Pros & Cons
-
- Cheap, reliable credit card reader.
- Solid app.
- Test Drive preview mode.
-
- Unattractive, awkward dongle.
- Inconvenient setup for individual sellers.
- Modern features reserved for more-expensive devices.
Add cash registers to the list of tech being swallowed by mobile devices. Now that your cell phone is essentially a computer (and a pretty powerful one, at that), it's possible to do things in the palm of your hand that once required full-sized computers. If you're a small business, one of those things is accepting credit card payments. Using PayAnywhere, businesses and individuals can easily accept payments from most major credit and debit cards with just a dongle and a mobile device. PayAnywhere's service works well enough, but unless you spring for pricier hardware, it doesn't offer some of the most useful features of devices such as Square, PCMag's Editors' Choice for mobile credit card readers.
Setup and Getting Started
To use PayAnywhere, you need two things: a PayAnywhere account and a credit card reader, which PayAnywhere ships you for free when you set up an account. Both are simple for businesses to get, though registering for an account online or over the phone requires a fair amount of personal or business information, such as your social security number. That's standard for this type of service.
However, the process is more protracted for individual sellers without established business credentials. I was initially rejected several times while trying to create a test account, an annoyance I didn't encounter with Square. The app includes a Test Drive mode that lets anyone immediately preview PayAnywhere's functions, but actually getting paid requires some patience.
The reader itself is a black semicircle with a lip that limits its range of movement. It's certainly slimmer than previous bulky PayAnywhere phone cases, but still not as attractive as Square's device. On a phone with a headphone jack positioned in the center, like the Moto X ($99.99 at Amazon) I used for testing, PayAnywhere adds unwanted asymmetry. But, honestly I was thankful the device works with a broad range of iOS and Android phones and tablets, since older PayAnywhere readers were much more limited in terms of compatibility.
Selling and Getting Paid
Once you've got everything installed and running, using the system is easy. You enter a total, or create an itemized list of charges, and then proceed to checkout. The cart total shows up, including tax, on a screen that you can customize with your company's information and logo. Then you're prompted to hand the device to the customer, who is walked through adding an optional tip. They give it back to you, and you swipe their card or key the number in. Then you give it back, and they sign with their finger and enter an email address or phone number for the receipt. You can also accept cash and split payments. PayAnywhere does a good job of guiding you through the process.
PayAnywhere's app also includes other standard, merchant-friendly features. You can review recent transactions and sales trends on the app or online, set defaults for tax and tip, add discounts, and create a list of items you sell (including express items) to make itemizing receipts even faster and more useful. You can also link your bank account to PayAnywhere, and whatever money you make will be sent to your account within three business days of the transaction.
Similar Products
Our Current Picks for The Best Credit Card Readers of 2016
The only cost associated with PayAnywhere comes when you actually make a sale. The account and reader are both free, and there are no monthly fees. When you make a transaction, PayAnywhere takes a small percentage of the transaction plus a small fixed fee: 2.69 percent plus $0.19 for swiped cards, or 3.49 percent plus $0.19 if you type the card number manually. (The fee hike is because keyed-in cards are inherently less secure, since you're not swiping an actual card.) Those fees mean if you're collecting a few dollars at a time, you'll feel a hit, but they aren't much different than those charged by credit card companies, PayPal, or PayAnywhere's competitors like Square and QuickBooks GoPayment. QuickBooks also offers cheaper rates for subscribers. Keep in mind that none of these readers accepts payments under $1. And if you're an individual looking to exchange money with friends, not as a business, Venmo (Free at Apple.com) is the app you want.
If all you want to do is swipe credit and debit cards, PayAnywhere covers all your needs. But the number of new payment options is increasing, leaving businesses reliant on cash registers and basic card readers at a growing disadvantage. Unlike Square, the off-the-self PayAnywhere reader I tested doesn't support EMV chips, which will soon be the new credit card security standard. It also doesn't feature NFC technology (the system that powers services like Apple Pay and Android Pay) like the PayPal Chip Card Reader. PayAnywhere LLC recently released a slate of new hardware, from bulkier dongles to full-on independent payment terminals, that include some or all of this missing functionality. But those devices are pricier and more difficult for individual sellers to acquire.
Anywhere You Want It
PayAnywhere is a good option for accepting mobile payments on a variety of mobile devices. It reads cards reliably and has an app that works as intuitively as anyone else's, as long as your account gets approved, which can be unfortunately require more work than it should. It's not as sleek or attractive as Square, though, and the pricing doesn't scale as well as QuickBooks' offering. And if you really want to future-proof your business, you'll want the extra hardware features of PayAnywhere's premium devices, or PCMag's Editors' Choice for mobile credit card readers, Square.