In partnership with Intuit, Verizon Wireless introduced a mobile payment solution for small and medium businesses called GoPayment on Thursday. GoPayment will provide customers with a small credit card reader and a mobile application that allows businesses to charge credit cards using a smartphone or tablet. Here’s how it works: a business simply needs to plug the card reader into the 3.5mm audio jack of a tablet or smartphone. Cards can then be swiped and payments are processed immediately. Verizon Wireless says the credit card reader and application are supported on Android, iOS and BlackBerry. The GoPayment credit card reader is free with a GoPayment account and after a $29.97 mail-in rebate. Intuit takes a 2.7% cut of swiped transactions on free GoPayment accounts but customers who sign up for a $12.95 monthly option can pay a lower 1.7% per-transaction rate. Read on for the full press release.
YOUR SMARTPHONE OR TABLET NOW TAKES PLASTIC: VERIZON WIRELESS AND INTUIT TEAM UP TO OFFER GOPAYMENT; MOBILE CREDIT CARD PROCESSING FOR SMALL BUSINESSES
Intuit GoPayment App and Credit Card Reader Now Available at Verizon Wireless Stores
BASKING RIDGE, N.J. & MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – Verizon Wireless and Intuit Inc. (Nasdaq: INTU) today announced a strategic alliance to give all small businesses – from the sole proprietor to a medium-sized business – the ability to process creditcard payments on smartphones and tablets. The companies are now offering Intuit’s GoPayment app and pocket-sized credit card reader in Verizon Wireless’ 2,300 retail stores and business-to-business sales channels.GoPayment makes it easier and more affordable for small businesses to process credit cards and for anyone who sells products or services to accept credit card payments wirelessly. The card reader simply plugs into the audio jack of a supported smartphone or tablet. Credit and debit cards can be swiped through the card reader or entered into the app manually. The transaction is processed immediately and funds are automatically deposited into a user’s bank account within a few business days. GoPayment supports devices on Android™, BlackBerry® and iOS platforms for most popular 3G and 4G LTE smartphones and tablets.
“Intuit’s GoPayment on America’s most reliable network is a mobile transaction game changer, and brings another dimension of must-have technology to the small business community,” said Mike Schaefer, executive director of the Business Solutions Group for Verizon Wireless. “Payments and transactions are often the biggest hurdle businesses face. Our value proposition is to streamline, simplify and enable business owners to get paid with minimal delay. This collaboration with Intuit is an important part of our strategy to bring the most innovative online and mobile tools to ourcustomers.”
“Rather than lose out on potential business, anyone who sells a product or service can now easily and affordably give their customers the option of paying with plastic,” said Chris Hylen, general manager of Intuit’s PaymentSolutions division. “GoPayment is meeting a huge need and is one of the fastest growing mobile payment solutions in the market. With Verizon Wireless, we’ll help even more people discover that they too can process credit card payments on the phones or tablets they already own.”
To save time when processing payments, GoPayment offers the ability to create and sell from a list of frequently sold items. Depending on the types of goods and services sold, users can choose to apply sales tax, add tips and send customized receipts via text message and email with a map of where the transaction took place. To protect data, sensitive credit card information is never stored on the phone. The data is also encrypted – once via the card reader and a second time via the GoPayment app.
For the more than four million small businesses that use QuickBooks®, GoPaymentcan also sync transactions with recent versions of QuickBooks – PC, Mac and soon QuickBooks Online – to save time by reducing manual data entry. GoPayment also supports up to 50 users on one account, which is ideal for businesses with multiple employees who work in the field.
Pricing
VerizonWireless customers can get the GoPayment credit card reader free with activation of a GoPayment account and a mail-in rebate for the $29.97 purchase price. The GoPayment mobile payment app is free and the basic service has no monthly, transaction or cancellation fees, and offers a competitive 2.7 percent discount rate for swiped transactions.
A paid version of GoPayment is also available for $12.95 a month and provides a low discount rate of 1.7 percent for swiped transactions. Intuit is offering Verizon Wireless customers two months of free service when they select this monthly paid plan.
Customers who purchase a smartphone for their GoPayment use will need to subscribe to a Verizon Wireless Nationwide Talk plan beginning at $39.99 for monthly access. Tablet and smartphone users require a data package starting at $30 monthly access for 2 GB of data.
For additional information, please visit http://www.verizonwireless.com/gopayment or gopayment.com/verizon.
