We first brought you news of Amazon’s mobile card reader last month, and the company today officially announced Amazon Local Register. Amazon Local Register, like its competition, is comprised of the physical secure card reader and a companion app.
Amazon hopes to compete with similar offerings from Square and PayPal by offering significantly reduced processing fees (for a limited time). Users who sign up for Amazon Local Register will only be hit with a 1.75% fee for swiped transactions versus 2.75% and 2.7% for Square and PayPal Here respectively.
However, the limited time offer expires on January 1, 2016. Starting on January 2, the rate will jump to 2.5%, still undercutting the competition.
If there is one thorn in the side of Amazon Local Register, it’s most definitely device compatibility. It is only compatible with Apple’s iPhones (iPhone 4 and newer), iPad, and iPad mini; Samsung’s Galaxy S3, Galaxy S4, and Galaxy S5; and Amazon’s own Kindle Fire HD and Fire HDX family of tablets. What’s even more surprising, however, is that Amazon’s newly released Fire smartphone isn’t even on the approved list (although we’ve reached out to Amazon for clarification on this point).
The Amazon Local Register Secure Card Reader is priced at $10. Amazon is also making a available a few bundled packages including an Amazon Local Register card reader plus a Kindle Fire HDX 8.9” tablet for $379. Add on a receipt printer and a cash drawer and bundle price jumps to $599.
Updated 8/13/2014 @ 10:19am
Amazon has gotten back to us on Fire phone compability with the following statement:
The Amazon Local Register card reader and free mobile app are compatible with a wide variety of phones and tablets including Apple devices running iOS7, Kindle Fire tablets, select Android smartphones, and coming soon on the new Fire phone and other android devices.