PayPal Here enables mobile payment services anytime and anywhere for small businesses and entrepreneurs using a fully-encrypted thumb size card reader and free smartphone application. With PayPal Here, merchants no longer have to go through an often very challenging and time-consuming process to get a merchant account to collect credit card payments. With no setup or monthly fees, they can focus on maximizing their sales opportunity by offering credit card and PayPal payments to their customers. PayPal Here encrypts card information as it swipes and all transactions are backed by PayPal's world-class security and fraud prevention capabilities as well as live customer support.

This full-scale expansion also includes several new related services and products for merchants to enhance the use of PayPal Here in their business operations:

-- The free Japanese version of the PayPal Here merchant app for Android is now available. Small businesses and entrepreneurs can now accept payments through PayPal Here on both iOS and Android (Note) devices.

-- Compact mobile printers via Bluetooth(R) will also be available to meet a merchant's need to print out credit card transaction receipts at places such as at an outdoor event.

-- By partnering with SoftBank Technology (CEO: Shinichi Ata), Mobile Perfect SP, an integrated transaction information report, will be provided to merchants with multiple PayPal Here devices for a more convenient service to track and support sales activities.

Nihon PayPal KK will continue to promote the cashless shopping trend for Japanese consumers, while supporting merchants to accept credit card and PayPal payments through PayPal Here. In fact, many small businesses and entrepreneurs, such as retail shops, F&B outlets and service providers, throughout Japan are already using PayPal Here to increase their sales by offering additional payment options to their customers.

Below are several comments from merchants using PayPal Here today:

"After we started using PayPal Here at exhibitions and show rooms, 90% of our sales came through credit cards via PayPal Here. When customers find out that they can use their credit cards, they feel more comfortable when choosing and purchasing products. As a result, both unit sales price and total sales volume have increased," commented Mr. Hiroyuki Miyazaki, CEO of Aquarylis, an all hand crafts jewelry shop that sells high quality genuine stone jewelry at exhibitions in Tokyo and Osaka, as well as through face-to-face sales opportunities.

"After introducing PayPal Here, it is a more convenient way to pay for customers and we are able to grow our sales by offering more payment choice to our customers. Although the transaction fee cost is 5% of sales, the amount of lost business by not offering credit card acceptance is higher", commented Mr. Daisuke Tanaka, CEO of Uniginal Ltd., managing company of Milton Coffee Roastery which is a cafe located in south of Yamaguchi prefecture.

"PayPal Here has no monthly charge and an easy transaction process, so we are happy to recommend our customers to pay via credit card. Also, our sales team comments that PayPal Here enables credit card payments at sales visits to yoyo competitions and exhibition events. Moreover, sales from our online and physical stores can be completed through PayPal, an easier way to manage overall sales transactions for our business," commented Mr. Masahiro Noma, CEO of YoYo Company which has a yoyo shop called Rewind located in Aichi prefecture selling a range of popular yoyos to professional models for world competitions.

"Originally, we have considered other credit card payment options, but they had high initial costs, time consuming registration process, and long cash collection period of once or twice a month. So we chose to use PayPal Here instead, and 3 weeks after we started we saw that payments via PayPal Here have already grown 10%. More importantly, customers would purchase additional products because they can pay by credit cards," said Thomas Bertrand, owner of Bento&Co which provides stylishly designed Japanese bento boxes and kitchen utilities in a physical shop in Kyoto.