‘PayPal Here’ and USBSwiper / MobileSwiper
PayPal announced today that they are launching PayPal Here and will now compete with Square in the mobile payment market.
I’ve received quite a few emails and comments about this, along with questions about what this means for USBSwiper and our plans to move forward with PayPal development.
First and foremost, we’re excited to see PayPal taking this step. We may have been 4 years ahead of the game, but we knew all along we would never be competing with PayPal. Rather, we’d be growing right along with them. That’s exactly what we plan to do now.
The attention this announcement brings to PayPal entering the mobile and point of sale market is fantastic. It’s opening the eyes of both buyers and sellers online and offline to what exactly PayPal can do for them.
The best part…
We can still beat their rates!
PayPal is offering a 2.7% flat-rate on transactions processed using PayPal Here. USBSwiper, though, still utilizes the Payments Pro platform as it always has. Therefore, you can easily qualify for 2.5% or even 2.2% rates when using USBSwiper or the soon to be released, MobileSwiper application with PayPal.
Keep in mind that USBSwiper / MobileSwiper also works with standard merchant accounts which can offer rates as low as 1.48%, so if you really want to save money on transaction fees that might be your best option.
What is PayPal?
Introduction
PayPal is simply a tool used to for sending and receiving money. It was originally developed as a tool for accepting payments on your website, but it is quickly making its way into the retail market allowing merchants to process transactions at the point of sale.
How Does PayPal Work?
When you create a PayPal account, you will enter your bank account and credit card information into the PayPal platform. This process allows PayPal to verify its users which reduces the possibility of fraud when sending or receiving money.
PayPal also acts sort of like another bank account for you, although, they’re not technically a bank. Money you receive will fall into your PayPal account, and you can also transfer money to PayPal from your standard bank account. You carry a PayPal balance just like a checking account and you can pay for things with this balance just like cash in a bank account. You can even get a PayPal debit card and make purchases with cash-back rewards.
If you’re on the receiving end of a PayPal transaction, the money will drop into your PayPal account and sit there, as cash, until you either spend it or transfer the funds to your actual bank account.
There is a fee for receiving business transactions with PayPal (personal payments are free) but there is no fee to transfer funds to your bank account. The fees PayPal charges for business transactions are very competitive when compared to traditional merchant accounts.
How Does PayPal Protect Buyers?
When you pay for things with PayPal, the actual merchant you’re purchasing goods or services from will never see anything more than your email address and a shipping address, if applicable. The billing information like your credit card number, billing address, etc. is never seen or stored by the merchant. As such, the odds of your financial information falling into the hands of a fraudster are very slim.
Also, when paying with items using PayPal, the experience is generally very quick when compared to handling cash, typing credit card information, or even swiping a credit card. You would receive a payment request, and all you have to do is enter your PayPal email and password to confirm the payment to complete it.
How Does PayPal Help Merchants Receive Money?
PayPal provides a number of ways for merchants to receive money through their platform. While the standard use of PayPal is the most popular, where buyers sign in and pay through the PayPal platform, merchants can also sign up with Virtual Terminal and Website Payments Pro. This allows them to receive credit card payments directly just like a standard merchant account. This way, you can offer your buyers multiple methods of paying and increase conversion rates.
How Do I Get PayPal?
You can simply register for an account and you will receive all the information you need via email to get up-and-running quickly and easily. PayPal also provides plenty of support options should you have any questions or concerns along the way.
Sign up for PayPalAndrew Angell Receives the PayPal Star Developer Award…Again!
Andrew Angell, Co-Owner and Developer at USBSwiper, has received the PayPal Star Developer Award for the 3rd time in 4 years (2008, 2009, 2011). He is recognized for his efforts on the PayPal developer community boards to help application developers of all kinds integrate PayPal into their solutions.
Here he is on stage receiving his award at the X.Commerce event from John Donahoe and Naveed Anwar.
USBSwiper for Magento Now Available!
Overview
The much anticipated point of sale, credit card swipe module for Magento by USBSwiper is now available! Now online shoppers and Magento store owners can easily checkout using their credit card and USB credit card reader. Save time and avoid errors with our USBSwiper Module for Magento!
PayPal Credit Card Solutions Through a Small Card Swiping Device
PayPal Card Processing
PayPal has succeeded in markets where other companies haven’t by simplifying their customer’s workflow. That’s what it’s done for transactions over the web. For those that aren’t familiar with what PayPal is at its core, it’s a way of sending money over the web, with your email address being the key identifier of the sender and the recipient of the funds. Effectively, what you experience is that somebody “emails you money.” Of course, it doesn’t technically happen that way, but that’s how it plays out with the user.
It’s this simplicity in experience and approach that PayPal has applied to several traditional business areas and has had great success. What many people don’t know is that PayPal has also been providing point of sale credit card merchant services for years through their Virtual Terminal setup and more recently VT Swipe. The red tape’s all but eliminated with PayPal, as they don’t impose the sort of setup fees, minimum transaction volume fees, or cancellation charges that you get with conventional merchant service providers. Everything is out in the open about PayPal credit card processing. When it comes to PayPal, there are no complicated variable scales or if-then situations about additional auxiliary fees and charges.
And then came along USBSwiper who’s fresh approach to the PayPal point of sale processing system made taking credit cards, faster, cheaper and better.
