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Letter from the editors

f you've been diving deep into interchange
when talking with merchant prospects, it's time
to take a different tack. That became clear in
I researching our two-part lead feature on the
topic. Transparency is critical for maintaining long-
term, healthy relationships, but with the overwhelm-
ing number of interchange categories and various
rationale for them, it is easy to go too far when
explaining them. As Mark Dunn, President of Field
Guide Enterprises LLC, said during an interview for
this issue's lead, "Explanations of interchange are
where sales go to die."

Keeping in mind that what is most important to mer-
chants is the effective cost of card acceptance, we
didn't attempt to parse the various interchange catego-
ries in the second article of our two-part series on in-
terchange. Rather, we focused on the basic structure of
interchange; the importance of correct merchant cate-
gory codes; why some transactions and businesses are
designated high risk; several popular pricing models,
for example, tiered pricing, interchange pass-through,
interchange plus and interchange plus-plus; and how
statement analysis can be used as a sales tool. Bridge the Gap

There are many sales tools at the disposal of ISOs and between your
merchant level salespeople. Two possibilities brought
up by industry experts whose articles are in this issue advertising dollars
include helping merchants benefit through cash dis-
count programs and through surcharging, the latter and bottom line.
being more complex because it is not legal in all states
at this time. Other contributors discuss how to ex-
ploit the many advantages small businesses have over Customized advertising campaigns
larger ones, the difference optimism can make when
it comes to the bottom line and the need to tailor pay- to fit any size company and budget.
ment acceptance in an increasingly global, omnichan- • Spotlight Innovators’ Pages
nel world.
(frequently updated content)
Three major acquisitions made the news recently:
Vantiv's planned purchase of Worldpay, ScanSource's • Print (various size options)
intention to gain POS Portal and North American Ban- • Resource Guide listing
card's completed acquisition of Total Merchant Servic-
es. Our other news stories covered analysis from the (print/online/front page (option))
Fed on payments data, developments in the artificial
intelligence realm, malware disguised as app updates, • Email Blasts (to GS readership)
ransomware attacks, Amazon Prime Day and more. • Online (website/twice month newsletter)
As always, you'll find product and company profiles, • Video
as well as updates on key goings on in the payments
realm, including executive appointments, partner- • Bundle advertisng campaign discounts*
ships, research, awards and honors, new resources,
legal actions, funding rounds, and more. Danielle Thorpe

Please let us know what you find helpful in this is- AVP Media Partnerships
sue ‒ and what you'd like us to cover more. Send your
thoughts to greensheet@greensheet.com. And do contin- 707-284-1686
ue to send press releases to press@greensheet.com.

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