“We believe anyone, holding any device, should be able to make a payment in Seconds”

The mobile payment landscape is becoming more complex and confusing each day, with various apps and hardware requirements obstructing consumers’ ability to simply make a payment with their mobile device.  For Seconds, my startup, this growing problem presented an opportunity to build out a payment solution allowing anyone with a mobile device to actually complete a payment.

Today, Seconds is announcing the release of our new payment system, which enables any device holder to send or accept payments, whether through the web, mobile web or a quick text message.

“Shouldn’t all mobile devices be able to make a payment?   “We believe the payment experience should be as quick, simple and intuitive as sending a text message.”

The Seconds web experience starts with a simple search bar asking you “who do you want to pay?”  Payments can be made by searching name, email, twitter @username, phone number and possibly location, if they are not in the system there will be an option to send a quick invite.  If you find who you are looking for, you then just enter an amount and hit pay.

That’s it.

The new payment interface is the start an interesting direction we are steering towards…. the merging of Text, Search and Payments.  It’ll be exciting to see how it’s used and where it will go from here, especially with a merchant’s ability to create keywords and auto-transactions.

The text experience is really where it becomes clear how swift payments should actually be with a mobile device. Merchants on Seconds have the option to upgrade to a Text-Enabled account for $5 per month, including a new Seconds phone number and the ability to create keywords. This allows merchants to deploy keywords with corresponding dollar amounts.  Whenever an individual sends a keyword to the merchant via text message, an instant transaction occurs.  It also opens an efficient new communication channel between merchants and consumers.

Quite a few of our payment experiences are outside the ‘dongle card swipe on a mobile device in a small café’, what we mostly read about in media today.  I see an emerging mobile opportunity not in traditional retail outlets but involving the other various and bothersome payments we deal with on a daily basis.

“One can imagine how nice this will be for payments like rent, donations, settling with a friend, school and sports payments, clearing out a bill, paying the plumber, gardener, or personal trainer… quite frankly, all the other frustrating payment experiences no one has seemed to fix.”

In fact, Seconds has partnered with Seattle non-profit Vittana specifically for this launch.

In conjunction with a Seattle startup event/launch party to be held this Friday night, Seconds is powering mobile donations in support of Vittana and their mission to fight poverty through micro-loans to developing world students.   They wonder how much can be raised on this launch day?

Try Seconds now and help Vittana fight poverty.

Text “Vittana5” or “Vittana10” to (206) 538-2901 and donate that dollar amount in Seconds.

Any individual, organization or business can become a merchant and accept payments within a few minutes.  Merchants are walked through creating a free account and quickly connecting a card processor.  Text-Enabled accounts are available for an upgrade of $5 per month.  Seconds charges a flat rate of $.50 per transaction, not including normal processing fees (2.7% + .30) if a merchant is accepting credit or debit cards.   Also available are cash payments via Dwolla, once an account is connected and a bank account is attached.  Dwolla fees are a maximum of of $.25 per transaction (instead of the higher credit card percentages) and are a very attractive option for Seconds merchants. Consumers incur no costs when making Seconds payments.