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Strict Payment Rules Frighten SMBs, Open Door For Payment Outsourcing

Written by Evan Schuman
June 6th, 2006

As the rules for payment data get tighter and well-publicized incidents invite regulatory scrutiny, hungry lawyers and bad publicity, many smaller E-Commerce shops are hungry for an easy way out. Being the kind-hearted altruistic souls that they be, vendors are flocking to help these folk out.

On Monday, Intuit’s QuickBooks rolled out a package that promises to synch sales and customer data between the customer’s E-Commerce shop and QuickBooks. In addition, it reconciles debit and credit card sales made via QuickBooks Merchant Service.

But that’s with the goal of selling more Intuit software. CyberSource on Tuesday takes it one step beyond, with the launch of a service that wants to takes over electronic payment processing so the retailers never have to handle the sensitive stuff.

CyberSource’s offer is especially intriguing, as it truly delivers what SMB E-Commerce players are begging for: a way to avoid the nonsense that they hate anyway and focus on selling.

It does make one wonder, though, how vigorously an outfit like CyberSource is fighting to keep the rules and protections simple. I’m somehow reminded of one of my favorite posters from the clever folk at Despair.com. Cynics have an eerie way of being right an awfully high percentage of the time.

Posted in E-Commerce, Payment Systems, Security/Fraud
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