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Square, the very handy portable credit card reader!

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Old Jun 19, 2011 | 11:36 PM
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Thumbs up Square, the very handy portable credit card reader!

Anyone else use one of these? I've had one for a while now and while I don't use it a lot it's nice to have. What's great about it is that it's free, there's now account fees, no minimum amount you have to charge or you get hit with fees, and no hidden fees.

It plugs into the headphone jack of an iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad or Android phone and you swipe the card and it charges it and sends the monies to your bank account. The person can sign using the touch screen and you can email or text them a receipt and the receipt has the location of where the transaction occurred too.

The only charge is 2.75% for swiped cards and 3.75% for manually entered cards. If you're ringing up ten thousand of dollars in sales and don't need the portability then this isn't for you but if you do less than that then this is perfect. I've only used it twice but it was great when I had it. Otherwise I wouldn't have gotten paid.

<object width="853" height="510"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/iBieYjxUj5Q?version=3&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0&amp;h d=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/iBieYjxUj5Q?version=3&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0&amp;h d=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="853" height="510" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>

<object width="853" height="510"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/z0BwYz1P0BE?version=3&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0&amp;h d=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/z0BwYz1P0BE?version=3&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0&amp;h d=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="853" height="510" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>

www.squareup.com
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Old Jun 19, 2011 | 11:43 PM
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Hookers?
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Old Jun 19, 2011 | 11:44 PM
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perfect for hookers.....
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Old Jun 20, 2011 | 12:10 AM
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2.75%.. not bad at all.
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Old Jun 20, 2011 | 12:21 AM
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Originally Posted by tmnhs81
Hookers?
Originally Posted by #1 STUNNA
perfect for hookers.....
damn it, you guys beat me to it
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Old Jun 20, 2011 | 12:24 AM
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that percentage rate is about right for regular card readers anyways with visa or mastercard; AMX is a bit higher, how do you think you get those rewards?
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Old Jun 20, 2011 | 12:28 AM
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Most stores that do thousands and millions in sales get lower rates than 2.75% but for someone who uses it occasionally it's much better than any other system that has annual fees, cost for the reader itself and charges you a penalty if you don't have x amount of charges per month.

Square does take Amex, Discover, MC and Visa.
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Old Jun 20, 2011 | 12:33 AM
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idk exact detail of rates for card machines and such, just roughly what they charge about




BUT the biggest issue i see with the device though is security issues, with me wanting to say run my card through it, just hope the data is never stored, cause a phone is so easy to loose
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Old Jun 20, 2011 | 01:19 AM
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no, your CC is not stored on the device
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Old Jun 20, 2011 | 01:23 AM
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Yup, we use it for our club.

When we were selling bacon wrapped hot dogs on campus for an event we made sure we put a sign up saying we take credit. And those people that said no, we got no cash that excuse wouldnt work on us.

Others didnt believe it and bought one just to see it. Made a couple sales like that lol. Although still a majority sales are cash, it comes in handy a lot.
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Old Jun 20, 2011 | 01:39 AM
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Originally Posted by #1 STUNNA
perfect for hookers.....
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Old Jun 20, 2011 | 02:16 AM
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Does it convert to roses?


DAMMIT you guys beat me too it...
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Old Jun 20, 2011 | 07:39 AM
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I thought some CC company or security company was screaming that this thing was extremely unsecure.

EDIT: I guess the guy was kinda blowing smoke but there is no encryption so he thinks its the Achilles heel.

http://www.cocoanetics.com/2011/03/how-safe-is-square/

Last edited by rza49311; Jun 20, 2011 at 07:48 AM.
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Old Jun 20, 2011 | 08:03 AM
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the idea is good but the machine is a tad slow.


my mom uses one for her psychology practice and even on a strong wireless network or a 3g network for her iPad it wouldnt read half of the cards.

good rates tho.
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Old Jun 20, 2011 | 08:10 AM
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I never understood why these card processing companies get away with charging more for a manually entered card. Something like this is great for field service. I'd rather pay the CC company a few % than to go though the hassle of chasing down some mofo to send me a check 30 days later.
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Old Jun 20, 2011 | 08:21 AM
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Hookers?
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Old Jun 20, 2011 | 08:43 AM
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havent they had these for a year or so?

thought i saw a white one for the iphone in the wild a LONG time ago.
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Old Jun 20, 2011 | 11:40 AM
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Originally Posted by doopstr
I never understood why these card processing companies get away with charging more for a manually entered card. Something like this is great for field service. I'd rather pay the CC company a few % than to go though the hassle of chasing down some mofo to send me a check 30 days later.
Well thru my understanding there are 3 card type tiers, qualified which is consumer cards which are swiped and the batch closed within 24 hours.
Mid qualified which is keyed in transactions such as Internet and PoS device, business and corporate cards and rewards cards.
And lastly non qualified which is for like corporate cards with even higher rewards.

I'm guessing they charge less for swiped cards is cause it's probably quicker to process and merchants will have more of those transactions.
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