The Green Sheet Online Edition
October 13, 2025 • 25:10:01
Letter from the editor
As 2025's final quarter gets into full swing, retailers, payments providers and small businesses alike are bracing for a holiday season that promises to be faster, smarter and costlier. Inflation, tariffs and shifting consumer habits are reshaping spending patterns within and outside of U.S. borders, according to new analyses from the Mastercard Economics Institute and Constant Contact. Online and mobile sales continue to surge, propelled by younger generations who favor convenience, flexible payments and personalized recommendations. At the same time, small businesses are adapting with ingenuity, raising prices where they must, embracing AI-powered marketing, and doubling down on email and video to keep customers engaged. As this issue's lead article points out, this holiday rush may look different from years past, but its momentum, creativity and resilience reflect an industry that never stops evolving.
Given the fast pace of payments, news is breaking almost daily. Herein we've highlighted several recent stories, including the Federal Reserve's plan to raise FedNow’s transaction limit to $10 million to support larger instant-payment use cases and meet growing demand; Google and PayPal's multiyear partnership to merge AI technology with payment services, advancing “agentic commerce” and deepening PayPal’s integration across Google platforms; conflicting federal court rulings in Kentucky and North Dakota that have created uncertainty over the Federal Reserve’s debit interchange cap set under the Durbin Amendment; a proposed federal settlement to resolve lawsuits accusing Discover of misclassifying certain consumer cards as commercial cards, leading to excess interchange fees; PayPal's repositioning itself as a core connector in digital commerce through BNPL asset sales, blockchain expansion, crypto payments and AI partnerships with Google; and North Carolina lawmakers' advancement of a bill to cap credit card surcharges at 2 percent, joining other states that regulate or restrict such fees.
In addition, our contributors have dug into compelling, timely topics, including processors and ISOs facing potential liability when merchants make subscription cancellations overly difficult; cloud-native POS platforms helping independent retailers handle peak demand with real-time inventory, fast checkout, analytics and more; timeless sales strategies that boost skills, improve ratios, and help salespeople customize presentations; and generative AI's reshaping of B2B payments, streamlining workflows, reducing fraud and improving cash flow.
Plus you'll find updates on new products and recent milestones in payments. To spread news of your company's achievements, please email a press release to press@greensheet.com. For questions or comments, contact us at greensheet@greensheet.com. 
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