On July 29, the BlingTag came to Palo Alto, allowing users to pay for food, clothes—even yoga classes—with a simple tap of their phones.

Today, 10,000 individuals are using Bling Nation's new technology at more than 100 local businesses in Palo Alto, including City Hall, and that number is growing.

The tag, a sticker with a microchip in it that can be attached to any cell phone, avoids the necessity of a smart phone—a forgiving feature for the derelict 2G cell phone owners of Silicon Valley. "It works with any device," Chief Marketing Officer Judy Balint said of the BlingTag. "All your phone has to have is texting."

Customers can pick up a free tag at a local store and activate it by tapping it to a "Blinger," a wireless device that looks like a portable credit card machine, but without the swipe. The customer then receives a text confirming that their PayPal account has been charged.

"It takes two seconds," said Matthew Murphy, the Bling Nation general manager for the Pacific region. "Each time you Bling, you're actually accruing points and earning a reward on your next purchase," he said. At Cafe Epi on University Avenue, a customer who spends 10 dollars or more on five visits will get a discount on their sixth visit. BlingTags also come preloaded with $10, and customers receive another free $10 when they set up the link from the tag to their PayPal account.

"We really like that the processing charges are about a third of what the credit card companies are charging us," said David Greene who uses a Blinger at his store, Live Greene, in downtown Palo Alto. Whereas most credit card companies charge businesses one to four percent per transaction, a Bling transaction costs the businesses one and a half percent.

Some people are concerned about the scope of the product. "It's a pain because not very many people are using it," said Tony Montooth, the owner of Antonio's Nut House on California Avenue. "It's a good concept, though. Once they get it going, it'll work."

BlingTags are the only mobile payment technology available to pay parking tickets, utility bills and long term parking passes. Bling Nation keeps their focus local. "It's money that's being spent in the community and staying in the community," said Murphy. "It's important for communities like Palo Alto to have residents shopping local."

To obtain the Bling technology, local businesses can request a Bling Box starter kit, which includes the terminal, or "Blinger," BlingTags, displays for windows and registers and marketing materials. The starter kit retails for $199 per month, but Bling offers rebates for new merchants. "We have a 60 day free trial program," said Balint, "and the price for the first 50 or so merchants that sign up right now is $25, with a monthly membership fee of 59 dollars."

Balint affirms that the Bling technology is secure. "This is basically a communication device that's encrypted," she said. "There's no personal data that's being transmitted back and forth. Bling Nation also provides businesses with performance analytics, without using customer names.

The idea for the BlingTag originated when Bling Nation founder Wences Casares was traveling the world by sailboat a few years ago. During his trip, he realized that the cell phone is the central device for people worldwide, and he contemplated its future. In Asia, people were scanning their phones, which had built-in NFC (Near Field Communication) chips, at checkout to pay for purchases.

The idea seemed brilliant, so Casares and fellow co-founder Meyer Malka brought it to America—with a slight change. They decided to embed the NFC chip in a sticker, so as to make the device available to all phones.

Nokia Corporation has announced that they will produce smartphones with embedded NFC chips next year. Bling Nation thinks this will only benefit their business. "Anyone who's using NFC will be compatible with our platform," said Balint.

Now operating in six states nationwide, the main offices of Bling Nation can be found in the center of town on University Avenue, above CVS Pharmacy.

Pick up a free BlingTag at the Stanford-USC game this Saturday at 5 p.m. Bling Nation will be there.

Find out which businesses are using BlingTag technology in your neighborhood by visiting Bling Nation's Facebook page, which is also their main website.