Can Free win the payment match?

Mobile TPEs have greatly reduced the price of payment equipment for merchants. Equipped with a Bluetooth connection, rid of their integrated printer, here they are much more accessible. No more devices costing nearly 300 euros, make way for small readers between 20 and 70 euros. It includes SumUp, Zettle, Square, Smile&Pay, MyPos and now Stancer, the new baby of Free and the Iliad group.

The format is very practical, but now the commissions are still quite high. For a trader who would carry out ten transactions per day of about forty euros, the cost of the commissions will return to him around 35 euros per week. Most fintechs specializing in mobile TPEs set their commissions between 1.6 and 1.8% per payment. Everyone except Stancer. Free wanted to do as in telecoms, by cutting prices.

“It is estimated that on a collection of 30 euros, the merchant saves around 50%”, said Stancer at its launch last month. Really ?

The Stancer payment offer

The new fintech of Xavier Niel, the boss of Free, took several years to develop. The Iliad group wanted to launch its new baby after a while in order to use its tools internally before deploying everywhere. Thanks to this, Stancer already claims to process 6 million subscription transactions per month and 200,000 payments per day. For its launch last month, Stancer rolled out an offering of mobile POS (physical payment) and online payment. Other services will follow. Fintech is already announcing split payment and scoring.

Physical payment takes the form of an offer comprising a Verifone V240m mobile TPE delivered ready to use and equipped with Wifi and 3G connection. It is linked to the Stancer interface which includes several statistical tools to be able to take a look at the history of sales and different transactions. To motivate companies and associations, Stancer says that it only takes 5 minutes to register and the payment terminal will be sent to you within 72 hours. A breakdown assistance guarantee is included. The commission rates are different between payments in the EEA zone and those outside the EEA zone, we will come back to this below in our comparison of prices against the competition.

🔥 Stancer x @Verifone

Accept card payments in-store and everywhere else with the mobile payment terminal @Verifone.
It’s simple, secure and without obligation.

👉 Available now: https://t.co/Ah06xDF2Bk pic.twitter.com/XEZyeT6tb0

— Stancer (@wearestancer) October 4, 2022

For online payments, Stancer offers an interface and APIs to integrate its payment system on professional e-commerce sites. This is a CMS module, but also a redirect page so that customers can make their purchase directly on a Stancer interface. Fintech also offers payment links that the merchant can send to the customer by email or SMS to collect remotely. “You can personalize the payment experience in your colors and your image in order to integrate it as well as possible into the universe of your merchant site”can we read on the site.

Comparison SumUp vs Zettle vs Stancer

Stancer’s offer is pretty clear, as are its pricing. That said, there are several terms to consider. Depending on the volume of transactions you register, and the amount of each, you will not pay in the same way. Note, first of all, that Stancer’s TPE is free, but for smaller businesses, a monthly subscription is charged. Before going into detail, here is a small summary of prices and a comparison between Stancer and its competitors.

Stancer and competitor pricing

• TPE Stancer : Free* + 0.7% + €0.7** fixed
• TPE SumUp Air : €39 + 1.75%
• Zettle Reader 2: €19 + 1.75%
• TPE Square Reader : €19 + 1.65%
• TPE Smile&Pay Mini: €49 + 1.65% (or 0.65% and €35/month)
• TPE Yavin Mini : subscription €9/month + 0.6%
• TPE MyPos Go : €29 + 1.69% + €0.05

*The Stancer payment terminal is free, but only if the customer realizes more than 150 transactions per month. Otherwise, he will have to pay a subscription of 15 € per month. This therefore penalizes a little the smallest, who carry out less than 8 transactions per day. We are thinking in particular of second-hand goods dealers, craftsmen in the markets. With the subscription, the price of the TPE Stancer is similar to that of Yavin and its Mini offer at 9 euros per month and 0.6% commission per transaction, except that Yavin requires another payment terminal. payment elsewhere. Those offered by Yavin start at 279 euros.

** The flat fee of €0.7 per transaction only applies for payments over 7 euros. For any transaction of a lower amount, the only commission is 0.7% of the payment amount. Good point from Stancer.

Summary of prices at Stancer

• Online payment via API : 0.7% + €0.15
• Online payment via SEPA direct debit : 0.4% + €0.10
• Payment via mobile TPE : 0.7% + €0.07 (free if transaction of -€7)

As you will have understood, compared to its competitors, Stancer offers a more à la carte offer, depending on each profile. Most competitors charge the same amount for every customer, regardless of size. It should also be noted that the rates outside the EEA (European Economic Area) zone are higher on the Stancer mobile TPE: 2.5% commission and €0.12 fixed fee per transaction.

Should I pass my payments on Stancer?

In the end, if you make more than 150 transactions per month, Stancer’s offer is really attractive compared to the competition. For the others, it will also remain so, but it will be necessary to take into account the 15 euros of monthly fees for the subscription to the mobile TPE. We greatly appreciate the fact that the device has a 3G connection for this price, where competitors such as SumUp, Square and Zettle have only equipped their device with a Bluetooth connection. It is therefore mandatory to have a connected telephone nearby. The advantage of Zettle (PayPal), SumUp and Square, however, lies in their much broader offer. If your business is growing, these fintechs have the tools to help you.

The Zettle Reader 2, PayPal’s mobile TPE © Zettle

At the competition, prefer offers with a monthly payment if you plan to record a large number of monthly transactions. Otherwise, it is better to prefer the slightly higher commissions to pay only once the fixed cost of the device. If you are looking for another competing Stancer mobile TPE operating in 3G, we advise you to look at Smile&Pay. Zettle, for its part, has the advantage of being PayPal’s payment fintech. So if you already use PayPal services for an online store, for example, it could be interesting to group everything on a single platform and opt for a Zettle mobile TPE.

Discover Zettle

The SumUp Air © SumUp