Tuesday October 17, 6:00 am Eastern Time
Press Release
Achex Launches Merchant Payment Service For Online Debit Payments
Cost Of Processing Online Payments Reduced By Half
INTERNET WIRE -- Achex, Inc., an Internet payments company enabling online payments between existing checking accounts, today announced the availability of its Merchant Payment Service. The Achex Merchant Payment Service opens to online merchants a previously untapped market of more than 110 million United States consumers without credit cards and millions of small business buyers. The new service enables customers to pay for online purchases from an existing checking account, with no need to set up or fund a special online account.
"In the physical world, consumers have many payment options, with check or cash being by far the most often used," said Terry Allen-Rouman, CEO and President of Achex. "Tens of millions of online American consumers and small businesses either do not have credit cards or prefer to use a check-based payment method for online purchases. Achex offers a new check payment option to customers and provides online merchants with access to this large population."
Among the more than forty merchants participating in the Achex Merchant Payment Service pilot program are 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, BlueLight.com, Kozmo.com, Outpost.com, uBid, Webvan, Overstock.com, PlanetRx, Peapod, and The Right Start.com.
Cost-Effective Payment Processing and Integration
The Achex Merchant Payment Service helps merchants control the costs associated with processing online payments. Merchants typically pay 2 to 5 percent to process online payments. In addition, they often pay set-up and monthly fees. Achex charges a flat fee per transaction that will cut payment processing costs by at least half for most online merchants. With Achex, there are no additional fees.
The Achex service integrates easily into a merchant's website, and basic integration is free of charge. Once integrated, "Achex Online Checks" appears as a payment option on the merchant's checkout screen.
Merchant Fraud Protection
Unlike other online payment methods, Achex does not require entry or transmission over the Internet of the customer's financial or personal information with each transaction. Instead, a customer registering with Achex provides financial information only one time, and only to Achex. That information is then stored offline in a high-security data vault. Customers thereafter enter a user name and password to complete transactions. Because financial and personal information are neither seen nor stored by merchants, their fraud responsibility is greatly reduced. Risk is further reduced because Achex verifies the identity of every customer during the registration process.
Achex is free to consumers and small business buyers. In addition to paying online merchants, customers can also make payments to one another. With Achex, online merchants can offer their customers another payment choice and gain access to millions of new consumers. These top-line benefits are complemented by the bottom-line decreased costs that merchants using Achex enjoy.
About Achex, Inc.
Achex, Inc., (www.achex.com) is an Internet payments company that facilitates simple and secure Internet payments for buyers and sellers. Achex has developed a new payment service to leverage the unique opportunities created by electronic commerce. The Achex service, based on a patent-pending infrastructure and business process, leverages the Internet and existing payment networks to transfer funds online in a simple, convenient and highly secure manner. Founded in 1999, Achex is a privately-held company with funding from Draper Fisher Jurvetson, First Data Corp., RRE Ventures, IncuBay LLC, Bulldog Capital Management, and other investors. Achex co-founders are experts in payment systems and strategies; their experience includes designing and implementing major payment products, strategies, and transaction processing architectures for major commercial banks, investment banks and credit card companies. The company's advisory board is composed of payments experts, security experts, online merchants, venture capitalists and angel investors.
Achex, the Achex Service, the Achex Merchant Payment Service, are either service marks or registered service marks of Achex, Inc.
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Contact:
Anni Hmelar
Achex, Inc.
650-635-1260
anni@achex.com
Judy Kimsey
Kimsey Associates
707-935-7667
jakimsey@napanet.net |
