#payments
Manage payment processing, tracking, and reconciliation efficiently
Nuvei is acquiring Payoneer for $7.40 per share in a $2.75 billion all-cash deal announced June 15, 2026, expected to close mid-2027. Here's what the merger means for freelancers and marketplace sellers who rely on Payoneer — and why fees, FX spreads, and platform integrations are worth watching over the next year.
On July 9, 2026, Swift announced its blockchain-based shared ledger for tokenized deposits is ready for live pilots with 17 banks including HSBC, Citi, UBS, and Wells Fargo — a move that could turn 3-5 day international wires into same-day, 24/7 transfers. Here's how tokenized deposits differ from stablecoins and CBDCs, and what small businesses paying overseas contractors and suppliers should do now.
In June 2026 a federal judge preliminarily approved the $38 billion Visa–Mastercard settlement, cutting average credit interchange by about 0.1 point for five years, capping standard consumer cards at 1.25% for eight years, and — with no sunset date — letting merchants surcharge by card type or decline premium card categories. Here is what the settlement permits, which states still ban or cap surcharging, and the network compliance checklist to follow before changing point-of-sale pricing.
A Merchant Category Code (MCC) is a four-digit classification assigned to merchants by payment processors. It decides whether a business credit card's bonus categories trigger, shapes a merchant's interchange fees, and appears in Box 2 of IRS Form 1099-K — which returns to a $20,000 and 200-transaction threshold for tax years 2025 and beyond.
On June 30, 2026, the NCUA issued an interim final rule declaring that federal law preempts state laws — like Illinois's Interchange Fee Prohibition Act — that bar interchange fees on the sales-tax and tip portions of card transactions for federal credit unions. Here is what the rule says, why the litigation is far from over, and how small businesses should track card-processing costs while the rules stay unsettled.
Ramp raised $750 million at a $44 billion valuation in June 2026 — nearly triple its worth a year earlier — while Capital One closed its $5.15 billion Brex acquisition. Here's how interchange-funded 'free' corporate cards turn into platform fees, what to check before renewal, and why the spend-management arms race is a pricing signal for small businesses.
Stripe and Advent International offered $60.50 a share — about $53.4 billion — to buy PayPal, a deal that would merge processors handling $3.7 trillion in annual volume. History shows consolidation like Global Payments-Worldpay raised merchant costs through padded fees, so here are four concrete steps to protect your processing costs now.
Route-wide revenue totals hide losing machines. How vending operators track profit per machine: 5–25% location commissions on gross vs. net, cashless fees that reach 8–10% on sub-$2.25 transactions, and monthly per-machine shrinkage reconciliation.
Virginia's House Bill 402, effective July 1, 2026, lets cottage food producers accept online orders and electronic payments, sell from any location in the Commonwealth, ship via third-party carriers within the state, and list a PO box on product labels. Production limits stay in place — home kitchens only, no potentially hazardous foods, no wholesale, no interstate shipping, and the $9,000 acidified-food sales cap — and localities can still impose their own zoning or permit requirements.
Google deprecated Chrome Web Store Payments in 2021, leaving extension developers to reconcile Stripe, Paddle, or ExtensionPay payouts by hand — here is a three-way match workflow, per-extension ledger structure, and how to treat review-delay refund spikes as a distinct bookkeeping category.
Traditional EDI costs small suppliers $10,000–$100,000+ upfront plus $1–$5 per transaction, while the nonprofit DBNAlliance exchange network launched in 2024 cuts per-invoice fees to $0.05–$0.25 — some access points are free. Here's how small B2B sellers can meet Walmart-style electronic invoicing mandates without overpaying, and why structured e-invoices get paid 1.4–2 days faster.
Illinois's Interchange Fee Prohibition Act was supposed to stop banks from charging swipe fees on sales tax and tips, but after two effective-date delays to July 1, 2027, an OCC preemption rule, and a June 2026 permanent injunction covering national banks and card networks, merchants are still paying. Here's where the law stands and what it means for your processing costs.
