iZettle — what you might call the ‘Square of Europe’ given it’s also a dongle-based mobile payment service for small merchants — will now launch a new Chip & Pin device alongside its existing solution that currently uses a customer’s signature to interact with the iZettle app. It will also now accept all major cards, including Visa.
Until now iZettle has been unable to allow Visa transactions (there was a workaround but it was too complex), meaning many vendors were put off from using the payment dongle. The Chip & PIN reader will be available in Sweden, Norway, United Kingdom, Finland, Germany and Spain. The move comes amid rumours tha PayPal may be making a move into this space in the near future.
iZettle also announced a partnership with Banco Santander, one of the world’s largest banks – this will give them distribution across major European markets
The new Bluetooth Chip & PIN version is also far more convenient, allowing a device (iOS or Android smartphone or tablet) to sit on a counter while the transaction is made, effectively replace some Point Of Sale applications.
Jacob de Geer, co-founder and CEO of iZettle, said the Chip & PIN reader is designed for small and medium-sized businesses that take frequent transitions, more than the signature-based version which is aimed at micro businesses.
Whereas the signature version comes free, the new Chip & PIN reader will be retailed at €49. iZettle competitor Payleven recently announced a Chip & PIN version a few weeks ago, also at €49, though it has yet to go on sale.
With iZettle, merchants pay no subscription, set-up fee, monthly or minimum fee, and only pay 2.75 percent of each transaction amount. This model was pioneered by Square in the U.S., which has said it has plans to launch in Europe.