@joanmuschampfagnani
Hi Joan,
I am checking out the Square Card Reader. Seems enticing that they mail you the free card reader.
I am small volume right now but want to know what happens if I expand.
I hope we can keep in touch and share what we find out.
Thanks for making us aware of this.
@joanmuschampfagnani

I’ve used it quite often on a side business I own. Normally, I need to input the credit card information on my iPhone as the buyer is not local so I pay a higher interest rate but either way, I love it.

@jackburgin Thanks! @rebeccacohen and I are both interested and it is great to have feedback

@jackburgin REALLY good info to have! Right now I am still pretty small, but I hope to be much larger. Not surewhat my clients will opt for (I also offer a 2%/net 10 discount) but we shall see

@joanmuschampfagnani I used it to sell books at a conference this summer. The organizers trained me on it in mere minutes for the iPhone and iPad. There is a flat transaction fee of 2.75% and no monthly fee (I used to work in the merchant services biz and this isn’t bad). There is no contract as with other firms (such as Verifone). 

For the book, I would take a picture of it and then start the charging process. If the person wanted a receipt, they would enter their email address (or send a text to themselves). Definitely recommend for small and mobile businesses.

I just received a post card with invitation to sign up for a Square card reader.  Thanks to all of you, I signed up in less than 5 minutes, was verified, and bookmarked the SQWEAR accessories website for future order.  Thanks members.

I was using Square for awhile but changed to GoPayment from intuit. If there is a problem with your Square account you can’t reach their customer service via phone. Which since they have all my personal info and are taking payments for me it seems kinda odd that they wouldn’t have a customer support phone number. I had a few other friends have issues with the Square account so I made the switch over to GoPayment. Intuit is a great company and they have a card reader for an iPhone or iPad just like Square. I had to make some adjustments to my account and I was able to speak to a customer service rep on the phone. The GoPayment signup process wasn’t as quick as Square but I feel that I made the right choice by switching. Just my two cents

I appreciate all the input on Square. I do believe it has a definite place and want to implement it.

@heathercompton Thanks for the insight about GoPayment. Customer service is very important. Sad to hear that Square isn’t able to handle the inquiries. 

Verifone does have a mobile option: http://www.paywaremobile.com/en However, I don’t know much about it as the service was rolling out when I left the business. Also, they tend to have the equipment and not the processing…

@dianebianchi @joanmuschampfagnani PS… as backup, I also got the Intuit mobile card reader. They have the same terms unless they changed them in the last year.  Card reader is free with same percentages charged and limitations.

@maricochran Good to know, thanks!

I was at a networking meeting last evening, and Square is definitely a buzz! Most of us have ordered it, AND interestingly, about 95% of us first heard about it via their direct mail postcard.

Absolutely love this thread!  Like the rest of you, I have a Square postcard with it’s nifty foam . . . and I’ve kept the thing, not knowing whether I wanted to use it or not.

@heathercompton Thanks for that info about AMEX. I know lots of small biz that use that

@deairby I am still waiting for mine.  But the info on the developer is news. Thanks for sharing

figured it out…my case was not allowing the square to click down far enough… if I turn it sideways it will go down far enough and work… just in case you have a heavy phone cover too @joanmuschampfagnani

Last October we used the Square for a charity walk I organize. It worked great! We were never able to use cc before so this helped out our sales greatly.

The only complainant we had from walkers was on the iphone the area was a little small to sign in. So if you have a choice you might want to get an iPad to work with.
We only use it once a year so the pay as you use is a great feature for us.

hopefully I’ll need it this afternoon for a speaking engagement and sell some books! @jackburgin

Great Info, I’m going to check out both companies for merchant services.

Thanks

Yes, it works!!! great! and you can email receipts …. instantly @jackburgin

Oh and the food was fabulous if anyone ever visits the Orlando area, it’s called Peperconi’s.

@sharaspaperie @deairby @marc-pitman @jenniferwashlow-pag @charlynshelton-socialmediainterpreter @heathercompton @maricochran and many others: great discussion!

I look like a rock star to my newest client now!

It’s a good option if you don’t have a lot of transactions with credit cards, or if you use it just in some seasons, there are not initial fee, and not high monthly payments. They accept all brands of credit card, and charge the same commission. The only problem is that square do not accept payments from different country, it was a year ago, I’m not sure if it has changed. I have been using it during one year, and I haven’t had any kind of problem.

It is funny I just hear about Square this morning so I will have to look at this, but look at what just came out on Alltop.comhttp://www.fastcompany.com/1819157/boku-pre-empts-the-wireless-pay-revolution-with-mobile-pay-on-your-current-phone?partner=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+fastcompany%2Fheadlines+%28Fast+Company+Headlines%29

Does anyone know if this will work in the UK?  It seems from the thread that you are still signing a signature.  Here in the UK it is all now chip and pin with no one signing their name. 

@charlyn when you don’t pay a monthly fee you are probably paying it in each transaction fee or % then what you can normally get.When I was in the industry I was focused on medium businesses but I found when I looked at a statement from Square or Intuit… or some others they were charging and getting the money in way shape or form. Even CFO’s of corporations could not understand their statements because the banks make it that way. Remember they mark it up for their profit… never heard of any bank not making a profit… ever… look at their buildings