallet finally lives up to the hype. I take my phone everywhere, as do most people. I need it for emergencies — but also to keep up with work and friends while on the go. So tucking this payment power into it just consolidates everything, making shopping a seamless part of the package.

But Wait, There’s More

I made the effort to obtain a purchase of $10 or more to take advantage of the offer I saw on my screen. But it didn’t seem to take. Later in the day I found out the offer might not be live yet. So I moved on to my next stop: Switch Skateboarding, located on 54 E. Main Street. No worries here about finding an item over $10 in price, but there were no visible offers for Switch anyways, so I put that out of my mind and focused on finding something I actually needed — wrist guards.

I haven’t been on a skateboard since I was 15 years old. But I’ve needed items that Switch sells almost regularly for the past four years because I’m a roller derby referee. I picked up a pair of Destroyer wrist guards. I chose them primarily because I already have a pair of 187 wrist guards and an old pair of pro-tec, so wanted to see if these fit any more comfortably. They cost $17.

Once again I stepped up to the counter and announced my intention to purchase this item with the Barclaycard app. There was decidedly less of a fuss about it as the staff at Switch seemed to be both more chilled out in general and ready to handle the unusual request. However, just like at National 5 and 10, there was a swapping of cashiers in terms of who handled the transaction. Switch uses a different setup than 5 and 10. The skateboard shop is working a completely virtual system, running transactions through a computer. The payment seemed even more seamless than at 5 and 10. All that was involved was opening up their gateway in their browser, inputting the details of the transaction, scanning the item’s barcode and then it was up to me. Switch has a static, standing QR Code on a card atop its counter. I had my app open and ready. When prompted I clicked the button and my phone scanned the barcode. Once again it was lightning fast. And after clicking my approval of the sale, the transaction ended.

Success. I was now armed with a fully operational mobile payment telephone, a pair of brand new wrist guards and some art supplies that I needed. This took the idea of buying things with a wave of my phone from concept to cold, hard reality. I found myself wanting to do this everywhere.

The Only Downside

As far as I was concerned I came away from this excursion with only one negative — there just wasn’t enough visible presence to let consumers know this existed. At 5 and 10, I created a crowd, but I knew going into the store I could buy things this way. The terminal itself stands out as it is different from other terminals. But I wonder if it’s all that visible since it’s not exactly a place where consumers actually look. I’m reminded of the time I spend standing in line at places like Wawa or 7-11, where I’d really like to just swipe my phone and go. I don’t even look at the terminal until I have to. How do you let people know they can do this now? Do you start to ask them, “Credit, Debit or Mobile?”

Or do you just get the word out there with more and more buzz, like this blog or a demonstration in the store at key high traffic times? Do I just keep telling my friends, “Hey, check out what I can do?”

It’s probably a mixture of all of those ideas. The technology is now here. It works. And it’s very easy to use. The ball is rolling. It just needs to pick up speed and add more snowy mass as it rolls along.