Paysob is currently in public beta so you can now create an account and take it for a spin.
For those who don’t know, Paysob is a new payment service which helps individuals and businesses in Nigeria accept payments by recharge cards so they don’t miss out on customers without bank cards. We pitched it on Radar in April and had a lot of great feedback and suggestions. So after improving on the initial idea, we’re ready to show you guys what we’ve been working on.
Just a heads up: the site is still not mobile compatible so for a better experience, please view it from a desktop.
@blacquay We don’t actually consider the recharge cards to be an alternative to money. It’s only an asset that we use to facilitate the transaction between the merchant and the end user.
This is how the transaction actually looks from inside. A user wants a product/service from a merchant that costs, let’s say, N500 but the user doesn’t have the means to pay the merchant directly. So we purchase something from the user which we consider to be worth N510 and we send N500 to the merchant so he/she can provide the user the product/service and after selling the asset we purchase from the user for N510, we pocket N10 as our profit for providing the service.
So you see that any other asset can be used in place of the recharge card. The reason why we do 30% off recharge cards is because a recharge card has already been greatly discounted by the time it gets to the hand of the end user. We need to first compensate for those discounts before we charge our N10. Or better yet, we should start accepting shoes as a means of payment.
Very nice, well done to the team behind Paysob - initially had to double check just to make sure I had this correct. Never imagined re-charge cards could be used as a medium to fascilitate payment - ingenious!
But I’m sorry … I honestly just don’t see the business value in this. Or the market.
So … I’m learned enough to try to pay for a service online … and then when i decide to pay, I’ll go buy a recharge card … Something i have not bought in years ?? In the era when recharge transactions via recharge cards are declining rapidly and short codes taking over …
Yes … One or two people might use this … But i just don’t see the volume.
There is no law (as far as I know) prohibiting the use of a digital asset (which I believe this is) as an alternative means of payment. This is a product for payment and not a legal tender.
Sorry Guys … Info is not just totally out there like that … I wish it was something i could easily get you the doc, but sorry i cant. Those guys sitll pass around papers as memos. So if you really want to find this out … You’d have to get in touch with CBN.
@ncodes maybe there is not … But why do you think dial *[number] [number] [number]# to buy “Love for the week” never goes above a certain amount … say … NGN200 ish… Its because there’s a strict limit on this… Its not out rightly banned but there’s just a strict limit on how much airtime can be exchanged for goods or services.
Again … You can always find this out …
But one more thing … If you ask me … Something that might solve this same problem is in the realm of financial inclusion … Essentially moving money for the un-banked populace.
See
You need CBN’s blessing for anything that has to do with moving money for Nigerians electronically or not.
Alot of people come with the same argument that it is illegal to do this kind of things but no one is bringing proof to clearly show why it is illegal.
The way I see it, Paysob is basically buying your airtime and selling it to some other person (@Light correct me If I am wrong). This makes it a digital asset for payment or some kind of digital currency. No different from bitcoin and likes. Once it gets to Paysob’s realm, it cannot be considered to be money and this should clearly be started in the services terms.
This is not illegal YET as there isn’t any specific law prohibiting the use of digital currencies. It becomes illegal when it attains a legal tender status by mass usage or CBN gives it a legal tender status.
We need to stop killing innovation before they grow into something we and the regulators understand.
If there is any law that clearly prohibits this, I would really like to see it. Maybe I know nothing. Like Jon Snow.
Ma binu … I was just trying to bring the info to @Light.
I as a nigerian is going to use my airtime to purchase a service … I really don’t know wassup behind …
I simply offer airtime … and get service in return… There is a regulator.
Don’t get me wrong … I’m not trying to kill the idea …
I’m just saying … find out how far with the regulators and don’t fly blind.
It’s exactly the same reasons the telco’s don’t dabble into things like this. The telco’s mobile money platforms are mostly powered by banks or people that have the mobile money license.
