Digital wallets are no longer a side option at checkout.
Digital Transactions recently reported that payment apps and digital wallets are now used regularly by most consumers surveyed in WSFS Bank’s 2026 Money Trends Survey. The article notes that payment app usage rose from 67% in 2023 to 73% in 2026, while digital wallet usage rose from 54% to 64%.
For merchants, the data is useful because it points to a behavior that is relevant right now.
Customers are not only carrying cards. They are increasingly paying through phones, apps, stored credentials, and wallet-based checkout experiences.
A customer may still be using a debit card or credit card, but the payment may happen through Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, Cash App, Venmo, or another wallet.
That changes the checkout experience.
Customers expect payment to be fast, familiar, and low-friction. If a merchant’s terminal does not accept tap-to-pay, if mobile checkout hides wallet buttons, or if stored credentials fail, the customer may see the business as outdated or inconvenient.
For debit card users, wallets can also support better spending control. They allow customers to access their bank-linked payment methods without pulling out a physical card.
Merchants should check:
Wallet acceptance should be easy for the customer and understandable for the business.
Digital wallets can contain debit cards, credit cards, prepaid cards, bank accounts, or stored balances. Merchants should understand what customers are actually using inside the wallet because cost, risk, and behavior may vary.
The practical approach is to review payment reports, approval rates, abandoned carts, and customer feedback.
Digital wallet growth is not a future trend. It is already affecting how customers choose where and how to pay.
Merchants that make wallet payments easy, visible, and reliable will be better prepared for a checkout environment where convenience matters as much as acceptance.
The future is not cards versus wallets. It is cards, wallets, apps, debit, credit, ACH, and other payment options working together around customer preference.
A payment is a payment—until you look at how it is accepted.
When a customer inserts a card at a retail counter, the transaction works differently than when that same customer enters a card number on a website. Both may result in an approval and a deposit, but the technology, processing costs, fraud risks, and security requirements behind them are not the same.
For business owners, understanding these differences is essential. The right payment setup should reflect where customers shop, how they prefer to pay, and the specific risks associated with each sales channel.
A brick-and-mortar payment takes place when the customer and their payment method are physically present at the business.
These are commonly called card-present transactions. Examples include:
The terminal securely reads the card or mobile wallet and sends the transaction information through the payment network for authorization.
Because the physical payment credential is present, the transaction can generally be authenticated more securely. Chip cards, contactless payments, and digital wallets use technology designed to protect card information and make counterfeit fraud more difficult.
An ecommerce payment takes place when a customer purchases through a website, mobile app, online invoice, or other digital checkout.
These are generally considered card-not-present transactions because the card is not physically inserted, tapped, or swiped at a terminal. The customer typically enters information such as:
The website sends that information through a payment gateway, which securely connects the checkout experience to the processor and payment networks.
Ecommerce gives businesses the ability to accept payments around the clock and reach customers beyond their immediate location. However, it also creates additional fraud, security, and checkout considerations.
A brick-and-mortar business typically needs a physical point-of-sale system, payment terminal, or mobile card reader.
An ecommerce business generally needs:
Some providers offer both in-person and online payment capabilities, but that does not automatically mean the systems work together effectively. Merchants should confirm that sales, refunds, inventory, customer data, and reporting can be managed across every channel.
Ecommerce transactions often carry different costs than card-present transactions.
When a chip card or contactless payment is accepted correctly at a physical terminal, the payment network receives stronger authentication information. With an online transaction, the merchant cannot physically verify the card.
That additional uncertainty can lead to different interchange categories, processing expenses, and fraud-management costs.
However, accepting payments online does not automatically mean a business is paying the correct rate. Ecommerce costs can also be affected by:
A knowledgeable payment partner should be able to explain these costs in plain language—not simply tell a merchant that online payments are more expensive.
In a physical store, a criminal generally needs access to a card, mobile device, or stolen payment credentials that can successfully pass the terminal’s authentication process.
Online fraud can happen from almost anywhere. A fraudster may attempt to use stolen card information without ever visiting the business.
Common ecommerce risks include:
Ecommerce merchants often need additional tools such as address verification, security-code checks, device monitoring, velocity controls, order screening, tokenization, and multifactor authentication.
The objective is not to block every transaction that appears unusual. It is to identify genuine risk without creating so much friction that legitimate customers abandon their purchases.
A chargeback occurs when a cardholder disputes a transaction through their bank.
Both ecommerce and brick-and-mortar merchants can receive chargebacks, but online businesses may face additional challenges when proving that the authorized cardholder made the purchase or received the product.
An ecommerce merchant should retain clear documentation, including:
Brick-and-mortar businesses should also maintain receipts, transaction records, signed documentation when appropriate, and clear refund policies.
Regardless of the sales channel, preventing disputes is generally easier and less expensive than responding after a chargeback has already been filed.
In a store, customers expect checkout to be fast, simple, and reliable. Long terminal delays, unnecessary prompts, or malfunctioning equipment can create lines and frustrate customers.
Online shoppers have different expectations. They want:
An ecommerce checkout that is confusing or asks for too much information can cause customers to abandon their carts. At the same time, removing too many security measures can increase fraud.
The right checkout experience must balance convenience, security, and conversion.
Many businesses now operate in both environments. A retailer may have a storefront and an ecommerce website. A restaurant may accept counter payments and online orders. A professional-services company may take payments in the office and through digital invoices.
This is often called omnichannel payment processing.
The strongest omnichannel systems provide a consistent view of transactions across every sales channel. Ideally, the business should be able to:
Businesses should be careful about adding disconnected payment products simply because each one works individually. Multiple systems can create reporting gaps, reconciliation problems, inconsistent customer experiences, and unnecessary fees.
Every business that accepts card payments has responsibilities under the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, commonly known as PCI DSS.
The specific requirements may vary based on how payments are accepted and which technology is used. Ecommerce businesses must pay particular attention to website security, checkout pages, integrations, passwords, access controls, and software updates.
Brick-and-mortar merchants must protect terminals, restrict access to payment systems, train employees, and watch for equipment tampering.
Using a third-party platform does not eliminate a merchant’s security responsibilities. Businesses should understand which responsibilities belong to the provider and which remain with the merchant.
Whether you accept payments online, in person, or both, your provider should be able to answer the following questions:
If the answers are confusing—or if your provider cannot explain them clearly—it may be time for a closer review.
There is no single payment setup that is right for every merchant.
A neighborhood retailer, an online subscription company, and a business operating across both channels have very different needs. Each requires the right combination of technology, pricing, security, reporting, and support.
At Mosaic Processing, we start by understanding how a business operates. We review where payments are accepted, how customers prefer to pay, what challenges the business is experiencing, and how the current system is performing.
Because choosing a payment solution should not begin with selling a terminal or connecting a gateway. It should begin with understanding the business behind every transaction.
Want to better understand your current payment setup? Contact Mosaic Processing for a no-cost review of your processing statements, technology, and payment channels.
Business payments are becoming more digital, more embedded, and more controlled.
Mastercard recently announced enhancements to its virtual card platform, including stronger issuer and clearing controls, expanded access to embedded payment partners, and a simplified API connection. The bigger issue for merchants and suppliers is simple: virtual cards are becoming a larger part of B2B payments.
For businesses that accept payments from corporate buyers, this matters.
A virtual card can be convenient for the buyer, but it may also create cost, reconciliation, and acceptance questions for the merchant receiving the payment.
Virtual cards give businesses a way to issue card numbers for specific purchases, vendors, limits, or time periods. That can help buyers control spending and reduce fraud exposure.
For accounts payable teams, virtual cards can also improve tracking. A company may know exactly which department, invoice, or purchase order a card number was assigned to.
That level of control is attractive in 2026, especially as more businesses move payments directly into software platforms, procurement systems, expense-management tools, and automated workflows.
Mastercard’s latest update reflects that direction. Its new capabilities allow issuers to apply baseline guardrails such as spending limits, transaction caps, and validity periods when a virtual card number is created. Enhanced clearing controls can also help businesses apply more precise rules later in the payment lifecycle.
The features that make virtual cards attractive to buyers do not automatically make them the best option for every supplier.
A supplier may receive faster, more automated payment, but the transaction can still carry commercial-card acceptance costs. If remittance information is incomplete, a finance team may also spend extra time determining which invoice the payment belongs to. Card limits, expiration dates, or single-use restrictions can create failed transactions when payment details do not match the invoice exactly.
That does not make virtual cards a bad payment method. It means suppliers should evaluate the full operational and financial effect instead of looking only at payment speed.
Suppliers and merchants should review how virtual card payments affect their own operations.
Important questions include:
Virtual cards may help buyers, but merchants still need to protect margin and operational efficiency.
Businesses should identify which customers are paying by virtual card, the average size of those transactions, the effective cost to accept them, and the amount of manual work required after the payment arrives.
In some relationships, the convenience and speed may justify the cost. In others, ACH, pay-by-bank, wire, or another account-based method may be more appropriate. Some suppliers may choose to offer multiple options based on transaction size, customer preference, or negotiated payment terms.
The goal is not to reject innovation. It is to make sure the payment method works for both sides of the transaction.
Virtual cards are not just another card payment. They are part of a broader shift toward controlled, software-driven B2B payments.
For merchants today and beyond, the practical response is to understand which customers are paying by virtual card, how much those payments cost, how reliably they reconcile, and whether payment terms should account for that cost.
Businesses that manage virtual card acceptance carefully can support customer convenience without letting payment complexity quietly erode margins.
Most business owners can tell you their revenue. Ask them to explain their processing statement, and the conversation usually stalls.
That’s not their fault. Payments were built to be confusing. Every processor labels fees differently. Interchange gets buried next to markup, gateway costs get bundled with monthly charges, and by the time a merchant asks, “Why did my rate go up?” the honest answer is usually locked behind a call-center script or a representative who has already moved on to the next account.
We started Mosaic Processing to change that.
At Mosaic Processing, our mission is to help businesses make smarter payment decisions through transparency, expertise, and trusted relationships. We believe every business deserves to understand how they get paid, what they’re paying for, and the options available to help them grow. We simplify the complex world of payments, provide honest guidance, and build customized solutions that support our clients today—and as they scale tomorrow.
That’s not a tagline we put on the website and forgot about. It’s the filter every recommendation, every quote, and every conversation runs through.
We believe trust starts with honesty. That means our job is to explain processing in plain language, surface the costs that are easy to hide, and give clients everything they need to make a confident decision—even when that’s not the decision that benefits us most.
Before we ever recommend anything, we review what a business already has. We break down the statement line by line: what’s set by the card networks, what’s processor markup, what’s gateway and monthly overhead, and where money might be leaking out without anyone noticing. Then we explain it in language that has nothing to do with jargon and everything to do with clarity.
Every business is different, so we don’t start with a pitch—we start by listening. What’s your sales model? Your volume? Your average ticket? Your industry? What’s actually going wrong? Only after we understand the business do we talk about what could work better.
A processing setup that’s right for a nonprofit running recurring donations isn’t the same setup that’s right for a high-ticket retailer or a specialty business managing chargeback risk.
That’s the whole point of a consultative approach: solutions built around how a business actually operates, not a one-size-fits-all quote pulled off a shelf.
Payments evolve constantly—new technology, new regulations, new fraud tactics, and new routing options. Our job is to stay ahead of all of it so our clients don’t have to.
When we bring something new to the table, whether it’s automation, fraud prevention, or faster payment routing, it’s because it creates real value for the business in front of us—not because it’s the newest thing to sell.
We don’t measure success by transactions closed. We measure it by how long a client stays, how much they trust us to tell them the truth, and whether we’re still the first call they make when something changes in their business.
That means staying accessible. When a client needs us, they reach a real person who already knows their account—not a phone tree.
And it means our success is tied to theirs. Strong businesses get built through collaboration and shared opportunity, not by squeezing every last basis point out of a merchant who doesn’t know any better.
Ask the businesses we work with, and the story is usually the same shape: a rate crept up and no one could explain why, until someone finally walked them through it in plain terms. A processor couldn’t keep up once the business grew past a certain size or ticket volume. A reserve fund was held with no clear answer and no human on the other end of the line to ask. Owners wanted a real conversation about their business—not another generic quote.
That gap—between what businesses deserve to understand about their own payments and what most processors are willing to explain—is exactly the gap Mosaic exists to close.
Payments don’t have to be a black box, and growing businesses shouldn’t have to accept “that’s just how it works” as an answer. We built Mosaic Processing to give business owners the transparency to understand their costs, the expertise to make the right call, and a relationship they can actually rely on as their business changes.
That’s the mission. Every statement we review and every solution we build comes back to it.
Credit card fees have always been a major cost of doing business.
For merchants with tight margins, those fees can quietly reduce profitability on every transaction. That is why the latest conversation around credit card surcharging matters. Payments Dive recently reported that a Visa and Mastercard swipe-fee settlement could make it easier for merchants to place surcharges on higher-cost credit cards, especially premium and commercial cards.
For merchants, this is not just legal news.
It is a reminder that payment acceptance strategy is becoming part of pricing strategy.
Premium credit cards often carry higher acceptance costs because they help fund rewards, travel perks, points, and other cardholder benefits. Merchants may not control which card a customer uses, but they often absorb the cost.
The settlement received preliminary court approval in June 2026. As currently structured, it would give merchants greater flexibility to surcharge certain higher-cost cards or steer customers toward lower-cost payment methods. Payments Dive reports that qualifying premium and commercial cards could be subject to surcharges of up to 3%, depending on the program structure and applicable rules.
That could matter as more consumers use rewards cards and more businesses use commercial or virtual cards for purchasing.
The settlement is an important development, but preliminary approval does not mean every merchant can immediately launch a new surcharge program. Final court approval, card-network implementation, processor and POS support, and state-specific requirements can all affect when and how the new options become available.
For merchants, 2026 should be a preparation period. Businesses can review their card mix, identify the products driving the highest acceptance costs, assess whether their technology can distinguish eligible card types, and model how customers may react to a surcharge.
The rules are also not uniform nationwide. State laws may prohibit surcharges or limit their amount, while other states impose disclosure, signage, receipt, or advertised-price requirements. Debit and prepaid cards generally require separate treatment and should not be included in a credit-card surcharge program.
Surcharging may help offset cost, but it can also frustrate customers.
Merchants should review:
A surcharge that is unclear or unexpected can damage trust. Customers should know before checkout whether a fee applies and why.
Before adding a surcharge, merchants should compare it with other ways to manage payment costs. Depending on the business, those options may include encouraging debit or ACH, offering a properly structured cash discount, reviewing processor pricing, improving transaction routing, or building payment costs into overall pricing.
The right approach depends on transaction size, card mix, industry, sales channel, customer expectations, and state law. A strategy that works for a contractor or professional-services firm may not work for a restaurant or high-volume retailer.
Surcharging is not right for every business. Some merchants may benefit from it, while others may lose more in customer goodwill than they save in fees.
The practical response is to review payment costs now. Merchants should understand which card types cost the most, whether debit or ACH options can reduce expense, and how customers respond to different payment choices.
Because surcharge requirements continue to evolve, merchants should confirm the current rules with their processor and qualified legal or compliance counsel before launching or changing a program.
Credit card acceptance is still essential. But merchants should not treat every processing cost as invisible or untouchable.
PCI stands for Payment Card Industry. Most merchants hear it in the phrase PCI DSS, which means Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard.
In simple terms, PCI DSS is a set of security requirements designed to protect payment card data. The PCI Security Standards Council says PCI DSS applies to entities that store, process, or transmit cardholder data, including merchants, processors, acquirers, issuers, and service providers.
For merchants, PCI is not just a compliance checkbox.
It is part of protecting customers, reducing breach risk, and keeping the ability to accept card payments.
If a business accepts credit or debit cards, it has some level of PCI responsibility. That applies whether the business is a restaurant, retailer, healthcare office, e-commerce shop, service company, or mobile merchant.
Small merchants are included too. The PCI Council notes that PCI DSS applies regardless of size or transaction volume, although smaller businesses may have simpler environments and fewer systems to protect.
A data breach can create major consequences, including fraud exposure, customer loss, investigation costs, fines, higher processing scrutiny, and reputational damage.
PCI focuses on payment account data, especially cardholder data and sensitive authentication data.
Merchants should avoid storing raw card information whenever possible. If card data is stored, processed, or transmitted, the systems involved may fall into PCI scope.
Common ways to reduce risk include using:
PCI is not only about technology. It is also about people and process.
Merchants should review:
Merchants should also ask their processor or acquiring bank what PCI validation requirements apply to their business.
PCI is the foundation of payment security.
For merchants in 2026 and beyond, PCI matters even more because payment environments are becoming more complex. Businesses may accept cards in-store, online, through invoices, through mobile devices, through apps, and through third-party platforms.
The practical recourse is simple: reduce where card data touches the business, use secure payment tools, train employees, work with trusted vendors, and keep PCI responsibilities current.
PCI is not just about passing a form. It is about protecting the payment trust that every merchant depends on.
Debit cards remain one of the most important payment methods in the U.S.
According to Payments Dive’s report on the Federal Reserve’s latest triennial payments study, debit cards once again accounted for the largest share of noncash payments. The Fed’s 2025 study, released in July 2026, uses payment data from calendar year 2024. That is the most recent broad national payment-volume data available from the Fed.
Reporting data like this is always somewhat dated, but that does not make it irrelevant. It gives merchants a reliable baseline for understanding where consumer payment behavior has been moving and what that may mean for payment strategy today.
The numbers show that debit is still dominant. Debit card transactions reached 120.6 billion in 2024, keeping debit at the top of the payment stack.
For merchants, the message is clear: debit is still essential.
But the report also shows that customer payment behavior is shifting. Debit cards still had the highest total transaction count in 2024, but credit cards added more new transactions from 2021 to 2024. Credit card payments rose by 16.2 billion transactions, reaching 67.1 billion in 2024. Debit card payments rose by 13.8 billion transactions, reaching 120.6 billion.
ACH payments also continue to carry the highest total dollar value. In 2024, ACH payments reached $104 trillion, accounting for nearly three-quarters of noncash payment value.
That means merchants should not just ask, “Do we accept debit?”
They should ask whether their payment strategy reflects how customers are actually paying today.
Debit remains important because many customers use it for everyday purchases, budgeting, and avoiding credit card debt. For debit card users, it is often the payment method tied most directly to daily financial control.
For merchants in 2026, that makes debit acceptance a customer-experience issue as much as a payment-processing issue.
If debit transactions are expensive, unreliable, poorly routed, or difficult to use in mobile checkout, merchants may lose sales from customers who are ready to buy but do not want to use credit.
At the same time, merchants should not assume debit is the whole story. Credit cards are growing, ACH carries major dollar volume, mobile wallets continue to expand, and customers expect more flexibility at checkout.
Debit is often assumed to be cheaper than credit, but merchants should still review the details.
Important items to check include:
Merchants should ask their processor whether debit transactions are being routed in the most cost-effective way available. Routing can affect cost, especially for businesses with high debit volume.
Even though debit leads by transaction count, customer behavior is becoming more varied.
Credit cards remain important for rewards, larger purchases, travel, business expenses, and customers who want more flexibility. ACH is especially important for bills, recurring payments, high-dollar transactions, and business-to-business payments.
Cash use is also declining, but it has not disappeared. Fed research cited by Payments Dive showed that the share of consumers who used cash fell from 87% in October 2023 to 83% in October 2024.
Merchants should match payment options to the type of transaction.
A quick-service restaurant may rely heavily on debit and mobile wallets. A contractor may benefit from ACH. An online retailer may need debit, credit, wallets, and buy now pay later options. A subscription business may need account-based payments and strong retry tools.
Debit cards are still central to U.S. payments, but merchants should not treat payment acceptance as a set-it-and-forget-it function.
The payment mix is changing. Debit still leads, credit is growing quickly, ACH carries major dollar volume, and customers expect more flexibility at checkout.
For merchants today and beyond, the practical recourse is to review debit costs, optimize routing, support multiple payment methods, and monitor how customers actually pay.
Debit still matters. But the future belongs to merchants that build a flexible, cost-aware, customer-friendly payment mix.
For many businesses, payment processing is something that works quietly in the background.
Until it doesn’t.
Across the country, merchants are receiving notices that their Merchant IDs (MIDs) are scheduled for termination under Mastercard’s SCAM Merchant Monitoring Program (SMMP). For many business owners, the notice comes as a surprise—and the timeline to respond can be incredibly short.
If you’ve received one of these emails in 2026, you’re not alone.
More importantly, you may still have options.
Mastercard has expanded its monitoring of merchants that present elevated fraud and scam-related risk. Acquirers and processors are now required to take action when certain thresholds are exceeded.
The result?
Some merchants are receiving notifications that their processing relationship is ending because their MID no longer meets Mastercard’s program requirements.
In many cases, businesses are given only days to prepare before their account is closed.
For any business that relies on card payments, that can create a serious operational problem.
An MID (Merchant ID) is the unique identifier tied to your payment processing account.
Without an active MID, your business may not be able to:
For many companies, losing an MID doesn’t simply create an inconvenience.
It can bring revenue to a standstill.
Every situation is different, but Mastercard’s monitoring program generally focuses on businesses that show elevated risk indicators such as:
Sometimes business owners know exactly why they were flagged.
Other times, the notice is the first indication that a problem exists.
While any merchant can be affected, several industries are experiencing increased scrutiny, including:
If your business operates in one of these industries, now is the time to understand your payment processing risk—not after receiving a termination notice.
This isn’t just an IT issue.
It’s a leadership issue.
The people who should understand how these changes affect the business include:
If payment acceptance is critical to your business, someone on your leadership team should already have a plan.
First, don’t ignore it.
Waiting until your scheduled termination date dramatically reduces your options.
Instead:
The earlier you act, the more flexibility you may have.
Many business owners assume they can start looking for a new processor after their account has been shut down.
Unfortunately, by that point, the transition becomes much more difficult.
Planning ahead gives you time to evaluate providers, gather documentation, and reduce the risk of interrupted payment acceptance.
At Mosaic Processing, we work with businesses every day that need guidance through complex payment processing situations.
If you’ve received an MID termination notice—or simply want a second opinion on your current processing relationship—we can help you:
Every merchant’s situation is different, but one thing is consistent:
Time matters.
If you’ve received an email stating that your MID is scheduled for termination, treat it as an urgent business issue.
The sooner you begin evaluating your options, the better your chances of maintaining uninterrupted payment acceptance.
We should talk about your MID.
Contact Mosaic Processing today for a confidential review of your payment processing situation. A brief conversation today could help protect your business tomorrow.
Card fees remain one of the biggest pressure points for merchants.
Every time a customer pays with a credit or debit card, the merchant pays processing costs that include interchange fees. For restaurants, retailers, convenience stores, grocers, and service businesses, those costs can add up quickly, especially when margins are already tight.
That is why the fight over Illinois’ Interchange Fee Prohibition Act matters.
The Illinois law is designed to prohibit interchange fees on the tax and tip portions of card transactions. In practical terms, merchants argue they should not have to pay card fees on money they do not keep. Taxes are passed to the government. Tips are paid to employees. Yet under standard card-processing models, merchants may still pay fees on the full transaction amount.
Payments Dive recently reported that retail and restaurant groups urged the National Credit Union Administration to withdraw a rule that would preempt the Illinois law for federal credit unions. Merchant groups argue the rule is unlawful and protects card-fee practices they view as anticompetitive.
For merchants, the larger issue is not limited to Illinois.
It is about how much control businesses have over the cost of accepting cards.
Illinois originally scheduled the law to take effect on July 1, 2026, but lawmakers postponed the effective date until July 1, 2027 as litigation and federal regulatory actions continued. That delay does not make the issue less important. It shows how quickly payment rules can change and how difficult implementation may become when state laws, federal regulators, financial institutions, card networks, and merchant systems are not aligned.
For businesses, 2026 is a preparation year. Merchants should use the additional time to understand how tax and tip amounts appear in their payment data, ask processors how fees are calculated, and make sure their POS and accounting systems can clearly separate transaction components if the rules eventually require it.
Because the legal situation remains unsettled, businesses should treat this article as general information and consult qualified legal or compliance professionals about how the law may apply to their operations.
Many businesses treat card fees as unavoidable, but those fees directly affect pricing, profitability, and cash flow.
In 2026, card acceptance is still essential, but merchants are operating in an environment where costs, rules, and customer payment habits are all changing at once. Even small fee differences can matter when a business processes thousands of transactions a month.
If a restaurant pays interchange on the meal, sales tax, and tip, the business may be absorbing costs on funds that are not really revenue. For high-volume merchants, that can become meaningful over time.
This issue also creates uncertainty. If state laws, federal regulators, banks, credit unions, and card networks are all moving in different directions, merchants may struggle to understand what rules apply and when savings will actually appear.
Merchants should not wait for lawsuits or regulators to settle everything before reviewing their own payment costs.
Important items to check include:
Many merchants only look at the total amount deducted each month. That is not enough. The details show where costs are coming from and whether the business is paying more than expected.
If more states pursue card-fee limits, merchants operating in multiple locations may face a patchwork of rules.
Businesses should make sure their POS systems, processors, accounting teams, and managers can handle different requirements by state. That may include separating tax, tip, surcharge, discount, and base transaction amounts more clearly in reporting.
Merchants should also keep documentation showing how transactions are calculated and how fees are applied.
The card-fee fight is not going away.
Whether the Illinois law survives in full, survives in part, changes again, or inspires legislation elsewhere, merchants should pay closer attention to the cost of accepting payments.
For merchants today and beyond, the practical response is to understand processing statements, separate tax and tip data accurately, ask better questions of processors, and stay alert to regulatory changes.
Card acceptance is essential. But merchants should not treat every fee as invisible or untouchable.
PayPal helped define online payments for an entire generation of consumers and merchants.
Now, its future may depend on whether it can keep up with the next generation of payments competition.
Recent reports indicate that Stripe and private equity firm Advent International submitted a joint offer valued at more than $53 billion to acquire PayPal. PayPal has not announced an agreement, and there is no certainty that a transaction will be completed. Whether or not a deal ultimately happens, the larger issue is clear: the payments industry is consolidating, and legacy payment brands are under pressure to prove they can still deliver the speed, flexibility, and merchant value that modern commerce requires.
For merchants, this is not just corporate deal news.
It is a reminder that the payment tools customers use today may look very different in the next few years.
Checkout is changing quickly in 2026. Digital wallets, one-click payment credentials, account-to-account payments, buy now pay later, embedded finance, stablecoins, and AI-supported commerce are all competing for a place in the customer journey.
At the same time, major payment companies are looking for greater scale, stronger consumer relationships, better merchant data, and more control over the checkout experience. The reported PayPal proposal is one sign of that pressure. It shows why merchants should expect continued changes in payment ownership, product bundles, pricing, integrations, and risk policies.
A flexible checkout strategy gives a business room to adapt without rebuilding its entire payment operation every time the market changes.
PayPal still has major brand recognition. Many customers know it, trust it, and use it for online purchases. PayPal also owns Venmo, which remains an important consumer payment brand, especially among younger users.
Stripe, on the other hand, has built its reputation around merchant infrastructure. It is widely used by online businesses, software platforms, marketplaces, and growing companies that need flexible payment tools.
A combination of PayPal’s consumer reach and Stripe’s merchant technology could create a powerful payment platform. It could also accelerate investment in embedded payments, checkout optimization, stablecoins, artificial intelligence, fraud prevention, and account-based commerce.
For merchants in 2026 and beyond, the takeaway is simple: customer payment preferences are not standing still.
A customer who used PayPal five years ago may now prefer Apple Pay, Google Pay, Venmo, Cash App, a credit card, debit card, buy now pay later, or a one-click checkout option. Business buyers may expect invoice payments, ACH, cards, real-time payments, or embedded payment links.
Merchants should review whether their checkout experience gives customers enough trusted ways to pay.
Important questions include:
A payment method should not be judged only by popularity. Merchants should compare cost against actual performance.
If a payment option increases conversion, raises average order value, or improves customer trust, higher fees may be worthwhile. If it adds complexity without improving sales, it may need to be reevaluated.
Merchants should also avoid becoming too dependent on one provider. When processors, wallets, or platforms change ownership, pricing, terms, risk rules, or technical requirements can change too.
The PayPal story shows that payments are no longer just a back-office function. Payments are part of the customer experience, revenue strategy, and competitive position of a business.
Merchants that regularly review checkout performance, payment costs, customer preferences, and provider risk will be better prepared as the industry keeps shifting.
The goal is simple: make it easy for customers to pay today while keeping the business flexible enough to adapt to whatever payment options customers expect next.