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Top Free Online Shopping Carts, Part 2

So let’s take a look at Beal’s list of the best free online shopping carts. It starts off with:

Number One: Agora Shopping Cart
PCI Compliance
AgoraCart heads up Beal’s list and is described as a customizable and secure open source shopping cart that you can install on an existing website. Beal says you get templates for setting-up your store, support for different product categories, options for different tax rates and back-end store management tools. Beal notes that this cart is PCI compliant and supports more than 10 payment gateways.

Beal notes that the free edition (5.2.x) is only supported through online community forums — but that an upgraded Gold edition is available for a fee. This upgraded edition offers additional license, features and support options.

Number Two: Broadleaf Commerce

The next entry on Beal’s list is the Broadleaf Commerce solution, an open source alternative for enterprise e-commerce companies. It’s enterprise-level platform, according to Beal, is built on Java integration technology and can be customized to specific business needs. Beal notes that with this software retailers can manage customer accounts, upset, create promotions and manage e-mail marketing campaigns. She says the platform supports social integration and search engine optimization tactics, gives catalog browsing capability, and can integrate any existing business database or fulfillment system with Google Analytics. Support and assistance, according to Beal, comes primarily from an online forum for discussion and contributions, articles, development guides and project API documentation. Broadleaf Commerce uses the Apache license.

Number Three: Commerce.CGI

Beal’s third entry in her top 10 is Commerce.CGI, the first free Perl shopping cart on the web. This software was first released in 1998 and is a fully featured shopping cart for Unix-based servers. But Beal notes it can run on Windows NT with a minor code adjustment. Commerce.CGI is flexible enough to be an add-on to an existing site or installed and configured to manage a new product website. Beal states that it has the standard features of a shopping cart — templates, tools to configure e-mail management, product search capability and payment method management. It supports sales tax, multiple shipping options, and discount calculations. The software is supported through the Commerce.CGI mailing list or BBS.

Number Four: Loaded Commerce

Beal’s fourth entry in the top 10 list is Loaded Commerce, version 6.5 of the popular CRE Loaded program. The Community Edition (CE) is a shopping cart designed for the small office or home office storeowner who wants to add trisection capabilities to an existing website. The program includes security modifications, as well as a number of features for product, customer, order and content management. It’s customization is robust according to Beal, and customers can change their site design — choosing from hundreds of templates — as well as edit customer information, orders, invoices and more.

Number Five: Magento

Magento clocks in at number five on Beal’s top 10 list. Magento offers an enterprise-class e-commerce platform that is supported by a global ecosystem of solutions partners and third-party developers, says Beal. Magento was acquired by eBay in 2011 and is part of eBay’s X.commerce business unit. This involvement from partners and third-party developers combined with the backing of eBay gives Magento a wide range of support and flexibility.

As an enterprise-class option Magento offers merchants marketing tools, search engine optimization assistance, product catalog management and browsing capability, one-page checkout service and a number of other tools for managing shipping, tax and customer service.

The latest release of Magento Community Edition (version 1.6.1.0) was reeled on October 19,2011 and is available under the open source OSL 3.0 license.

Continue reading for the rest of Vangie Beal’s list, when we reveal numbers 6 through 10.

Continue Reading – Top Free Online Shopping Carts, Part 3

Top Free Online Shopping Carts, Part 1

Visa, MasterCard Add New Fees, Part 2 [2023 Update]

MasterCard Fees

MasterCard is also debuting new fees, but they won’t take effect until July 2012. One of those new fees MasterCard will introduce is a new Annual License and Registration Fee. MasterCard has also announced a new annual Type III Third Party Processor (TPP) Registration Fee to be collected beginning in July 2012. These fees will be calculated based on full year 2011 volume. For 2012 only, each of the new fees will be 50% of the total fee calculated because it covers only half of 2012 (July 1, 2012 – December 31, 2012). These fees will be passed through on a pro-rata basis. All acquired MasterCard credit and signature debit volume will be utilized to determine annual volume for both programs. PIN debit volume is excluded. In addition, MasterCard will introduce new Regulated debit small ticket debit and credit Interchange programs in April 2012.

Digital Transactions reports in this article that “Both fees will be volume based, but MasterCard will exclude PIN-debit volume in calculating it, an apparent effort to boost its PIN-debit service at the expense of Visa’s much-larger Interlink PIN-debit brand.” However, Digital Transactions notes that at this time “a company spokesperson refused to give details about upcoming price changes.” So the exact pricing is yet to be determined.

And What About Discover?

Discover’s plans aren’t quite as grandiose as Visa’s, but they do have some changes coming down the pike in 2012 also. Discover will introduce a US Commercial Large Ticket Interchange Program in 2012. Discover will also increase its assessment fee by .005%.

One of the bigger changes for Discover is that they are changing existing card present Interchange rates for transactions less than $15 for Express Service merchants (Local Commuter, Bus Lines, Toll & Bridge Fees, Restaurants, Fast Food Restaurants, News/Dealer Stands, Laundries-Family Community, Dry Cleaners, Quick Copy & Reproductions, Parking Lots/Garages, Car Washes, Motion Picture Theaters and Video Entertainment Rentals) and less than $25 for Taxi/Limos. The new Interchange will be percentage based and carry a $0.00 per transaction. These are changes to their interchange rates, as opposed to completely new added fees that Visa and MasterCard are devising.

What This Means for HMS Customers?

Host Merchant Services wants to assure its customers that it sticks by its guarantee. HMS will never increase their fees for their customers. HMS continues to offer the guaranteed lowest rate. And that rate is frozen. Unfortunately, Card Association Fees are new, and are not part of any current pricing model. They are also mandated and initiated by the credit card companies themselves — Visa, MasterCard and Discover. All processors everywhere will be adding them to their pricing structure. This is why The Official Merchant Services Blog is reporting on these changes. We keep you informed about all the latest developments in the payment processing industry. These new fees are the industry’s response to finance reform with the Durbin Amendment. But as we already told you in our in-depth analysis of the Durbin Amendment last year,Host Merchant Services customers will continue to receive the guaranteed lowest rates with our pricing plans.

Visa, MasterCard Add New Fees, Part 1

Merchant Services: PIN Debit vs. Swipe Debit, Part 2 [2023 Update]

Making the Case for Swipe Debit

Much previous analysis of the Durbin Amendment suggested that Swipe Debit was not going to react well to the cap. One article was bold enough to proclaim that Signature Debit was dead.

But since the legislation took affect on October 1, there’s strong evidence to suggest that the doom and gloom outlook isn’t the case. The cap on fees really lets Swipe Debit be a competitive transaction choice. Combine the competitive fee structure that the cap forces on the transactions with the power of Visa –– the card issuer that is and has been the leader in Signature Debit –– and you’ll notice Swipe Debit has the characteristics in place and the high profile backing to continue to be a competitive choice for transactions.

This gives support to the overall convenience of Swipe Debit over PIN Debit. There’s fewer steps involved, no PIN Pad to have on your counter facing customers, and transactions run smoother.

Statistics from the Signature Debit article linked above also cite that Swipe Debit is currently more popular than PIN Debit overall: “Signature-based transactions currently have a lead on PIN Debit. In 2009, Fed reports signature as having 23.4 billion purchase transactions, and $837 billion of transaction value while PIN-based debit transactions totaled 14.5billion transactions, and $555 billion of transaction value.”

The article then points out that PIN Debit had been experiencing higher growth in recent years. But now with the cap on Debit transaction fees, Swipe Debit has a competitive boost.

Convenience is Key

There are quite a few articles that suggest PIN Debit will push Swipe Debit out of the market. But what many of these articles continue to overlook is the cornerstone of shopping: convenience. Shoppers want the purchasing process to be as smooth and easy as possible. Since both transaction options are now equal in pricing due to the Durbin legislation, convenience begins to be a more important factor in the decision making process. It’s been one of the key variables for the rise of e-commerce and online shopping. People can shop reliably online and get their purchases resolved in a matter of clicks. The same consumer behavior holds true while shopping at brick and mortar stores and using plastic. The consumer wants to check out as quickly as possible. One swipe has a powerful allure when you consider the customer doesn’t need to remember a PIN number or waste time retyping it if they make an error.

Conclusion

The Durbin Amendment continues to bring massive changes to the way people shop and the way businesses process payments. And right now, to Host Merchant Services, it looks like Swipe Debit is not doomed. Durbin legislation gives it a competitive edge that could help it compete as a Debit Card transaction choice.

Interchange Settlement Update: Challengers Awaiting Final Approval

Today the Official Merchant Services Blog brings you another update on the ongoing Interchange lawsuit settlement. We began talking about the possibility of ‘The Big Cash Comeback’ back when the settlement was first announced in July, and later we discussed the opposition to the settlement. Last week a federal appellate court denied a retailer’s appeal to review part of the controversial settlement in the massive credit card interchange case, clearing the way for the trial court to move toward final approval. At the same, the process of notifying the millions of merchants affected is getting under way.

Judge John Gleeson of the U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, N.Y., gave preliminary approval of the settlement on Nov. 9 and has set a hearing for next Sept. 13 to consider final approval.

Lawyers representing seven merchant trade groups as well as some individual merchants asked the Second Circuit Court to consider a narrow part of Gleeson’s preliminary approval, the provision of the settlement that releases defendants Visa Inc., MasterCard Inc., and some major banks from liability for interchange pricing policies. The provision is shaping up to be the key objection of the 1,200 retailers and trade associations since it would affect current and even future card-accepting merchants. This case, now seven years in the making, began when merchant plaintiffs accused the networks and banks of using anti-competitive practices in setting interchange rates.

Under the settlement announced in July by lawyers for both sides, the defendants will pay class merchants about $6 billion in damages, and Visa and MasterCard will provide another $1.2 billion in temporarily reduced interchange rates and ease up on certain rules, especially ones restricting merchants’ ability to add a surcharge for card transactions. In return, the networks want to be released from future court challenges by merchants regarding Interchange and network rules. The defendants also are paying about $550 million to a handful of large merchant plaintiffs that have now dropped their claims.

Judge Gleeson indicated that the standard for final approval is much higher than the one for preliminary approval, which means that the objecting plaintiffs still have some hope even though parts of the settlement already are going into effect or will be soon. For example, the networks have 60 days from Nov. 27, when the court entered Gleeson’s order implementing preliminary approval, to conform their rules to terms of the proposed settlement.

The district court meanwhile, is setting up the machinery to administer the settlement process. Gleeson appointed Kansas City, Kan.-based Epiq Systems Inc., a specialist in legal-systems administration and technology, to oversee notifications and related matters. That is no small task: the class settlement covers any merchant that has accepted Visa and MasterCard cards between Jan. 1, 2004, and late 2012. Experts estimate 6 million to 8 million affected merchants that must be notified. The settlement agreement also calls for merchant acquirers to assist in the notification process.

While we have discussed this settlement from different aspects previously, noting the advantages it would seem to give the Issuing Banks over merchants, the settlement seems to be proceeding along without much further adjustment or negotiation. Although it is not finalized yet, the dissenter’s cries seem to be going unheard, as they believe that the settlement protects the status quo more than anything, and will not change the way the networks set interchange. Host Merchant Services will keep you informed of all the latest news involving this landmark litigation.

‘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 social media site, began as the ‘Facebook Wish List‘ program we covered a few months ago. Since Facebook takes a percentage of every transaction, this program could also be the “gift” that gives significant profits to the company. The social network hasn’t revealed how much it has made from the service, but Facebook’s 170 million users in the U.S. could generate an estimated billion-dollar revenue stream for the now-public company.

In addition to the advertisements that run on Facebook, the company has been selling virtual goods. Since the line is blurring between socializing and shopping online, this move builds on the companies existing strengths.

From Virtual to Real Goods

Billy Pidgeon, senior analyst at Inside Network told the E-Commerce Times, “Google is stepping up in e-commerce, and we’re seeing that Pinterist has a laser focus on retail. At the same time, we’re seeing that online retailers such as Amazon and eBay are looking to get more social. This is really just the next step in greater convergence of the two.” Social media sites looking to enter the e-commerce market, and online retailers looking to enter the social media market continue to point to expanding e-commerce trendsas the reasoning for branching out.

“This is a major opportunity for Facebook and could generate hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue,” said Greg Sterling of Sterling Market Research. “However, user experience, privacy and security considerations are critically important here. In addition, the selection of products that are available is also important.”

After the disappointment of Facebook’s May IPO, this could be the holiday miracle that Facebook and its investors hoped would deliver the goods. At the very least, it could help the company end the year on an upbeat note.

Facing Facebook Facts

The different types of products available will most likely determine whether this will be the gift that keeps on giving or whether the company will face a negative reaction that could turn off some users. The integration of gifts could make the Facebook experience a more organic one, and in turn the project could reap more success. However there will always be some people who are wary of giving Facebook their credit card numbers and purchase histories.

In order for end-users to feel comfortable using their credit cards and making purchases on the site, Facebook needs to change the culture of the user experience and provide sufficient security assurances, there enlies the challenge.

Holiday E-Commerce Trends [2023 Update]

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 Smart phone and Tablet technology, has transformed the shopper seller relationship. Fueled by mobile technology, E-commerce growth shows no sign of stopping. JP Morgan estimates that global E-commerce revenue will hit $963 billion next year.

1.) T-Commerce and M-Commerce

In 2011 web enabled mobile devices transformed E-commerce, opening up a new 24/7 channel to the consumer and creating innovative new ways to engage them, from QR codes to location based offers. In 2012 m-commerce will continue to gather momentum and could represent about 12% of e-commerce sales this holiday season, but it is T-commerce that’s particularly exciting. The rich functionality of the tablet shifts the traditionally transactional and bargain hunting online experience into a virtual store experience, making the web an almost tactile experience. Better still, mobile commerce is not exclusively for big brands with big budgets. Merchants large and small can harness the mobile channel without incurring heavy infrastructure costs. Smart mobile web devices are estimated to overtake the total number of PC’s in use, exceeding 1.8 billion, by 2013. With 1.8 billion consumers just a click away this is too big an opportunity for retailers to miss.

2.) Bricks and mortar in the cloud

The boundaries between online and offline worlds are becoming increasingly blurred, as retailers fuse their digital and real-world offerings. Barcode scanning services such as ShopSavvy help users find the best deal, by allowing them to scan the barcode and search for better offers online. However, the challenge with these applications is they fail to reward the store whose display instigated the purchase.

3.) Shopping with your social network

Getting a second opinion before committing to a purchase is nothing new, but now rather than taking a friend shopping you can take your entire social network with you. Retailers are becoming increasingly aware of the power of “the fan” and social will form an integral part of the E-commerce evolution in 2012. Retailers are now using social media outreach not just for brand awareness, but for product development and customer service too.

4.) Borderless shopping communities

2012 will see the rise of the local global e-marketplace. In 2012, international marketplace models will provide sellers of all sizes around the world with the opportunity to expand their operations internationally, without the cost intensive outlay traditionally associated with establishing local delivery models, storage facilities etc. Sellers will be able to dabble in international shopping communities and dedicate resources based on real world demand. This will open up opportunities with emerging markets, such as China, India and Brazil.

5.) Flexible, Local shipping models

According to a report by Forrester in January 2011, shipping issues were one of the most common reasons for cart abandonment in Europe. It’s true that the Internet has created a global marketplace, but local market shopping preferences must be taken into account. In 2012, flexible shopping models will be vital for growth.

6. ) Online shopping gets personal

The old adage “Information is power” takes on new meaning in 2012 as retailers seek to capture the attention spans of information savvy internet shoppers. Today’s online retailers can acquire huge volumes of data on both their potential and existing customers based on user browsing habits. In 2012 data exchange between retailers and social networks will begin to provide solid business models for social platforms and offer new insights into the mind of the shopper. What matters most to retailers however is how their marketing teams translate this wealth of data into meaningful and timely communications with customers. To engage consumers in 2012 and beyond, retailers must learn how to harness user specific data to provide timely, personalized and relevant communications.

Host Merchant Services provides e-commerce solutions to our merchants that let them take payments smoothly and efficiently. We can help you navigate through the busy bustle of holiday shopping and find the transaction processing services that serve you best. The Official Merchant Services Blogwill also continue to provide insight on how merchants can maximize these opportunities.

Merchants Appeal Key Part Of Interchange Settlement

Today the Official Merchant Services Blog brings you the most recent developments in the ongoing credit card interchange settlement lawsuit.

Merchants opposing the pending credit card interchange case filed an appeal last week challenging the court’s preliminary approval of a key part of the settlement. The appeal, filed by four merchants and seven merchant trade groups, asks the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to nullify the lower court’s preliminary approval. The merchants are collectively challenging a provision of the settlement that releases defendants Visa Inc., MasterCard Inc., and a handful of major banks from liability for interchange pricing policies. Meaning that merchants could no longer sue Visa or MasterCard for interchange policies they deem unfair.

“This settlement has fatal legal defects and should not get preliminary approval. We look forward to presenting the problems we see in this proposal to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals,” said Jeffrey Shinder, the merchant group’s attorney and managing partner at Constantine Cannon LLC, New York, N.Y.

About 1,200 merchants and trade groups have raised objections to the agreement since it was reached in July. In the deal, the card networks and banks agreed to temporary credit card interchange relief valued at $1.2 billion and $6 billion in damage payments for merchants along with relaxation of certain network rules, including ones that restricted surcharging. The pact received preliminary approval from the Brooklyn, N.Y.-based district court’s Judge John Gleeson on Nov. 9.

Besides the liability release, merchants have objected that the settlement does nothing to reform the networks’ interchange processes and cements in place a number of anti-competitive practices. “The merchant community is deeply committed to reforms that bring transparency and competition to the broken electronic payments market. The volume and diversity of those objecting to this flawed proposal is remarkable and continues to grow,” Shinder said in his statement.

The 11 merchants and merchant groups filing the appeal are: Coborn’s Inc., D’Agostino Supermarkets Inc., Jetro Holdings Inc., Jetro Cash & Carry Enterprises LLC, Affiliated Foods Midwest Cooperative Inc., National Association of Convenience Stores, National Association of Truck Stop Operators, National Community Pharmacists Association, National Cooperative Grocers Association, National Grocers Association, and the National Restaurant Association.

Opponents said the plan would protect what they view as anti-competitive interchange practices from further challenges by merchants, even from merchants that don’t yet exist. Opponents also questioned the value of the new surcharging freedoms, noting that 10 states prohibit the practice. This settlement attempts to force a one-size-fits-all solution onto a wildly diverse group of merchants, which may be extremely unsuccessful.

We have discussed this settlement from different aspects previously, noting the advantages it would seem to give the Issuing Banks over merchants. Although it is not finalized yet, the dissenter’s cries seem to be going relatively unheard, as they believe that the settlement protects the status quo more than anything, and will not change the way the networks set interchange. Host Merchant Services will keep you informed of all the latest news involving this legal battle between the merchants and the card-issuing giants.

Discover “On Us” Program

Today The Official Merchant Services Blog will focus on an exclusive deal offered to merchants by Host Merchant Services, a second year of the Discover “On Us” plan, formerly the Add Discover On Discover promotion. This plan comes at just the right time for merchants as holiday shopping will increase their traffic and sales. This offer from Discover, through Host Merchant Services is bold and exciting. It essentially gives qualifying merchants a year of being able to process Discover payments at no cost. Discover “On Us” gives the merchants no fees when their customers swipe a Discover card. And they have this benefit for an entire year.

The Details of the Plan

To qualify for the Discover “On Us” program from Host Merchant Services, you must have not processed any Discover cards in the past six months of doing business. Discover card processing includes Discover, Diners Club International, BCcard, China Union Pay, JCB and DinaCard. That’s it. That’s all you need to qualify. Once you qualify it’s a series of easy steps to get the program started:

Enroll in the program anytime before December 31st, 2013.
Confirm your enrollment with a required test transaction.
Update signage at your retail store (or on your website if you are an e-commerce only merchant).
Inform your employees and actively promote Discover to your customers to start reaping the savings.

Once you’ve been verified you will receive written notice from Discover. Within 10 business days of your acceptance you’ll receive a welcome letter with free Discover signage and tips for increasing your sales with Discover.

Benefits of the Plan

This plan is really good for merchants that haven’t been accepting Discover cards. Every Discover transaction you process for 12 full months will cost you nothing –– no limits, no exceptions. Coming right at the end of the year, this plan is the type of holiday shopping incentive that is extremely lucrative for merchants.

Durbin Amendment Works For This Too

In fact, one of the features of the Durbin Amendment can help Discover get added hype and promotional assistance from this Discover “On Us” plan. As Host Merchant Services pointed out in their Durbin Amendment analysis earlier this year, one of the key pieces of the legislation focuses on competition within the payment processing industry: “[The Durbin Amendment] seeks to stop major credit and debit card networks from imposing penalties on small businesses, merchants and government agencies. The law applies to banks with over $10 billion in assets and restricts these large banks and credit card companies from using their dominant market power to force merchants to accept anti-competitive restrictions. To put it simply, large credit card companies are no longer able to punish merchants for offering discounts to customers for using another card network; or discounts for using cash, check, debit card or gift card and loyalty cards; or set a minimum or maximum transaction amount for payment by card.”

So what this means is Discover can usher in this program –– which offers no transaction fees for a year –– to attract merchants, and those merchants seeing how much more of a savings this can provide them over other options can freely promote Discover over the competition, with no fear of punishment or penalty. Durbin lets a merchant promote the better deal for their business.

For More Information

This landmark offer lasts until December 31, 2013. The Discover “On Us” Program will extend 12 months of free Discover processing to merchants who qualify, even if implemented on December 31st, 2013, the merchant would be able to utilize the program through December 31st, 2014. If you are interested in finding out more about it, feel free to Contact Host Merchant Services.

Small Business Saturday: Nov. 24th

Today, the Official Merchant Services Blog shines a light on a little known holiday that falls between Black Friday, and Cyber Monday called Small Business Saturday.

Since Host Merchant Services has many small businesses in its customer base, we wanted to take a moment to spotlight this newer day of shopping focus and frenzy. This is the third year that American Express is promoting Small Business Saturday, which encourages consumers to shop from small, local businesses on Nov. 24.

The Basics

First of all, what is Small Business Saturday? It is a shopping holiday created by American Express, held on the Saturday after Thanksgiving during one of the busiest shopping periods of the year. It’s not that old. It was first celebrated on November 27, 2010. Small Business Saturday is designed to be a counterpart to Black Friday and Cyber Monday –– which feature big box retail and e-commerce stores respectively. Small Business Saturday encourages holiday shoppers to patronize smaller, local retail businesses.

Benefits For Consumers

The most basic perk to the Small Business Saturday campaign is that it gives money back to consumers for shopping at local small businesses. As defined by American Express at their Small Business Saturday Page here: “You can receive a one-time $25 statement credit when you register any eligible American Express^® Card and use that Card to make a purchase of $25 or more at a small business on November 24, 2012.”

Benefits For Merchants

A survey by American Express found 93% of consumers believe shopping at small businesses is important, and are backing that sentiment up by spending about a third of their discretionary income at local small businesses. This prompted AMEX to initiate the campaign in the first place. And if you are a small business merchant, AMEX is going the extra mile to get you involved in the perks and promotions of this holiday.

Even if you are a late-comer to this event, there is still quite a lot of value to be had from participating in Small Business Saturday. The $25 credit program applies no matter what else you do. But there’s also these amazing resources still available:

From AMEX you can get free in-store signage, and a free online marketing kit.
AMEX also offers a free personalized ad, which geo-targets potential customers
You can use AMEX’s Go Social app to create mobile-based deals for your American Express card-wielding customers.
A joint venture from Google and YouTube offers up My Business Story which lets you create custom videos using YouTube’s editing tool to entice your customers.
For inspiration, you can even view some Small Business Saturday Success Stories on American Express’s website.

Too Early To Tell?

So what do you think? Will Small Business Saturday catch on? Cyber Monday seems to be gaining some traction, fueled by the rapid growth in online shopping and e-commerce, and standing on the precipice of a predicted boom in mobile payment business. Black Friday is still going strong, with big chains like Toys”R”Us and BestBuy fueling it year in and year out. Is there room for Small Business Saturday? Are you a small business merchant and have you participated in this event last year? Will you be doing it this year? Feel free to share you thoughts and insights on this bold campaign from AMEX.

Interchange Settlement Given Preliminary OK

On Friday, the Judge presiding over the controversial Interchange Settlement case in Brooklyn, N.Y. gave preliminary approval to the settlement of credit card interchange litigation announced July 13. The Official Merchant Services Blog recently explained why the controversial Interchange settlement was being considered for preliminary approval, despite the backlash from merchants and large corporations. We also began talking about the possibility of ‘The Big Cash Comeback’ when the settlement was first announced, and later we discussed the opposition to the settlement.

U.S. District Judge John Gleeson indicated in late October that his cursory review showed that the settlement probably met the legal requirements for preliminary approval. He scheduled a hearing for Nov. 9 to get input from lawyers for the merchant plaintiffs and network and bank defendants. The judge said final approval requires a higher standard, and lawyers don’t expect final sign-off anytime before 2013. Opponents argued that the plan didn’t even meet the lower threshold for a preliminary approval.

The National Retail Federation, the leading retail-industry trade group and an outspoken foe of the agreement, quickly issued a statement saying it would “explore all legal options.” But the Electronic Payments Coalition, a lobbying group of card networks and banks, said it viewed Gleeson’s ruling “as further indication that this historic settlement is a fair and balanced resolution to the epic swipe-fee battle.”

The NRF’s Mallory Duncan said in a statement that “retailers, their customers and competition would suffer irreparable harm if this one-sided deal is allowed to move forward. We will consult with our attorneys and act as soon as possible to correct this injustice.” The NRF is not a plaintiff in this case, and made no mention of which legal remedies it would pursue.

MasterCard Inc. general counsel Noah Hanft said in a statement that the settlement “was reached with the assistance of the court and was supported by the merchant class representing millions of large and small retailers, and prominent trade groups across the country.” MasterCard also said it remains confident that “the court will grant final approval in the coming months.”

Visa Inc. said “this settlement is a fair and reasonable compromise for all parties. It is the result of two years of negotiation between retailers, their legal counsel, the networks, financial institutions and two highly regarded mediators under the supervision of the court.”

Merchants and some trade associations sued Visa, MasterCard, and about a dozen banks in 2005 alleging credit card interchange is unfair under federal antitrust laws. With a trial set for September 2012, the parties reached a settlement that calls for the defendants to pay more than $6 billion in damages and temporarily lower credit interchange to the tune of $1.2 billion. The networks also are to grant relief from some of their rules, including an easing of restrictions on surcharging, and let merchants negotiate in groups in the interchange-setting process. In return, the merchants are to agree not to sue the networks over interchange and rules in the future.

While we have discussed this settlement from different aspects previously, noting the advantages it would seem to give the Issuing Banks over merchants, the settlement seems to be proceeding along without any further adjustment or negotiation. Although it is not finalized yet, the dissenter’s cries seem to be going unheard, as they believe that the settlement protects the status quo more than anything, and will not change the way the networks set interchange. Host Merchant Services will keep you informed of all the latest news involving this legal battle between the merchants and the card-issuing giants.