Author Page for Melissa Johnson | Page 4

Back in September 2014, Apple finally did what technophiles have been clamoring for it to do for ages: It added an NFC chip to its newest-generation smartphone, the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. Suddenly, you could just tap your phone to complete a payment, with no need to dig through a wallet, using the Apple Pay […]

  I spend a lot of time at conventions and arts-and-craft fairs, helping a friend sell her merchandise. It’s a good opportunity to meet other vendors and talk shop, which is not only a great source of ideas for new merchandise, but also a good way to compare notes on how to run a business. That’s exactly […]

eBay is almost single-handedly responsible for championing PayPal (see our review) and transforming it into the world’s premier online payments option. The online auction marketplace scooped up the fledgling company back in 2002, and after more than a decade together, they’re ready to call it quits. Later this year, PayPal will spin off from eBay and become […]

There’s quite a lot happening on the PayPal front at the moment (check out our recently updated PayPal review here) — not only is it preparing to spin off from its longtime parent company, eBay, but PayPal now allows its merchants to accept Bitcoin payments. For those who don’t know about Bitcoin, it’s a virtual […]

Any online gambling site is likely familiar with the problem of the 7995 — the merchant category code (MCC) that has been associated with gambling transactions since the days when all online gambling was banned. Now, with New Jersey, Nevada and Delaware allowing it to various degrees, the lack of distinction has been a problem for […]

A robust CRM suite that gives you access to analytics and enables communication with clients is a must-have. Our deep dive into Salesforce and Zoho determines which one is best.

Pros Requires no hardware Predictable flat-rate pricing In-app invoicing No monthly minimums Cons Expensive pricing Limited features Account stability issues No phone support Limited support materials Overview Flint Mobile used to be our favorite mobile POS system (an honor now held by Square). Then it shut down — very unexpectedly and with virtually no warning […]

In May 2019, Global Payments, another very large direct processor from Georgia, announced that it was acquiring TSYS for $21.5 billion. The combined organization will operate under the Global Payments brand name, and the TSYS name will eventually disappear. However, mergers of this size take a long time to complete, and as of May 2020, TSYS still has its own website, which lists the company as ‘TSYS – A Global Payments Company.’ We haven’t received any indication of how Global Payments plans to transition existing TSYS customers into its system, but we expect that you will probably be switched over to a Global Payments contract at some point. If you’re a merchant looking for a new provider, now is not the time to sign up with TSYS.

Note: Capital One has announced that as of January 31, 2018, its mobile credit card processing services have been discontinued. If you are in the market for an mPOS system, we recommend you take a look at our mobile payments comparison chart for our top-rated solutions! Overview This review is for Capital One’s Spark Pay […]

Pros Numerous features 24-hour funding available Supports receipt printer and cash drawer Cons Buggy app Untransparent surcharging practices Not suitable for high-risk businesses Overview This mobile processing service, Phone Swipe (stylized as phoneSWIPE), is owned and operated by North American Bancard (NAB), a company I’ve reviewed in detail here. I gave them an average rating, […]