TPE Mobile: A payment solution that is growing and generating enthusiasm

For several years now, e-commerce and large sales platforms have led their users to get used to mass digitalization and dematerialized payment solutions.

This digitalization is progressing rapidly, it will not have taken long for banks to take inspiration from it and offer traders, craftsmen and other itinerant trades a new tool that is now indispensable, I called the mobile POS terminal, aka the terminal. mobile electronic payment.

Who is the Mobile TPE intended for, what are its advantages and disadvantages? These are all questions that we will answer in the rest of this article.

The consequences of the crisis and Covid-19

The aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic has had major consequences on the economy and trade.

This was particularly the case for many traders and artisans after the first confinement which took place in France in March 2020.

The aftermath has pushed many local players to digitalize their businesses, offer local services and abandon usual payment methods in favor of alternative and contactless payment methods.

The mobile TPE has therefore quickly attracted users from all walks of life, ranging from merchants to salespeople, artisans, micro-entrepreneurs and other itinerant professions.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of a Mobile TPE?

The advantages of a Mobile TPE are numerous, in particular the low cost of the subscription or even the free (cost of use + purchase of the reader) offered by certain formulas such as Up2Pay Mobile (which you can see here).

For other offers in general, the cost of a subscription, terminal rental included, will not cost you more than €20 monthly.

The collection of a payment will be subject to a fixed commission, in the same way as an ordinary TPE, of 1 to 2% (average generally observed on TPE Mobile offers in France) of the amount of the total transaction. Please note that there are offers offering a non-binding formula, which is financially less interesting from a pricing point of view, but will have the merit of being suitable for certain uses and specific needs.

Who is the mobile TPE intended for and how does it work?

The mobile TPE is intended for any professional wishing to be able to collect a payment mobilely, whether by bank card, mobile (NFC) or virtual wallet (PayPal, Paylib etc.).

It comes in the form of a compact box barely larger than a smartphone and the latter uses the shared mobile connection of your smartphone to communicate with your bank and validate payment transactions.

A Mobile TPE is generally managed and configured using an application that you install on your mobile or tablet. Its use is very simple and does not require any special installation.

POS application: a reliable alternative to the Mobile TPE?

Maybe you’ve already heard of it?

TPE applications to install on your mobile can indeed represent a good payment alternative, but be careful, the POS application has many disadvantages compared to traditional mobile TPEs.

A TPE Mobile application can be installed as simply as possible on your smartphone like any other application. It allows you to transform any smartphone running iOS or Android into a mobile payment terminal, however with the limitation of not being able to accept any payment other than contactless payment.

This type of application can, in addition, represent a backup solution for mobile TPE users or even test the concept of mobile payment before committing to a physical mobile TPE.