PayPal Launches PayPal Here to Ignite Commerce Revolution For Small Businesses and Entrepreneurs Across The Asia Pacific Region

PayPal Enables Millions of Small Businesses Across Asia Pacific To Accept Credit and Debit Cards and PayPal Payments Through a Smartphone

Asia Pacific, March 16, 2012 – PayPal today announced PayPal Here™, a global mobile solution that allows small businesses to accept multiple forms of payments using a free mobile app and a fully-encrypted thumb-sized card reader. PayPal Here enables anyone with an iPhone or Android smartphone to accept credit and debit cards and PayPal payments on-the-go, while being paid instantly into their PayPal account.

For more than 13 years, PayPal has enabled millions of small businesses and entrepreneurs in 30 markets in Asia Pacific to grow by helping them to be paid more quickly and more securely across multiple sales channels – online, mobile and now offline with PayPal Here. Small businesses form the economic backbone of the Asia Pacific market with over 150 million small-and-medium sized businesses (SMBs) accounting for over 90% of all businesses and nearly 70% of employment across the region.“PayPal is transforming the US$1.3 trillion SMB retail market across the Asia Pacific region by enabling millions of small businesses to accept card and PayPal payments on a smartphone anytime, anywhere to grow their sales. We’re delighted to be the first in Asia Pacific to offer this innovative mobile solution with the widest choice of payment options to support the growth of small businesses in the region,” said Rupert Keeley, senior vice president, PayPal Asia Pacific.

No matter how consumers choose to pay, PayPal Here makes it easy, so small businesses don’t have to worry about missing a sales opportunity ever again. Merchants no longer have to go through an often very challenging and time-consuming process to get a merchant account to collect card payments. Instead, they can open a PayPal account, download the PayPal Here merchant app on a smartphone and order the PayPal Here card reader to start accepting payments faster than ever before.

Merchants can accept payments by swiping cards in the card reader, scanning cards using their phone cameras, manually entering card information into the app, and of course, receive PayPal payments. They can also send an invoice and set payment terms directly from the app. The card reader encrypts card information as it swipes and is backed by PayPal’s world class security and fraud prevention capabilities, as well as 24x7 live customer support.

Mobile Technology Ushers in the New Era of the Entrepreneur
The Asia Pacific market has some of the highest smartphone adoption rates in the world, with 137 million smartphones shipped across the region in 2011 . With a smartphone and PayPal Here, it’s never been easier to start up a business today and easily accept multiple forms of payments.

Keeley added, “PayPal is going to change the way millions of merchants and consumers connect with each other in the Asia Pacific region. With PayPal Here, smartphones will become the new retail points of presence for small and micro-businesses across the region. We’re excited to empower any Asian to be an entrepreneur – the possibilities are limitless with a smartphone and PayPal Here.”

PayPal also released the latest version of its PayPal Mobile app for iPhone today, a consumer app that complements PayPal Here. PayPal users will be able to use the “Local” feature on the PayPal app to find nearby businesses that accept PayPal Here. Once that customer is ready to pay, she can notify the merchant by a quick tap on her mobile phone. Merchants can use PayPal Here to accept the payment by simply referencing the shopper’s name and picture – no wallet needed.

Availability and Pricing
The PayPal Here card reader and merchant app for iPhone are both available today exclusively for select merchants in Australia and Hong Kong with more Asian markets in the near future. It will be generally available in multiple Asian markets soon. The Android version of the PayPal Here merchant app will be available at that time. For more info or sign up to receive the free mobile app and pre-order the free card reader, Australian businesses can go to www.paypal.com.au/here and Hong Kong businesses can go to www.paypal.com.hk/here.

There are no account setup or monthly fees for PayPal Here and the card reader is free for the first six months. Merchant rates are competitively priced for card swipes and PayPal payments at 2.4% + AUD0.30 in Australia and 3.9% + HKD2.35 in Hong Kong.

The updated PayPal app for iPhone is available in the Apple Store globally starting today.