PayPal has launched cashless transactions to allow PayPal customers to pay for goods and services at traditional brick and mortar stores using their existing PayPal accounts. PayPal users can use a special PayPal card and a pin or simply enter their mobile number and a pin code at various Home Depot stores throughout the US.

This approach can bypass a user’s wallet and smart device altogether, unlike NFC enabled payments which use an NFC enabled device such as a person’s smart phone or tablet. It is a good move by PayPal but is it really that different from traditional credit card payments? If you are using the card option, then not really, although it does allow you to use your PayPal account instead of a credit or debit card, which is a no brainer to allow PayPal to increase their market share against the likes of Visa and MasterCard.

This is a bold move by PayPal and time will tell as PayPal rolls this out across all 2,000 Home Depot stores throughout the US in the next few weeks. Somehow I don’t think this will be a replacement for NFC payments but if PayPal can gain traction and increase partnerships with more brick and mortar stores then it may prove to be a strong contender in the battle for the mobile wallet, as for consumers, the more options the better.