The company that launched the Kwedit alternative payment product earlier this year, to much controversy, is testing a new feature that lets users purchase Facebook Credits with cash.
The new product, called PayNearMe, allows people who don’t have or don’t want to use credit or debit cards to purchase Facebook credits with cash at nearly all of the 6,000 7-11 stores in the continental U.S. And it’s a heck of a deal.
Facebook Credits generally cost $0.10 each. PayNearMe is giving users a 10% bonus, so $1 buys you 11 credits. And most users will also get a 50 or 100 credit bonus (worth $5 or $10) as well.
Here’s how it works. You sign into PayNearMe using Facebook Connect. You set the number of credits you want to purchase and print out the final page (see image). Take that into a 7-11 and they scan it and you pay. Once you pay the credits are transferred to your account. In the future, the company says they’ll have a mobile application and the clerk can just scan your phone.
The bonus is paid every time a “shift” changes at each 7-11. So if you redeem a coupon first during a shift you get the 50 or 100 credit bonus. The program just launched moments ago, so the bonus is available at just about every 7-11 right now, and resets at the next work shift. The website also tells you which nearby 7-11′s still have the bonus waiting.
This will only run for a few weeks as the company tests out the system, CEO Danny Shader tells me. So grab those credits while you can.
Why is the company doing this? They want to test out the new system, says Shader. A big new product launch is coming shortly that will let people pay via cash at 7-11s for a variety of online and offline goods.
Meanwhile, if anyone wants to print out that image and take it to a 7-11, I’ll send you a nice virtual gift on Facebook. I have no idea how I’ll verify who you are though since you’ll be paying for cash.
It would serve them well to pay someone to give their site a once-over. Even that flyer you link to looks straight out of bad-popup-ad-potluck-wordart-flyer hell, which isn’t great when money is involved.
I can definitely see carrying the bill-payment-station concept a step further and integrating with 7-Eleven and other convenience store POS systems, for a variety of reasons. I’m eagerly awaiting the first custom who brings in their slip… and pays by credit card.
We can control the “tender type” so that some payments can be made with credit cards or cash while others can only be made with cash.
Danny, you got an amazing concept, great execution, but a flayer that screams SCAM.
It would cost less than $50 to make a legitimate/elegant looking flayer. With $6.3 Million in funding that shouldn’t be a problem ;) . Change it FAST though
I definitely agree with Danny Shader. He is totally right.
http://tiny.cc/r9605
Fucking Flickr-ripoff spammer!
Epic fail trying to test it here in Michigan. First location at 970 Wayne Rd, Westland, MI – clerk had no information about PayNearMe & refused service. Second location at 8791 N. Wayne Rd, Westland, MI, the clerk had not heard of it either, but wanted to try it. Printed barcode would not scan, neither would my iPhone w/barcode displayed on it. Sucks for sure, sounded like a cool system.
Thank you for trying; I’m sorry that the associate did not recognize the slip. We’ll contact those stores, and post here when we’ve done so in case you’d be willing to try again. BTW, scanning off of your phone will not work at this point; we hope to enable that in the future.
We’ve talked to the store and they should be ready to accept slips. If you’re willing to try again, we’re going to up the bonus on those locations to 100 credits from 50. If you run into any trouble, please call 888-714-0004 or email support@paynearme.com.
paying at a convenience store is standard in the US, is it? the Japanese have been doing it forever. is this newest INNOVATION of the valley about the connection to FB only?
After seeing their Website it looks like a scam…
It’s a prefect business model, read below link
http://bit.ly/cmS45x
Congrat to Kwedit or implementing this system in US with 7 Eleven. It is a working business model, as 7 Eleven in Taiwan, Japan and those in Southeast Asia countries like Thailand, Malaysia, Philippine and Singapore are becoming favorite destination for gamers to purchase their game credits. Even Zynga in US has also done co-branding with 7 Eleven.
The initial glitch of 7 Eleven store front persons not aware about the new payment system are pretty common, I hope Kwedit and 7 Eleven can address the issue quickly. Perhaps 7 Eleven might want to carry poster or decal to make both the customers and shopfront people aware about the new payment / top up system they carried :-)
No stores are participating near me (30047). Looks like Seattle WA works (the ZIP is in the video – 98101).
Ahh, welcome to Tokyo circa 2002.
Yes the only difference is that “tokyo circa 2002″ was excellently executed! this is not……
thailand has been doing 7-11 payments for everything from phone bills, to utility bills, to game credits for like 6 or 7 years, and Thailand is damn near a 3rd world country… Why did it take the US so many years to even start?
Kaboom, somebody does something cool and Kaboom, the Techcrunch Fanboy bitches bring it down. Get a life all of you. This guys team are obviously out on the road, setting up structures, talking to people, making things happen…and you. Well, you log on to Techcrunch and read 8 lines and bitch like little bitches. Its a pity, such a great site, with such a crap community.
Whew! I do agree with (that guy/girl) but without the language. Hey mike Mr. Circa 2002, JESUS, have you looked at your webpage lately. It looks like it was done by a school child from Africa. If you are going to critisize AND leave your name, for heavens sake, make sure you have something to back your comments up with.
I just did this and got the bonus credits, but then I realized, I don’t even know what I would spend credits for on Facebook. Clearly, FB has some work to do to entice me to spend.
That’s a great observation.
I don’t see ever using Facebook Credits, what’s the point? If I’m going to spend money, it’s going to be on something tangible — I’ll pass on sending useless virtual gifts.
I can see developers using them because soon enough Facebook will require you to use credits to access certain APIs — but this is just another reason why as a Web Developer myself I never integrate third party APIs that are labeled as being free, because we all know what happens when you rely heavily on a single company’s API. I’ve found that It’s best to use these free APIs occasionally when it makes sense, but not to base your entire product offering around them, or you will end up getting screwed in the end.
This would be interesting, except the nearest 7-11 store is over 90 miles away. I don’t need Facebook credits that badly.
This sounds like the same thing as Kwedit, but now you have to pay upfront. Is there any added functionality here? Do they really need to test this?
I agree with the people who said this sounds like a scam. Help us test! Limited time offer! Everything this company does seems to have a layer of slime attached to it.
This article sounds like a cheesy PR that was written for Mike, not by Mike. Except for the last two sentences.
I’d give the homeless guy that shits on my stoop money before I would give it to Facebook…
Interesting idea.
Nonetheless, they shouldn’t use Powerpoint to design their website.
I think the most interesting thing here is 7-11! As a Japanese owned company they understand all of this stuff and more. That expertise in mobile payments and SNS services will bring in tons of new customers to discover 7-11. I know first hand as my kids made me take them there to get Farmville stuff. They didnt even know such a place existed and now they do and talk about it very favorably.
With so much credit card penetration and 100% fraud guarantee, super good transaction management, who on the earth want to go to a 7-11 to pay something that too with cash? this may work in some other countries not here i guess..
Bobby: fyi, Credit card penetration in the US is only 70%. The 30% underbanked is a bigger opportunity than the economies of all but a few countries…