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A NEW APP available now in Ireland will allow companies to do businesses anywhere they go with the ability to process card payments on their mobile phone.
MobileMerchant enables small businesses to accept payments using a Bluetooth Chip and PIN reader that connects to the App to process the payment using a Blackberry or Android smartphone or tablet.
The app has been launched in Ireland by Elavon, a global payment solutions provider and is aimed at smaller companies who need to be able to process payments on the move.
Businesses simply download the App and enter account configuration credential provided by Elavon.
Elavon said the product provides full security and support for Chip and PIN cards, magnetic stripe cards and card-not-present transactions.
Cardholder data is securely captured and encripted using the PIN pad to ensure that no information is captured and stored by the smartphone.
A receipt is then sent to the customer by email or text message and businesses can access and monitor transaction data online.
Deirdre Keogh of The Beauty Spot in Aughrim, Co Wicklow, was among the first to use the product and said the app will open up new opportunities for her.
“As a beautician, I don’t want to be tied to my salon,” she said. ”Elavon has provided me with a payment solution that I can take with me to my customers’ homes, to wedding parties or other out of salon events.”
The app is free and can be downloaded here.
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Michelle….looking cracking as always!!!
Ah roll on the cash free society and the NWO agenda
What chip and pin technology has to do with the “New World Order” is beyond me….Out of curiousity do you barter in carrots and wheat when you go to your local shop for 2 litres of milk?
A cashless society would not be good for us. Not too sure about nwo though. A cashless society will result in more charges for us, more profits for the banks.
I’ll try and explain what I mean. Now if you take out €200, you will get one charge for that transaction. And when you spend the cash in a shop you won’t get any more transaction charges. In a cashless society every time you use the service to buy something, even the smallest of things, you will incur a service charge. Thus more charges for us and more profits for the banks and service companies.
my credit card does not charge me for making transactions.
If it’s beyond you then you’re not sure looking hard enough. Not saying it’ll happen, but the potential is obvious.
There is also an Irish producer of similar tech. Think they are called sumup
Will banks make money on every digital transaction?
Yes, I think the one i mentioned charges 2.5% but i don’t know how much is for the bank.
So they get paid double from both the customer and the buisness.
Mmmmmmmmm..chips.
daddy or chips?
Businesses really have no excuse not to accept card payments at this stage, yet many in Ireland are still cash only. The minimum spend in many convenience stores is another annoying one.
I spent 3 weeks in the USA during the summer and didn’t need to withdraw cash at any point. That’s the way it should be.
As an added bonus, there’s no chip and pin in the USA so transactions are far quicker (you don’t even have to sign for transactions under $10 in most places).
I think they had avert good excuse until recently. The cost was prohibitive, you required a phone line, the machine had a monthly rent and commission on top. For many small business’ it was simply too expensive.
“Businesses really have no excuse not to accept card payments at this stage”
Well if you were running a business and felt that charges on credit card transactions of up to 3.75% is okay, then I guess you are right.
Personally as a small business owner I think it’s a total rip-off and hate it when customers want to pay with credit card. Margins are small enough as it is.
You also have to add the monthly merchant service fees and payment gateway fees to the individual transaction charges. Prior to this it was in no was cheap to accept credit card payments. Elavons new offering seems very reasonable from what I can make out there is a once off 25 euro merchant account fee then 10 euro a month account fee. There does not appear to be any transaction fees. Wondering how it can be PCI compliant though, most phones can do screen shots and surely these can catch the customers card information.
@Gareth
Trust me, there will extra fees. Visa and mastercard will also want their cut. This is normally done at the merchant account lvl.
Payment processor : As you say a low monthly charge.
But you also need a Bank merchant account and that wont go away any time soon.This is where the % starts kicking in sadly.
Over here the transactions are really fast with chip and pin. The readers are always customer facing so you can enter your pin while the cashier is totting up the total, then just confirm it when it appears on the card reader. I timed it, before because it seemed so fast. Typically buying a single item takes no longer than 15 seconds. Any more than that and it’s the cashier you’re waiting on, not the transaction.
Thats a huge step forward for card transactions however the recent massive bank charge hike with every online transaction costing spender an additional 20c is going to drive this technology backwards.
Well if we were in a resource based economy we wouldn’t need money just get what you need when you need it for free.
Must try running that past the barman (I jest of course)
Since when is Bluetooth secure?
Good point. It isn’t. XD
This is a serious move. When they change they way we pay for goods and services, enabling the bankers to have complete control over every financial transaction where they have a record, we are in serious trouble.
Most people dont see this yet but mark my words.
The sole power to create and destroy this digital credit, where we the people have to do physical work in order to “earn” and are by law only permitted to deal in this digital money, will enslave us to no end.
Im not into wacky theories, but I can see this coming.
I cannot stress how important this is. Forget corrupt politicians working hand in hand with bondholders/bankers to screw us. This is scary stuff.
I think it will increase cash flow for my business. I run a grounds maintenance company, traditionally people paid with cheques but many people prefer to use credit cards for security. It also means we can issue an invoice and be paid same day. fantastic! reality is most sme’s have to wait up to 90 days to get paid.
I’d really be interested in this but very surprised its not available on the iPhone. There are similar apps but they just use card details and don’t use chip and pin which is more secure.
There would probably be some security issues regarding the use of Bluetooth to pay for a transaction and also what about fraud . Another problem would be the range that Bluetooth can operate in
Many thanks with regard to revealing an exceptionally very helpful and also informative weblog.Nimble Messages
I have been following Square. A US mobile card reader. They have a sleeker system. They are the largest mobile payment solution in the states. They now process over $8 billion in payment per year. I expect it will come to Ireland and the UK in the future as Richard Branson has put some investment in it. It’s great to see technologies like this in Ireland, pity it looks like every other card reader from the 90s . Also no mention of this device working with iOS which could be a draw back for some.
have your say