Amazon is shutting down its point-of-sale payments service, Amazon Register, according to an update on the company’s website. The service will no longer accept new customers, and existing merchants will only be able to use Amazon Register until February 1, 2016.
A spokesperson for Amazon confirmed to Coins2Day that Register would be shut down, effective early 2016.
Last August, Amazon debuted Register, a card reader and mobile app that can be used by businesses to process credit card transactions through mobile devices. It competes directly with Silicon Valley IPO hopeful Square, as well as PayPal Here, a mobile payments service from payments giant PayPal. At the time of launch, Amazon promised merchants lower card processing fees than other competitors.
Rumors has been swirling for years that Amazon was working on a mobile payments service that would compete directly with Square and PayPal Here. It made sense for Amazon to move beyond only powering online transactions, into in-store purchases. Amazon has already built an online wallet, Amazon Payments, to power transactions, though it’s not clear how it has fared.
But lower fees couldn’t replace Square’s four-year head start on Amazon. The company likely struggled to gain widespread usage of Amazon Register among small businesses, a segment Square has long dominated. Square says it has millions of merchants using its service, and processed $23.8 billion in payments in 2014.
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