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Payment

$1 Billion in Sales Taxes Stay in Retailers’ Pockets

A little-known law that allows retailers to keep a small portion of the sales tax they collect is costing the public sector about $1 billion a year in forfeited funding, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The law - active in 26 states - was put in place before computerized cash registers and was meant to compensate retailers for the expense of gathering the funds.

Illinois, one of the 13 states...
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Gift Card Spending to Drop as Holiday Shoppers Look for Bargains

Shoppers’ price-conscious mentality is taking a toll on the holiday season’s most-requested present, gift cards, sales of which will fall nearly 6% this season, to $24.9 billion, from $26.3 billion last year, according to NRF’s sixth annual Gift Card Survey, conducted by BIGresearch.

Fewer people plan to purchase gift cards this year (53.5% vs. 56.6% last year) and gift card shoppers will be...
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Wal-Mart Toys with Credit Card Idea

As banks cut credit lines, hike interest rates, and raise fees for credit-card customers they deem high-risk, the timing for a Wal-Mart entry into the credit card system is “right,” Business Week reports.

The retail giant has been discussing the option of offering a new credit card with lower interest rates and minimal fees with the founders of Golden West Financial Group, a company that was...
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Consumer Credit Card Online Applications Decline

For the first time in the five most recent quarters studied, the total number of credit card applications submitted online at the top 10 credit-card issuer sites declined, dropping 6% in Q2 versus the same period in 2007, according to a comScore study.

Year-on-year growth in the number of consumer credit card applications submitted on the top 10 credit-card issuer sites:

• Q2 2007: 28%
• Q3 2007:...
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Identity Fraud in Decline, but Costs Up

Identity fraud has been declining in most parts of the United States, even as the costs to those who are defrauded increase and fraudsters turn to unexpected channels to commit fraud, according to a Javelin Strategy & Research study released earlier this year.

Criminals obtain the majority of information mostly from stolen personal belongings and through telephone calls, rather than online -...
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To Avoid Bankruptcy, Circuit City Shuts 155 Stores

Faced with deteriorating liquidity and tightened payment terms from vendors, Circuit City has decided to close 155 underperforming US stores, reduce future store openings, and aggressively renegotiate certain leases to help preserve cash, MarketWatch reports.

On top of tightened payment terms, some vendors required that Circuit City pay for inventory before it was shipped - and it was not even...
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Global Companies to Up Commercial Card Usage

More than seven in ten (74%) financial, treasury and cash management executives from 11 countries polled are satisfied with their commercial payment card programs, according to Visa Inc.‘s Visa Global Cash Management Survey.

Half (50%) of respondents currently use commercial payment cards to make payments as part of their overall cash management strategies. Moreover, in the next 12-18 months,...
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Target Tightens Credit Terms, Slows New Store Plans

Target is toughening standards in its credit card business, scaling back on 2009 store openings, and marketing to consumers’ frugality, reports Reuters.

In September, the net charge-off rate (the amount of loans written off as not being repaid compared with the size of the entire lending portfolio) on Target credit cards rose to 10.1%. Target expects the rate to be around 9% for the year.

In...
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Skype, PayPal Lead eBay to Q3 Profitability

eBay posted revenue of $2.12 billion - a 12% increase and $228 million more than the same period last year - but not because of its online auction business, according to the Q3 earnings report (pdf).

Net income was $492 million, or 38 cents a share, a vast improvement over last year’s third-quarter $936 million loss (-69 cents a share), caused by a $1.4 billion charge from to the write-off of...
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First Time Ever: Multi-Channel Holiday Shoppers Prefer Web to In-Store

For the first time, the web has surpassed the store as the preferred way for multi-channel shoppers to purchase holiday gifts, according to the e-tailing group‘s third annual “Mindset of the Multi-Channel Shopper Holiday Survey,” sponsored by ATG.

Nearly half (49%) of those shoppers say they intend to do their holiday gift buying online, compared with 44% who plan to do so in-store, found the...
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