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19Apr/12

Interview with Florian Swoboda of Online Cash Payment Startup Bar Zahlen

By Martin Schuppelius
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Florian Swoboda, co-founder of Zerebro Internet

Berlin-based startup online cash payments to Germany. Bar zahlen basically enables customers to pay for their online purchases at retail stores. We sat down with Florian Swoboda, co-founder of Zerebro Internet GmbH, the company behind Bar zahlen.

Payment Observer: Can you give us some background information on Zerebro Internet?

Florian Swoboda: Bar zahlen was founded by Achim Bönsch, Sebastian Seifert and myself, Florian Swoboda, in March 2011. Since then, our team has grown constantly and we have gathered a heavily IT-focused team of about 25 people around us in order to make online payments available for everyone – just like cash. The company is backed by renowned e-commerce investors and experts such as Florian Heinemann, Martin Sinner and Christian Weiss.

Payment Observer: Online cash payments – how does that work?

Florian Swoboda: The customer shops in an online shop of his choice. He selects Bar zahlen as the payment option. After completing the order, a PDF document with a bar code opens. The customer prints out this document and takes it to the next Bar zahlen partner store. There, the cashier scans the bar code and the customer pays his online order. The cash register system instantly sends the payment confirmation to the online shop which immediately sends out the product.

Bar zahlen's online cash payment solution

For users who do not own a printer, we also offer a mobile option that can be used with every phone and not only smartphones.

Payment Observer: How did you come up with the idea to start such a service?

Florian Swoboda: We simply saw a huge problem in e-commerce which is payment. Actually a third of all customers drop out of the order process when selecting the payment option. We were asking ourselves why payment has to be such a conversion killer and why the problem does not exist in stationary trade. So we figured: What’s missing online is the simplicity of cash. With 82% of transactions, cash is the most popular payment method in Germany. Cash is secure and accessible for everyone. You don’t have to register and you don’t have to reveal your financial data to a shop or to a third party payment provider where you can never really be sure how your data is stored.  People are experiencing the current online payment methods as being very complex and many customers are lacking a sense of security when providing their financial data online. That’s why we want to offer an easy and secure online payment option that is available for everyone.

Payment Observer: When are you planning to launch Bar zahlen?

Florian Swoboda: We will launch Bar zahlen in the third quarter of 2012.

Payment Observer: Can you already share with us who your retail partners are?

Florian Swoboda: I’d love to but unfortunately I can’t. What I can reveal is that we are cooperating with well known, nationally represented retail chains in order to provide convenience and a maximum of security to our customers. We will disclose the details right before our launch in the summer.

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4Apr/12

Focus on Alternative Payments: Bar Zahlen Offers Cash Payment for Online Shoppers

By Martin Schuppelius
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Need a cash or credit card processing solution for your business? Payment Observer has more details you can learn by visiting their website.

PayNearMe launched in the United States last year. PayNearMe enables customers to pay for e-commerce services at 7-Eleven stores, convenience stores that can be found everywhere. Most recently Berlin-based startup Bar zahlen announced to introduce the concept of online cash payments to Germany.

Cash as online payment method

Here’s how Bar zahlen works. Online shoppers can select cash payment in the checkout process when purchasing goods from a participating online retailer. Instead of providing payment details, customers have to print out a receipt with a barcode. Now the customer has to go to a retail partner where the barcode gets scanned and the customer can pay at the regular point-of-sale terminal. The payment does not necessary have to be made in cash. In fact, all payment methods supported by the retailer are accepted. The online merchant will instantly receive a confirmation after the payment is successfully completed.

Benefits: No payment details online 

Having the possibility to pay at local stores is certainly a interesting option for customers that do not want to share their payment details with an online merchant or do not thrust e-commerce payment solutions. The service is also an option for people that don’t have a bank account or a credit card. Teenagers for example can shop online or pay for online games with their pocket money.

In a nutshell

Bar zahlen can enable shoppers in Germany to pay for their online purchases at local retail stores. The service is a promising alternative for those who do not want or cannot use traditional online payment methods

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15Feb/12

Wirecard and Lekkerland Announce BarPay, Allow Cash Payments for Online Purchases

By Martin Schuppelius
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Lekkerland are expanding their strategic alliance and announce BarPay, a new e-commerce payment method in Germany.

In cooperation with Berlin-based EZV Gesellschaft für Zahlungssysteme, the companies have developed BarPay to allow cash payments for products ordered online. The new payment service enables customers in Germany to order goods or services on the Internet and to pay for them in cash at 18,000 petrol stations, shops and kiosks supplied by Lekkerland network in Germany. BarPay is designed for consumers that don’t have access to credit cards, don’t want to pay in advance, or don’t trust in online payment services such as PayPal.

According to Lekkerland the flexible opening hours of convenient stores and petrol stations make BarPay a user-friendly payment method. The company’s Executive Vice President Jonny Natelberg commented: “Our national infrastructure ensures that almost all consumers can reach one of our BarPay acceptance agents within a maximum of ten minutes.”

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1Feb/12

TrialPay Raises $40M in Funding

By Gary Merrett
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Payment Observer has details on multiple companies that provide funding, atm, and credit card processing services. Get more information and details here.

TrialPay has raised more than $40 million in its latest round of funding by Visa, Greylock Partners, and others. The company plans to use the fresh money to expand into new markets.

TrialPay provides an advertising platform that enables customers to pay for goods and services by completing an offer (trying or buying a product) from an advertiser. For example, online players can sign up for a DVD rental service to get virtual currency in return. Offer-based payment services are particular popular in social games as they help developers to monetize users which are not willing to pay for virtual currency.

Check out the video how see how TrialPay works:

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26Jan/12

Xsolla Partners with ZipZap for Cash Transactions

By Martin Schuppelius
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Xsolla, which specializes in online games, announced today that they have partnered with ZipZap, an alternative payments company that enables cash transactions for online purchases.

Xsolla offers a wide range of different payment options to gaming publishers across the globe, including credit cards, online banking, and mobile payments. Their new partner operates a global cash transaction network of over 700,000 payment centers, enabling consumers to use cash to make online purchases, pay bills and top-up e-Wallets, prepaid cards and mobile.

Adding ZipZap’s CashPay payment option to Xsolla will help publishers to expand their player base to teens and others who don’t have a credit card, or prefer to pay with cash. At big part of the gamer population, especially tweens and teens, do not have access to traditional financial services, but still want to be able to pay for virtual currency in their favorite games. Others prefer to pay with cash because they are concerned about credit card safety and privacy of their personal information.

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21Dec/11

Mopay Introduces Broadband Billing

By Martin Schuppelius
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Payment Observer has details on multiple companies that provide funding, atm, and credit card processing services. Get more information and details here.

Earlier today, mobile payment service provider mopay announced to extent its product range into broadband billing. The new billing method enables online merchants to charge purchases directly to consumers’ Internet service provider (ISP) accounts. The French cable companies Orange and SFR were among the first to offer mopay to their customers.

Mopay, part of the MindMatics group, provides mobile payment solutions for online merchants in more than 80 countries across the globe. Integrating a broadband billing service, the company now enables consumers to charge purchases through almost any communications account. To pay via the new billing method, consumers have to select their ISP and log into their existing account. The amount of the transaction will then be billed directly to the consumer’s ISP account.

Ingo Lippert, CEO of MindMatics AG, commented: “With the prevalence and surging growth of online purchases, merchants are looking for ways to offer to consumers the easiest possible check-out. At the same time, consumers are demanding purchasing options other than credit cards and standard wallets. At mopay, we are constantly looking for new payment methods that help meet the needs of both merchants and consumers. The very positive effect of adding mopay’s broadband billing solution to an existing mobile payments offer is just the latest example of our commitment to providing world-class service and products.”

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7Dec/11

Mobile Payment And Digital Wallet – The Future of Payments (Infographic)

By Gary Merrett
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Need a cash or credit card processing solution for your business? Payment Observer has more details you can learn by visiting their website.

With increasing availability of smartphones and mobile internet, new payment methods are emerging. Mobile payments and digital wallets are one of the hot topics these days. Will new payment methods replace cash and the traditional credit card payments?

Earlier today, Intuit published an infographic exploring new payment methods finding that over time online and mobile payments are expected to replace traditional credit card payments. According to Intuit, only one in four U.S. customer is willing to pay for goods and services using a mobile phone. The infographic reveals that security concerns are the main obstacle to mobile payment adoption.

click to enlarge

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2Dec/11

Dwolla Drops Fees For Transactions Under $10

By Martin Schuppelius
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Payment Observer has details on multiple companies that provide funding, atm, and credit card processing services. Get more information and details here.

Innovative online and mobile payments service Dwolla is dropping its fee for small transactions. Dwolla CEO Ben Milne has announced that all transactions less than $10 are now free. He also has announced major improvements for Dwolla to be presented on December 15, the company’s first anniversary.

Dwolla is a web based payment platform which allows users to send, receive, and request money from other users. For transactions above $10 Dwolla charges a flat fee of $0.25, unlike other e-payment services such as PayPal, Square or credit card companies that charge a percentage share of the transaction volume.

“Micro transactions have never had a payment platform that allowed them to be valuable. Our API now allows anyone selling goods for $1 to actually keep its $1. Money should not depreciate in value as it changes hands,” commented Ben Milne in a blog post.

Check out the video to see how Dwolla works:

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30Nov/11

Telefónica And RIM Announce NFC Payments Trial in Spain

By Martin Schuppelius
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Telefónica, one of the largest telecommunications companies worldwide, and Canadian-based handset manufacturer Research in Motion (RIM) have announced a trial program of the Telefónica Wallet for BlackBerry phones.

Telefónica will roll out its Wallet solution to 350 employees at its corporate campus in Madrid, Spain. Employees that are part of the pilot project will also be able to pay by tapping their smartphones against an NFC-reader. They can also use their BlackBerry phones to gain physical access to their offices. Partners participating in the pilot include local banks and retailers such as food stores and gas stations.

The service uses SIM card based Near Field Communication (NFC) technology, a solution that was recently they are also certified as MasterCard PayPass-approved devices) smartphones are supported.

The Telefónica wallet aims to replace the physical wallet in the future. Matthew Key, Chairman and CEO Telefonica Digital, commented: “We are getting ever closer to the point where our customers will be able to take the contents of their wallets and put them on their mobiles. Trials such as this are important to ensuring a great customer experience and we look forward to seeing the launch of commercial wallet services in several markets next year.”

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25Nov/11

Starbucks to Launch Mobile Payment App in UK

By Martin Schuppelius
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Starbucks for iPhone App in the UK in 2012. The app allows consumers to pay at Starbucks through their smartphone.

The company’s mobile payment service for smartphones is already available in the US since January 2011. After downloading the app onto their smartphone and linking it to a Starbucks Card account, customers can pay at Starbucks by turning their phones into a mobile wallet. The app generates a unique bar code that will be scanned by the cashier when purchasing. In addition to the mobile payment capability, the app allows customers to manage their Starbucks Card account, check their card balance and reload their account.

The mobile payment service is quite successful in the US, Starbucks has already processed more than 20 million mobile payment transactions since January 2011.

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