In the last month the on-line payments company has added two new service, guest checkout and payment via twitter.
Last month Dwolla solved the “chicken and the egg” problem by introducing a guest check out option.
Dwolla’s Jordan Lampe explains “One of the big pain points [for Dwolla] was that to make a payment online, you had to have a Dwolla account, and you had to have money in that account,… So what we’re doing with this is saying, ‘let’s cut ourselves out of the equation.’”
The guest checkout service makes it possible for non-Dwolla users to pay with Dwolla on e-commerce websites. The service allows anyone with a U.S. bank account to buy via a one-time payment from their bank which is then processed through Dwolla’s payments network.
Consumers can make a payment by entering in their bank account and routing number in addition to their name, address and phone number. The benefit to consumers of using this option is that their financial information is never shared directly with the merchant and they may possibly get a discount.
Because customers are not using credit cards, merchants are not stuck with credit card processing fees. This allows merchants to pass on some saving to customers using the Dwolla option.
This week Dwolla launched it’s Twitter payment service. This allows Dwolla users to send money to any of their followers with a tweet.
All you need to send money is your followers Twitter handle, the $ amount, and #dwolla. Like this…
You can send funds to any of your followers, but for them to collect it they will need to sign up for a Dwolla account.
Dwolla has integrated with a number of social media services. You can also send money to a friend using Facebook or LinkedIn.
