Andrea Herrera

Square Invoices is an invoice management software that allows merchants to accept different types of online payments, track invoices, create and share estimates, and collect signatures from a single user-friendly platform. It is an excellent choice for smaller businesses and individuals as it’s free and easy to use, although it is not the most feature-rich…

Are you familiar with the consumer tendency to indulge in small, affordable luxuries during economic downturns? This trend is called the lipstick effect. For small business owners, understanding this phenomenon can unlock new opportunities for attracting and retaining customers, even when times are tough. This guide will show you how to leverage the lipstick effect…

If you’re comparing Stripe vs PayPal vs Square, you’re likely looking for the best online payment processor for your business. These three providers accept various payment types, come with checkout customization tools, and have digital wallets and other one-click payment options to improve the customer experience. Plus, all three offer baseline solutions with no contracts…

There is a growing trend towards labeling business products as “ethically sourced”—but what does that term really mean? Often used interchangeably with “sustainably sourced” or “responsibly sourced”, ethically sourced refers to components of the supply chain that are obtained in an ethical way. Businesses that have ethically sourced products and services do so because of…

Shopify Payments is Shopify’s built-in payment processing service for online, in-person, and mobile sales. Each merchant account automatically goes through a verification process and, once approved, becomes eligible to accept all major payment methods. Learn how to use Shopify Payments, from setting it up to getting paid, with our step-by-step guide. Step 1: Select a…

PayPal and Authorize.net make great choices for payment processing for small businesses. Both are popular and easy to integrate with other applications. However, PayPal offers more in-person and international sales capabilities, while Authorize.net provides more stability and Level 2 and 3 processing for business-to-business (B2B) transactions. In our evaluation of online payment processors, we found…

The digital payments market refers to the ecosystem where transactions are conducted electronically, eliminating the need for physical currency or cards. It includes various forms of electronic payments, including mobile wallets, account-to-account (A2A) or peer-to-peer (P2P) transfers, contactless payments, Buy Now, Pay Later options, and cryptocurrency. This market has experienced exponential growth in recent years,…

Return fraud, also called refund fraud or refund theft, is the deceptive practice of returning merchandise or abusing a return/refund process for monetary gain. In 2023, retail return fraud cost up to $101 billion in total losses, and every $100 of returned merchandise resulted in a loss of around $13.70 for retailers. Businesses need to…

NFC payments are contactless payments that use near-field communication (NFC) technology to exchange data between readers and payment devices—like Apple Pay and Google Pay e-wallets in smartphones and wearables or tap-to-pay credit and debit cards. NFC payments (often called “tap-to-pay” or simply “tap” transactions) are widely used because they are contactless, encrypted, and highly secure….

Embedded payments are a convenient way for businesses to accept payments directly within their websites or apps—without having to deal with different providers—while simplifying the checkout process for customers. Understanding the dynamics and intricacies of embedded payments is important for small businesses that want to streamline transactions, improve customer satisfaction, increase operational efficiency, and drive…

Any business owner who takes card payments for the first time will encounter a situation where the transaction needs to be voided. This means reversing the transaction—as if there was no transaction at all. Understanding and managing void transactions is essential for businesses to maintain financial accuracy and operational efficiency. What Is a Void Transaction?…

Ever considered going inside a store, picking up items you want, and then just walking out? The revolutionary Just Walk Out (JWO) technology, developed by Amazon and used in some stores in the US, UK, and Australia, works exactly like that. With the help of cameras, shelf sensors, deep learning, and generative artificial intelligence (AI),…