Amazon Launches Card Reader, Payment System To Compete With Square, PayPal

Amazon continued its push to appeal to small and medium businesses Wednesday with the launch of Amazon Local Register, a mobile point-of-sale service to challenge mobile payment companies like PayPal, Intuit and Square.

Amazon Local Register works similarly to Square – users must download an app and attach an Amazon-provided card reader to their iOS or Android smartphone or tablet, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Like other services, Amazon Local Register will charge users for each transaction. Users who sign up before October 31 will receive a rate of 1.75% on transactions until January 1, 2016.

Those who sign up after October 31 will be charged a transaction rate of 2.5%, slightly lower than the 2.75% per swipe charged on Square and the 2.7% charged by PayPal, The WSJ reports.

Unlike similar services, Amazon offers users of Local Register the option to have money from purchases deposited to a bank account after one day or use those funds to make purchases on Amazon.com. So, in a way it sounds like businesses could pay Amazon (in transaction fees) to get more money to spend on Amazon sold products.

The payment service app is available for free to download on Amazon’s Appstore, Apple App Store and Google Play, but users must pay $10 to receive the card reader either through Amazon.com or at Staple stores beginning August 19. However, the $10 card reader fee will be credited toward the first several transaction fees.

Amazon Unveils Mobile-Payment App and Card Reader [The Wall Street Journal]

by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist