Mobile payments are increasing worldwide. They have been popular for the last few years in Africa and Asia, and have recently gained speed in the USA, Canada, and Europe. While the latter three have a lot of catching up to do to compete with the African and Asian payment percentages, it does bring good news to the processing industry. In the first quarter of 2015, mobile payments worldwide totaled 20.2% of all plastic card payments.
The apps that these payment portals work on are usually free for customers, so there is little that they have to do to use them. Access is easy, as well, thanks to a recent drop in smartphone costs. Younger and older customers alike are catching wave of the new technology, as are small business owners. Mobile apps are great for small businesses, small stores, and even food trucks, as they are operated from a phone or tablet, and require no desk or counterspace to operate. This is also why the technology is popular in developing countries, where many merchants cannot afford a shop to sell their goods in, or extra furniture to keep a terminal.
Even so, this technology could work for larger merchants. Square card readers are easily used, and signatures are placed right on the phone or tablet surface. Of course, with all great things there must be a downside. This downside comes in the form of the hulking “high risk” industry. If you are an existing high risk merchant, you know that finding any high risk merchant account was hard, let alone a new and upcoming technology processing account. And while the new technology is promising, it may not be the best thing for those under the high risk label. Many of these processors are not familiar with the issues that may arise (name chargebacks), and are quick to drop a company once they do.
You need to make sure that you have a good high risk merchant account with an experienced high risk merchant account provider, like EMB. Companies such as EMB can also provide you resources to accept mobile payments, all without the added risk of losing your account due to processing inexperience.