Merchant Sales Podcast

What does the future look like for ISOs as AI, vertical software, and changing payments models reshape the industry? James Shepherd sits down with Brian Abernethy, founder and CEO of Straata, to discuss the opportunities hiding in residuals, interchange optimization, merchant pricing, and the growing role of AI in payments.

They also dive into why the ISO and ISV worlds have struggled to work together, whether that relationship could finally change, and why distribution may become one of the biggest advantages ISOs have in an AI-driven market.

The episode wraps up with Patti Murphy’s Today in Payments, covering the Durbin Amendment, debit interchange, IRS card payments, Mastercard’s tax case, ACH growth, Checkout.com entering in-person payments, and what’s next for Clover.

What does it take to build a stronger, more competitive ISO in today’s payments industry? James Shepherd sits down with Duayne Haskett, Chief Revenue Officer at Netevia, to discuss the strategies, products, and support systems that can help ISOs grow and compete in an increasingly crowded market.

Duayne shares lessons from building Define Payments, the importance of staying focused on what you do best, and how ISOs can use technology, AI, financing, and solutions like Clover to create more value for their merchants. He also discusses what’s ahead for Netevia and Define Payments as they join forces and look toward 2027.

The episode wraps up with Patti Murphy’s Today in Payments segment covering stablecoins, Visa’s AI initiatives, declining check usage, retail spending, mobile commerce, and international payments.

The payments industry is changing—and according to Vlad Sadovskiy, CEO of Netevia, the agents who win in the next phase won't necessarily be the ones with the highest residual splits. They'll be the ones with the right solutions for the right merchants.

In this episode, James Shepherd sits down with Vlad to discuss the changing ISO market, the growing importance of Square and Clover, and why solution-based selling is becoming more important. They break down Square's 70% offer, why a lower split can still produce more revenue, how verticalization is changing merchant acquisition, and why giving merchants a solution they'll actually say "yes" to can matter more than chasing the highest residual percentage.

The episode wraps up with Patti Murphy's Today in Payments segment covering Toast's expansion into fuel stations, changes to Visa and Mastercard economics, international real-time payments, and the continued evolution of digital payments.

What does it take to build a successful payments business in today’s market? James Shepherd sits down with Chris Sandifer, CEO and founder of Peak Pay, to discuss why ISOs need to evolve beyond simply selling payment processing and start thinking like fintech companies. They cover building merchant stickiness through technology and service, adding business financing and consumer finance, processor-agnostic POS solutions, the future of dual pricing, finding profitable verticals, and recruiting the next generation of agents.

Plus, Patti Murphy joins James for Today in Payments to break down the latest developments in retail spending, stablecoins and the $30 trillion B2B payments opportunity, AI-driven payments and fraud, and Europe’s push toward a new payments network.

James Shepherd sits down with Mike Collins, Head of the Reseller Channel at Square, for an in-depth conversation about the rapidly evolving role of technology in the agent and ISO channel. They discuss the Square Reseller Program, the build-vs-buy decision for ISOs, how agents can expand their sales opportunities, what successful Square resellers are doing differently, and the importance of technology and customer experience in building a strong portfolio.

The episode also features Patti Murphy’s “Today in Payments” segment, covering Illinois’ interchange legislation, Visa’s response to cryptocurrency transaction classification, the rise of agentic commerce, increasing ACH fraud concerns, and what recent consumer data may, and may not, tell us about surcharging and differential pricing.

In Part 2 of this two-part series, James Shepherd and Lane Gordon of 733Park take a deeper look at what happens when an agent or ISO decides to sell their payments portfolio. They break down right of first refusal, why approaching a single buyer may leave money on the table, how competing buyers and market conditions can affect an offer, and what buyers look for during due diligence. They also discuss agent and ISO agreement terms that can impact a sale, how revenue redirects work, and what the final closing process looks like.

The episode wraps up with Patti Murphy's Today in Payments report covering regulatory action, card network litigation, retail spending, and the continued shift from checks toward electronic B2B payments.

What makes a payments portfolio valuable—and what should agents and ISOs understand before selling? In this episode of the Merchant Sales Podcast, James Shepherd sits down with Lane Gordon, CEO of 733Park, to break down the process of selling a portfolio of merchant accounts and residual income.

They discuss the key factors that influence valuation, including revenue attrition, merchant concentration, vertical mix, portability, software integrations, and the strength of long-term agreements. They also explain right of first refusal, how buyers structure offers, and why the difference between upfront cash and an earnout can significantly affect the final deal.

In the Today in Payments segment, James and Patti Murphy explore recent FTC enforcement actions involving payment processors, growing expectations around industry compliance, consumer trust in AI-powered payments, digital wallet developments, Mastercard’s legal challenges, and the ongoing debate over the Credit Card Competition Act. Together, these conversations offer insight into both the opportunities and risks shaping the payments industry.

In this episode of the Merchant Sales Podcast, James Shepherd sits down with Roman Vanegas from The POS Cloud to explore how agents and ISOs can overcome two major point-of-sale challenges: managing installations and support, and securing processing business when merchants want to keep their existing system.

They discuss processor-agnostic integrations, outsourced hardware deployment, implementation strategies, and how having the right POS expertise can help agents close more deals without taking on every technical headache themselves.

Why is merchant sales so difficult—and could giving software away actually make it easier and more profitable? In this episode, James Shepard breaks down why traditional merchant sales has become a numbers game, why disruptive products create a much easier path to the sale, and how free software can lower customer acquisition costs while increasing payment processing revenue. He also explores how AI is changing software development, the potential “SaaS apocalypse,” and why agents, ISOs, and software companies need to rethink their business models before disruption catches up with them. Using CCStorage and Stackably as examples, James explains how building an ecosystem around payments and other services can create more value than relying on SaaS fees alone.

Then, in Patti Murphy’s Today in Payments segment, James and Patti discuss Florida’s lawsuit against online sweepstakes casinos and the payment companies supporting them, highlighting the growing compliance risks for high-risk merchants. They also cover Alabama’s new law exempting sales tax from credit card surcharges, Australia’s upcoming surcharge ban and interchange reductions, and Fiserv’s MoneyPass joint venture and continued international expansion of Clover.

Blockchain and crypto may still feel complicated or distant to many merchant services professionals—but that could be changing quickly. In this episode, James Shepherd sits down with Eric Brown of BlockWyre to break down what ISOs, agents, processors, and acquirers need to understand about blockchain, Bitcoin, and the growing role of stablecoins in payments.

The conversation goes beyond the hype to explore practical opportunities for the payments industry, including high-risk merchants, digital wallets, banking products, faster settlement, cross-border payments, and new ways for ISOs to generate revenue beyond traditional acquiring. Eric also shares why stablecoin education could become increasingly important over the next few years—and why agents and ISO owners may want to start paying attention now.

Plus, in this week’s Today in Payments segment, James and Patti Murphy discuss consumer payment preferences, Walmart’s move to accept Apple Pay and other tap-to-pay options, e-commerce growth, a PayPal antitrust case, and a surprising security issue involving expired contactless cards.