Finding Tap and Pay Locations
You’ll know if the store you’re shopping in supports Google Wallet if you see a MasterCard PayPass logo and/or a logo illustration that looks like a person holding a credit card up to a wireless signal. But, if you want to know before you go, you should use PayPass Locator app, which helps you find PayPass locations near you.
Near our downtown New York City office, the app found 23 locations that were within fairly close walking distance, which are displayed on a map. The app provides an icon for each location to make it easier to discern the type of business it is without you having to tap on it. For example, the Rx icon is for pharmacies–which is how we found Duane Reade–and Best Buy had a shopping cart icon. Malibu Diner had a burger and drink icon.
Once you tap on a business you can share it via SMS, report a problem (if it doesn’t accept PayPass), or map it in Google Maps (if you’re looking for directions). Overall, we found plenty of businesses near our office to try Google Wallet out, but there are still a lot of retailers and other shops that don’t accept PayPass payments, especially as you move closer to the suburbs.
Making Purchases
Checking out with your NFC phone and Google Wallet is a cinch. All you need to do is hold your phone up to the PayPass terminal once your total is displayed on the screen. You’ll feel your phone vibrate to let you know that a transaction has taken place. There was an extra step that required us to enter the payment type on screen; in this case we needed to select Credit because that’s how retailers see Google Wallet. But at first we mistakenly tapped Debit because that’s the card we used to fill our Google Prepaid Card.
