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July 2026 • Issue 26:07:02

Raising the standard of

merchant sales – Part 1

Following is a portion of their responses. Answers from
additional payments experts, including Dee Karawadra,
Allen Kopelman, Robert Taylor and Justin Volrath, will ap-
pear in our next issue. We wish to thank everyone who par-
ticipated in this endeavor.

Mark Dunn
Vice President and Co-Founder
Omnia Payments Marketplace

Thanks for asking these questions. Here are my thoughts:

1. The issue of unethical sales practices continues to
plague the merchant services industry for several rea-
sons.
A. The industry has relied on a large pool of inde-
recent LinkedIn discussion sparked by pendent sales agents to solicit every merchant in
ImpactPays CEO Dee Karawadra centered on every community in the country. As independent
merchants' allegations of costly cancellation contractors, sales agents can freely enter, make sales
A penalties, confusing contracts and aggressive contacts, close deals or leave the merchant services
sales tactics, prompting broader questions about transpar- profession. By IRS definition, the ISO cannot control
ency, accountability, merchant education and the profes- the sales agent's daily activities nor how the work is
sionalization of merchant sales done.

With that in mind, we asked a select group of payments
leaders the following questions:
Contributed articles inside by:
1. Stories about merchants feeling trapped by long-term
contracts, equipment leases and cancellation penalties Jaki Kackert .............................................................................................14
continue to surface in the payments industry. Where Chad Orar ................................................................................................16
should the industry draw the line between legitimate
business protections and predatory behavior, and how Monica Eaton .........................................................................................18
much responsibility falls on ISOs, agents and their Adam Atlas ..............................................................................................28
upstream partners to ensure merchants truly under-
stand the terms they are signing? George Csahiouni ................................................................................30
2. Has the industry done enough to professionalize mer- Elie Y. Katz ...............................................................................................34
chant sales—through CPP accreditation, for example Anthony Walton ....................................................................................35
— or do ongoing concerns about hidden fees, confus-
ing contracts and aggressive tactics point to a need David Moscatelli....................................................................................37
for better training, oversight and accountability? If so,
what measures would you recommend? Dale S. Laszig .........................................................................................39

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