For most small businesses, a mobile payment provider is essential so that you can take payments for products/services while on the go, or at an event. As part of launching my book; Think #Digital First, I had to think long and hard about how and what I would use to take payments while at trade shows or events, where I will be promoting my book.
Gone are the days of having to carry cash around with you, or being charged in a restaurant to use a virtual card payment device. We can now take payments from our smartphone device as long as we are connected to the internet.
Personally, I didn’t feel comfortable asking for a payment for my book using JUST my smartphone as a customer might not feel comfortable entering in their pin on my mobile phone. Because of this, I had to find a mobile card payment provider that would suit my needs.
As a professional speaker, I want to be able to take card payments from people who want to purchase my book after a seminar of mine. I needed something that was lightweight, easy to use and very secure. I knew what my specification was and did my due diligence based on this.
There are 100’s of virtual payment providers worldwide that all offer similar services, but there was only two options which stood out.
While their option requires both the use of their chip and pin device and mobile phone, I knew it was secure because paypal would not offer anything less than a trusted business payment solution. The one off cost of the device was £69.95 with a transaction fee of 2.75% which is standard. I chose not to go with PayPal because I wanted to have the payments sent directly to my credit card and the ability to refund if needed. PayPal do offer this functionality however it’s not free to use.
iZettle
When I first heard about iZettle 5 ago, it was the most innovative piece of mobile technology around and one of a kind. Since they partnered up with Santander in 2013, iZettle have gone from strength to strength in number of users and opportunity for small businesses. iZettle also requires the use of a mobile phone, but only to enter in the numeric value. The rest of the payment is taken through their device, which you can get for free and only have to pay a transaction cost of 1.5%-2.75%. If you want to “go pro” you can pay a one off fee of £49 for the more robust device.
It connects via bluetooth, processes payments in a matter of seconds and is a light-weight, easy to use device with the functionality to issue a refund free of charge.
As I mentioned, there were 100’s of other virtual payment devices including Payleven, SumUp and WorldPay that do the same job, but I decided to go with iZettle because they have built trust within the small business industry and I have seen how successful they have been in the last 5 years.
I am looking forward to using my iZettle device at my book launch on Tuesday. If you would like to pre-order your copy of Think #Digital First, you can do so here.
What virtual payment provider are you using for your business?