PayPal Adds Mercury Payment Systems' Local Clients to In-Store Push

Payment processor Mercury Payment Systems is collaborating with PayPal to allow Mercury's software developers, resellers and 80,000 mostly local merchant clients to accept PayPal payments in stores.

Mercury's network of more than 500 point of sale developers will receive a toolkit to upgrade their point of sale system to accept PayPal. Resellers will be trained and certified to bundle PayPal acceptance with existing merchant services.

eBay's PayPal unit has made in-store payments a major part of its strategy, fueled largely by a partnership with Discover it announced last year. PayPal is also working with private-label card and loyalty company Alliance Data. PayPal supports in-store payments through the use of a plastic card and through a software-based system that lets shoppers initiate payments by typing a phone number and PIN.

"By adding PayPal to our payment processing systems, and empowering our developer and reseller partners to offer PayPal to their merchant bases, we believe we have reached a tipping point for mobile and digital wallet payments," said Matt Taylor, Mercury's CEO, in an Aug. 20 press release.