In the past, businesses had to invest in costly EFTPOS terminals and card machines if they wanted to accept payments from customers. Now, with advances in technology, it’s possible to turn your mobile phone into an EFTPOS terminal and process payments without having to invest in expensive hardware. This can save businesses time and money while increasing convenience for their customers. With a few simple steps, you can simplify your business payments by turning your mobile phone into an EFTPOS terminal – no more queues or waiting for payment processing!
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Understand the benefits of using your mobile phone as an EFTPOS terminal
Using your mobile phone as an EFTPOS terminal can bring several benefits to your business. It eliminates the need for additional bulky hardware, meaning that it can easily be taken on the go and used for transactions at events or pop-up stores – in addition to its use at physical premises. Using your mobile phone as an EFTPOS terminal also means that you can accept payments faster, meaning less time spent waiting for customers to make their purchases. This can be done at any location in the store, rather than at a central front desk or checkout. This also allows staff to focus on customer service instead of cash handling and multiple customers, making transactions smoother and more efficient.
Finally, using your mobile as an EFTPOS terminal means that you have the potential to make your business more secure by reducing the possibility of fraudulent transactions.
Depending on your provider, you can ensure your customer's details are safe by allowing them to pay from the privacy of their own phone. In short, this is done by bringing up a new sale, presenting the generated QR code and allowing the customer to scan it with their phone camera. The payment page is now brought up on their phone and will allow them to pay with all major payment types including Apple Pay, Google Pay & China Union Pay.
We'll take a look into what providers allow you to do this in the next section.
Research your options to find the right provider for you
Surprisingly enough, accepting payments through your phone is a relatively new area in business payments. It's odd to think that whilst almost everything can be done on your phone these days, accepting business payments is in its infancy.
Below are Australia's top mobile payment acceptance apps.
Pebl
🖥 www.pebl.me
🌏 Sydney, Australia
Pros:
- Quick set-up (in as little as 5min)
- No extra devices are required - just you and your phone
- Free to download & get started
- Zero monthly fees
- All major payment types accepted including Apple Pay, Google Pay, Afterpay and PayID
- One, simple credit/debit card fee of 2.20% + $0.20 per transaction
- Affordable PayID transaction fee of $1.50 per transaction
- The customer does not need the Pebl app to pay
- Accept payment in person using QR codes, or remotely via payment link (shared via SMS, email, messenger, Whatsapp etc)
- Made for teams - add unlimited user phones with different user permissions to one business account at no extra cost.
- Transaction dashboard also available on your desktop
Cons:
- Slightly higher transaction fee than some other competitors.
- Cannot be used outside of Australia (for now).
- Invoicing requires a Xero account (other providers coming soon).
PayPal
🖥 www.paypal.com
🌏 San Jose, USA
PayPal has been around since the late 90s, and has since become one of the most popular digital payment providers in the world processing over USD 1.25 Trillion in 2021.
Pros:
- All major payment types accepted including Apple Pay, Google Pay
- No monthly fees or hidden costs
- Globally recognized
- Secure payments with fraud prevention measures
- Offers their own Buy Now Pay Later solution "Pay in 4"
Cons:
- Quite an expensive transaction fee of 2.60% + $0.30 per transaction
- Can be time-consuming to set up (requires extra documentation)
- Customers need the PayPal app to pay in person via QR code
- Does not support instant bank transfer payments via PayID
- No point-of-sale solutions offered
- Not ideal for teams. Each member will need the business account login details.
- 1% fee for instant payouts to a business's external financial institution.