BluePay Blog

There are three essential components you need to bring together to accept credit cards:  A merchant account. This is essentially a bank account that allows you to accept incoming credit card payments.  A payment processor. This is the entity that authorizes credit card transactions by connecting your bank with the customer’s card-issuing bank.  A payment gateway. This is the tool that captures credit card data before sending it to your processor. Think of it as an “online” credit card terminal. 

Topics: E-Commerce and Online Payments, Payment Technology, Small Business Tips, Enterprise Business Tips, Getting Started with Payments, Merchant Accounts

Reaching a larger target audience online and creating lifelong customers is a game changer for small business owners like freelancers, startup founders, and even established brick-and-mortar retailers. Online payment technology has led to fast and convenient checkouts so customers enjoy a great experience with you.  However, there's just one problem -- and it's a big one: online identity fraud.

Topics: Due.com Partner Posts, E-Commerce and Online Payments, PCI Compliance and Fraud Prevention

Modern marketing has changed a lot since the early days of television. Advertisers used to blast generic messages to the masses (hence the term “mass marketing”). They hoped enough people were watching at that precise moment to receive those messages.  Fast forward 70 years. There now exists any number of technologies that allow companies to send highly targeted, location-independent messages to potential users. 

Topics: E-Commerce and Online Payments, Payment Technology, Payment Trends, ISV/VAR

Running a small business means everything is on a smaller scale. However, that doesn't mean it's any easier. This is especially true if you are a one-man band or have a few remote employees. In managing your work and life, you are most likely always on the go and tuned into your mobile device. It's the migration to the mobile world and remote resources that led to the emergence of cloud services. 

Topics: Due.com Partner Posts, E-Commerce and Online Payments, Small Business Tips, ISV/VAR

The stretch between Thanksgiving and New Year’s is the busiest retail season of the year, generating nearly $600 billion in sales. Second on this list, however, is the back-to-school shopping season, with consumers spending an estimated $30 billion for the upcoming academic year.  Although back-to-school shopping is incredibly lucrative for the retail industry, many parents dread this annual ritual. As a merchant, you can boost sales if you implement strategies that make the shopping experience as hassle-free as possible for your customers.

Topics: Mobile Payments, E-Commerce and Online Payments, Small Business Tips

By now, you’ve probably already heard of Bitcoin — the world’s first cryptocurrency. This decentralized form of electronic cash allows users to make peer-to-peer payments anonymously.  Though despite this anonymity, all Bitcoin transactions are recorded in a public ledger that everyone can see. This makes the cryptocurrency very difficult to manipulate or steal.  Moreover, no single entity controls Bitcoin — making it immune from government or regulatory oversight. In addition, only 21 million Bitcoins will ever come into existence (through a process known as “mining”). This means the digital currency is less likely to suffer from runaway inflation.

Topics: E-Commerce and Online Payments, Payment Technology, Payment Trends

Google Assistant is a voice-activated tool that comes preinstalled on Android phones and a number of Google-branded smart home devices. iPhone users can also download this voice-activated technology as a dedicated app.  To begin using Google Assistant, you only need to say, “Hey Google” or “OK Google.” Then, you can voice any number of commands, whether you want to:

Topics: E-Commerce and Online Payments, Payment Technology, Payment Trends

As one of the most consumer-friendly countries in the world, the United States has a plethora of shopping “holidays” throughout the year. Some of the most popular include Black Friday, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Halloween, Easter and Independence Day.  With so many shopping “holidays” on the books, we don’t really need another — but we have one anyway. Every June 18, the U.S. “unofficially” celebrates National Splurge Day — when consumers can indulge their wildest desires, regardless of price or budget. 

Topics: E-Commerce and Online Payments, Fun Posts, Small Business Tips

There wasn’t a whole lot of fanfare surrounding the 2011 launch of Google Wallet — a mobile payment technology that allowed users to shop in stores or send money to friends and family members.  For starters, PayPal had already cornered the peer-to-peer (P2P) payment market, leaving little room for Google’s new service. And mobile payments were still a relatively untested technology throughout the retail industry.  Google Wallet may have been a cool service, but there simply wasn’t a burning need for what the platform offered. 

Topics: Mobile Payments, E-Commerce and Online Payments, Payment Technology, Payment Trends

Wire transfers and the Automated Clearing House (ACH) network are two of the most popular ways to send and receive money electronically. In fact, both methods are so common that they’re often used interchangeably.  For many applications, wire transfers and ACH are essentially the same. But as a merchant, it’s important you understand how these two platforms differ. Doing so allows you to choose the right payment option for your business.  Let’s take a look. 

Topics: ACH/eCheck Payments, Recurring Billing and Electronic Invoicing, E-Commerce and Online Payments, Small Business Tips