Whether you’re a street food vendor or a market stall owner, taking card payments – or any payment other than cash – is usually a bit tricky. But now, thanks to a new device called Paypal Here, produced by Paypal that's been designed by Yves Behar’s fuseproject agency, your mobile phone can be easily transformed into cash register.

It works in a similar way to Square – the device produced by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey. A vendor just has to plug in a small triangular device into their phone, and along with the Paypal Here app, it can be used it to swipe and read a customer’s credit cards. Once the card is swiped, the phone is then passed to the customer, where they can choose to add a tip (if they wish) and sign their signature on the screen.

The app is also geared up for customers to use too, which makes it more functional than Square. A ‘local’ option in the app lets people use their phone to make Paypal payments for goods in certain stores.

As for the design of the device, Behar decided to use an arrow shape to help users immediately understand how to use the device and where to swipe their card. ‘It’s an ancient symbol that shows you that something is being done in the here and now,’ explains Behar. ‘From that idea came everything else – the logo and packaging and everything.’

The launch of the device is another step towards a fully functional mobile wallet. Thanks to Paypal Here, as well as similar devices such as Square and Google Wallet, it looks like it won’t be long until we’re reaching for our phones when the cheque comes.