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Your local store might only need a smartphone to accept your payments. PayPal is rolling out tap to pay on Android for Venmo and Zettle businesses in the US. Shops can accept Apple Pay, Google Pay and other contactless services or cards, including digital wallets, without requiring a card reader. You might not have to bring out your wallet, in other words. Setup takes just minutes, PayPal claims.
Initial setup is free. Tap to pay will roll out to all Venmo businesses in the country over the “coming months,” PayPal says, but would-be clients can sign up for early access now. The approach is already available for all PayPal Zettle users in the US. The company adds that Tap to Pay on iPhone is now available for some American users, and should reach all of them “soon.”
The incentive for PayPal is clear. TechCrunch notes Venmo and Zettle take 2.29 percent plus nine cents for every transaction. If a store relies on either brand’s tap to pay for many of their sales, they stand to profit even if the customers themselves never use those services. You can already use Venmo as a customer in major stores like Starbucks — this theoretically gives PayPal more of a stake in the entire retail process.
As with Square, Apple’s Tap to Pay on iPhone and similar offerings, PayPal’s approach potentially makes contactless payment more accessible. It lowers the costs of entry, and lets small businesses take your preferred payment method wherever they happen to be, such as outdoors or at a convention. That, in turn, could reduce the need for cash and conventional credit or debit cards. It’s just a question of whether or not the tech and its costs gain enough traction among retailers.
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