Payroc Expands Payment Processing Services With Bluestone Payments Acquisition

Global payment processor Payroc announced Wednesday (Nov. 18) in a company press release emailed to PYMNTS that it has acquired Bluestone Payments.

Bluestone Payments, founded by Linda Rossetti and launched in 2006, connects merchants in niche markets to payments programs through a referral system.

Rossetti will join Payroc as executive vice president of Strategic Initiatives, and she will also continue to serve as Bluestone’s president, the release stated.

Payroc processes payments for over 66,000 merchants in 46 countries and also offers full-service merchant acquiring solutions and card brand network payments sponsorship registrations.

“I am thrilled to become part of the Payroc management team and look forward to expanding our 25+ year relationship,” said Rossetti in the release. “I am excited to be able to increase our customer offerings with Payroc’s technology stack and international reach, which will provide the opportunity to drive future growth for both our companies.”

Payroc earlier this month launched RewardPay Choice, a surcharging program that alleviates surcharging fees for merchants. With the program, merchants can opt for credit card-using customers to pay the credit card processing fee, or they can choose to split the fee between the customer and themselves.

“This product is fully compliant and gives merchants absolute flexibility in their surcharging amount,” said Vice President of Merchant Product James Derby. “This is a capability that is completely unique in the payments industry.”

As of late, customers have seemed willing to pay the extra fee, Payroc CEO Jim Oberman told PYMNTS.

“COVID for some reason has made this more acceptable to consumers who are willing to pay the surcharge,” Oberman said. “This is a phenomenon to me, and I’m not understanding [it] myself. I don’t get it — but it is happening.”