Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
Paycast Inc., a payments provider for online merchants, e-commerce platforms, and marketplaces, is partnering with Marqeta Inc. and Mastercard Inc. to launch a digital card product for marketplace sellers. The card will enable marketplace sellers to have immediate access to funds from the proceeds of a sale once the transaction has been made, rather than waiting for the terms of the sale to be verified to do so.
Paycast enables marketplaces to hold funds in escrow between buyers and sellers until the conditions of sale have been verified.
Paycast will leverage Marqeta’s virtual card functionality, which will give Paycast clients the ability to participate in the authorization process, set rules that can support anti-fraud measures, and provide opportunities for loyalty and reward programs.
The Paycast Virtual Card will be a reloadable, multi-use, prepaid card issued by Transact Payments Ltd. The card will be available in early 2022 for marketplaces and sellers operating in the United Kingdom. Mastercard will enable the use of the virtual card on its network and collaborate with Paycast and Marqeta on customer-growth initiatives and marketing.
“In the past 12 months we’ve seen a significant growth in online marketplaces, yet at the same time there is a lack of payment options for acquirers, marketplaces, and their sellers,” Elle Kim, managing director at Paycast, says in a prepared statement. “Paycast aims to rectify that by bringing to market a new solution that will provide sellers with one single place to manage all their payments.”
Part of the appeal of virtual cards for merchants is that they can be instantly issued and presented for payment. They receive real-time transaction data that can be used to identify spending patterns. Another benefit is that virtual cards ease reconciliation and chargeback processes by allowing supplemental metadata to be added at the time of each transaction.
Ian Johnson, senior vice president and managing director at Marqeta Europe, says the company expects the Paycast virtual card to become an important new payment tool for online marketplaces.
