Equipment Leasing Has Its Place
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News September 10, 2012 • Issue 12:09:01 Industry Update .........................................16 PayPal's Discover deal makes room for acquirers ..................................26 Equipment leasing Square reaching beyond micro-merchants with fl at rate .......................................... 28 has its place MCX – it's about more rom the advent of electronic payments in the 1980s through than the wallet .......................................30 the turn of the 21st century, the leasing of payment terminals helped countless ISOs and merchant level salespeople (MLSs) gen- Features F erate immediate income while gradually building their merchant portfolios. MLSs didn't have to live off of their savings or work more than SellingPrepaid: one job when they embarked upon a payments industry career. They could Prepaid in brief ......................................33 devote full-time effort to the trade, and ISOs could easily retain and train the talent they needed to build their businesses. Thus, POS terminal leasing Campus card fees – fair or foul? ..............37 was booming. International provider with local focus .......40 Influencing factors First Look: Aligned Payment Systems A new strategy for health- However, several factors have eroded the leasing business in recent years, among them are a rash of technological advancements, including online and care payments .......................................53 mobile payment options that do not require terminals; the practice of giving Research Rundown .................................... 54 away instead of leasing terminals to merchants, which began in 2004 and has expanded to include today's sophisticated POS systems; the ongoing recession; Views and, to some degree, old-fashioned greed. Opening gateways to AVS Changing technology: New technologies continue to create new oppor- By Chandan Mukherjee tunities for ISOs and MLSs; however, they also bring new challenges. PayCube Inc. ......................................... 42 One challenge is the encroachment of newer entrants on the POS scene, such as Square Inc. and PayPal Inc., both of which have set their sites on Education obtaining a piece of the traditional payments pie. Street SmartsSM: Free terminals: Much has been said and written about the upheaval free terminal placement caused in the industry. Many feet on the street were Perry Mason and the post mortem strongly opposed to it initially; others endorsed the practice from the By Jeff Fortney, Clearent LLC .................... 58 start. Debate still occurs over whether "free" terminal placement is really How to help merchants counter free, but the practice is now an accepted way to get equipment in the hands of merchants, along with sales and leasing. fraudulent orders By Bill Hoidas Economic factors: When the Great Recession took hold several years Matrix Payment Systems .......................... 64 ago, many small businesses defaulted on their equipment leases. These defaults contributed to banks' reluctance to lend money to new busi- Tips for managing remote sales teams nesses and made it difficult for ISOs to find underwriters for leases. By Alan Kleinman Meritus Payment Solutions ....................... 68 Questionable behavior: The payments industry has long dealt with a fringe element of unscrupulous ISOs, MLSs and vendors, and leas- The smart way to sell POS systems – Part 1 ing has not been immune. One recent example of trouble on this front: By Joe Porco, Harbortouch ...................... 71 a leasing company in California, recently agreed to settle allegations it participated in unfair competition and misleading advertising by mis- Ignite revenue with a sales incentive program representing the terms, costs and length of the payment on equipment By Peggy Bekavac Olson leases; misrepresenting the type of equipment; not delivering promised Strategic Marketing ................................ 73 products and services; and even forging vendor signatures on leases. Whether leasing has been more affected by greed than other aspects of Continued on page 3 Equipment leasing on page 51 AdvisoryBoard NotableQuote » Andrew Altschuler–AmeriMerchant Some companies even have reten- » Kristof Anderson–Connect Merchant Payment Services tion teams whose sole task is to » John Arato–MagTek Inc. contact merchants who leave and » Adam Atlas–Attorney at Law try to get them back. It's a noble » Clinton Baller–PayNet Merchant Services Inc. effort, but it should be said the best » Joseph Bizzarro–PE Systems LLC retention effort occurs before the » Jeff Broudy–Total Merchant Services merchant leaves. » Mark Cerminaro–RapidAdvance See story on page 62 » Steve Christianson–All Card Processing Inc. » Joe Creegan–Credomatic USA » Mark Dunn–Field Guide Enterprises LLC » Steve Eazell–Secure Payment Systems Inc. » Brandes Elitch–CrossCheck Inc. Inside this issue: » W. Ross Federgreen–CSR CONTINUED » Noel Fundora–First Data Corp. » Marc Gardner–North American Bancard Company Profi le » Darrin Ginsberg–Super G Funding LLC » Glenn Goldman–Capital Access Network My Clear Reports » Matt Golis–YapStone Inc. » Ben Goretsky–USAePay Merchant mission control..................................................................... 45 » Scott Henry–VeriFone Inc. New Products » Curt Hensley–Impact Payments Recruiting » Rod Hometh–Ingenico Online loyalty builder for merchants .........................................................78 » Jared Isaacman–Harbortouch » Kevin Jones–SignaPay Ltd. POS software delivers optimum control .....................................................78 » Jerry Julien–Equity Commerce LP » Lazaros Kalemis–Alpha Card Services Inc. Inspiration » Dee Karawadra–Impact PaySystem » Rod R. Katzfey–PayLeap Oasis in the workplace ...........................................................................81 » Alan Kleinman–Meritus Payment Solutions Departments » Andie Kolb–National Processing Co. » Allen Kopelman–Nationwide Payment Systems Inc. » Greg Leos–Trustwave Forum ..................................................................................................5 » Mitch Levy–Merchant Cash and Capital Events calendar ..................................................................................75 » Dan Lewis–AmeriBanc National Ltd. » Paul Martaus–Martaus & Associates Datebook ...........................................................................................80 » Biff Matthews–CardWare International Resource Guide ..................................................................................82 » Tim McWeeney–VeriFone Inc. » Andy Meadows–SignaPay Ltd. Advertiser Index .................................................................................94 » Justin Milmeister–Elite Merchant Solutions Miscellaneous » Taufig Mithani–The Merchant Solutions » Michael Nardy–Electronic Payments QSGS: Quick Summary Green Sheet ......................................................8 » Steve Norell–US Merchant Services » David Parker–Polymath Consulting Bottom Lines .......................................................................................16 » Chester Ritchie–WorldPay Water Cooler Wisdom ........................................................................81 » Steve Rizzuto–TransFirst » Jeffrey I. Shavitz–Charge Card Systems Inc. » Dave Siembieda–CrossCheck Inc. » Rick Slifka–Exec-Links LLC » Nick Starai–Network Merchants Inc. » Theodore Svoronos– Merchant University » Cliff Teston– Signature Card Services » Scott Wagner–GO DIRECT Merchant Services Inc. » Cody Yanchak–First American Payment Systems 4 President and CEO: Paul H. 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Dutton Ave., Suite 200, Santa Rosa, CA 95401 Send questions, comments and feedback to [email protected] Send press releases to [email protected] NOTE – Please do not send PDF versions of press releases. Print Production: Hudson Printing Company Contributing Writers: Jeff Fortney............................................................jeff@clearent.com Bill Hoidas .........................................................bhoidas@gmail.com Alan Kleinman