TechCentralTechCentral
    Facebook Twitter YouTube LinkedIn
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube
    TechCentralTechCentral
    NEWSLETTER
    • News

      Fixing SA’s power crisis is not complex: it simply takes the will to do better

      12 August 2022

      Consortium makes unsolicited bid for state’s 40% stake in Telkom

      12 August 2022

      Actually, solar users should pay more to access the grid – here’s why

      12 August 2022

      Telkom says MTN talks remain on track

      12 August 2022

      Analysis | Rain muddies the waters with approach to Telkom

      11 August 2022
    • World

      Tencent woes mount, even after $560-billion selloff

      12 August 2022

      Huawei just booked its first sales rise since US blacklisting

      12 August 2022

      Apple remains upbeat about iPhone sales even as Android world suffers

      12 August 2022

      Ether at two-month high as upgrade to blockchain passes major test

      12 August 2022

      Gaming industry’s fortunes fade as pandemic ends

      11 August 2022
    • In-depth

      African unicorn Flutterwave battles fires on multiple fronts

      11 August 2022

      The length of Earth’s days has been increasing – and no one knows why

      7 August 2022

      As Facebook fades, the Mad Men of advertising stage a comeback

      2 August 2022

      Crypto breaks the rules. That’s the point

      27 July 2022

      E-mail scams are getting chillingly personal

      17 July 2022
    • Podcasts

      Qush on infosec: why prevention is always better than cure

      11 August 2022

      e4’s Adri Führi on encouraging more women into tech careers

      10 August 2022

      How South Africa can woo more women into tech

      4 August 2022

      Book and check-in via WhatsApp? FlySafair is on it

      28 July 2022

      Interview: Why Dell’s next-gen PowerEdge servers change the game

      28 July 2022
    • Opinion

      No reason South Africa should have a shortage of electricity: Ramaphosa

      11 July 2022

      Ntshavheni’s bias against the private sector

      8 July 2022

      South Africa can no longer rely on Eskom alone

      4 July 2022

      Has South Africa’s advertising industry lost its way?

      21 June 2022

      Rob Lith: What Icasa’s spectrum auction means for SA companies

      13 June 2022
    • Company Hubs
      • 1-grid
      • Altron Document Solutions
      • Amplitude
      • Atvance Intellect
      • Axiz
      • BOATech
      • CallMiner
      • Digital Generation
      • E4
      • ESET
      • Euphoria Telecom
      • IBM
      • Kyocera Document Solutions
      • Microsoft
      • Nutanix
      • One Trust
      • Pinnacle
      • Skybox Security
      • SkyWire
      • Tarsus on Demand
      • Videri Digital
      • Zendesk
    • Sections
      • Banking
      • Broadcasting and Media
      • Cloud computing
      • Consumer electronics
      • Cryptocurrencies
      • Education and skills
      • Energy
      • Fintech
      • Information security
      • Internet and connectivity
      • Internet of Things
      • Investment
      • IT services
      • Motoring and transport
      • Public sector
      • Science
      • Social media
      • Talent and leadership
      • Telecoms
    • Advertise
    TechCentralTechCentral
    Home»News»CheqOut promises to shake up SA payments

    CheqOut promises to shake up SA payments

    News By Editor27 March 2012
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email
    Bradley Elliott

    South Africans using Apple and Google Android-based smartphones can look forward to being able to accept credit- and cheque-card payments using their mobile phones from early next month, thanks to a Cape Town-based start-up that is launching a new service called CheqOut next month.

    CheqOut founder Bradley Elliott says the service will also support BlackBerry devices in coming months. The service is aimed mainly at small businesses with low turnover that can’t justify the cost of a dedicated card machine for accepting payments. It’s similar, in a way, to the popular Square solution available in the US.

    Those wishing to use the service will receive a card reader for free, with CheqOut recouping the money from the fees it levies on transactions. Though the fee structure has already been finalised, Elliott says this won’t be made public until the official launch in early April.

    The CheqOut readers analyse the magnetic stripe on credit cards and cheque cards. Chip-and-PIN technology is not yet supported.

    “Chip readers present a number of problems,” Elliott explains. “They’re only available for Apple products, they’re quite expensive — which drives up operating costs and, in turn, fees – and you have to pay a licensing fee to Apple to use those readers.”

    However, CheqOut is in talks with a supplier about the possibility of introducing chip readers in future.

    According to Elliott, the service works like an online payment system, except users swipe a card instead of entering the card number and other information. The transaction still goes through the bank. “It’s an online payment, but through a mobile interface,” he explains.

    Elliott says he doesn’t expect resistance from local banks and that if there is any pushback it’s likely to come from card companies. “They might look at it as us taking clients [from them], but we look at it as a value-add in the retail chain.”

    He says CheqOut is ideal for merchants who don’t want or can’t justify the cost of a credit-card machine. “We are opening up card companies’ services to new markets,” he adds.

    CheqOut uses what Elliott calls a secure three-layer security system and although it is possible to do a card-less transaction by inputting the necessary information manually, this should only be done in instances where a card is damaged or fails for a similar reason. Customers will still be required to sign on-screen to “protect the merchant”.

    Elliott is a director at digital marking company Platinum Seed and although CheqOut is a separate company, Platinum Seed has provided the first round of funding for the venture.

    Though there are plans to take the service into the rest of Africa and possibly into other emerging markets, Elliott says CheqOut wants to focus on SA for now and realises there are specific obstacles in each country that make roll-out challenging.

    CheqOut is meant for a wide range of users, from small business owners with low turnover to open-air markets to formal-sector taxi drivers.

    The application uses HTML, which is wrapped in a proprietary interface and Elliott says this is one of the reasons the app won’t be launched on BlackBerry devices at first.
    “We wanted to have first-mover market by being first to market and we could do that with the high-quality iOS and Android products. We know that BlackBerry is still hugely popular in SA and we intend to cater for that market, but getting to market quickly was most important.”

    Elliott says CheqOut is not a payment gateway, in part because of the amount of regulation that entails. “We would like to become one in time to reduce the fees, but doing that comes with server infrastructure costs in addition to the legislation and regulation surrounding it.”

    Regarding the as-yet-undisclosed fees structure, Elliott says there is “no sliding scale, only a flat rate”.

    “We’ve done the maths and if you turn over R30 000/month through a card machine, you’re paying around R900/month for the machine, fees of R200 and a rate of around 5,2% per swipe,” he says. “The fees to us will effectively be around R900 on R30 000, which gives you an idea of the rate we’re looking at.”

    Although anyone can sign up for the service, and can receive cash payments in much the same way one can with Square in the US, CheqOut users will only get a reader if they enable card payments on the app. Interested parties can sign up at www.cheqout.co.za before the launch.  — Craig Wilson, TechCentral

    • Subscribe to our free daily newsletter
    • Follow us on Twitter or on Google+ or on Facebook
    • Visit our sister website, SportsCentral (still in beta)
    Bradley Elliott CheqOut Square
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email
    Previous ArticleSkyeVine finds unusual places for satellite broadband
    Next Article Alan’s next chapter

    Related Posts

    Fixing SA’s power crisis is not complex: it simply takes the will to do better

    12 August 2022

    Consortium makes unsolicited bid for state’s 40% stake in Telkom

    12 August 2022

    Actually, solar users should pay more to access the grid – here’s why

    12 August 2022
    Add A Comment

    Comments are closed.

    Promoted

    Get your brand in front of TechCentral’s amazing audience

    12 August 2022

    Pricing Beyond CMYK: printers answer the FAQs

    11 August 2022

    How secure is your cloud?

    10 August 2022
    Opinion

    No reason South Africa should have a shortage of electricity: Ramaphosa

    11 July 2022

    Ntshavheni’s bias against the private sector

    8 July 2022

    South Africa can no longer rely on Eskom alone

    4 July 2022

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    © 2009 - 2022 NewsCentral Media

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.