With contactless payments and mobile wallets becoming popular with consumers, PayPal is gearing up to push out its chip card reader dubbed PayPal Here in the United States.
Come Wednesday, Sept. 30, the PayPal Here Chip Card Reader will become available for businesses in the United States. The mobile card reader accepts not only the older magnetic stripe-based cards, but also the new EMV standard i.e., the chip-based credit and debit cards to which the United States is migrating to.
The PayPal Here Chip Card Reader also offers NFC support for multiple platforms and payments made through Android Pay, Samsung Pay and Apple Pay.
"The reader works on both iOS and Android platforms and accepts chip card transactions, magnetic stripe and contactless near field communication transactions including Apple Pay, Android Pay, Samsung Pay and any other NFC-enabled device or card," notes Brad Brodigan, PayPal's vice president and general manager of retail.
With the United States transitioning to the EMV standard on Oct. 1, several business owners will be required to update their payment hardware to offer support for the chip-based cards. The PayPal Here Chip Card Reader is the perfect solution for such businesses as it is not only affordable, but will also be multi-functional.
The device is already available in Australia and the UK and is ideal for small business enterprises who do not want to shell out thousands of dollars on payment hardware to accommodate EMV.
How does the PayPal Here card reader work?
- Business owner installs the PayPal Here app on their phone.
- App enables the owner to type the sale amount or select the product from their catalog.
- After selecting the item or specifying the amount, the owner can press the charge button.
- The available methods of payment will be displayed on the screen.
- Instructions on inserting or swiping the payment will also appear on the screen.
- EMV cards can be entered into the bottom of the reader.
The PayPal Here reader is priced at $149 and will go on sale from Sept. 30. However, the device can be had for $49 as PayPal is offering a $100 rebate for customers who are able to process $3000 in the first three months of activation.
For those wondering about the processing fee PayPal will charge - it is 2.7 percent, which is a tad less than the 2.75 percent cut rival Square keeps. In the long term, the PayPal Here reader could turn out to be more cost-effective when compared to Square's EMV card reader which costs $49.
