ImplicitPay CO

Internet Advertising Agency, SEO, business consulting, e-commerce
Top Ten E-Commerce Payment Gateways 640 455 ImplicitPay CO

Top Ten E-Commerce Payment Gateways

[ad_1]

Payment gateways are third-party facilitators that allow you to acknowledge payments from your clients online. A payment gateway will usually have a selection of payment alternatives, which include:

  • Cash cards
  • Credit Card/Debit Cards
  • Net-banking

When the client wants to pay from an online store, he can select the option which he gets most suitable and pay you. In a way, the payment gateway operates as a bridge connecting your bank and store to enable the shopper to carry out shopping without any hassle. In place for the service, the payment gateway claims their fee from you through a Transaction Discount Rate (TDR) on the transaction amount.

Online payment gateways are essential, if your business relies on an E-commerce website and require collecting finances on the website in lieu of services or products obtainable to process the payment made by your clients. This assists customers to pay without difficulty, and later on the seller/supplier/manufacturer can access the cash paid by the client/shopper either or ask for a check or withdraw from their bank account.

Below are the common and main top ten E-commerce payment processors in the world:

1. PayPal

This is a top-tier payment acquirer and most popular worldwide. In 2011, PayPal was able to do 4 billion USD transactions in terms of payments.

2. Authorize.Net

It became well-liked in 1996 and ever since it has conducted funds transactions amounting to billions. To register an account, you need to pay a one-time startup fee of $99, monthly charges amounting to $20 and $0.10 for every transaction.

3. Braintree

There are no setup cost for merchant account service and online payment processor. The transaction fee per every transaction includes 2.9% + $0.03 for the qualified cardholders.

4. Sage Pay

There are more than 40,000 businesses using Sage Pay because it is believed to deliver secure payment services. It is reported every month that this payment gateway can process up to millions of transaction payments.

5. Google Checkout

The account is connected to a Google profile enabling Internet users to pay for services and purchase the products online.

6. Amazon Payment

This payment processor was initiated in 2007. This is a product of Amazon.com, which enables account owners to send money via ACH and receive funds using Amazon API. The transaction fee ranges around 2.0% + $0.03 for transactions above $10 while payment below $10, the transaction fee is 5.0% + $0.05.

7. WePay

This payment gateway is used for taking in payments for products, donations, event tickets, etc. It has no setup fee or monthly charges.

8. 2CheckOut

2CO or 2CheckOut allows users to receive PayPal payments and credit card payments. It also provides recurring billing facilities, shopping cart stores and international payments.

9. Dwolla

It transacts and processes 1 million USD payments daily. The transaction fee or charges are not less than $10.

10. Moneybookers (Skrill)

This is the simplest payment processor with more than 120,000 merchants worldwide with 41 different currencies and 100 payment options.

[ad_2]

Source by Ahmad Wali

Things To Consider Before Hiring Business Consulting Services 640 427 ImplicitPay CO

Things To Consider Before Hiring Business Consulting Services

[ad_1]

Using the consulting services can actually improve the quality of decisions and therefore can improve the profitability and the viability of any project or business. Therefore, while starting a company venture or investing in an opportunity, the trade owners need to make a complete outline of all the necessary resources, skills and information needed for completing the task. Most of these may be offered by the project associates of the company, but still the companies need someone or to be more specific a business consultant, who has the necessary skills to investigate a market opportunity thoroughly. Besides, companies can also take the help of this professional to grow their trades, to conduct feasibility analysis, to do “due diligence” on any project and also for many other purposes.

But this doesn’t mean that hiring a random professional will do. In fact, there are a few important things that need to be considered before. This article describes the necessary things to consider before hiring the right consulting services for your organization.

  • Unimpeachable character of the consultant: To start with, a good consultant should be a consummate professional and a person of a great character. Besides, the professional should always be ready to put the best interest of the clients ahead of his/her own.
  • Creative problem solving ability: He/she needs to be a great problem solver, to solve the issues successfully that a business may face. It is because, the companies only hire experts to solve their existing problems. Apart from that, a successful business consultant must have great analytical skills as well as the ability to readily synthesize his or her thoughts to reach conclusions.
  • Great experience: A good consultant must have experience with the opportunities or challenges that the owner or the company is facing. He/she may not be aware of a specific industry or company, but should easily be able to discuss all the issues that an organization faces.
  • Good interpersonal skills: To be very clear, to help any organization to stand out, the consultants need to build up trust based relationships with the company professionals. This will help the business owners to be comfortable enough to show the personal details of their businesses. The relation between a consulting professional and a company owner needs to be completely different from the relation between a doctor and a patient. The right professional will also be capable of creating immense value. But without total candor, the person will be hindered in the effort to help the organizations.
  • Great communication skills: A good consultant must articulate and should also have exceptionally strong communication skills both in writing and verbally. It means the ability to write eloquently and speak articulately is very much important. So, before a consulting professional offers you useful solutions to improve your business, he/she needs to understand all the challenges properly that your organization faces.

[ad_2]

Source by Sarbani Bhattacharjee

Four Types of Marketing For Small Businesses 640 354 ImplicitPay CO

Four Types of Marketing For Small Businesses

[ad_1]

As a small business owner, you most likely spend quite a large amount of time trying to discern new ways to gain customers. Marketing can be a fun or stressful business. They key is to understand the types of marketing.

Instead of sending your marketing budget in many different directions, you can choose a specific type and be consistent with it. You will quickly see that your marketing budget pays off much more quickly.

Here, you will find information on four of the main types of marketing. This way, you will be able to choose the marketing actions that will work best for your business. You will then be able to point your marketing budget in the right direction.

1. Blanket marketing is a type that is often used by larger business. Blanket marketing means that you spend money advertising to everyone. Many people choose to do blanket marketing by advertising in magazines or newspapers. You will not really have control of who sees your advertising, but you will have the potential to reach many people.

The downside to blanket marketing is that it can be quite expensive, and you could be wasting money marketing to people who may never become your customers at all. Blanket marketing is best for those who have plenty of funds available and who feel that they will be able to gain many customers from the plan.

2. Targeted marketing is a method in which you choose a certain demographic and only market to them. This could mean that you advertise to everyone in a certain area. Alternatively, you could advertise to everyone in a certain age range.

The great thing about targeted marketing is that you will have a much better chance at getting customers since you will be advertising to the types of people who would most likely become customers. The downside is that it will take a little legwork to determine who your target is and then find the right way to advertise to them.

3. Social media marketing could be called the new kid in town since it is relatively a young concept. With this marketing, you use any one of the many popular social media sites to advertise your company. You can also use a daily blog to garner business.

The downside to this type of marketing is that you will be sending your information out to many people who may not be interested at all. With blogs, you will have to take the time to keep the blog up to date. Otherwise, people may stop reading it.

4. The last type of marketing is not marketing at all. There are not upsides to this. It may seem like a way to save money, but when your business fails, you will actually lose a great deal of money. It is extremely important to find marketing funds within your budget.

[ad_2]

Source by Melissa B Evans

Benefits of E-Commerce in Modern Times 960 640 ImplicitPay CO

Benefits of E-Commerce in Modern Times

[ad_1]

In the last era, we have seen E-Commerce websites working on the Internet. Every businessman is looking to have an online store where they can sell their range of products and services by expanding the requirement for the E-Commerce industry. One can get a lot of benefits by opting for E-Commerce as it delivers a comprehensive range of benefits to retailers and merchants.

It benefits your company

It goes without saying that your company is your priority in this case; but without satisfied customers, there won’t be a successful company – which means that everything goes hand in hand.

The benefits your business will experience if you invest in an E-Commerce website for it are abundant. First of all, think about how expensive it is to rent out a shop space where your shop is well seen and in a prime area. If you have your shop online, anyone can see it; not only the people who happen to walk past it. This benefit saves you and your business plenty of money. We’re not saying that you should give up having a floor shop altogether, but it certainly saves you from having to rent out something extravagant in an expensive area or shopping center.

Low Operational Costs

To generate an E-Commerce website requires very little capital investment compared to purchasing business premises. The difficulty with ‘physical’ business premises is that there is a need for high visibility and the location will always be a key issue. The design and development of an E-Commerce website can be a comparatively moderate investment relative to a business’s turnover. The potential to save money on personnel as checkout, payments, delivery and all over operational processes can be fully automated in the E-Commerce website.

Convenience & Easiness

E-Commerce becomes one of the preferred ways of shopping as they enjoy they are online in today’s the world, because of its easiness and convenience. They are allowed to buy products or services from their home at any time of day or night.

The best thing about it is buying options that are quick, convenient and user-friendly with the ability to transfer funds online. The consumers can save their lots of time as well as money by searching their products easily and making purchasing online.

Selling Products globally

If you are running a store, it will be bounded to the geographical region for which you can provide service, but on the other hand with an E-Commerce website, you can sell your goods and services globally. Additionally, the remaining limitation of geography has dissolved by m-commerce that is also known as mobile commerce.

Expand Customer Reach

E-Commerce provides new channels for you to reach more customers. Whether you’re just starting out or an existing seller, there are new customers to serve.

Existing brick and mortar sellers can be limited by their location. Customers must travel to visit your store. With E-Commerce, you can sell to customers anywhere, anytime. This allows you to serve customers across or internationally.

Minimal Barriers To Entry

Any new or existing business has the ability to create and run a successful E-Commerce website. The technology is in position for any business to hold the Internet and enjoy the many benefits which E-Commerce offers. As discussed, the costs of running such a business are minimal and the initial investment is moderately low. Many of the barriers which are associated with having a physical business location are removed and a business only has to concentrate its efforts on creating a service which addresses the needs of its customers. At IT companies, we specialize in E-Commerce solutions and would welcome the opportunity to discuss your requirements.

[ad_2]

Source by Jasmeen Kaur

Starting a Startup Business? Choose the Right Business Consulting Firm for Success 960 693 ImplicitPay CO

Starting a Startup Business? Choose the Right Business Consulting Firm for Success

[ad_1]

Being your own boss is the dream of many and lately, the instinct seems to be taking the world by storm. People are now more inclined to start their own firm, it seems to lure many people and running an own business shows the larger than life picture, however, the reality is a bit different. As an entrepreneur willing to start a new business you need to understand the market, do the need analysis and many researches before executing your plan. You might be budding with business startup ideas but mere planning will not help you succeed, rather you need a right plan of action to succeed.

The upsurge of small business consulting firms has proven to be a panacea for startups. They offer the consultation and startup mentoring services which work as a guide for entrepreneurs to successfully implement and execute their business plan. Not only it supports the Business Startup Ideas but provides feedback to improve the business plan which helps in removing bottlenecks usually faced by startups.

Why do you need startup mentoring?

There is no denial to the fact that many startups fail in their nascent stage, and they may have a number of reasons for the same, the likes include entrepreneurs being naiveté and lack of supportive startup ecosystem, lack of funds, poor market conditions and much more. But, the most important factor that most of the startups miss is a lack of guidance, inspiration, and feedback from small business consulting firms and no startup mentoring. It might sound absurd to a few strong-headed entrepreneurs to take the support of a mentor to execute their business plan but these firms are a must to make your business successful.

Startup Mentoring – your ultimate supporter and motivator

In the lead to succeed, most of the entrepreneurs break rules or make mistakes which they are not even aware of, these mistakes, however, can adversely affect their business. Also, many times as an aspiring business builder you find yourself stuck in a situation where you don’t know how to proceed. Startup Business Consulting firms and mentors work as a savvy guide who constantly provides you feedback.

Initially, you may be having a lack of confidence but with the mentorship of a good startup mentor, you can move ahead with confidence and without hesitation.

How to find the right startup consulting firm or a startup mentor for your company:

You are entrusting your faith and vision on a person who will be your mentor or support or guide, hence, it is very important that you have a strong relationship with them and at the same time, it’s important that your startup mentor’s or consulting firm’s vision should coincide with yours. A good startup has the following qualities:

  • An expert-level experience
  • Already a successful entrepreneur
  • Are patient and action oriented
  • A harsh critic yet supportive

Before moving ahead and getting associated with any firm or person, as an entrepreneur you should check for the aforementioned qualities.

What does a good startup mentor do?

A good startup consulting firm or a mentor will:

  • Listen to your concept and give honest feedback
  • Will give you time and talk through your areas of difficulties. Since they carry with them good amount of experience, they also share their experience which helps you understand your problems and come up with right solution
  • They are action oriented and hence, always suggest practical ways on how to start a business by making optimum use of available resources

Takeaways-

You must accept the fact that it takes a village to become a successful entrepreneur, of course, your vision and idea is important but what’s paramount is its right and timely execution which only comes with the right support system. The upsurge of companies like Virgin startup is a move to support and guide the newbies in the business world to succeed and survive.

[ad_2]

Source by Shivani S

3 Things to Consider While Selecting Your Marketing Automation Tools 960 688 ImplicitPay CO

3 Things to Consider While Selecting Your Marketing Automation Tools

[ad_1]

If you’re new to marketing automation, you might want to think about how you and your team will want to adopt those automated processes in the right way. Considering how the marketing automation industry is growing with increased adoption rates, it’s important to ensure automation is done efficiently. For starters, let’s consider a few statistics:

a. About 49% of businesses use some form of email automation. (Email monday, 2018)

b. In the next two years, an additional 21% of marketing leaders plan to use a marketing automation platform. (Salesforce, 2017)

c. Spending for marketing automation tools is expected to reach $25.1 billion annually by 2023. (Martech Today, 2018)

d. 79% of top-performing companies have been using marketing automation for three or more years. (Venture Harbour, 2017)

e. 80% of marketers using automation software generate more leads. (LinkedIn, 2016)

Source: HubSpot Marketing Statistics

Clearly, many industries are adopting marketing automation software and technology tools;these are few really important things that you need to keep in mind while making your choices:

1. Don’t automate bad processes and beware of outsourced lists

Map your marketing processes that drive traffic and leads thoroughly. Flow of leads through the funnel, including allocation and their sources are key. Hence, map those properties accurately. Make sure that the members of your team who run these processes are on-board with any changes that such automation will bring to their day-to-day work. Appointing a change manager (champion) who is a marketing process specialist will save you time and money. Identify and eliminate poor processes – fix the process before you can automate it.

2. Beware of outsourced lists and automate lead qualification to stay compliant

Avoid buying email lists and sending them automated email campaigns. These will fail and become costly to resolve. Especially now, with GDPR, this can get your business into a whole lot of trouble. Automation tools can be a life-saver with their inbuilt measures to ensure that some of your processes are compliant with the new laws. That said, the software is an only enabler and you must do the work to stay compliant. To further help the process, focus on creating exciting content that will motivate people to sign up for your content offerings (say, eBooks and animated GIFs) and build + grow your own opt-in database that can deliver better lead conversion.

Email databases will expire as the years roll by so it’s important to keep generating new leads at a higher rate than the expiry rate; which is about 25% per year. To generate new leads, you need to consistently create better content, design interesting calls-to-actions &landing pages, write engaging blogs and optimise your website for the search engines. Automation is great for nurturing leads, but you need to generate those leads first for the next step to happen.

3. Don’t let fancy features fool you

When deploying a marketing automation for your needs, don’t let fancy features fool you. Each software will have different learning curve, and maybe using a software with an easier UI might speed up processes. But, if it doesn’t solve your marketing process related (specific) problems, then it might not be the software for you.

[ad_2]

Source by A Shantha Kumar

How to Launch an Online Coaching Business 1024 682 ImplicitPay CO

How to Launch an Online Coaching Business

[ad_1]

Cut through the noise and create a viral product.


7 min read

Opinions expressed by contributors are their own.


Work from home? Control your own schedule? Impact people across the world with your product or service?

Internet marketing is on the rise for a reason. It gives you the ability to scale your business to a global level without forfeiting your personal freedom. Still, there’s one question that still prevents s from entering the online space: “Is it really possible to make a living off the internet?”

Related: The Complete, 12-Step Guide to Starting a Business

Not only is it possible, it’s lucrative when done correctly. We live in the Golden Age of internet marketing. Thanks to social media, everyone can get in front of a camera and pitch their idea to the masses. Good enough, right?

Not quite. These days a big idea will only get you started; it’s what you do to bundle and package that idea that matters. Here are the three steps you need to take to launch a profitable online business.

Flesh out your idea.

Of course, before you create your product, you need an idea. Your idea must solve a specific problem that a specific group of people face. Make sure you establish that before you move forward.

Now, before you begin creating your product, you need to write your sales copy. Your sales copy (or sales video, if that’s what you prefer) should be enticing enough to take prospects from “I’m interested in this” to “I need to buy this now.”

But, why write your sales copy before creating your product? Too many s write copy that promises a lot but delivers next to nothing. When you write your copy before creating your product, you build the blueprint to create a product that satisfies your customers’ needs — without overpromising.

Your sales copy should address the prospect’s problem, expln how your product is the solution to that problem, and include a list of bullet points that summarize the benefits of your product. Make sure you nl the first 500 words — easily the most read section of your sales copy. Finally, always create a sense of urgency or people at home won’t be motivated to buy your product.

People always ask me, “Well, what if I’m not a good writer?” That’s OK. Just say your pitch out loud, record it and send it to an online transcribing service. For a relatively inexpensive price, you’ll get your sales copy written out for you. Just review it, copy it and paste it to your website and boom — there’s your sales copy!

Related: How to Start a Business With (Almost) No Money

Build the “know, love and trust” factor.

Most people believe you need to sell prospects first, then deliver results. But, what if you flip it? It’s much easier to sell someone once they know, love and trust you as an authority in your space, rather than selling them on your product before they even know if you can deliver the results you’re promising.

That’s why the most successful internet marketers — including myself — give away boatloads of free content via blogs and videos. Granted, the stuff we give away for free could easily be packaged together into a high-priced course, but that would be short-sighted. You don’t want prospects to buy from you once and move on — you want them to become long-term paying clients.

See, you deliver free quality content to your prospects, then they take it and implement it into their businesses. They start to see results in advance, which leads them to trust you more and more. Soon, they begin to crave more knowledge from you, and their willingness to pay for your products and services increases.

Eventually those prospects become your most loyal clients. They buy your front-end products, your upsells and your flagship products — all of which I’ll get to in just a second. But, before you get that far, make sure your prospects know, love and trust you before you worry about selling them anything.

Related: 12 Low-Cost Business Ideas for Introverts

Create your front-end product and upsells.

Once your copy is written and you’re building the know, love and trust factor, your next move is to create a front-end product — a product that’s easy to sell. This could be an ebook, a membership site or a course that comes with follow-along videos.

Now, you might be tempted to charge a high price for that product. Here’s the thing: Most of the money is made on the back end. I’ll talk more about this in a second, but for now just remember that the front-end product is not the final product you’re really trying to sell them. I — along with many of my fellow internet marketers — don’t mind breaking even or losing money on front-end products because I know I’ll more than make my money back with my flagship product.

Instead, your m should be to use that front-end product to upsell them instead. So, after they purchase your front-end product, offer them three different upsells. An upsell is a higher-priced product or service you offer a customer after they’ve bought something from you. These upsells should be done-for-you, and they should enhance the front-end product by making it easier to understand or more efficient at getting results.

Why are upsells so important? Besides adding value to your front-end product, you’ll be able to recruit more affiliates to promote your business. An affiliate promotes your product to their own audience for a commission fee. If you make money through upsells, affiliates will choose to work with your business over your competitors because you can pay them higher commissions. The payoff? You get more traffic going to your webpage and ultimately more bottom line revenue.

Related: 63 Businesses to Start for Under $10,000

Move them to your flagship product.

That’s how you set up the front end of your online business. But, what about the back end? Remember I sd that most of your money will be made on the back end and not the front end?

That’s why you need a flagship product to pitch your clients once they’re done with your front-end product. But, what in the world does a flagship product look like?

It could be high-end coaching sessions. It could be a spot in your exclusive mastermind group. It could even be a suite of software that teaches them everything they need to know about their industry. The front-end product is a way to get your clients through the door; your back-end product is the money-maker product, the one they’re more likely to buy once they’ve already purchased something from you.

I’ll give you an example. People will often find my products online. Usually when they finish using those products, they’re still hungry for more knowledge and advice. At this point, they’re considered qualified leads for my mastermind program, so we make sure they know about that program and how to become a member of it.

That leaves you with one problem: How do you send marketing emls to every single person that buys your front-end product/upsells? It’s basically impossible, unless you’re in front of your computer screen 24/7 (which I’m sure you’re not). Fear not, because it’s actually easy to do when you use an autoresponder system to send out all those emls on your behalf.

It’s simple: When your clients purchase your front-end product, the system automatically sends them emls from you. That way, you can build a sequence where you give away even more of your best free content before sending them an offer for your flagship product. By the time they get to your flagship product, they’ll be so confident in your expertise and results that they happily pay the higher price for your higher level of service.

That’s the simple science behind converting your prospects into clients, and your clients into fiercely loyal clients. It’s how you sell your highest-priced online programs without running into any of the typical sales objections. Follow these three steps and start building your own online business empire today.

[ad_2]

Source link

Instagram Is Reportedly Working on a Fix for a Hashtag Nightmare 1024 682 ImplicitPay CO

Instagram Is Reportedly Working on a Fix for a Hashtag Nightmare

[ad_1]

Putting hashtags in as a first comment makes your posts easy to notice.


4 min read

Opinions expressed by contributors are their own.


Lo and behold! Instagram is testing a new feature for adding hashtags as a separate block underneath the images.

App researcher Jane Manchun Wong tweeted earlier this week a screenshot of what looks like a beta version of a new Instagram feature, which should simplify and improve the way hashtags are presented on this platform. Currently, a lot of Instagram users stuff their captions with hashtags, which makes for less than a great user experience.

Related: How to Grow Your Business Using Instagram

While we are wting on the official word (or release) from Instagram, I always recommend my clients to put hashtags in as a first comment. This will make your posts as discoverable as they’d be otherwise, and keeps your captions polished and engaging. Plus, if you share your Instagram posts to other social platforms where the use of hashtags is not part of an etiquette (such as Facebook and Pinterest), inserting your hashtags as a first comment keeps captions user-friendly on other channels.

So, next time you post on Instagram, write your caption and click Post. Then, go into the comments under this fresh new post and type up hashtags there.

Related: Profitable or Popular? Make Hashtags Work for You

The new rumored feature also seems to not impose a limit on the number of hashtags under a single post. However, it is most likely that the feature will have a limit once it becomes avlable. 30 is the current maximum number of hashtags one post can have, which is plenty if you use them correctly.

I highly recommend you utilize all of them to increase visibility of your posts and attract more of your target audience to your handle. Hashtags are the most powerful way to get discovered on this platform! If you think about it, hashtags are really like keywords. So, if you want your ideal audience to find your posts, and thus, your handle, you need to up your hashtag game. Do not rely on someone accidentally stumbling across your posts; become very strategic about optimizing them for maximum exposure.

In my experience, newbie Instagrammers resist leveraging all 30 hashtags, because of the fear that it looks “spammy” and “desperate.” To that I say: it is not true. If you pay attention to some of the most popular posts and handles, a majority of them take advantage of the hashtag limit — and so should you. Unless you are Beyonce — then you don’t need hashtags.

But since you are not (yet) Beyonce, do your hard content-creating work a favor and maximize the reach of your posts! You spent time crafting a perfect image and then you’ve spent time polishing and accompanying glorious caption, and then… you do nothing for more people to see it! If you insert hashtags into the comment section, no one is actually forced to sift through them in captions — so it is out of sight, out of mind.

However, not all hashtags are created equal. To truly leverage the power of hashtags, you need to get very strategic and use only those hashtags that are very relevant to your niche and that are popular, yet not overly-used. I recommend hashtags that have between 30,000 and 500,000 posts associated with them.

Related: How to Make the Power of the Hashtag Work for You

Also, strive to create a good mix of hashtags with low, medium, and high volume of content. More popular hashtags will ensure that your content is discovered by as many people as possible, while less popular hashtags ensure your content has a chance to stay up top longer.

It is also important to note how many engagements top posts in each given hashtag feed receive. Depending on your post performance, it may get to be featured in top posts for these hashtags. It is an awesome strategy to further maximize engagement and leverage the virality factor.

While there is still no confirmed information or date of release, I suggest you start researching the best hashtags for your business now. Whenever the new feature gets released, you will be ready and on top of your Instagram marketing strategy.



[ad_2]

Source link

Gil Hyatt interview: Why patent examiners gave controversial patents a scarlet letter 1010 661 ImplicitPay CO

Gil Hyatt interview: Why patent examiners gave controversial patents a scarlet letter

[ad_1]

Gil Hyatt’s patience has been tested. After a 22-year delay, the inventor received a patent in 1990 for what he called the first microprocessor, or a computer on a chip. After cutting a deal with Philips Electronics, he began collecting royalties on a lot of electronics products that used the fundamental technology.

In Silicon Valley and elsewhere, Hyatt was viewed as a carpetbagger, a man who created a “submarine patent” by continually following up his patent application with new detls. He clms he was a diligent individual inventor who protected his rights. But after the controversial patent award, and after getting 75 patents, the patent office never approved one of his applications agn.

More than 40 years later, Hyatt sd his important applications are still in limbo. (The typical wt time is 18 months.) He has made at least $150 million from the Philips deal, but he sd he is fighting for “justice.” The case took a twist in 2014, when news emerged that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office had a special way of flagging potentially controversial patents.

The flagged applications went all the way to the leadership of the patent office, and they were often never granted by the office. The patent office called this the Sensitive Applications Warning System (or SAWS), and it operated in secret for decades, based on the results of 31 Freedom of Information Act requests and court discovery unearthed by Hyatt and his nonprofit American Center of Equitable Treatment. Hyatt — and even a former patent commissioner — called the SAWS flag a “scarlet letter.” Hyatt sued the patent office.

I interviewed Hyatt multiple times in the 1990s, and agn four years ago. But now he’s 80 years old, and he has a new crusade agnst the patent office over SAWS. He believes the patent office is wting for him to die, rather than granting him any more patents. Hyatt sd that what he discovered in his legal fight is pretty alarming for all individual inventors. At least one other inventor, Corliss Burandt, found out that his application carried the SAWS flag, and Burandt is still fighting for issuance. I talked to Hyatt about this controversy agn last week. The patent office declined to comment on Hyatt’s ongoing litigation.

Here’s an edited transcript.

Gil Hyatt in 2014 at age 76. He is now 80 years old, and still seeking his patents.

Above: Gil Hyatt in 2014 at age 76. He is now 80 years old, and still seeking his patents.

Image Credit: Gil Hyatt

VentureBeat: Could you walk me back and review some of the timeline of when big things happened with you? It was around 1990-ish or so, wasn’t it, that we first talked about the microprocessor patent? I was at the Los Angeles Times.

Gil Hyatt: Yes. It was 1990. Another one of my patents was widely licensed, and then — I had a lot of patent applications pending. There was a change in the law in 1995, with the GATT treaty. They grandfathered us old guys in, so I filed more patent applications dating back to the earlier inventions. They’re still pending right now.

VentureBeat: How long would you say some of your longest-running applications have been pending, then?

Hyatt: I just filed an appeal brief on a patent application that the patent office has delayed for about 40 years. That was filed back in 1977. About a year ago I filed an appeal brief on another patent application of mine that I filed in 1972, about 45 years ago. The patent office has delayed and delayed. I’m finally hoping to get to the board of appeals and to the courts to stop the delays and get my patents issued.

VentureBeat: How many would you say are granted now?

Hyatt: I have more than 70 patents granted. At some point in time the patent office unlawfully decided, no more patents for Hyatt. They were down on independent inventors, and I was a prominent independent inventor. For the past 25 years I’ve been trying to overcome that illegal rule that they had, and in fact I have a major case now filed in federal court, a mandamus case to order them to properly examine my patent applications.

VentureBeat: How many do you think are pending still, these applications?

Hyatt: Originally I had almost 400 of them, because I had a lot of great technology that I needed to cover. But they’ve been unlawfully abandoning my applications recently. That’s an issue in the mandamus, the bad fth case we have filed agnst the patent office.

VentureBeat: I remember the Philips license was worth a lot of money for you. Did that wind up being the biggest you had?

Hyatt: Philips had exclusive authority to license my patents. They licensed them worldwide. The microcomputer patent was one of a portfolio of 23 patents they were licensing.

VentureBeat: Was that successful for you, the licensing that Philips handled?

Hyatt: Yes, it was very successful. The business community embraced my patent portfolios. A lot of major companies like Sony and Sharp and Toshiba licensed my patents. It was a very successful program. Philips did a great job.

VentureBeat: Has that ended now?

Hyatt: No, those patents have since expired. I’m hoping to get my more recent patent applications issued, if the patent office will ever stop delaying and give me a fr examination.

Invent

Above: Inventing

Image Credit: via VLADGRIN/Shutterstock

VentureBeat: Did you find some evidence that they have deliberately delayed your patents?

Hyatt: Yes, I have an enormous amount of evidence. I had an appeal to the federal court, the judge allowed us to take discovery, and we got thousands of pages of very incriminating evidence from the patent office and the depositions we were permitted to take. We have a very significant bad fth case agnst them. We’ve articulated many of these things briefly in the complnt we filed about three months ago. It’s now pending in the federal court of the eastern district of Virginia.

VentureBeat: The time period it covers — is that all the way up to the present day, or is it a specific time in the past where you found something that showed a deliberate delay happening?

Hyatt: This has been ongoing since 1995, when the new applications were filed, up through the present. It turns out that the patent office has been adversarial to independent inventors for a very long time.

VentureBeat: What do you think motivated this change? For a while they were granting you patents, and then this change in attitude happened. Did somebody specifically compln about you, causing this to happen? I don’t know if Intel complned to the patent office or what-have-you, but did somebody trigger this breakdown in your patent applications?

Hyatt: The patent office — the commissioner of patents at the time was very outspoken about what he called “submarine patents.” They unfrly blamed me for being a “submariner,” without checking into the facts. They needed someone to hold up as a perpetrator. Then, once they poisoned the well agnst me, the withholding of patents from me continued from administration to administration. We’re in the process of trying to break that chn and get the courts to order a fr examination of my applications.

VentureBeat: How old are you now, by the way?

Hyatt: I’m 80 years old. God’s been kind to me.

VentureBeat: Are you still in Las Vegas?

Hyatt: Yes, I’m in Las Vegas. I’ve lived here for the past 25 years or so. I moved here in 1991. One of the biggest problems the patent office created is they created this secret program called SAWS, Sensitive Application Warning System. It’s supposed to be a warning system for the directors of the PTO so they could deal with press. But instead, they used it to keep patent applications from issuing. If the truth be known, there were thousands of patent applications that should have issued and have been kept from issuing because of this secret program.

Even more significant, the board of appeals is supposed to be an independent and impartial entity, but the board was given secret information about patent applications. Applicants didn’t know about this. They weren’t permitted to argue agnst it. It’s a star chamber type of proceeding.

Above: The seal of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Image Credit: Wiki Commons

VentureBeat: Did you find something that referenced them saying they’d just wt until you died?

Hyatt: We have testimony on that from several sources, yes. We articulate that in the complnt as well.

VentureBeat: Have you had any favorable developments with regard to this — any progress?

Hyatt: Yes, very favorable. Judge [Royce] Lamberth, in federal court, gave me four decisions in four different trials that were very favorable, ordering the patent office to issue my patents, and taking away one of their biggest issues.

VentureBeat: Have they responded to that yet?

Hyatt: That decision just came down in the last month. We don’t know how it will play out yet.

VentureBeat: What do you think is the most significant patent you’re wting on?

Hyatt: I’d prefer not to talk about that at this time.

VentureBeat: What have you continued to work on since the time of the microprocessor patent?

Hyatt: I did the work on the microprocessor back with a company I formed called Micro Computer Inc., back in 1969 and 1970. From there I continued with my research and development for more than 20 years and filed a bunch of patent applications, many of which are still pending with the patent office through their delays. It’s a whole sequence of research and development, one technology building on another.

[ad_2]

Source link

All about Apple Pay 1024 469 ImplicitPay CO

All about Apple Pay

If you are considering Apple Pay you may want to understand how it works and the potential benefits for merchants. Apple Pay is a relatively new form of ‘contactless payment’ also known as part of the NFC payment system. Apple Pay is available on both versions of the iPhone 6, 7, and the Apple Watch. Contactless payment works when the customer taps or waves their mobile device near the checkout terminal that has NFC capabilities. If you have an NFC terminal, accepting Apple Pay is another flexible form of completing purchases for customers.

So, how does Apple Pay actually work?

Similar to any NFC capable device, it works by substituting a credit card account number with new numbers, thus protecting personal information. Any customer using Apple Pay has loaded his or her credit cards into the program prior to use. Apple Pay then creates a ‘tokenized number’ known as the ‘Device Account Number’ which eliminates the traditional cards permanent account number (PAN). Token numbers are stored in the Secure Element of the Apple device. When a purchase is made, a unique security code is created and paired with the tokenized Device Account Number. As the customer authorizes the payment by fingerprint the information is then sent to the NFC-compatible terminal and the transaction is complete. Using the TouchID sensor replaces the need for a PIN number by acting as the cardholder verification method.

Letting your customers know you accept Apple Pay is easy by placing these stickers on or near your NFC credit card machine.

Increased Brand Loyalty
Recent studies have shown that customers who use Apple Pay and other contactless forms of payment have stronger brand loyalty to places of business that accept contactless payments such as Apple Pay.

Now that you understand how Apple Pay works..

What are the benefits to accepting Apple Pay at your place of business?

As with other NFC devices, accepting Apple Pay is faster than using a traditional credit card. Having shorter lines due to customers no longer searching their wallets for credit and debit cards. Fraudulent purchase opportunities also decrease by removing the physical card in the instance that a customer leaves their personal items behind.
Costs
Apart from upgrading your old terminal to an NFC system, there is no associated cost of using Apple Pay. Merchants nor customers pay for use of Apple Pay, the card issuers, such as Chase, Bank of America etc. pay 0.15% of the cost on every transaction to Apple.

The flexibility of contactless payments such as Apple Pay benefit both the merchant and the customer by providing an improved shopping experience, fraud protection, shorter lines, and less personal needed during peak business hours. Understanding the various forms of payment options and NFC-equipped terminals can be an important aspect of business success.