‘Tis The Season, For Facebook Gifts [2023 Update]

This holiday season, the Official Merchant Services Blog brings you the latest on Facebook’s newest venture, Facebook Gifts. On Tuesday, the company announced that any U.S. member can now send Facebook friends tangible gifts, which includes wine, digital gift cards and even charitable donations. Facebook Gifts The Facebook Gifts program, previously available only to some users of the […]

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Holiday E-Commerce Trends [2023 Update]

E-commerce, Merchant Services, Small Business

Today the Official Merchant Services Blogbrings you some predictions for this holiday season. In particular, there are six key trends to watch. Over the last 12 months the E-commerce sector has rallied against challenging economic conditions and driven innovation in business and shopping models. A flurry of technical innovations, most notably the emergence and rapid adoption of

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Industry Terms: Downgrade Fee [2023 Update]

Industry News, E-commerce

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

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HMS Versus Square: Part 3

E-commerce, HMS News, Merchant Services, Small Business

Today’s Official Merchant Services Blog post will wrap up our on-going series comparing Host Merchant Services and Square. In part 1 of our series, we reviewed how the two companies differ in how they set up merchant accounts. In part 2, the different pricing schemes offered were analyzed, as well as the time differences between

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HMS Versus Square: Part 2

E-commerce, HMS News, Merchant Services, Small Business

Today the Official Merchant Services Blog will begin the second segment in our three-part HMS versus Square matchup. Yesterday we briefly reviewed aspects of both companies, as well as delved into the differences between the merchant accounts they set up. If you missed Part 1 of this series, check it out here. In part 2,

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HMS Versus Square: Part 1

E-commerce, HMS News, Merchant Services, Small Business

This week, the Official Merchant Services Blog will delve into a three-part comparison of the services offered by Host Merchant Services and Square. We will begin by giving a basic overview of both and then compare how the two companies set up a merchant account. We will then move on to a comprehensive look at

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Apple’s Passbook to replace Gift cards

E-commerce, Industry News

Today the Official Merchant Services Blog, along with the rest of the world, will take a look at the new iPhone 5 being debuted in California today. Specifically, we will look at one of the new iOS 6 features called Passbook. Passbook is a new app, exclusive to iOS 6, the feature lets users store

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Visa’s V.me, a new breed of mobile wallet

E-commerce, Industry News

The Official Merchant Services Blog again looks into the mobile wallet world today, by introducing the new product from Visa, Inc. called V.me. Last week we discussed in detail the BarclayCard mobile wallet system, which has come here to Delaware at participating locations in Newark and Wilmington. Visa plans to roll out its own version

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Twitter Tune Up: Targeted Ads [2023 Update]

Industry News, E-commerce

Today the Official Merchant Services Blog would like to focus on social media advertising, and the recent steps Twitter has taken in order to expand their marketing prowess and outreach. The social media giant with its 140 million monthly active users is second only to Facebook. As we have previously reported here, Facebook had taken

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NFC Taking Too Long?

E-commerce

When I first started writing for this website, and The Official Merchant Services Blog, a topic I was both fascinated with and completely astounded by was Near Field Communication (NFC). It seems fitting that on the eve of the National Football League’s 2012-2013 season debut — a rare Wedensday Night Football game — which features

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Discover Teams Up with PayPal [2023 Update]

E-commerce

The Official Merchant Services Blog continues to shine its spotlight of educational information directly on the Mobile Payments Industry. This bristling business sector keeps creating buzz among payment processing persons as well as overall economic assortments. One minute people are predicting hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue will get generated by consumers embracing the

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Mega Retailers Jump into Mobile Wallets [2023 Update]

Industry News, E-commerce

Today the Official Merchant Services Blog will continue with our Mobile Commerce theme. A group of 14 Major U.S. Retailers recently announced that they have decided to join forces and create their own mobile wallet application. The group, which includes Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Best Buy Co. and Target Corp., will call itself Merchant Customer Exchange, or

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What Brand is Your Wallet? [2023 Update]

E-commerce

Today The Official Merchant Services Blog keeps examining the rapidly growing payment processing sector of Mobile Payments. With an never ending stream of deals being made by startups and established companies developing the latest gimmicks and technology to bring mobile payments and mobile wallets to the average everyday U.S. consumer driving the marketplace, it’s easy

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Olympic Payments: Cash Takes Gold

E-commerce, Industry News

Today the Official Merchant Services Blog will take a look at the role Mobile Payments played in the 2012 London Olympic Games. Visa, the official Payment Payment provider of the Olympics pushed for Mobile Payment Technology as a safe and convenient payment option for consumers throughout the London games. Jim McCarthy, Head of Products at Visa

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Industry Terms: Payment Gateway

E-commerce, Knowledge Base

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 will eliminate any and all confusion merchants might have about how the industry works. At Host Merchant Services, we promise to deliver personal service and clarity. So we’re

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E-Commerce: Robust and Full of Life

E-commerce

Today The Official Merchant Services Blog keeps on rolling along with the topic of E-Commerce. We’ve recently been looking at some of the interesting individual aspects of the sector, such as our blog about E-Commerce and Video Games the other day and our blog about Social Media Commerce yesterday. We’ve consistently reported how pervasive and

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Industry Terms: CVV

E-commerce, Knowledge Base

Industry Terms: CVV Read More »

Social Media Commerce: Tweet, Like, Buy

E-commerce

Today’s installment of the Official Merchant Services Blog is on the rise of E-commerce in social media. Last week, we covered the E-commerce offerings of the video game industry in detail. Today, I’d like to take a look at the role E-commerce is beginning to play in the realm of Facebook, Twitter and other social media websites.

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