PayPal Expands Mobile Card Acceptance in Japan

PayPal and SoftBank Mobile are extending the PayPal Here mobile card reader to more than 2,700 SoftBank retail shops and small business sales networks across Japan.

PayPal Here allows mobile payment services for mostly smaller businesses by attaching a small card reader to a smartphone. SoftBank Mobile is a subsidiary of SoftBank, a Japanese telecom and Internet company, which sells broadband, fixed line telecommunications, electronic commerce, broad media and financial services.

There’s no monthly fee for PayPal Here, though there is a transaction fee.

“Although the transaction fee cost is 5% of sales, the amount of lost business by not offering credit card acceptance is higher", said Daisuke Tanaka, CEO of Uniginal Ltd., managing company of Milton Coffee Roastery, in a press release.

The expansion in Japan adds a handful of new options for merchants. A new Android app is now available—making mobile card acceptance available on both iOS and Android devices. Also, compact mobile printers via Bluetooth will be available to allow merchants to print out receipts.

Through a partnership with SoftBank Technology, merchants will be provided with Mobile Perfect SP, which will help merchants with multiple PayPal Here devices to track and report sales.

PayPal Here has already launched in Canada, Hong Kong, Australia, Europe and the U.S., where it competes with services offered by Square, Intuit and Fiserv. PayPal, which did not immediately answer queries, recently announced the addition of chip and PIN capabilities to Here for UK merchants.