Aaron Bills, in Transaction World Magazine, answers some basic questions regarding the use and characteristics of Purchase Cards to help sales executives better understand the market context and also provide some strategies to build a base of business-to-business and business-to-government merchants.

Paymentnews.com reports Visa USA's announcement that leading U.S. merchants continue to adopt the Visa No Signature Required Program, which waives the signature requirement for qualifying Visa transactions less than $25 across 17 merchant categories using existing magnetic stripe POS card acceptance terminals. The program, launched in April 2006, is designed to accelerate Visa acceptance and card usage at traditionally cash-intensive merchants.

From Greg Cohen, at www.transactionworld.com: "Until recently, only the largest merchants have been able to obtain “Interchange-Plus” Pricing. Otherwise known as “interchange pass through” pricing, Interchange-Plus is the practice of pricing a merchant with a transaction fee and then passing the exact interchange and assessment costs from the Associations to the merchant.

...Over the long haul, by limiting the use of Interchange- Plus pricing you can simplify the sales and service cycle, increase your profits, and create greater long-term value in your portfolio."

Karen E. Klein writing in businessweek.com offers a checklist covering the major tasks and costs involved in setting up a business to sell products or services on the Internet.