Groupon today announced the launch of Groupon Payments, the latest addition to the company's suite of merchant products and services. After a pilot in the San Francisco Bay area, Groupon Payments is now available to all Groupon merchants in the U.S. Built into the latest version of the Groupon Merchants app for the iPhone and iPod Touch, Groupon Payments facilitates credit card transactions for any Groupon merchant. And since the service is already built into the app, existing Groupon merchants can enroll quickly.

Groupon is charging MasterCard, Visa and Discover swipes at a 1.8 percent rate plus 15 cents for each transaction done by a Groupon merchant. American Express will be 3 percent plus 15 cents.

In comparison, Square charges 2.75 percent per swipe, or $275 per month. PayPal charges 2.7 percent.

In addition to slashing transaction fees, Groupon Payments offers services that most of the traditional processors don?t. Rather than waiting the typical two or three days for credit card payments to hit an account, Groupon Payments users get paid overnight.

With the online Groupon Payments Center, business owners can view a live transaction history, check daily sales reports, track deposits to an account and analyze revenue trends. Groupon provides an audio jack card-swiping device free of charge ? merchants can opt for a high-volume case-based reader if they need it. Plus, if there is ever a need to reach us, Groupon has put together a dedicated Groupon Payments support team available by phone and email 7-days a week to answer any questions.