4 min read
California Minimum Wage Rises to $17.40 on January 1, 2027: What to Budget For
California's minimum wage climbs to $17.40 an hour on January 1, 2027, a 2.99% certified increase that also raises the exempt-employee salary threshold.
ReadYan Payments · Blog
Notes on getting paid.
Practical takes on payments, point-of-sale and running your business — written for merchants, not jargon.
- 4 min read
Clover's New Face-and-Palm Checkout: How It Works and Whether to Turn It On
Clover now supports face and palm checkout on existing Flex, Mini, Station Duo, and Kiosk hardware via a Wink partnership, no new terminal required.
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How to Spot a Predatory Card Terminal Lease Before You Sign
A 'free' card terminal is often a non-cancelable multi-year lease in disguise. Here's the checklist to run before you sign anything.
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FedEx and Stripe's Financing Deal: What It Means for Small Business Alternatives to a Cash Advance
Stripe and FedEx are building financing underwritten by shipping data, a preview of lending trends and a reminder that a merchant cash advance isn't your only option.
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Which States Require Restaurants to Disclose Service Charges Before You Order?
Florida and Colorado now require restaurants to disclose mandatory service charges before customers order, joining California in a fast-spreading trend.
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How Small Retailers Can Protect Against Return Fraud This Holiday Season
Return fraud costs retailers billions each holiday season; a few enforceable policies on receipts, restocking fees, and repeat returners stop most of it.
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Can You Route Debit Transactions to a Cheaper Network?
Federal Reg II requires every debit card to work on two unaffiliated networks, and your processor picks which one carries each sale, so routing is worth checking.
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Taking Card Payments at a Pop-Up, Market Booth, or Craft Fair
Selling at a holiday market or craft fair means planning for cellular connectivity, offline payment limits, battery life, and in California, a temporary seller's permit.
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Is Your Tip Screen Annoying Customers? What the Data Says to Change
2025-2026 survey data shows rising tip-screen fatigue even as actual tipping holds steady, so the fix is fewer prompts and more defensible defaults, not removing tipping.
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Is the 1099-K Threshold Really $600 in 2026? Here's What Changed
The $600 1099-K threshold from 2021 never took effect. For 2026 the real rule is $20,000 and 200+ transactions for payment apps; card terminal transactions never had a threshold at all.
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Is There a Federal Click-to-Cancel Law in 2026? Where the FTC Rule Actually Stands
The FTC's 2024 click-to-cancel rule was vacated in court; a new rulemaking started in March 2026 but nothing is final yet. California's Automatic Renewal Law still applies regardless.
Read - 5 min read
Level 2 and Level 3 Processing: How B2B Sellers Cut Card Costs
Sending tax, PO, and line-item data on B2B card transactions can qualify them for lower interchange under Level 2 and Level 3 processing, but most eligible merchants never turn it on.
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Why your bank deposit doesn't match your POS sales report, and how to reconcile it
Processing fees, settlement lag, refunds, and chargebacks all separate your POS sales number from your bank deposit. Here's a repeatable way to reconcile the two.
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Visa's new 0.10% embedded payments fee on B2B virtual cards, effective October 23
Visa is adding a 0.10% acquirer fee on B2B virtual card payments issued through AP and procurement software starting October 23, 2026. Here's who actually pays it.
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Tap to Pay: can your phone replace a card reader?
Tap to Pay turns an iPhone or Android phone into a contactless card reader with no extra hardware. Here's who it actually works for, and where it falls short.
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Visa Compelling Evidence 3.0 is expanding: what the October 2026 change means for chargebacks
Visa's CE3.0 fraud-dispute tool is expanding to accept evidence from other merchants, not just your own. Here's what's reportedly changing and how to prepare.
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Apple Pay and Google Pay for your business: what it actually costs
Apple Pay and Google Pay don't add a surcharge, you pay the same processing rate as any tapped card, and the transaction often qualifies for better pricing.
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The EMV liability shift: who eats the cost when a card is keyed in instead of tapped or dipped
Chip and tap transactions shift fraud liability to whoever has the weaker technology, but a keyed-in card almost always leaves the liability with you.
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Instant payouts vs. next-day funding: when paying for same-day money is worth it
Next-day funding is free with most processors; instant payout typically costs 1% to 1.75% of the amount. Here's how to tell when that fee is worth paying.
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Congress is trying again to break the Visa/Mastercard swipe fee duopoly
The Credit Card Competition Act is back for a third try, with a Trump endorsement this time. Here's what it would actually do, and why it's still stuck in committee.
Read - 3 min read
Your card terminal's mag stripe reader is going away, eventually
Mastercard's magnetic stripe phase-out timeline runs from 2027 to 2033. Most merchants don't need to do anything, with one real exception: fuel dispensers.
Read - 5 min read
The "no tax on tips" deduction is final: what tipped-employee businesses need to do
The IRS finalized rules for the new federal tip income deduction. It only covers voluntary tips, not automatic gratuities, and it doesn't touch payroll withholding, including in California.
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Get your chargeback defenses ready before the holiday rush
An earlier-starting Golden Quarter means your dispute exposure window opens sooner this year. A pre-season checklist to put documentation in place before volume spikes.
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Should your business accept stablecoin payments?
Stripe and Shopify now let merchants accept USDC with a flat 1.5% fee and no new integration. Here's who actually benefits and who should skip it.
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What's actually new with Clover software in 2026
Biometric checkout, real-time multi-channel inventory, and a few other updates Fiserv is building into Clover. Here's what's worth your attention and what isn't.
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Taking Venmo, Zelle, or Cash App for your business? Here's what you're actually trading off
Peer-to-peer apps are fine for a lot of small transactions, but they come with no chargeback protection. Here's how to decide what's safe to take this way, plus the real tax threshold for 2026.
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The April 2026 Visa and Mastercard fee changes, and why your rate crept up
Visa and Mastercard's spring 2026 fee schedule changes added an estimated $475 million in costs for US merchants. Here's what actually moved and how to check your own statement.
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California's SB 648: credit card tips just got teeth behind them
SB 648 didn't change the rule against deducting card fees from tips. It gave the Labor Commissioner a much faster, more expensive way to enforce it.
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Why contractors waiting on checks are waiting longer than they think
Contractors prefer ACH over checks two to one but still get paid mostly by check. The gap costs a week of float and roughly $10-16 per check in hidden handling costs.
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The PCI deadline that already passed: what online ordering sites need now
PCI DSS v4.0.1 is the only valid standard now, and 51 previously future-dated requirements became mandatory in March 2025. Two of them target any payment page.
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California just banned the 'factor rate' pitch. Here's what SB 362 actually changed
SB 362 now requires lenders to disclose the real APR on small-business financing offers under $500,000, closing a loophole that let factor-rate pitches hide triple-digit costs.
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Buy-now-pay-later is coming to Clover checkout. Should you turn it on?
Klarna's installment option is rolling out across Clover devices. Here's how it works at the counter, who pays the fee, and which businesses actually benefit.
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Most chargebacks aren't fraud. They're customers disputing a charge they actually made
Nearly 44% of chargebacks are now 'friendly fraud,' legitimate purchases disputed after the fact. Good documentation is what actually wins these cases.
Read - 4 min read
A new $529 fee just showed up on October processing statements. Here's what it is
Global Payments and Heartland merchants are seeing a new annual fee land this month, on top of one added back in June. Here's what these fees actually are and how to push back.
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That QR code on your counter might not be yours anymore
QR code phishing is up sharply this year, including sticker-swap scams that paste a fake code directly over your real one. A two-minute weekly check can catch it.
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California's gift card cash-out threshold just jumped to $15. Here's what changes at checkout
Since April 1, any California gift card balance under $15 is cash-redeemable on request, up from the old $10 line. Here's what SB 22 actually requires and how to update your program.
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California's plastic bag ban is now full. Here's how to ring up the 10-cent paper bag fee correctly
As of January 1, 2026, plastic checkout bags are gone in California and paper bags require a mandatory, itemized 10-cent fee. Here's what SB 1053 requires and how to set up your POS for it.
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Clover Flex, Mini, or Station: which one actually fits your counter
A plain buyer's guide to Clover's three most common devices: what each one is built for, who it suits, and how to avoid overbuying or underbuying your hardware.
Read - 5 min read
California's service charge and gratuity disclosure rules, explained for restaurant owners
SB 478 nearly banned restaurant service charges as hidden junk fees. SB 1524 carved out an exception, but only if the charge is clearly disclosed everywhere a price appears. Here's what that means in practice.
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What the Visa/Mastercard interchange settlement actually changes for you
Two different Visa/Mastercard court settlements are in the news right now. One's claim window is closed. The other hasn't taken effect. Here's what each one actually means, and how to spot the scam emails riding along.
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Why your processing rate looks lower than what you're actually paying (and how to fix it)
Your quoted rate and your effective rate are two different numbers, and the second one is almost always higher. Here's where the gap comes from, with a worked example, and how to find your own real rate.
Read - 3 min read
Is your Clover about to stop getting app updates? What the 2026 sunset means
Clover stops shipping app updates to its first-generation devices on May 15, 2026. Here's how to tell whether yours is affected, what actually changes on that date, and what to do before it.
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Surcharge, cash discount, or dual pricing: what California merchants can (and can't) do
Surcharging, cash discounting, and dual pricing aren't the same thing — and in California the difference is the line between a compliant program and a legal problem. A plain-English breakdown, current as of 2026.
Read - 5 min read
How to read your merchant statement, line by line
Merchant statements are confusing by design. Here's how to read yours line by line — find your real effective rate, tell interchange from markup, and spot the fees worth questioning.
Read - 1 min read
Welcome to the Yan Payments blog
A place for plain-English notes on payments, point-of-sale, and the small stuff that makes getting paid easier.
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