Cygma's Mega Payments Bounty Hunter Program Boosts Volume

Riskified Finds 1 in 4 Refund Dollars Abusive, Launches Dynamic Returns Why this matters: - Refund abuse forces merchants into restrictive policies that frustrate loyal customers with slow refunds causing ~71 % of shoppers not to return if a refund takes over five days. - Abusive claims are more common in high-value orders and early-filing windows, intensifying revenue loss and operational costs. Our take: This development is an opportunity for ecommerce leaders to balance fraud protection with streamlined customer experience through smarter, data-driven return decisions. What do you think? As AI becomes central to customer policy controls, can dynamic, risk-based refund systems outperform traditional blanket return rules? Jeff Otto Read More:- https://lnkd.in/deuRCfwM #RefundAbuse #Riskified #EcommerceAI #news #mtc #FraudPrevention #CustomerExperience #RetailTech #AIinRetail

When issuers issue soft declines for risk holds, merchants deploy timed retries with adjusted parameters to recover approvals without triggering customer fatigue.

I appreciated the chance to contribute to this article. I had first hand experience with fast refunds across my Returns and Customer Care responsibilities. Fast refunds are often framed as a customer experience feature, but when implemented correctly, they’re also a powerful operational lever. When refunds move faster, retailers see fewer “where is my refund?” contacts, fewer appeasements, and less downstream friction. It’s one of the rare return-related investments that benefits customers and the P&L at the same time.

CASE STUDY (Part 2): How Flash unlocked 3X growth by focusing on speed-to-first transaction: After we implemented System 1 (incentives), Erik Gordon and Mohamed Nashaat had a bigger question to solve: “How do we increase transactions and keep merchants actively transacting?” The answer wasn’t “sign more merchants.” A merchant can be “onboarded”… and still do 0 transactions for weeks. And the faster a merchant gets to their first real transactions, the more likely they are to stay active long-term. Which means faster activation doesn’t just grow revenue; it saves an enormous amount of downstream time, manpower, and frustration. So for System 2, we focused on one lever that drives everything downstream: Speed to first transaction. The team leaders completely changed their standards on what “activation” looked like. Activation isn’t “setup complete”, it’s “real transactions happen.” And they made that standard executable with 4 moves: 1) Set a Day 1 outcome (so the account team stops guessing the goals). The new goal was simple: Get 5 transactions on Day 1. 2) Raise the bar for what “activation” means on the ground. Before this, the AM team would leave after setup. But now, they’d stay for an extra 3–4 hours to help generate the first real transactions. They would also: - Train the staff properly - Promote Flash to customers on the spot (leading by example) - Troubleshoot friction in real time - Show the merchant what to say (and what not to say) 3) Make inactivity impossible to ignore. They started tracking transactions daily, and if a merchant went 2–3 days without a transaction, Slack would alert the AM + salesperson. Every day at 11am, account managers opened Slack and saw exactly which merchants needed action. Coupled with the incentive plan, Mohammed no longer needed to chase after each AM to follow up with their merchants. It became an automatic system that instilled good behaviors in the team. 4) Reduce friction with a simple merchant incentive + referral message. To help merchants start transacting (and keep it consistent), they standardized the action plan: → Merchants get incentives for each transaction in the first 2 weeks Why does this system work? Because it prevents merchants from disappearing quietly. It forces fast feedback, and once the alerts are automated? The leaders don’t need to chase the team all day anymore; the system does the chasing for them. Here’s what happened as a result: → Transactions grew x3 in just 6 months → Some merchants hit hundreds of transactions in a few weeks, and a few in as fast as the first week. → In 2 months, the on-ground team acquired x3 more merchants, and over a dozen of them came from referrals (their first time seeing referral volume like that) —— This is Part 2 of a 5-part case study on how Flash built scalable growth through systems. 👉 Part 3 coming next: the single spreadsheet that made scaling feel lighter, not heavier.

"Improve Monetary Conversion with In-Store Layaway Plans" Many customers want to buy—but hesitate when the full payment is required upfront. Introducing in-store layaway plans removes that barrier by allowing customers to reserve products while paying in instalments over time. Layaway programs convert hesitation into commitment. Instead of walking away, customers begin paying immediately, improving cash flow and increasing the likelihood of completed purchases. Why Layaway Drives Better Monetary Conversion: ~ Turns browsing customers into paying customers faster ~ Generates incremental cash flow through scheduled payments ~ Reduces lost sales due to upfront price resistance ~ Builds trust and long-term customer relationships Example: A retail store introduced a 30-day layaway option for higher-ticket items and saw a measurable increase in completed purchases, with fewer abandoned sales on premium products. At LibAbun, we help businesses implement flexible payment strategies, track customer commitments, and automate follow-ups using LibAbun CRM—so every partial payment moves you closer to full conversion. START A 14-DAY FREE TRIAL…TODAY: https://lnkd.in/eJNph9qp Explore how this strategy fits into the Compounding Business Growth Formula: https://lnkd.in/e65cgJ2T Would offering a layaway option help your customers say yes instead of “maybe later”? #MonetaryConversion #RetailStrategy #CashFlowManagement

Why Checkout.com Wants To Be a US Acquirer Most “payment performance” claims are capped by one simple fact: who actually holds the acquiring relationship. Checkout.com just announced it received approval for a Georgia Merchant Acquirer Limited Purpose Bank charter. As they stated, they are working toward operating as their own US acquirer in 2026, with direct card network integration and greater control over the stack. That matters because the US is where payments companies go to either get serious, or get exposed. In many US setups today, processors rely on a partner bank to serve as the scheme member and merchant acquirer, and then build on top of that. Checkout.com’s public terms name Cross River Bank in that role for certain arrangements. Owning the acquiring seat reduces dependencies, removes an extra layer of margin, and lets you settle merchants directly. I’ve built US acquiring the “sponsored” way first, through BIN sponsorships such as Wells Fargo and Deutsche Bank. It works, and it gets you live. It also means settlement mechanics, risk posture, and change velocity are never fully yours. Becoming your own acquirer is not a shortcut. Interchange and scheme rules are messier than most decks admit, and in an optimization-driven market, you need best-in-class routing, retries, data enrichment, and dispute operations to earn the right to claim better auth rates. But if you get it right, the upside is real. You can design for enterprise and B2B from the ground up, support Level 2 and Level 3 data properly, run more nuanced MCC setups, and tune acceptance without negotiating every lever with a sponsor. But here is the challenge most acquirers seem to forget...in the U.S., your acquiring reputation matters more than anywhere else. New acquirers often take an auth-rate hit until issuers learn to trust their signals. The question isn’t whether Checkout.com can connect directly. It’s whether their tech and operating discipline can outperform the issuer bias that legacy acquiring brands have spent decades building. Either way, an interesting move that, given their $300 billion in annual processing volume and their Market Follower Strategy, was to be expected. For more in-depth Payments Strategy, check out my newsletter https://lnkd.in/e6eXZrF9

Why Payment Processors Should Choose Klosebuy Inc. Jakob Harrison, FIS's head of payments networks strategy, recently told PYMNTS what we've been hearing from the industry: "There's a disconnectedness of data, disconnectedness of payments from loyalty, disconnectedness of a consumer from the brands they're buying." That fragmentation isn't just about too many choices. It's structural. #Loyalty, payments, and promotions evolved separately, leaving merchants and consumers unable to realize what actually drives purchase behavior. For enterprise brands, this creates complex customer engagement challenges. But for the small businesses that make up the majority of a processor's merchant portfolio, the problem is simpler and more urgent. According to Frank Fennell, CEO of Klosebuy: "Small Businesses need a loyalty solution that helps them grow and attract new and repeat customers. They're not analyzing fragmentation; they're looking for solutions that work without adding complexity." This is exactly what we built Klosebuy to solve. Our loyalty platform protects what matters to #processors: We sit alongside your acquiring economics, not on top of them. No disintermediation. No competing for rails. We strengthen merchant retention by making your core service more valuable, driving more transactions through your networks. Instead of adding another disconnected tool, we eliminate friction. One unified layer works across your entire portfolio. No extensive integration. Your merchants can start using our platform to acquire customers in minutes. We consolidate engagement activity into a single operating model that scales support and reduces merchant churn. You remain the governance center while merchants gain sophisticated AI-powered tools that actually drive growth. Klosebuy: Agnostic enablement that connects what the industry has fragmented and delivers what small businesses actually need. Start this year by doing something meaningful for your merchants. Contact Klosebuy to start today. #Klosebuy #SmallBusiness #DigitalMarketing #Technology #Strategy #Payments #ISO #Loyalty

Why Automating Follow-ups in POS Insurance Systems Matters🚀 Automated follow-ups in POS insurance systems are critical for both operations and customer experience. Key benefits: • Reduces manual tracking and mental load for teams • Ensures critical regulatory and process steps aren’t missed • Improves turnaround time across policy and claims journeys • Delivers timely, consistent communication to customers • Enforces standardized, audit-ready workflows With the right parameters automation isn’t just about speed — it’s about reliability, compliance, and trust. #Insurance #POS #LifeInsurance #Automationworkflow

"Improve Monetary Conversion with In-Store Layaway Plans" Many customers want to buy—but hesitate when the full payment is required upfront. Introducing in-store layaway plans removes that barrier by allowing customers to reserve products while paying in instalments over time. Layaway programs convert hesitation into commitment. Instead of walking away, customers begin paying immediately, improving cash flow and increasing the likelihood of completed purchases. Why Layaway Drives Better Monetary Conversion: ~ Turns browsing customers into paying customers faster ~ Generates incremental cash flow through scheduled payments ~ Reduces lost sales due to upfront price resistance ~ Builds trust and long-term customer relationships Example: A retail store introduced a 30-day layaway option for higher-ticket items and saw a measurable increase in completed purchases, with fewer abandoned sales on premium products. At LibAbun, we help businesses implement flexible payment strategies, track customer commitments, and automate follow-ups using LibAbun CRM—so every partial payment moves you closer to full conversion. START A 14-DAY FREE TRIAL…TODAY: https://lnkd.in/evkKSrEM Explore how this strategy fits into the Compounding Business Growth Formula: https://lnkd.in/e6-dBAdC Would offering a layaway option help your customers say yes instead of “maybe later”? #MonetaryConversion #RetailStrategy #CashFlowManagement

"Increase Monetary Conversion with Cash on Delivery for Local Sales" Not all customers are ready to pay online—especially for local or first-time transactions. Offering a cash on delivery (COD) option can remove hesitation at checkout and significantly improve conversion rates where trust and payment flexibility matter most. COD allows customers to complete the purchase without upfront digital payment, reducing cart abandonment and unlocking sales that might otherwise be lost. For local businesses, this can be a practical way to increase cash inflow while building trust with new buyers. Why This Strategy Works: ~ Reduces payment friction for hesitant buyers ~ Builds trust with first-time customers Converts interest into immediate revenue Example: A local retailer introduced COD for nearby deliveries and saw a noticeable increase in completed orders, especially from new customers who previously abandoned checkout due to payment concerns. At LibAbun, we help businesses track COD orders, reconcile payments, and manage customer data inside LibAbun CRM—so flexible payment options improve cash flow without creating operational complexity. START A 14-DAY FREE TRIAL…TODAY: https://lnkd.in/eJNph9qp See how this fits into the Compounding Business Growth Formula: https://lnkd.in/e65cgJ2T Would offering cash on delivery help convert more local customers in in your business? #MonetaryConversion #CashOnDelivery