Yandex.Money’s Mobile POS Hits the Market

April 22, 2014

Yandex.Money has started selling special readers that enable merchants to accept any Visa or MasterCard.

The reader is a device the size of a matchbox, which plugs into the headphone jack of a smartphone or tablet. The device is compatible with most smartphones by Apple, Samsung, HTC, LG, Sony, and other manufacturers. The company 2can is Yandex.Money’s technical partner for the project. To start accepting payments, users need to download the free 2can for Yandex.Money app on Google Play or the App Store. Another app—from the company LifePay—will soon be made available for the Yandex.Money reader. Shortly after ordering a reader on the Yandex.Money website, a merchant can start accepting payments.

The mobile POS terminal meets the needs of both commercial organizations as well as private crowdfunders. Companies can receive payments to their bank account after signing a contract with Yandex.Money. Charities can accept donations to their e-wallets (to do this, they need to complete the identification process). The payment recipient is charged a fixed commission of 2.75% on payments processed through the mobile terminal. The payer receives an electronic receipt via email or SMS confirming the payment.

”Until now Yandex.Money mobile terminals were in ‘pilot’ mode,“ said Oleg Nikitin, who spearheaded the project. ”We made changes, added new features, and now it’s time to put the product on the market. We expect the terminals to be popular among food carts, taxi drivers, insurance agents and, of course, delivery companies. It’s also a great solution for charity bazaars and other markets.“

Readers will officially go on sale this week at the 2014 Russian Internet Forum. At the conference, the readers will be available for free to visitors of Yandex.Money’s stand.