USBSwiper.com, which developed a card-swipe device for PayPal transactions, is on the hunt to expand its sales, Richard Freedkin, the company’s co-founder, tells PaymentsSource.
“We are trying to create an outside sales force to sell USBSwiper” to small to midsize merchants that use PayPal, Freedkin tells PaymentsSource. Currently, the Lake Zurich, Ill.-based company sells its reader and accompanying software through its website.
Many smaller merchants want the ability to accept PayPal transactions in physical locations, such as at book and craft fairs, he says, noting PayPal offers merchants simple rates.
Merchants with monthly sales volume of up to $3,000 pay 2.9% of the sale plus 30 cents, according to PayPal’s website. The percentage rate decreases as the monthly sales volume increases.
USBSwiper sells its device, which connects to a computer via a USB port, for $49.97, and merchants pay a $4.95 monthly fee plus 6 cents per transaction. USBSwiper’s software, which provides merchants the ability to create invoices and manage their PayPal accounts, retails for $297. Freedkin says these costs are competitive.
USBSwiper’s origins began with Freedkin’s own experience as a speaker selling his books following seminars on auctioning luxury homes. Using PayPal’s virtual terminal to key in one transaction at a time was tedious and caused customer lines to form, he says. Some became impatient and left, taking with them the $4,000 they would have paid for one of Freedkin’s books.
He resisted the idea of buying a wireless point-of-sale terminal and a traditional merchant account because of the cost. Instead, Freedkin in 2008 found Andrew Angell, who developed a card reader that worked with PayPal accounts.
Future product plans include a Web-based smartphone application and a card reader that can work with smartphones, Freedkin says.
