PCR Tech and IT retail, distribution and vendor news
The Paypal Adaptive Payment API will now allow web developers the ability to process PayPal methods without forcing users in creating or using a PayPal account.
Guest Payments, as it’s called, permits e-commerce operators to process credit card payments directly. Instead the web site will be able to collect financial data, such as credit card number, and bill through PayPal rather than redirecting the customer via PayPal to complete their purchase.
“Guest Payments allows developers to collect credit card payments without requiring their customers to open a PayPal account, eliminating the complications merchants, developers and startups face in accepting credit cards,” said PayPal’s Naveed Anwar.
The move follows declarations from the major credit card companies, Visa and MasterCard, of their intention to enter the Internet payment arena and effectively compete with PayPal. In the face of oncoming competition, by dropping the registration requirement PayPal has fired the first shot by signalling a willingness to further enhance the mainstream appeal of the online payment system.
For its part, Visa just days earlier announced an online payment system in Australia called PayClick. Aimed at the family market, on a pre-charge non-credit basis, Visa’s denied the service amounted to a trial run. However analysts have suggested that PayClick is most likely a pilot program for an eventual worldwide roll-out.
