PayPoint

Infobox Company
company_name = PayPoint plc
company_
company_type = Public (lse|PAY)
foundation = 1996
location = Welwyn Garden City, UK
key_people = David Newlands, (Chairman)
Dominic Taylor, (CEO)
industry = Payment systems
products =
revenue = £212.1 million (2008)
operating_income = £29.2 million (2008)
net_income = £21.0 million (2008)
num_employees =
parent =
subsid =
homepage = [http://www.paypoint.com www.paypoint.com]
footnotes =

PayPoint plc (lse|PAY) is a leading British business offering a system for paying bills in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. The network is installed at over 19,000 Convenience stores and Petrol stations. Generally, payments are made in cash but other forms of payment such as credit/debit cards and cheques may be used dependent upon PayPoint and/or the retailer. The Company is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.

History

The PayPoint network was set-up in 1996 providing a convenient place for customers to pay towards a limited range of utility companies' payment schemes: it was first tested in Northern Ireland [http://www.paypoint.com/companyhistory.htm PayPoint: History] ] The Company launched its system to the media in 1997. In 1998 the system was first offered to British Gas customers wanting to pay their bills; in 2000 it was also offered to Vodafone customers and in 2001 it was extended to Scottish Power, Manweb and Orange customers. The Company was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2004. [ [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb6602/is_/ai_n26014447 PayPoint IPO fits the bill] ] The system was first extended to TV Licences in 2006.

Operations

There are now 19,000 retailers offering PayPoint. [http://www.paypoint.co.uk/whatcanipay.htm PayPoint: What can I pay?] ] Some retailers have integrated the PayPoint system into their own EPoS systems. However, the vast majority use a small counter-top terminal provided by PayPoint. The service offers customers the opportunity to top-up their mobile phones, pay for services such as gas, electricity and TV Licences at the same time as their shopping. This is extremely useful for those who do not have a bank account and may not even have a regular income as they can choose when and how much to pay. The customer does not pay a surcharge for using the service; the costs are recouped from the organisation whose bills they are paying.

Payments using PayPoint can be loosely grouped into two broad types:
*Those which either pay off an existing debt or add "credit" to an account
*Those which "charge" (in the same sense as one charges a battery) a "smart" token which then contains the credit.In the first category is the ability to pay Council Tax and traditional utility bills, possibly in irregular instalments which would not normally be accepted. More recently, PayPoint terminals have been able to offer E top-up including ezetop's international phone top-up remittance service, and print vouchers, for pay-as-you-go mobile phones, as well as the London congestion charge. The second category includes Quantum smart cards and similar electricity "smart keys" which are now widely used in place of coin-based electricity meters. [ [http://www.paypoint.com/energyandwater.htm PayPoint: Serving the energy & water sectors] ] The company has also branched out to provide retailers with a credit/debit card processing facility as well as in-store ATMs connected to the LINK network.

Rivals to PayPoint include the Post Office Ltd (in the UK), Payzone and An Post's PostPoint network (in Ireland) all of which offer similar services.

References

External links

* [http://www.paypoint.com Official site]
* [http://www.paypoint.ie PayPoint Ireland]