A flexible payment plan app invented by two brothers may soon bring new jobs to the Tampa Bay Area.
Partial.ly is an innovative software program that allows businesses of any size to offer flexible payment plans to its customers. Partial.ly, ranked as one of the 10 best
Quickbooks apps by
Intuit, integrates with third-party retail software such as
Shopify,
WooCommerce,
FreshBooks,
Harvest and
Quickbooks Online.
Andrew Schmid, who founded the company with his brother Ben in fall 2015, says Partial.ly has grown exponentially over the past year.
“We started developing the app in in September 2015 and had the official launch in November 2015,” recalls Andrew. “We’ve processed $1.3 million in payments.”
Companies from all over the English-speaking world are using the payment processing system, including those in Great Britain, Canada and Australia.
Partial.ly offers several user-friendly features, including the ability for the business to control the payment plan fee, down payment, terms and payment frequency, and it also makes it easy for companies to choose automated or manual payments, and for customers to adjust down payment amount and tweak the terms.
What’s the big benefit for businesses? “It helps businesses improve payment processing.” It can also help boost sales figures and overall revenue, since customers are more likely to buy a product they can pay for over the course of time.
Partial.ly generates legally binding contracts, facilitates transactions through eCommerce retail tool
Stripe and can charge customers in a
variety of currencies, including U.S. dollars, British pounds, and European euros. Businesses are charged a 5 percent fee per transaction plus 30 cents. Payments are SSL protected.
The Schmids’ software program has gained plenty of steam in the one year since its launch. Its first moments in the spotlight were in the heart of Silicon Valley at the
QuickBooks Connect 2016 Conference in San Jose, California, where the brothers were invited to spend three days pitching their product to competition judges and convention goers.
The Schmids, who knew the way to San Jose is paved with hard work and dedication, have to this point managed to build their startup brand with only their own funds.
“We bootstrapped it all ourselves,” says Andrew. “Maybe it was a gamble, but we think the product can prove itself better if we show the faith we have in it.”
A lot of folks have faith in Partial.ly. So much so the company is expanding by leaps and bounds with every passing day.
Right now, Andrew, a 2004 Tulane University computer science graduate, handles the technical development side. His brother, Ben, is a
University of Tampa MBA graduate who spends much of his time reaching out to potential customers and handling the business end of the operation. The self-reliant brothers know there will soon come a time when they can no longer manage the growing Partial.ly brand all on their own.
“We want to hire people in customer support,” he says. “We are also going to want a software developer.”
Hiring hasn’t begun quite yet at Partial.ly, but those who do become new employees for the growing brand may be on the ground floor of the next big thing in eCommerce. Meanwhile, those who want to learn more about the software or download it for their businesses can find it on apps portals such as Shopify.
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