PayPal Teams With Discover for Offline Payments Service

SAN JOSE, CALIF. -- The more than 7 million retailers that accept Discover cards will be able to process PayPal payments beginning next year. PayPal, a division of eBay Inc., inked an agreement with Discover Financial Services that will allow consumers to pay for goods with PayPal cards -- and in the future, smartphones -- PayPal reported on its website.

PayPal already offers a mobile wallet payment service called PayPal Here, which lets businesses process payments via smartphones. However, the new agreement allows PayPal, which boasts more than 50 million active users, to have a much larger offline presence.

PayPal is currently accepted at 16 retailers as a method of payment, including The Home Depot Inc. and Abercrombie & Fitch brick-and-mortar stores.

"The market has been looking for leadership as the payments space evolves and we think this relationship starts to deliver it," Don Kingsborough, PayPal's vice president of retail and prepaid products, posted as a blog entry on the company's website. "It is a milestone for PayPal as it enables us to innovate at scale. One of the great things about this relationship with Discover is that merchants won’t have to install or upgrade existing point-of-sale hardware or software to offer PayPal. Through our deep relationships with retailers all over the world, we know they’re always looking for ways to innovate and compete in this rapidly-changing commerce landscape. This will set them up for innovations today and well into the future."