Afterpay has followed the path set by others in the Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) space and offered a virtual card solution allowing customers to BNPL just about anywhere .. provided it’s still an Afterpay vendor. Unlike others in this space which have allowed users to use the BNPL card anywhere, with Afterpay, you’re still limited to Afterpay approved merchants.
The new Afterpay card works with Apple Pay or Google Pay.
Created through the Afterpay app, the card is stored in your phone’s digital wallet just like any other physical card.
However, unlike every other digital card, you can’t just pay directly from your wallet of choice – there’s a catch you have to remember each and every time.
You see, when it’s time to pay at your store of choice, you have to open the Afterpay app first, click “Pay with Afterpay card” which will then launch your digital wallet. You then select the Afterpay card, and tap to pay, and your purchase will be charged back to your Afterpay balance to pay off in accordance with the service’s usual terms.
For those in iOS land, you will also be able to link your Afterpay card with your Apple Watch.
Afterpay has previously tried to allow BNPL at payment terminals a few years ago with a barcode scanning solution, but unsurprisingly perhaps, it didn’t really take off in the Australian market which is very much focused on the tap-to-pay process.
We think this new process could’ve been so much better. Requiring users to open the Afterpay app first before accessing their digital wallet is really counterintuitive, and isn’t much easier than the barcode scanning option it replaces.
Despite this, Afterpay has recorded strong performance with in-store sales, with 22% of its business coming from in-store transactions.
The new feature will make things somewhat easier for customers, of course, but will also streamline the Afterpay process for merchants, too – no longer will they need to do anything special to integrate with Afterpay’s systems, they can simply ask customers to use the Afterpay card instead.
If you’re an Afterpay customer and would like to set up your virtual card, simply open the app and tap the “Add to Google Pay or Apple Wallet” button and follow the prompts.
Wow remove my perfectly valid comments with useful insight? Why? because you’re sooks who dont like contention or debate and like to think they are still serious journalists. Pathetic.
Your comments weren’t removed. They were flagged as spam and automatically set for review.
Happy to have a debate, and yeah, some of us do like to think we are serious journalists … at least some of the time.
What about this makes the process easier for users? Tell me one way this is easier for a user. Theres more taps, more settings that need to be turned on, more apps, and no extra benefits – tell someone without an NFC enabled phone that this is easier. This isnt about the consumer, its about making it easier for merchants to integrate and more difficult for fraudsters to scam their ridiculously easy to scam system. And everyone just believes that it “must be easier for the consumer” – why? because its new? What will Huawei users do? Or samsung pay… Read more »
The Afterpay virtual card doesn’t work at all stores; it’s still only at participating retailers, i.e. those who have an agreement with Afterpay.
I don’t care about the BNPL aspect of AfterPay, but as my bank (who I’m with for their mortgage rates) stubbornly refuses to make any progress towards allowing Google Pay (or Apple Pay) this might be an easier option to enable me to use Google Pay than getting a credit card. Interesting.
Is there any benefit to having mortgage and banking at the same bank? I’ve not had it that way for years across a few banks. Direct debit on pay day to your mortgage covers things nicely.
Waiting until my current mortgage is 2 years old so I can switch to somewhere cheaper without paying and fees. Probably something like Ubank 😉
We have an offset account linked to our mortgage so yes, it’s in our interests to keep as much money as possible in that offset account as it directly reduces the interest we pay. And we do not have a credit card at all.
Which bank?
Newcastle Permanent. Very happy with their products and service, with the exception of zero support for Apple Pay or Google Pay. And that’s not enough for me to go to the hassle of switching banks.
Newcastle Permanent – omfg no wonder you have dramas. yeah they are “BRILLIANT” .. they are nosey, pushy, under-developed and generally RUBBISH. The simple solution to your problem is a basic transaction account with one of the no-fee banks like NAB or Suncorp or Bankwest and then just connect that card to GPay and put your spending money in that account. If you’re really so tight as to worry about the interest variance of a few hundred bucks absent in your offset account, then allow your tightness to prompt you to move the money over at the interest period’s close… Read more »