PayPal Here: A New Mobile Payment Dongle

PayPal Here: A New Mobile Payment Dongle

Sunday, March 18, 2012 - by Ray Willington
Mobile payments -- or, at least the idea of mobile payments -- aren't new. In fact, America is one of the last nations to get onboard, despite having millions of smartphone owners. Square was first to jump on this bandwagon three or so years ago, providing smartphone owners with a free, small dongle that enabled a credit card swipe to be registered into a phone or iPad and processed; it made small business easy again. PayPal has been handling online payments, and obviously, it feels that there is room for one more player in the mobile payment industry. Thus, the company launched Here. PayPal Here is a new triangular dongle that effectively does the same thing as Square, but with slightly fewer fees and compatibility with Android right out of the gate.

It's launching in a few markets to start, including Canada, the U.S. and Hong Kong. Other nations are sure to follow. As with Square, PayPal will give away the hardware portion in exchange for your business, but unlike Square, PayPal Here is making a major push to get into retail outlets like Home Depot. Basically, PayPal's thinking of Here as more than just a small business tool; they want it to replace those typical swiper kiosks you see everywhere already. They're going for the full monty.


Will it work? Maybe. PayPal is a huge name, but not a well-respected one. The company is battered with wide-ranging gripes about business practices, stemming largely from complains that it freezes accounts at random and always backs buyers (and not sellers) regardless of the claims. But then again, no one really loves credit card processing companies.
Via: PayPal | News Archive | Tags: PayPal, payment, dongle, here
View forum thread
Comments
-1
 + -
By PCohen on Mar 18, 2012

Square has absolutely nothing to worry about, without its effectively mandated use on eBay, the clunky PreyPal could not hit the side of an old timber barn, let alone a modern B&M one.

Next time you drop into Home Depot, ask the check-out chick if anyone has yet used (the wholly eBay-funded roll out of) PreyPal to make a point-of-sale purchase. PreyPal at B&M Point-of-Sale is little more than an eBay Dept of Spin-created illusion and is undoubtedly a total waste of eBay shareholders’ funds. PayPal Here will likewise be another eBay lead balloon …

And, just for a laugh, a comment on “The New Way To Pay In-Store” via eBay's clunky faux "bank" PreyPal, and some other matters.

http://forums.auctionbytes.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=24611

eBay / PayPal / Donahoe: Dead Men Walking

0
 + -
By rapid1 on Mar 18, 2012

I don't know really. I use Square and have for a year and a few days now to accept payments. Yes; there is a percentage charge on each sale, but it is considerably less than say any general credit card reader would be. I can also use Paypal if I want as I have a bank account linked to there as well and I generally pay my rent through it every month for no charge. So I use both in general monthly although I use Square considerably more. As for paying in a store though that would be a no go for me.

The thing with Paypal specifically is that I have to be very careful how I make a payment through them or I will get charged a fee and it is not a light fee either compared for a single transaction.

I think if I was not able to see everything that was going through on a Paypal transaction though I would be uneasy to say the least.

0
 + -
By marEB on Mar 20, 2012

I really like PayAnywhere. I always receive my funds on time and I've never had any issues with them. They have a low rate, which is one of the main reasons I originally signed with them. They haven't let me down. Check them out: http://payanywhere.com/

Login or Register to Comment
Post a Comment
Username:   Password: