Interest in Roam Data Inc.'s mobile-payment service appears to be high among independent sales organizations. Most of Roam Data's 35 resellers are ISOs, says Will Graylin, founder and CEO of Boston-based Roam Data.
Graylin's company is just one of many selling products that enable merchants to accept credit and debit card transactions via mobile phones. Roam Data's distinction is that its application, called RoamPay, can work with virtually any cellphone operating system, and the phones do not require the ability to access the Web.
Many similar applications only work with Web-accessing smartphones, such as Apple Inc.'s iPhone and those using Google Inc.'s Android and MicroSoft Corp.'s Windows Mobile operating systems.
Roam Data also has agreements with Atlanta-based First Data Corp., Dallas-based Chase Paymentech LLC and Palm Desert (Calif.) National Bank, among others. First Data and Chase Paymentech resell Roam Data's services under their brand names, Graylin tells PaymentsSource. Graylin would not say how many merchants are using the service.
Once a reseller has set up the merchant Roam Data account, the merchant clicks on a link in an e-mail Roam Data sends them to download and install the appropriate RoamPay version for the merchant's phone, Graylin says, noting the merchant can complete the process within 40 seconds. Once the merchant logs in to RoamPay, which is pre-populated with the merchant's account information, it may begin accepting transactions, he says.
The phone sends transaction data via a wireless connection to the payment processor.
After the reseller pays a $25 set up fee, Roam Data assesses the reseller a monthly fee of $9.95 plus 5 cents per transaction, Graylin says. Resellers may mark up those prices when selling the service to merchants to earn revenue, he says.
Merchants also have access to a Web site containing detailed information about their RoamPay transactions, he says. And merchants can use a virtual POS terminal if they are using a personal computer to accept card transactions.
POS-terminal maker Ingenico SA, a minority investor in Roam Data, demonstrated the RoamPlayer technology at last week's Electronic Transactions Association Annual Meeting and Expo in Las Vegas. During the conference, Ingenico representatives displayed a card reader, developed by HomeATM ePayment Solutions, that plugs into the audio jack of many smartphones, enabling card-present transactions.
The Ingenico deal is not exclusive, Graylin says.
