PayPal Here is now available to all businesses in the UK.
We’ve been waiting for PayPal’s Chip and PIN solution for small and medium-sized businesses for ages and at last you can buy it for £99 and start accepting PayPal in any place in the country (assuming of course that you can actually get a mobile phone signal).
The British-designed chip and PIN reader is aimed specifically at businesses that have traditionally relied on cash or cheques – such as cafes, market stall owners, taxi drivers and tradesman. PayPal say that it is a game changer for SMBs, enabling businesses an affordable, easy to use and secure way to accept credit and debit cards or PayPal Check in, meaning businesses don’t have to turn away customers who don’t have enough cash on them or want to pay by card.
PayPal Hereis easy to set up. The first step is to download the free PayPal Here app (available on Android or iPhone), then order the card reader through the app and connect it to a smartphone via Bluetooth – that’s it – businesses can be ready to accept payments straight away.
Whether the business user is a plumber, delivering food, personal trainer or market trader – they are now able to offer customers the flexibility to pay by card anywhere they are trading. PayPal Here also allows businesses to log cash and cheques and send electronic receipts and invoices. Customers can also pay using PayPal Check in, using the PayPal consumer app, on their mobile phones.
Costs
The PayPal Here Chip and PIN card reader is subject to a one-off payment of £99 (including VAT and free delivery) and then a 2.75% transaction fee for every payment accepted with Chip and PIN cards and/or PayPal Check in. A transaction fee of 3.40% plus 20 pence is charged for card payments made by swiping the magnetic stripe or manually keying in the card details. These fees are domestic transactions only, additional charges apply for cross border transactions.
Consumers say “Yes” to plastic
Surprisingly from PayPal, their latest research suggests that we might not be ready for mobile wallets. Their research shows that 72% of people are likely to pay a smaller business with card if card payments are offered and 61% of adults in Britain would prefer paying by card, rather than cash, for amounts lower than £50. The top reasons given for preferring to pay with card among adults in Great Britain who would prefer to pay with debit, credit or pre-paid card are: ease of use (33%), that they always carry a card with them (32%), it is more convenient (31%) and that it is safer to pay with card (29%).
Of course the great thing about PayPal Here is that you’re giving the option for those with a PayPal account to pay with PayPal Check in, and for those without they can continue to use their trusty plastic as they’ve always done.
If you sell at trade shows or market stalls, accepting plastic might get you those higher value sales from customers wanting to purchase but without a cheque book in their pocket or large amounts of cash in their pockets.
12 Responses
Interesting. Previously you needed a PayPal Pro account to accept cards by keying-in the details. It seems that now you do not?
Have tried Intuit pay & its brilliant only cost £29 for the unit & no monthly fees & you only pay 2.75% & no 20p fees.YOu can take payment over the phone as well (no need to enter address of the customer as paypal virtual terminal )
I have used paypal to take card payment before but find it very difficult & expensive
I am not working for Intuit but its my suggestion as i have tried Virtual terminal & intuit pay
Dont really see how this is remotely a good thing for business.
High street and non high street card providers charge about 1% at most for card transactions as a fee, how is paying three times the amount beneficial in any way to a business?
My understanding is that this device is only for a situation where the customer is physically present and has a card that can be used at the same time.
It is not designed for telephone or web sales where both the customer and their card are not physically present as well.
Fees are high as ever but this is an excellent option if you feel you are losing sales through inability to offer card payment.
There is no indication of whether you need a Paypal Pro account in the FAQ section so will need to call their helpline to check I’m afraid.
I was really looking forward to getting one of these, but I opted for WorldPay Zinc instead. It’s almost the same but you get a screen on the device to show the customer what they’re about to pay. It’s only £60 to buy from WorldPay or John Lewis. And you’ve got a choice of plans.
Pay as you go @ 2.75% per transaction
Pay monthly @ £5.99 per month then 1.95% per transactions
All you can eat @ £12.99 fee with no fees.
You do need to apply for an account but that only takes a few days, and you can also take payments over the phone using their online system if you need to.
Obvliously it doesn’t have the benefits of the PayPal account stuff such as 2hr payment to your bank. You have to wait 4 days. But overall, I’m really happy with it.
Compared to my current chip & pin card terminal provider this is a good deal. Payment charge percentage not too different, lack of other fees very much appreciated on this.
When current contract ends will certainly be looking to switch.
I got a Payleven Chip & Pin reader from the apple store. Its been perfect for me and the app is really easy to use. Also, they had UK customer service for when I was getting started.
I went with them because Apple did and I guess they had their reasons.
I would recommend http://www.payleven.co.uk