PAY-TERMINAL: THE SYSTEM WORKS

In Baku, they exist, but not everywhere, for example, in major banks and supermarkets. POS terminals are bright, sensory, inviting and have different colours. In many countries around the world, including in some CIS countries, they work on the streets, in shops, mobile communications stores and shopping malls. It is a very convenient system of payment, plus it is time-saving. There is no need to search for shops that sell cards of different operators to recharge your mobile. Using cash or plastic cards, you can pay for public utilities on the spot. This system is very convenient for foreigners and tourists, who are well acquainted with it, and in order to pay for cellular services, you don't have to spend a long time explaining to them that, in order to update their account, they need to buy a card of the corresponding operator and dial a digital code. With the help of payment kiosks, they can figure out where and how to pay. But we repeat ourselves: Unfortunately, this comfort is very rare in Azerbaijani cities. Azerbaijani banks have payment kiosks operating on the cash-in system. The strategy of their operation is directed primarily at increasing self-service areas. With the help of such payment kiosks, you can also update deposit accounts and pay for services of mobile and insurance companies and for public utilities. But all these payments are made through the bank. The payment of bills via POS terminals, which are installed in broader public areas, works in a somewhat different way - it an even more comfortable system with access to an even greater number of operators and organizations that provide various services.

How does it work?

It is known that the payment of many bills is not a banking transaction. Such payments can be made in a simplified manner. And this simplicity benefited the people who actually invented and introduced POS terminals. In order for a POS terminal to work, a payment system is first created in parallel to existing ones belonging, for example, to cellular operators. Under such a system, various organizations install POS terminals. For this purpose, they use their own premises, for example, in large hypermarkets in Baku, where you can see these devices, or in some convenient, lively place rented for this purpose - since the terminal takes almost no room. Agreements between the owners of the payment system and mobile operators stipulate the division of profits. And the owners of terminals get direct commission established in this particular point that receives money. It can vary significantly, depending on the preferences of the owner, his expectations, the liveliness of the point and other factors, but rarely exceeds 5 per cent. The usual numbers are 2-3 per cent. Reduced commission, first of all, is of no benefit to the owners of POS terminals, as it deprives them of their profits, and secondly, it does not have a significant impact on the popularity of the terminal. In fact, if you need to update your account, you can hardly refuse to do so just because a small portion of the payment will go to another person.

There is another question: how does the money immediately - in one, three, or five minutes - gets into the consumer's account? After all, the banknotes remain inside the terminal, while collectors come to pick them up usually at night? It is simple - the payment is made from the money already in the payment system and deposited by the owner of the terminal in advance. The corresponding amount is withdrawn from his account. For example, the Russian media writes, POS terminals proved to be convenient for both customers and service providers. By and large, cellular operators and other organizations, who allow payment through the terminals, do not care where the money comes from, so they do not object to the use of automatic devices. The owners of payment systems, among other things, get their share from the owners of the terminal, because they service the equipment, their accounts, etc. Finally, the benefit of the owners of the terminal is quite obvious.

The technical side of the payment systems in the age of computers and the Internet should not surprise anyone. Naturally, POS terminals communicate with the accounts of their owners over the Internet, to be precise, via GPRS, which is available everywhere, using a mobile modem, unlike cable (WLAN) and wireless (Wi-Fi) Internet. This may seem expensive, but pays off quickly in reality.

There will be more payment kiosks in Baku

Asked why there are few such payment kiosks in Azerbaijan, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology observed that the ministry is already implementing a comprehensive programme to expand the system, and that private entrepreneurs should be interested in it so that it can operate in full. Considering that such POS terminals have already been installed in some places of Baku and it is enough to expand the system that services them, it remains only to purchase these automatic devices, which should be done by organizations that are interested in this business segment. For its part, the Ministry of Communications is ready to render any assistance to the wider introduction of this system. The ministry finds that technically, POS terminals, perhaps, suit anyone who uses them - consumers, their owners and suppliers of various types of services. Therefore, the Ministry of Communications suggests, in Azerbaijan, the further development of this system will be more intense - new points, agreements with new organizations, etc. "We are working on it and most likely next year, there will be more of such devices, though still only in the capital," the Ministry of Communications reported.

The ministry also noted that in addition to POS terminals, on-line payment on the websites of the Ministry of Communications and various companies and organizations is well developed in Azerbaijan. In addition, the urgent method of payment by mobile and landline telephones is widely used. But the precondition for that must be the availability of a banking plastic card.