The Green Sheet Online Edition
September 9, 2011 • 11:09:02
A gateway to profit
Nationwide Payment Solutions LLC recently launched RetailPAY, a hosted payment engine designed to integrate with software applications without requiring apps to store or transmit critical cardholder data. Banking on RetailPAY in the merchant sphere, NPS also offers a parallel version called MuniciPAY, which targets municipalities, utilities and educational institutions.
"RetailPAY is a payment gateway that can be plugged into other existing solutions, whether it's a software company, like a traditional retailer's POS system, or it could be an e-commerce type of shopping cart or some type of customized solution overall," stated Jamie Nonni, Chief Executive Officer of NPS.
According to Nonni, the goal in creating the new product was twofold. The first objective was to build a customizable platform for virtually any type of payment solution, thus expanding NPS' merchant services and processing capabilities as a Level 1 Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard-certified provider. The second was to partner with POS equipment providers seeking to add a secure payment component.
The current version processes credit card and check transactions, but future releases will include gift card processing, electronic check conversion, PIN-based debit and recurring billing. RetailPAY also processes automated clearing house transactions online or via POS terminals. "So it's not just an e-commerce product," he said. "RetailPAY works over the counter with a card reader or it can be integrated into the existing over-the-counter POS system."
Advanced features
Nonni pointed out that RetailPAY and MuniciPAY have advanced features that enable payment aggregation. "That's really where we started," he said. "We have a very large amount of government clients that have multiple merchant accounts that needed a single interface so that when the customer makes a payment, they make one payment, one time, one card swipe or key entered one time."
Aggregated payments can streamline retail payments as well. "Take a salon that might have seven merchants inside the salon," he said. "They can have each with their own login, but it all works through one PC."
Another example Nonni offered is auto dealers that have multiple departments. Using RetailPay, a dealership can have each department set up with a separate merchant account. Yet, when a customer purchases items from multiple departments, the customer only has to pay with one card swipe.
Enhanced data collection is another programmable feature. "For example, if a POS company wants to collect a person's phone number or an additional piece of data, we allow an unlimited amount of enhanced data to be collected in the shopping cart, and the POS company can get that back through that channel," Nonni said. "So they don't have to program that in themselves. We can do that for them."
Curb appeal
Merchants pay a setup fee and monthly gateway fee for RetailPAY. "However, our biggest gain, because we're a payment processor, is that we don't have to rely upon those revenues, because we're getting it from the credit card processing," Nonni noted. "We don't charge any per transaction surcharge, no e-commerce per item fees, so that's a big gain."
When POS companies partner with NPS, fees are waived. "If they're going to give us five accounts per month, we won't bill any gateway fees associated with that because we are gaining merchant processing business," he said. "Whether they're an agent or a salesperson or anybody that can bring in that business, this solution is a good solution for somebody looking to transition away from terminals. ... It's also a good solution for someone who deals with POS relationships or cash register type relationships and is looking to integrate more depth in the relationship."
Beyond being co-brandable, the benefit of RetailPay to the merchant level salesperson channel "is once they're integrated, these people are never going anywhere," Nonni said.
Nationwide Payment Solutions LLC
877-290-1975, ext. 5509
www.retailpay.com
Whether you want to upgrade your POS offerings, find a payment gateway partner, bone up on fintech regs or PCI requirements, find an upcoming trade show, read about faster payments, or discover the latest innovations in merchant acquiring, The Green Sheet is the resource for you. Since 1983, we've helped empower and connect payments professionals, starting with the merchant level salespeople who bring tailored payment acceptance and digital commerce tools, along with a host of other business services to merchants across the globe. The Green Sheet Inc. is also a proud affiliate of Bankcard Life, a premier community that provides industry-leading training and resources for payment professionals.
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