Easypaisa has organized a two-day event at Ocean Mall and Dolmen City Mall Karachi to publicly launch NFC payments. Tagged with the mobile wallets, the Easypaisa NFC tags are stickers which are easily integrated with your account and help make payments simply by bringing them closer to the NFC enabled POS machines.
To test the whole experience we visited Easypaisa stall at Dolmen City Mall on Saturday and was greeted by the team. They explained the function of the tag and how it will enable the payments. They also offered flyers that listed various details, including discounts that can be availed at several known brands and restaurants.
The process was very simple, you need the following to enable NFC payments:
- Telenor Sim
- Easypaisa account
Since we already had both, the staff brought out one of the NFC tags, used their phone to activate a certain app and brought it close to the tag to register it in the app. A unique number appeared on the app screen below which the staff member added our Telenor sim number.
The NFC tag, a sticker, was then pasted on the back our mobile phone. Since Easypaisa account was tagged with the Telenor sim, the NFC tag was also connected to the account via Telenor sim.
Other services offered at the stall:
- If you don’t have Telenor sim, you can buy one on the spot and it will be biometrically verified as well.
- If you have both Telenor sim and Easypaisa account but not the balance, the staff will transfer funds to your account in exchange for cash.
- We are not sure if they offered on-spot opening and activation of Easypaisa account, but we are assuming something must be in offer by them.
There is also one promotional offer that will last till day end today:
- If you do shopping worth Rs. 1,000 using Easypaisa NFC, you will get 1 USB from the staff
- If you do shopping worth Rs. 2,000 with Easypaisa NFC, you will get 1 Powerbank from the staff
- If you do shopping worth Rs. 3,000 with Easypaisa NFC, you will get both items
Now that our tag was active, we decided to test it out. We went to Fatburger and bought a meal and Vanilla shake. The 25% discount was applied to our order due to NFC payment and the whole process went through smoothly.
- When the order was finalized, I offered to pay through Easypaisa NFC
- The discount was applied and NFC enabled POS machine was offered
- As soon as I brought my phone closer, the machine registered the tag and the staff entered the bill amount
- We received prompt on our Easypaisa account with bill amount and verification
- It required PIN number to complete the payment process
- A separate receipt was generated as payment confirmation and we also received an sms that would act as digital receipt as well
Easypaisa had partnered with Wemsol that provided the NFC enabled POS machines being used by the merchants.
Conclusion
Easypaisa NFC is a great initiative, bringing more variety in the digital payment eco-system that Easypaisa team has been trying hard for since past few years. The process of making payments is very effective and secure. The only downside is that you need Telenor sim with Easypaisa account and it cannot be used with the built-in NFC technology that some modern smartphones have. At the same time there is no Easypaisa app that could replicate the success that technologies like PayPal have done.
Still, the effectiveness of this process cannot be denied and it is good beginning for NFC-based payments in the payment industry of Pakistan.
If you have Telenor sim and already operate Easypaisa account, you should definitely get the NFC tag. If you don’t, it is about time you give it a try.
