Merchants in the UK, Sweden and the Netherlands can now accept contactless payments on a standard Android NFC smartphone or other mobile device using a software point of sale (sPOS) solution being rolled out by PayPal.

To use Tap to Pay with Zettle, merchants download PayPal’s Zettle Go application on their Android device and sign up for the service through the app or directly from a PayPal business account.

They can then begin accepting contactless payments made with a physical credit or debit card or via a mobile wallet.

Once a payment is approved, the merchant can opt to print, email or text a receipt to the customer.

“With Tap to Pay, individual sellers and small businesses can start accepting contactless payments within minutes of signing up,” PayPal says.

“Sellers will be able to accept contactless payment via physical cards and digital wallets  — like Apple Pay and Google Pay — on smartphones and connected watches, directly on their Android mobile device.

“Leveraging near-field communication (NFC), Tap to Pay enables smartphones and tablets to serve as payment terminals by securely capturing card details through a contactless ‘tap’ on the back of the device and through direct communication with card payment processing rails.

“The solution works on devices with Android 8.0 and NFC capabilities.”

A short video shows how the solution works.

Following the rollout in the UK, Sweden and the Netherlands, PayPal says it plans to launch the solution in other markets “in the near future”.

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