Various terminal makers have come out with their own devices and services designed to support payment card acceptance using mobile phones. But one ISO has decided to do so on its own, and at least one observer says the company could succeed with the proper marketing.
North American Bancard designed its new Pay Anywhere mobile point-of-sale acceptance service for smaller, service-oriented merchants by providing them with an affordable method to accept credit and debit cards, Marc Gardner, the independent sales organization’s president, tells ISO&Agent Weekly.
Pay Anywhere merchants only pay for the service when they use it, Gardner says.
“When I interviewed my service providers they said they didn’t want to pay monthly statement fees or gateway fees when they’re not in operation,” Gardner says. “They want a pay-as-you-go model.”
Pay Anywhere is designed to help specific types of merchants, such as plumbers, snow-removal service providers and landscapers, Gardner says. “You think about all of the businesses that operate around your personal household. None of them accept credit cards,” he says.
Pay Anywhere includes a free card reader and a free application for Apple Inc.’s iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad mobile devices. Versions for devices using Google Inc.’s Android operating system and Research In Motion Ltd.’s BlackBerry smartphones will be available soon, Gardner notes.
The ISO’s current merchants are among the first in which North American Bancard is marketing Pay Anywhere, Gardner says.
North American Bancard also focused its attention on transaction costs. Merchants pay 2.69% of each swiped sale and 3.49% for keyed-in transactions. They also pay 19 cents per transaction for both purchase types, according to the Troy, Mich.-based ISO.
By comparison, Square Inc. charges 2.75% of the sale for swiped transactions initiated with its mobile card-acceptance device and 3.5% for keyed-in transactions, and it applies an additional 15-cent fee for all transactions. Square offers a free card reader. VeriFone Systems Inc.’s PayWare Mobile service comes with various pricing models because multiple resellers sell it.
VeriFone’s suggested pricing plan is a $15 monthly gateway fee and a one-time $49 sign-up fee for merchants with existing accounts. Merchants also pay VeriFone 17 cents per PayWare Mobile transaction. Resellers, including acquirers, set their own rates, VeriFone says. The PayWare Mobile card reader sells for $149.95 on Apple’s website, but some resellers may provide one at no cost, VeriFone says.
Another Way
North American Bancard decided to develop its own mobile POS product to ensure the reader and the app carry the ISO’s brand, Gardner says, noting the company developed the application internally.
“We looked at the landscape of what was out there, and the more we studied it the more we realized this is just another device for us,” Gardner says. The end result is that it is another way to accept payments, he says.
The Pay Anywhere app also can generate transaction reports, such as the day’s top-selling products, the volume of sales by card brand and the number of voided transactions.
Adil Moussa, an analyst at Boston-based Aite Group LLC, tells ISO&Agent Weekly merchants on the go could find Pay Anywhere to their liking.
“The biggest motivator for merchants, besides having a mobile solution, is to have a free mobile” service, he says. “North American Bancard will have success with this product if they target their merchants correctly.”
North American Bancard’s first step probably will be to target existing merchants in its portfolio that need such a service, and then it should target merchants at large that sell in a mobile environment, Moussa says.
