• Innovate Now

    What’s All the Buzz with Faster Payments?
    Bryan Penny

    What’s All the Buzz with Faster Payments?

    Nov 21, 2024

    In the last year, the Federal Reserve’s launch of faster payments has generated significant media coverage. Additionally, there has been notable activity in the retail space regarding faster payments. What is this all about and where might faster payments be headed in the future?

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  • Conference Update

    MAG Payments Conference 24 – A Thriving Gathering of Industry Peers
    Andrea Rouse

    MAG Payments Conference 24 – A Thriving Gathering of Industry Peers

    Nov 12, 2024

    Thank you to all who attended our inaugural rebranded MAG Payments Conference 24! The event brought together a diverse group of payments industry professionals who were eager to connect, share insights, and learn about industry trends.

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  • Policy Perspective

    States Step In: Tackling Interchange on Sales Tax
    Joshua Pynn

    States Step In: Tackling Interchange on Sales Tax

    Oct 10, 2024

    In recent years, multiple state legislatures have begun looking at how interchange is calculated and charged to merchants. One issue gaining attention is interchange fees being applied to the sales tax portion of transactions. Since most interchange fees are percentage-based, the total fee increases with the sales tax—despite merchants only collecting this tax to remit it to the government.

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  • Payments Technology

    The Promise Of Low Code/No Code Platforms In Merchant Payments
    Chris DeBrusk

    The Promise Of Low Code/No Code Platforms In Merchant Payments

    Oct 7, 2024

    Low-code/No-code (LCNC) platforms allow applications, analytics, and data transformations to be “coded” by people who are not software engineers. Financial services and payments companies that leverage LCNC platforms across their technology footprint see rapid returns as the platforms mature. Read about three LCNC platforms available now.

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  • Advancing Payments

    The Power of Collaboration
    Kelly Andrus

    The Power of Collaboration

    Sep 26, 2024

    Stakeholders working together to achieve a common goal, or outcome is one of the core tenets of the Merchant Advisory Group’s (MAG) mission and a cornerstone of effecting positive change in the payments ecosystem. Our merchant members gravitate to the various forums within the MAG, which provide them the opportunity to collaborate with various stakeholders, including the card brands, acquirers, service providers, and other merchants.

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  • CEO Update

    The Changing Role of Merchants in Payments
    John Drechny

    The Changing Role of Merchants in Payments

    Sep 12, 2024

    When I began my career in payments, I remember the very first meeting I attended was with a collaboration group. The Federal Reserve of Minneapolis hosted it, and the subject was check fraud. Yes, I have been in the industry that long. In that discussion, I was surrounded by all the various people who supported the check infrastructure, but I was the only representative from the merchant payments side. As the conversation went around the room, I heard all the participants weigh in with the various theories on reducing check fraud. To my amazement, the conversation was around the number of assumptions being shared as if it was the merchant perspective. When my turn came around, I spent the first part of my discussion dispelling half of the things that were said with the real experience of the merchant/customer interaction before I could even get to the truth of what might be done to eliminate the fraud.

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  • Sponsorship Update

    Navigating Sponsorship Options: Annual, Tech Forum, and Conference Sponsorships
    Meg Thaxton

    Navigating Sponsorship Options: Annual, Tech Forum, and Conference Sponsorships

    Jul 31, 2024

    Over the years, the MAG has grown from a small group of individuals meeting to address the needs of merchants within the payments ecosystem, to an international organization that engages with merchants and payments industry service providers from across all verticals through our two annual conferences, webinars, committees, SIGs and more. The MAG has also expanded our sponsorship program since its inception. Below I break down the differences between the three sponsorship opportunities that the MAG offers.

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  • International Perspective

    MAG Payments Summit, London 2024
    Paul Tunstall

    MAG Payments Summit, London 2024

    Jul 22, 2024

    The Merchant Advisory Group's inaugural MAG Payments Summit-London 24, held on June 10-12, was an extraordinary event! Despite having no merchant or sponsor engagement until November 2023, the summit's success exceeded all expectations.

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  • Education

    The MAG’s Latest Microlearning Course, “Brand Release Essentials” Now Available
    Lisa Crockett

    The MAG’s Latest Microlearning Course, “Brand Release Essentials” Now Available

    Jul 22, 2024

    The Merchant Advisory Group is excited to announce the launch of our latest microlearning course, "Brand Release Essentials," as part of our ongoing commitment to providing valuable learning opportunities in payments.

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  • Membership Update

    Are You Taking Advantage of Your Member Benefits?
    Meg Thaxton

    Are You Taking Advantage of Your Member Benefits?

    Apr 15, 2024

    The MAG offers a wide variety of benefits to its merchant members – from committees to conferences, advocacy, education, and more, and we want to ensure that you are maximizing your benefits to get the most out of your membership.

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  • Board Member Corner

    Turbocharging 2024: A Perspective from the New Kid on the Board
    Eric Vescera

    Turbocharging 2024: A Perspective from the New Kid on the Board

    Mar 7, 2024

    I have had the honor of being engaged with the MAG through many different job titles… merchant member, SIG leader, Committee co-chair, MAG staff member, and now Board Member. Through all those titles and phases of my own professional life, what I have learned about payments can be directly tied back to the experiences, connections, people, formal and informal conversations, and education that I’ve received through engagement with the MAG organization.

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MAG MEMBER HIGHLIGHT

Don’t Get Smoked Combating Fraud This Holiday Season

If you are still spending your day in a fraud tool writing condition rules based on chargeback reports, you’re getting smoked. Fraud moves faster than ever, and it moves way faster than you or your company can handle - you just may not realize it yet.

MAG SPONSOR HIGHLIGHT

Arcot, Payment Security Division Broadcom —  Optimizing 3-D Secure to Improve Authorization Rates for eCommerce

The Merchant Advisory Group

Driving positive change and innovation in the payments industry that serves the merchants interest through collaboration, education, and advocacy.