Square Inc. has shut out independent sales organizations as distributors of its mobile card reader. Now one ISO has gone on the offensive by offering its own.
PowerPay LLC this week announced AppCharge, which transforms any iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and many Android phones into card-acceptance devices.
It launched the reader to compete against Square and other providers that sell mobile card readers directly to merchants, Erin Grass, marketing manager, said in an email. The app is free, and sales agents determine the price of the physical reader, Grass said. Sales agents also set their own discount rates for card transactions, she said.
"Third-party … models may not work for all merchants," she wrote. "You're getting a traditional merchant account with AppCharge."
Moreover, other providers may set higher discount rates than those PowerPay's agents set, Grass said. "Sales agents take into account the merchant's volume, average ticket and overall processing needs to come up with a pricing plan that is a fit for that particular merchant," she said.
Square's discount rate is 2.75% of the sale. Intuit Inc.'s basic GoPayment mobile-reader service has no monthly transaction fees, and the rate for swiped transactions is 2.7%. Intuit also has a monthly payment option that costs $12.95 a month, with swiped transactions at 1.6%. VeriFone Systems Inc.'s Sail reader comes with a flat 2.7% rate, but merchants with more than $1,300 in monthly sales can pay $9.95 per month to receive a reduced rate of 1.95%.
PowerPay is supporting its reader with 24/7 technical service, which it says will help merchants process payments immediately at trade shows, at home or anywhere else they may conduct business, according to a June 18 news release.
AppCharge features touchpad signature, which enables cardholders to sign for purchases on the merchant's mobile device. Merchants using the device may email receipts to their customers, and they can keep a complete inventory for itemized receipts, the release says.
AppCharge does not support PIN-debit payments, nor does it support contactless or QR code transactions, Grass said. "It may in the future if the market dictates it," she said.
Grass declined to comment on whether the AppCharge reader is PCI-compliant, and she declined to project 2012 sales or transaction volumes.
AppCharge represents one of many examples of companies that are giving traditional sales channels answers to
"We'll continue to see products like this and see the traditional sales channels looking for answers to the mobile space," he says.
Among the other ISOs similarly offering mobile readers to customers include Toronto-based Collective Point of Sale Solutions Ltd., an ISO with more than 10,000 merchants. It began distributing the
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