Wells Fargo hits $12 billion in processing web merchant payments, up 100%

Internet merchant payments processed by Wells Fargo & Co. grew 100% year over year to nearly $12 billion, or 15% of the country’s online shopping volume, in 2003, the company reports. Wells Fargo currently processes payments for more than 60,000 online merchants and has 414,000 active online small business banking customers, up 40% from a year earlier.

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In addition to payments processing for online merchants including GoodGuys.com, Cooking.com and Overstock.com, person-to-person payments in the web auction market are helping drive rapid growth at Wells Fargo since it became the payment provider for PayPal in 2002. Wells Fargo now processes payments for 95% to 99% of the domestic web auction market, the company estimates.

“We’re leveraging Wells Fargo’s history in successfully managing risk and fraud, coupled with their expertise in Internet payments,” says Alex Sember, CFO of GoodGuys.com. “In addition, Wells Fargo’s relationships with credit card associations and customer care experience help GoodGuys.com reduce fraud and risk.”