Square

[mk162]

Ha, are you serious?  regulation only f*cks crap up.  you will pay more personally now for use of your debit card, if you bank will even continue them.  All over $.20 per swipe.

it's called charge a 2%processing fee if your state allows it, otherwise go with a check, money order or cash.

or, raise your prices a couple percent.  problem solved.

Actually on second thought, lets also regulate the cotton industry, the plastics industry, and anything else we use on a daily basis.

Oh wait, they are regulating it if you are under 12 years old...how is THAT working out for you?

[Fresh Baked Printing]

Veering a bit off topic but look how the regulation on banks charging NSF paids worked out. Free checking is harder and harder to find.
While the government passed some "Feel Good" legislation, the banking industry just passed on the fees somewhere else. Now people who never had NSF's are stuck having to pay for checking accounts now. The consumer ALWAYS loose in the end. At least the politicians can feel good about themselves and voters will actually keep voting for them.

[tpitman]

I guess it is where you stand in the "credit card" volume. 2.75 may seem like a lot if you are running a butt load of transactions but, if you are a small volume merchant, once you figure in the monthly fees and every other thing they nickel and dime you with, it is actually quite reasonable. Plus, I am quite taken with the versatility of this system.

Agreed. I just signed up. I don't take much in the way of CCs so this is perfect. I've been using Intuit's merchant account which was pretty cheap, but they hit me up for $14 a month whether or not I use it. Also saves me from having to tote my laptop or pay for tethering to my iPhone.
As for turnaround on payment, I saw where they claim it'll be in your bank the next day.

Thanks for the post, Donnie.

[Frog]

Well, I've been reading about this little device and the Square plan for a few months now, and if I already had one of them new-fangled smart-ass phones I'd be on this like
Pick your favorite:
White on Rice
Flies on Sh1t
Frogs on Flies.

Monthly fees and additional fees for those damn Vikings and their rewards ilk have kept me plastic free until now. But with clients finding me now from further and further away, credit card processing is becoming inevitable.
And, as mk162 pointed out, some states do not permit up-charging for credit. We have to post credit price, and then offer a cash discount.

[Donnie]

if I already had one of them new-fangled smart-ass phones

Frog,

Smart men deserve smart phones. 

[Fresh Baked Printing]

Of course, my fangled smart phone, a BlackBerry, doesn't work with Square. I need a NEW fangled smart phone. Or I can steal my wife's iPhone.

[ebscreen]

I'm not talking about the %3 or whatever rate you pay. I'm talking about the "rewards" people get for
using their cards. AMEX is the worst. Runs us about $300 a month for making the CC company look
good. Eff that Ess.

[mk162]

then don't take AMEX.  problem solved.  most people have other forms of payment, they just say no so that you will take that card.

look at aldi, cash or debit ONLY.  That is how their prices are low and they keep margins up.

Nobody forces you to do anything, yet you want to complain that the government should make somebody else's services cheaper for you.  How would you like it if they set shirt pricing from our vendors?  You would see less stock, less color options, less styles, etc.

[tpitman]

Well, I've been reading about this little device and the Square plan for a few months now, and if I already had one of them new-fangled smart-ass phones I'd be on this like
Pick your favorite:
White on Rice
Flies on Sh1t
Frogs on Flies.

None of the above. I was on it like stink on a monkey.

[Donnie]

Hobo on a ham sandwich.
Bad acting in an Adam Sandler Movie.

[mk162]

White on rice in a glass of milk on a paper plate in a snowstorm.

[Dottonedan]

A SQUARE? you mean Marry Jane, joint, fag (British term), blunt, weed etc.  I don't know what you call them. I never touched the stuff. I heard about it though.

[screenxpress]

By the way, SquareUp is not the only game in town.

http://payments.intuit.com/products/basic-payment-solutions/mobile-credit-card-processing.jsp

Intuit has a slightly lower rate and a high-volume plan if you run more than $1,000 a month in charges. 

Yes, I know the high-volume plan has a monthly fee of $12.95 along with the lower percentage, but I ran some numbers and it's really close at $1,000 a month between the two companies using the high-volume plan (Intuit was about $2.00 more on that threshold).  Bumping to $2,000 a month in charges using the high-volume plan was a savings of $8.00 with Intuit.  Bumping to $5,000 a month in charges was a savings of right at $39.00.

[ZooCity]

We got our square in the mail just a touch late (day after) we did a 3 day folk festival stint.  Tested it with my personal card and it's probably the best functioning app I've used yet for the android.  Very clean, quick, smart, professional.  Top notch all around and while I'd much rather run the bulk of our sales (at the retail store) on our crazy low rate swiper @ 1.5% from BoA I wish to high holy hell I had this square bizness all the years I've been in bizness.  It's perfect for mobile sales and 2.75% flat rate is quite reasonable. 

I think eradication would be a better alternative to regulation in this case.  We have too many clown industries right now, insisting they get paid for doing next to nothing, and only when forced by law into doing so (insurance anyone?) or paid exorbitantly for a small service (our cardholder rewarding friends in the credit processing industry).  Time to clean house if you ask me.