Follow-up: Senate Getting Ready to Hit “Send” on Online Sales Tax

Part of reporting financial, economic and practical news that helps your business, and illuminates the climate your business operates in, is to make sure we follow up on the “developing” trends and stories posted here. We wrote recently of the proposed online sales tax in Congress, where it seems after years of refusing to allow states to carry out such taxation in the “early days” of online commerce, it appears that the confluence of online retail being robust, mostly thriving, and clearly here-to-stay, along with the chronic budget woes of states, have combined to make a green light for such taxes likelier than ever before.

More Credit Fraud — But More Potential Security, too

The news in credit cards this week is kind of yin/yang, straddling both sides of the security fence. On the one hand, there’s news of another breach, this one affecting the St. Louis- based Schnucks Market chain, which confirmed an April 15 “hack” affecting 2.4 million credit and debit cards, used at nearly 80% of its 100 stores.  Track 2 card numbers and expiration data were were breached in specific stores, and depending where your customers are based, they may not be affected at all.

Madera, m’dear? Not If You’re Not Careful About Card Fraud!

While credit card fraud thankfully remains the rule, rather than the exception, we like to post occasional news items here about card fraud schemes, for their instructive value. In other words, what they can they teach our merchants about making their own transactions safer?

….And Yet, M-Commerce — and M-Everything — Is Still On the Rise!

The headline is a direct follow up to last week’s blog post, which concerned one merchant’s unfortunate overreaction to “showrooming,” that mobile-device enabled method of seeing a product “live” in a store, then turning to a handy screen to see if you can get it for a better price.