merchants

Interest is growing around the idea of using your mobile phone to pay for goods and services. Visa recently announced its intention to let people transfer cash to one another using their cell phones, and software developers are working on programs that would turn your phone into a kind of virtual...

The Federal Reserve on Thursday proposed a new rule that would dramatically cut the swipe fees that banks charge merchants when customers use debit cards. The move, which stems from a provision in the financial overhaul bill in July, could benefit stores. But banks say it could harm consumers.

Visa (V) and MasterCard (MA) are close to settling an antitrust case with the Justice Department over credit-card acceptance rules, The Wall Street Journal reported. The settlement could allow merchants to steer customers towards cheaper forms of payment, a setback for a credit card industry that...

As soon as the recession is over, we'll stop brown-bagging lunch, but we'll keep cooking supermarket-brand food at home. In other words: Most of this talk about frugality being the new normal, retailers say, is just talk. A survey of retail professionals finds that Americans will go back to their...