I've been using the Square for a couple of months now -- LOVE IT! I've been recommending it to everyone I know in business (any type of business) -- you'd think they have been paying me to talk them up. Its really IS a flat 2.75% -- and people love signing my phone.
You need to be a member of Art Fair Insiders to add comments!
I used Square for the first time last weekend, and I did see that it stored email addresses. This just made it more convenient for me actually, and the customers seemed happy with it. So far the only problem I've had wasn't with Square at all but with my previous credit card processing company. A word of caution here. I cancelled my contract with Merchant Services on October 25, but they have continued to deduct the monthly fee from my bank account anyway, and I have been given the royal runaround to try to fix it and be reimbursed. So if you're in the same boat, be vigilant! They aren't exactly anxious to stop those pesky fees. The Square account I have is wonderful though. Customers enjoy using it, other artists are curious about it, and I love its convenience and low cost!
Tom Becker > Christine HeislerJune 22, 2013 at 4:40pm
I found that the actual cost of using the square (percentage of sale) was roughly the same amount as using a merchant account and wireless terminal, per transaction. So It didn't matter which I used to capture a sale. The difference was that between sales the merchant account still collected many monthly fees, sales or not. The square does not, so far. The cost of equipment was much cheaper with the square. But you gotta still carry a slider, I am told, for that occasion where either type of equipment fails.
Call your merchant acct and see if they have a swiper like The Square. mine did and has a much cheaper % rate. With the fees I'm still paying under 2 %. I have friends that negotiated with they merchant provider and got a lower rate when they told them they were changing to the square. Most new cards are not raised so a knuckle buster is becoming useless.
Tom Becker > Cindy KetchersidJune 24, 2013 at 8:54am
Yes, I had a lower "percentage" with the merchant account/wireless terminal too. But my overall cost per sale when I added up the wireless annual fee, merchant account monthly fee, PCI fees, and all the other associated fees I found the Square's fees to be very similar. Now I don't have to deal with all the logistics, only the sales.
My merchant account would charge a hefty extra fee for each month I failed to go to the PCI website and complete a confusing form to become PCI compliant. This had to be done annually.
Evidently, you only have to do the form once now. I just got an email notification about the annual form. So I sat down and got ready to answer "yes" to all the questions, just like I always do. But this year was different! I got only one question. "Are there any changes from last year?" I answered "no" and that was it. Done in 15 seconds!
Kate -- Any new developments on this issue with Square? I will be considering them or the Intuit reader -- may just get one of each since they're free. It sounds like something Square should be able to "fix", plus no one else has ever mentioned this particular problem...
Michael Reimer > Michael HigdonNovember 10, 2011 at 3:04pm
There isn't an issue other than Kate misused her square. The email of the receipt is for the credit card holder, not the merchant. The exact situation she describes is on the Squareup web site, so it has been mentioned and I doubt they are going to 'fix' it because I don't think it is broken. I see it as a plus that if my customer provided their email address to another square user, I don't have to retype it in to send them a receipt. As a customer, as long as they don't share my email address with anyone, it doesn't matter to me - they have my credit card information and I trust them with that, right?
Replies
I used Square for the first time last weekend, and I did see that it stored email addresses. This just made it more convenient for me actually, and the customers seemed happy with it. So far the only problem I've had wasn't with Square at all but with my previous credit card processing company. A word of caution here. I cancelled my contract with Merchant Services on October 25, but they have continued to deduct the monthly fee from my bank account anyway, and I have been given the royal runaround to try to fix it and be reimbursed. So if you're in the same boat, be vigilant! They aren't exactly anxious to stop those pesky fees. The Square account I have is wonderful though. Customers enjoy using it, other artists are curious about it, and I love its convenience and low cost!
I found that the actual cost of using the square (percentage of sale) was roughly the same amount as using a merchant account and wireless terminal, per transaction. So It didn't matter which I used to capture a sale. The difference was that between sales the merchant account still collected many monthly fees, sales or not. The square does not, so far. The cost of equipment was much cheaper with the square. But you gotta still carry a slider, I am told, for that occasion where either type of equipment fails.
Call your merchant acct and see if they have a swiper like The Square. mine did and has a much cheaper % rate. With the fees I'm still paying under 2 %. I have friends that negotiated with they merchant provider and got a lower rate when they told them they were changing to the square. Most new cards are not raised so a knuckle buster is becoming useless.
Yes, I had a lower "percentage" with the merchant account/wireless terminal too. But my overall cost per sale when I added up the wireless annual fee, merchant account monthly fee, PCI fees, and all the other associated fees I found the Square's fees to be very similar. Now I don't have to deal with all the logistics, only the sales.
My merchant account would charge a hefty extra fee for each month I failed to go to the PCI website and complete a confusing form to become PCI compliant. This had to be done annually.
Evidently, you only have to do the form once now. I just got an email notification about the annual form. So I sat down and got ready to answer "yes" to all the questions, just like I always do. But this year was different! I got only one question. "Are there any changes from last year?" I answered "no" and that was it. Done in 15 seconds!
Life can be good! Thanks for the update.
Square rocks! :-)
Kate -- Any new developments on this issue with Square? I will be considering them or the Intuit reader -- may just get one of each since they're free. It sounds like something Square should be able to "fix", plus no one else has ever mentioned this particular problem...
There isn't an issue other than Kate misused her square. The email of the receipt is for the credit card holder, not the merchant. The exact situation she describes is on the Squareup web site, so it has been mentioned and I doubt they are going to 'fix' it because I don't think it is broken. I see it as a plus that if my customer provided their email address to another square user, I don't have to retype it in to send them a receipt. As a customer, as long as they don't share my email address with anyone, it doesn't matter to me - they have my credit card information and I trust them with that, right?
Here's the link that describes this situation https://help.squareup.com/customer/portal/articles/197741-receipt-i...
Kate
-
1
-
2
of 2 Next