Most of us use a credit card now and then when buying goods or services from a merchant.
But what about a consumer-to-consumer transaction? I'm guessing that most of us have yet to purchase or lease a credit card reader, prompting payment by cash, check, PayPal (if available), etc.
The current issue of Fortune magazine has an article on Jack Dorsey (of Twitter fame), who has developed a small rectangular card swiper that will plug into the audio jack of a mobile device. You'll find the article here, with additional reading here and here, and a video story here.
I think the world is passing me by. Thank goodness I have young, tech-savvy, children who can help me survive.
I saw something about this yesterday, on Clark Howard's show on HLN. He said it would be good for consumers because it would create competition with banks.
Posted by: Kelly Anders | February 07, 2011 at 05:03 PM
I don't think this is competition with banks, Kelly. This is actually working for them. Do you really think VISA, MasterCard, Discover and AmEx will let private consumers use these cards without taking their small fees off the top? They already do that with any business that takes cards.
Posted by: Joseph | February 07, 2011 at 08:34 PM