Pundits have predicted for months that cash acceptance will decline markedly as consumers rush into electronic payments. But sellers view cash as a less-expensive option for them, and some payments providers are looking to cater to that view. On Monday, VizyPay LLC said it is opening its cash-discount app to any merchant using a Clover point-of-sale device. Previously, the technology was restricted to Clover-equipped merchants using VizyPay for processing.
The technology, which was launched a year ago, saves merchants “a great deal of time” in their efforts to offset processing costs, VizyPay says, which has led to multiple requests to open it up for general use by Clover users. Clover devices are products of Fiserv Inc.
“The technology we are offering has never been available to merchants in this capacity before,” said Dang Saengchanpheng, VizyPay’s director of fintech development and data analytics, in a statement.
Indeed, the company received more than 500 inquiries from both merchants and rivals “asking when or if our app will be made public, [so] we decided to take the leap,” said Kyle McCann, director of business development at VizyPay, in a statement. The company said Monday merchants that have used the app and enrolled in the company’s cash-discount program have “offset” 94.15% of processing fees, as compared to costs with previous providers.
The app is free to merchants using VizyPay for acceptance. Now, with the public availability of the app, the fee to non-VizyPay merchants is $14.95 per month. The company’s cash-discount program costs anywhere from $25 to $100 per month, depending on the size of the merchant.
The wider availability of the app comes as 4-year-old VizyPay has been ramping up tech development. Early in April, the company launched VizyPOS, a free app for client merchants that can control such functions as cash discounting and real-time reporting on merchandise sales, in addition to payment acceptance. The app works with handheld point-of-sale devices from Pax Technology Inc.
Discounts for cash can now be deployed in 47 states, with a federal judge in February having struck down a cash-discount ban in Kansas. As things stand, only Colorado, Connecticut, and Massachusetts maintain outright cash-discount bans on their books.