Discover: More than 50 Merchant Acquirers on Board for PayPal POS Acceptance (May 2, 2013)
Discover has signed deals with more than 50 merchant acquirers in the run-up toward implementing in-store acceptance of PayPal via Discover’s payment network. The agreements—which cover acquirers, including Heartland Payment Systems, TSYS and Vantiv—will enable PayPal acceptance at more than 2 million merchants by the end of this year, according to Discover.
PayPal announced its plan to expand in-store POS acceptance through Discover’s network in August 2012, marking perhaps the most significant step in the online payment service’s steady push into brick-and-mortar retail. The company has also inked deals with more than 20 retailers—including Home Depot—to enable customers to make in-store purchases using their PayPal accounts.
“With Discover’s help we are poised to grow from the 250,000 retailers who accept PayPal in store today to more than 2 million by the end of 2013,” said Don Kingsborough, vice president of retail services, PayPal. “[W]e will continue to collaborate with Discover’s acquirer partners to support the growing needs of their merchants.”
Additional acquirers who have reached agreements to accept PayPal through Discover include WorldPay, Global Payments and First American Payments. First Data thus far has not signed on for PayPal acceptance, but talks are ongoing, Discover says. “We are still negotiating with First Data and believe we can come to a mutually beneficial resolution,” a Discover spokesperson tells Paybefore. “We expect First Data will want their merchants to reap the same benefits that many of their competitors already enjoy.”
On the merchant side, Walmart reportedly has opted out of the program. The retail giant is part of the consortium working to develop an in-store mobile payment system dubbed Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX). Walmart spokesperson Randy Hargrove confirmed that Walmart does not accept PayPal in-store. “The added complexity at the point of sale does not justify acceptance of PayPal, which simply aggregates tenders already accepted at Walmart,” he said.
