Paywise is officially back and I know there are many people who are ecstatic to hear that news lol. Getting paid via digital means is still somewhat of a new concept for most people here in Trinidad & Tobago. There has not been an education drive that pushes the mindset of up and coming business owners to use digital systems to increase the growth of their companies.

As a result, we see many headlines from news outlets proclaiming that we are still in a recession and times are hard. That being said, we have two great services in Wipay & Paywise that everybody should be incorporating into their business. I wanted to address when you should be using Wipay or Paywise in your business.

Now, there has always been a debate about Wipay & Paywise and who is better. Anytime I see this conversation happening, I shake my head and wonder who has failed to educate these people. It’s a silly argument to have because both companies solve two different problems. Chances are, if you understand what those problems are, to begin with, you are one of the few people who are using both systems within your business.

If you are someone debating who is better and have decided to only use one of the services, congratulations, you are currently limiting yourself from making more money. If you are someone who genuinely doesn’t know the difference between the two companies, then I hope to clear some things up for you.

Let me reiterate again, Wipay & Paywise solve 2 different problems! Let’s break down those problems and how both companies solve them and the benefits they bring to you and your clients. I will not be getting technical, as my aim is to break this down as simple as possible.

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Wipay

Wipay is a company fixated on the future of digital payments here in the Caribbean. They are currently one of the online payment processors we have access to here in the Caribbean, that allows us to process credit card payments on our websites.

They also allow you to tokenize money in the form of vouchers, that you can use to merchants online who accept Wipay payments or you can use it to send money across the country and when Wipay links all of their countries together in the coming months, you will be able to send money to other countries.

They have also built their own branded terminals for distribution across the country to build out their network, that will allow you to pay companies and services, that are registered with Wipay (ex Caribbean Airlines, Digicel, etc).

You can also use their platform to send invoices to prospective clients via email, that will allow them to access the invoice and pay with a credit card.

Now they are about to launch their app Zwillo and that will allow for easier registration onto their platform by simply taking a pic of your ID and uploading it within the app. It’s been built like Wave, so you can send invoices and pay links through Whatsapp, FB Messenger and email.

You client can pay with a credit card or they can pay via cash/linx and a QR code will be generated, which they can take to a Wipay location, have it scanned by the teller and make the payment to you. They have also signed an agreement with UPSL (They do cash on delivery & direct deposit) for delivery within T&T. Once you select shipping within the app, you will be able to schedule a pickup for your items and have it delivered to your customer.

Wipay solves the need for those who have built a system in their business, where they are now able to collect income, without having to speak to clients. Clients can have their website or Facebook/IG/Linkedin/Whatsapp/Twitter, create the paylinks and have clients pay them.

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Paywise

Paywise solves one of the most immediate needs and they do it well. Getting paid with cash in a society that has a credit card penetration rate of less than 10%. If you have heard we are at about 10%, the banks lump people who have multiple cards into that 10% penetration, so it is actually much lower than we think.

That being said, we know that most people want to pay with cash. Paywise is now back in operation after a few months as they were rebuilding their network. At launch, they have 100 agents and counting across T&T, that you can go in and make payments to registered merchants.

Once you present the teller with the account number, you pay with cash and the new system will send a text message as a receipt that there was a payment made to the merchant.

Paywise makes paying with cash, simple.

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Should You Use Paywise or Wipay?

The simple answer is…You should be using both. I use both. The reason being is because I want to present my customers with the easiest and most convenient options to make payments.

However, you need to keep in mind that cash payments are a thing of the past and will be null & void, as the banks begin to roll out Visa Debit cards as apart of their mandate, which will then allow for local e-commerce to happen. People will now be able to pay you by simply using their visa-debit card which will be linked to your bank account (international payments will be blocked upon roll out but you can make online payments in TT currency on roll out).

Cash payments also take away from the most important buyers…the IMPULSE buyers! Anybody in sales knows just how important it the impulse buyers are. Jeff Bezo’s has gone on record to say that the billion-dollar decision Amazon made was 1-click buying.

Impulse buying can only happen with a credit card, its the most immediate way to make a payment. As long as a buyer has to physically go somewhere to pay you, there are many things that can happen along the way that can stop that payment from happening.

Just imagine your client is on the way to an agent to pay you for a product or service and on the way, they see your product or service, cheaper or on sale with someone else. Or worse yet, they don’t get the time to visit a payment location, the car shuts down…you get the point.

So I am saying all of this to point out that you need/should be using both services. Have the options for credit card payments, take advantage of the social payment links and the Wipay app & shipping when they release it to the public but also utilize Paywise network for cash payments.

Between Wipay and Paywise, your customer will have a variety of payment methods to choose from and you will minimize the potential for lost sales in the process.

To learn more about both companies, you can visit Paywise and Wipay respectively.