PayPal Tests Its Point of Sale System at Office Depot

PayPal Inc., which has been testing a point of sale payment system with Home Depot, is reportedly testing the same system with Office Depot Inc.

The system, which PayPal is testing at 51 Home Depot stores, is also being tested at "a few" Office Depot stores, Reuters reported Sunday, citing an interview with the president of Office Depot's North American unit.

PayPal, a unit of eBay Inc. of San Jose, is testing a method for accessing its online payment system at the point of sale with or without a plastic card. PayPal users who choose to forgo the card can enter a phone number and a PIN instead.

Home Depot plans to roll out the technology nationwide by March, said a PayPal spokesman told American Banker last week. PayPal refused to discuss the Office Depot test. An Office Depot spokeswoman said the retailer would not provide additional details on the test, except to say that it is looking at multiple options.

PayPal is also working on its test with the terminal makers Ingenico SA and VeriFone Systems Inc., as well as the middleware provider AJB Software Design Inc. An earlier test involved the terminal maker VeriFone and the mobile payments company Bling Nation Ltd. (Bling Nation shut down last year.)