Here is a recent article about mobile payments being made with greater regularity:  http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2011/03/23/paypal-processing-more-than-6-billion-per-day-in-mobile-transactions.aspx?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter

One of the emerging trends which can help local small businesses gain more revenue is the ability to accept forms of payment which are:

• trusted by the customer
• easy for the customer
• are “synthetic currency” to the customer, therefore increasing the likelihood of a larger-than-normal purchase or willingness to accept additional up-sells at the time of purchase

An easy way in which a local small business, including everything from a local pizza restaurant to a local boutique clothing store to a local sports team, can increase its revenues is to accept PayPal.  This is especially true if the end customer tends to have a balance on PayPal, thereby increasing the likelihood of the money being spent.  This is because, at the time of purchase, the transaction is not being made either in cash or with a credit card; and this likens the transaction more toward how an adult views his/her balance in a casino with the chips.  At the time of the transaction, the customer may be willing to spend more because it is not something which seems to “feel like” real money is being spent.

Consider the following example if you owned a local pizza shop:

• Teenagers want to eat pizza.  This is about as obvious an example of a “hungry market” as I could select!
• Teenagers need money from Mom and Dad, so they ask for money to spend on a Friday night
• Mom and Dad don’t want their child wasting money or spending it on items which are deemed inappropriate
• Mom and Dad also wish to teach the teenager about spending habits, so they want to track where their “hard earned money” goes
• Mom and Dad put $25 on the teenager’s PayPal account so that Mom & Dad can track the spending
• Teenager has a Smart Phone or other mobile phone with internet capability
• Teenager goes with his/her friends to the pizza place which accepts the PayPal
• Teenager uses phone to buy pizza, via PayPal
• Teenager may buy an extra slice or a drink for his/her friend because the other friend doesn’t have money that particular Friday night
• Mom & Dad consider pizza purchases an “appropriate” purchase when tracking the spending

Obviously, the local business owner and management have to consider a few factors:

• Making sure that the business is comfortable with PayPal’s transaction rates & fees
• Making sure that the business is comfortable with PayPal’s chargeback rates, the overall terms & conditions, etc.
• Training staff to confirm that PayPal transaction, indeed, did put money in the business’ account
• Having a system in place to take PayPal transaction data to integrate into the business’ bookkeeping and accounting & tax systems

One extra benefit to this is that local nonprofit organizations can accept donations in the same way.  By accepting mobile phone donations on PayPal at the time the people are in a “giving mindset”, the organization can increase on-the-spot donations.  Assuming that prospective donors have a positive balance on their PayPal accounts, this should enable organizations to actually begin to get tangible results (in terms of donations) from all of the live events which they attend.  These could include Chamber of Commerce events, live events put on by the organization, booths set up at local fairs and festivals, etc.

Each business will have to weigh the pros and cons of whether or not to accept any form of digital currency & transaction services (PayPal included) in its business going forward.  To being the process of determining whether or not it makes sense for you then click the link below and then click the “Business” tab.  From there you can get information pricing, having a “virtual terminal”, and more:

• PayPal For Businesses and NonProfit Organizations