The holiday rush has ended, but a new challenge emerges: the dreaded “Returnuary.” As merchants, we face a staggering 40% increase in chargebacks during the post-holiday period compared to November and December. This surge is a critical threat to your bottom line that demands immediate...
When your payment gateway rejects a transaction, a credit card decline appears in the log. Knowing what these codes mean, how to prevent the decline, or (at the very least) making the sale improves your acceptance rate and keeps your merchant account healthy. For each...
PayPal Holdings just submitted applications to become a full-fledged financial institution in the United States. The San Jose-based payments giant filed paperwork with both the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Utah Department of Financial Institutions to establish a Utah-chartered industrial loan company that would...
Intelligent, invisible, instantaneous. This is what describes the payments industry in 2026. AI agents manage purchases autonomously, biometric systems verify identities with a smile, and stablecoins settle cross-border payments in seconds. These payment innovations reshape commerce in ways that make next year feel like a...
One of the few things more frustrating than a declined transaction is not fully understanding why that decline happened. Credit card decline messages can be a source of confusion and frustration both for merchants and customers alike. They disrupt the flow of transactions and can...
Americans entered the 2025 holiday shopping season carrying record credit card debt. $1.23 trillion in outstanding balances as of Q3. Tight spending budgets and consumer behavior shape how successful your business enters Q1 2026. If you want to start the new year in the black,...
Amazon and Visa announced a partnership to develop agentic tools that transform how consumers shop and pay online. The two giants plan to offer software development resources through Amazon’s web services marketplace, enabling developers to create autonomous AI-powered shopping experiences that let ai agents transact...
Visa’s Acquirer Monitoring Program (VAMP) puts merchants under intense scrutiny. Financial institutions now face mounting pressure as Visa tracks fraud metrics more aggressively than ever. One misstep triggers an advisory period that can devastate your business. Order Insights 3.0 changes this equation entirely. This enhanced...
Stripe reserves disrupt your cash flow and can leave you penniless. Stripe can withhold 10% to 25% of every transaction. That’s no good for your business. Here’s how Stripe reserves work, how to avoid them altogether, and how to save your business from financial headaches...
