It was a pretty sweet day when shoppers could use their credit cards to make online purchases, having no more to be relegated to ordering and signing cheques. Since that magical time, sites have become more sophisticated in their payment methods. PayPal and Square are two of the best-known examples, but RepricerExpress takes a look at Amazon Pay to see what advantages lie with using that.
PayPal: The Original Player in the Game
While the site layout won’t be winning any prizes anytime soon for aesthetic beauty, the simplicity of it far overtakes that. PayPal is ridiculously easy to use on both the desktop and mobile versions and now that it’s synced with eBay, usage has only gotten easier.
And while PayPal may seem like it doesn’t present many choices, it’s actually got a really decent diversity in usage. You, as the online seller, can choose between Standard, Advanced or Pro shopping options and don’t have to pay a setup or cancellation fee. The first option (Standard) won’t cost you anything each month, but you will see monthly fees for the Advanced and Pro choices.
Amazon Pay: Getting on the Bandwagon
It seemed like a long time in the making, but Amazon has had its own complex online payment system with three separate options for quite some time: Checkout by Amazon, Checkout by Amazon Mobile and Amazon Simple Pay. Amazon Pay seems like a new service because they didn’t really talk about it too much until recently, but it’s actually been around since 2007.
Unlike the first three options, Amazon Pay lets independent store owners link up with Amazon so buyers can use their stored credit card information to shop at places other than Amazon. The biggest benefit to you is not having to set up your own payment system, while the drawback is Amazon owns the data you’ve carefully built up with your clients. And make no mistake: Amazon will use this information to more efficiently cater to this newfound demographic. Ask yourself if the tradeoff of simplicity versus data is worth it; for some merchants, it absolutely will be.
Amazon Local Register: A New Alternative
Most merchants have heard of Square, that neat little device you attach to smartphones and tablets to accept credit cards as payment. You pay 2.75% per swipe (3.5% for manual entry) with major credit cards accepted (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover), and you’re essentially turning a phone or tablet into a portable credit card/debit card terminal.
Amazon Local Register is pretty much just like that, with a little black device that attaches to phones and tablets to act as a credit card/debit card terminal. What’s different, though, is the fees you pay. Instead of 2.75% per swipe as with Square, you’ll only be paying that figure if you manually enter in the credit card number. The rest of the time, it’s 2.5% per swipe — and if you were one of the lucky ones to have signed up before 31 October of last year, then you’re locked into a special rate of just 1.75% until the end of 2015.
Oh, and the ‘purchase’ structure is a little different, too. Services like Square will give you the card reader for free right off the bat and with no hidden rules, while Amazon will make you jump through a couple of hoops. The Amazon Local Register card reader is essentially free at the end of the day, but you first have to pay $10 for it, rack up $10 in transaction fees, and watch as Amazon will credit that $10 back in your account. It’s a bit convoluted but appears as though Amazon just wants to make doubly sure you’ll be using their card reader and not another’s.
Final Thoughts
It’s a neat system, even if Amazon was lagging a little bit when it comes to ground-breaking technology. But where Amazon falls behind a bit they make up for with incentives, like lower fees, a faster bank deposit time and a sturdier device that doesn’t swivel as much as other ones.
And while Amazon Local Register is taking care of the hardware, let RepricerExpress take care of the repricing software. When you sign up for your 15-day free trial, you’re adding another brick to what’s becoming a very solid foundation to your online business.
