BluePay Blog

With nearly 20 percent market share, Fitbit is arguably the most popular wearable technology in the world. These personal fitness trackers can monitor everything from your heart rate to steps taken to sleep patterns. With more than 25 million active users, Fitbit continues to rake in billions of dollars every year — all through sales of its wearable devices.  But the company believes its Fitbit can become more than just a fitness tracker. In 2018, it added mobile payments to its growing line of wearable tech.

Topics: EMV, Payment Technology, Small Business Tips, Payment Trends

Over the last few years, chip-and-PIN has been heralded as the gold standard in payment security. These EMV credit cards come with embedded chips that are next to impossible to clone. To initiate an in-store payment, customers must input a personal identification number (PIN) that only they know.  Additionally, mobile payments and wearable technologies continue to grow in popularity every year. In fact, experts predict that annual in-store sales generated through smart devices could exceed $500 billion by 2020 — in the United States alone. 

Topics: EMV, Mobile Payments, Payment Technology, PCI Compliance and Fraud Prevention, Payment Trends

Whenever customers are unhappy with products or services, they can request a refund directly from you — the merchant.  This is usually an unpleasant experience, and retailers often go out of their way to avoid issuing refunds. The alternative, however, is much worse.  These dissatisfied customers also have the option of disputing purchases and initiating chargebacks through their banks. The banks then credit those users’ accounts before chasing you down for the outstanding balance. 

Topics: EMV, E-Commerce and Online Payments, PCI Compliance and Fraud Prevention, Small Business Tips, Enterprise Business Tips, Getting Started with Payments

Set to go into effect in May, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a new set of guidelines designed to safeguard how personal consumer information is captured, shared and stored by organizations throughout Europe. More specifically, the GDPR exists to:  “(H)armonize data privacy laws across Europe, to protect and empower all EU citizens data  privacy and to reshape the way organizations across the region approach data privacy.” 

Topics: EMV, PCI Compliance and Fraud Prevention

Debit and credit cards are both convenient forms of payment that shoppers often use interchangeably. However, there are crucial differences between these two types of plastic: 

Topics: EMV, PCI Compliance and Fraud Prevention

  Today's payment compliance environment is growing to address the increase in security issues and the need for standardization to enable a global payments environment. For your small business, that means you need to stay on track with the evolving set of requirements set by card brands, including Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover. QIR qualification is one of the newest types of compliance additions put in place by Visa that impact some businesses. Here's what’s involved, who it impacts, and how it can be addressed by your business if affected by this payment compliance for credit card processing.

Topics: Due.com Partner Posts, EMV, PCI Compliance and Fraud Prevention, BluePay Partners

In most parts of the world, EMV credit card processing has already become the standard in retail stores and restaurants. These more secure cards come with chip-enabled fraud protection to help keep sensitive financial data from prying eyes. In order to authorize a transaction, chip-enabled cards must be physically present at the point of sale. And instead of simply signing their name, customers must manually enter in a personal identification number (PIN) to complete a purchase.

Topics: EMV, Payment Technology, PCI Compliance and Fraud Prevention

Europay, MasterCard and Visa (EMV) chip-enabled credit cards are becoming increasingly popular throughout the U.S. And it's not difficult to see why. They come equipped with fraud-prevention features, making them very difficult to clone. In fact, it is because of these security features that EMV cards have already replaced traditional swipe-and-sign credit cards in most parts of the world. In the U.S., you'll usually see EMVs marketed as either chip-and-PIN or chip-and-signature credit cards. But how are they different (and which one is more secure)?

Topics: EMV, Payment Technology, PCI Compliance and Fraud Prevention, Small Business Tips