Small business owners that don’t sell their goods or services online can now offer an online payment option to make payments much easier for their clients. In the small business environment, cash is not king – it can be a security or a business risk. This is why fintech startup Peach Payments, an online payment system that is being used by hundreds of online merchants in and beyond South Africa, recently introduced Peach PaySafe, a secure payment option for all businesses to collect invoice payments.
Co-founder of Peach Payments Rahul Jain says, “A high proportion of SMEs in SA and other emerging economies do not trade online. Their success depends on the personal contact and face time that they have with their customers. We saw the need to find an admin-easy, accurate and safe invoicing and online payment system for small businesses that do not operate online, which is PaySafe.”
PaySafe requires no integration with a website or application. You simply log in to the PaySafe portal and email or SMS your clients your invoice, and in turn, the client clicks and pays online. Users can currently pay with their card or bank account (EFT) in South Africa and additional payment methods will be added to the platform.
PaySafe is totally secure – the processing platform is certified according to the highest industry standards (PCI Level 1) and various fraud detection algorithms are enabled including 3DSecure authentication which requires a user to enter a one-time pin or secure password to approve every single card transaction.
Says Jain, “Peach PaySafe users range from freelancers, professionals, high-end tour operators, SMEs providing business services and even local taxi and helicopter operators. We are now adding more features like integrating PaySafe with accounting platforms like Xero and also allowing merchants to set an expiry time for requests. Our clients will further benefit not only from improved cash-flows but also reduced administration time and costs.”
Peach Payments itself began operating three years ago and has processed well over R1-billion in transactions. Since the launch of PaySafe into the SME market just three months ago, it has processed some R2-million in invoice payments.
“PaySafe will rapidly change the way businesses in South Africa issue an invoices and collect payments,” says Rahul.
“Despite there being many players in the payments space, the dire need for advanced payment platforms in developing countries presented us with a tremendous opportunity. Our solutions, including our core transaction processing and now PaySafe, address the pain points of traditional payment methods. They are geared to the realities of the African market. All our products are built for mobile interfaces to address the African customers who primarily access the internet on their mobile devices.”
Jain says that Peach Payments was also the first provider in South Africa to provide a working solution for subscription payments or recurring billing back in 2013. He adds that Peach Payments is now expanding into Kenya and Nigeria, with plans for other African countries.
Peach Payments is a gold member of AlphaCode, a Rand Merchant Investments (RMI) club for fintech startup entrepreneurs. RMI’s senior investment executive and head of AlphaCode, Dominique Collett, says: “Peach Payments is serving a huge emerging industry by optimising payment channels that allow customers to securely and seamlessly pay for goods and services.”
The organisation was recently judged as one of the top three payment gateways in South Africa in the Pricecheck e-commerce awards.
