Honest opinions of Square needed

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Haynie

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I hope this is acceptable. I trust many of the opinions on this site and folks here appear to be fair minded. And, maybe this discussion will help others as well.

With the change in our business we are about at 1/10 of the credit card charges we used to do a month in season. I am not upset about this as we are finally doing alright. It would not be a problem if our CC fees went down too but they did not. I have to accept credit cards but I hate what has turned into high fees I read here almost twice a week sometimes about people using Square. From what I have read on the site it would do what we need. What I am looking for is:

1-What type of business are you using it with?
2-If you have problems, what are they?
3-If you have dealt with their customer service how was it, and do they speak English? It is very difficult to understand my current customer service reps.
4-If you have chosen not to go with square why?
5-How often do you use it?
6-what platform-MAC or Android- do you use it with?

I understand some folks might not want to put some of this info out there and I understand.

Thanks in advance.
 
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I use square and love it. the fees are great, the money is transferred quickly, and have not had a problem reading yet. I use it on a galaxy tablet (android), my iPod (apple ios), Motorola droid X (android), and all work great. I use it with my iPod going thru my galaxy hot spot for internet with out any problems either. I like the fact that i send a description of each item and a picture with each email/text message receipt. i even record all of my cash transactions thru it at no charge so i have a nice total of sales at the end of the day without a cash register.
i like it very much. have used intuit go payment as well and the square is much better.
 
I have been using Square since its startup. I use it with my Photography, Picture Framing and Pen business. I don't have a lot of use with it, just an occasional charge but have been very happy. I have never had to contact customer service. I use it on my Droid phone. A very good friend of mine dropped his merchant account and switched to Square for the very reasons you have named .....fees. He is also very happy with it. I also know people that use it extensively on their Ipad and are very happy with it. There are a lot of advantages to Square. It has a lot of great features that you will not get any other way. Buyer can get email with puchase info including GPS location and even a picture of what they bought (provided you take one). The new version that just came out adds cash register functions along with other features.

I have an accounting and finance background and honestly do not know of a good reason not to use it.
 
Haynie said:
I hope this is acceptable. I trust many of the opinions on this site and folks here appear to be fair minded. And, maybe this discussion will help others as well.

With the change in our business we are about at 1/10 of the credit card charges we used to do a month in season. I am not upset about this as we are finally doing alright. It would not be a problem if our CC fees went down too but they did not. I have to accept credit cards but I hate what has turned into high fees I read here almost twice a week sometimes about people using Square. From what I have read on the site it would do what we need. What I am looking for is:

1-What type of business are you using it with?
2-If you have problems, what are they?
3-If you have dealt with their customer service how was it, and do they speak English? It is very difficult to understand my current customer service reps.
4-If you have chosen not to go with square why?
5-How often do you use it?
6-what platform-MAC or Android- do you use it with?

I understand some folks might not want to put some of this info out there and I understand.

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

Check out this thread. Appears to be a hit or miss situation, for me it's been a mostly miss. I'm hoping it's the type/model of phone the reader is used with. I know that Curtis uses his with an IPad and I don't think he has had any problems to speak of. I think this answers your questions 1 and 2.
As for 3, the only CS is by email. Mine have all been answered within 24 hours.
#5- I attempted to use the reader almost every weekend at show since the first of October. My thread listed above tell what happened.
#6- I have an android phone, a Samsung Prevail.
 
For me Square was a Godsend. 90% of all of my pen sales are individual, word-of-mouth type deals. I do two small local shows a year that make up the other 10%. I like having the option of taking credit cards, but there is no way to justify any other type of CC processing system. I run it on my Andoid phone which is both 3G and wi-fi capable. I am on Verizon, so signal has never been a problem. The sofware is solid, the interface is easy, the fees are cheap and as others said, they transfer the money to my primary bank account quickly. I don't know what else I could ask for.
 
Thanks for the pointer Monty. I did read it then reread it just now. When the new reader gets to you I hope it works.
 
I got mine back in August, didn't use it till nov. it jut worked. I got an email tilling me how much was in my account each night. Then I got an emailon Monday tilling me when to expect the deposit.

Small percentage of the total. Best part, is if I don't use it for a couple months their isn't any fees.

Down side if no network, no CC. WAs at a high school that was actively blocking cell signals, so no connection. Finally got some one To let me use their wireless so problem over came that time. Who knows next time.



Stan
 
I have been using mine for the last 8 or so shows I have done and have had no problems with the square unit. phone reception is key! I use a samsung galaxy s android phone and love the interface.... handy pointer: make sure you have plenty of the stylus pens/bobbles available...hand them one to sign, then add it to the sale!

I have only had to contact service once, did it online and was taken care of very quickly. You can also use the square service for manually entered numbers, make sure you get a zip code and the CVV number.

I requested an additional unit, A) so my kid could process at the same time at a show and B) because I lose things... showed up in the mail a couple of days later.
 
I don't use any electronic reader... I don't carry cell phones and a number of the shows I've done were not in a service area, read up in the mountains.... I've got an old fashion knucklebuster and run the cards through Propay... fees are reasonable, I expected to pay something so the fees were built into my pricing, customers don't have a problem with the time it takes me to write them up and swipe their card... most of my shows are farmers markets on Saturdays, I post at night when I get home from the show (I only do shows that are close to home so no overnighters).. usually have my money in my account on Monday.. transfer to my bank Monday night and funds available on Tuesday or Wednesday... works for me and I would guess that about 60%++ of my sales are CC.
 
Mark, I use mine at shows, and sometimes at the shop , I have had issues with it not reading some cards.
I also have an account with a big bank card company, which furnished me with a Veriphone reader like a lot of stores and restaurants use, but no good for shows, no secure wifi links.
The fees are lower on Square than my regular bank card company, plus they hit me 35.00 a month whether I use them or not, they did furnish me with a swipe device like Square, but there again the discount rates are higher, especially on American Express. I don't think it's an issue with my phone, it's an HTC Inspire (android) on ATT.
The one thing I don't like about Square is the bit of holding you money if you do over 1000.00 a week, If I do a show, and I get close to that, I just use a knuckle buster and write the info, then when I get home I just use my NAB North American Bankcard reader and manually key the transactions. In 12 years of doing shows and Flea markets I've been burned ONE time and it was on a stupid 25.00 Silver Skull ring.
If I have to call customer service for NAB, I'll be on the phone for at least 45 minutes, but they do speak English, once you finally get hold of someone.
I am waiting to try the old walmart trick. If the card won't swipe, put it in a plastic shopping bag, or the small ones we have and see if that helps.
I know it helped on my old Discover card after about 6 tries the cashier put it in a bag, swiped it one time and it works. I also do key entries at the shop if someone needs a tool or some inserts shipped immediately, I have the veriphone reader at home in my real office.
I had ProPay for a while, but their fees were a bit too high for us, but it works, and they aren't too bad about getting your money into your bank, Customer service was sort of OK, but that's with any one of the companies.
My NAB account is 2 to 3 days for the funds to hit my bank, unless it's charged on a Friday, it won't go through their end till Monday, Square takes a day longer.
Considering the cost, I think Square is fantastic, even paying the extra .15 cents and 1/2 percent on manually keyed transactions really doesn't bother me.
I like it, I know PayPal also has some type mobile system, but it's still PayPal.
I think you'll be happy with square, I know I like it.
 
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Ken,

Square no longer limits it to $1,000 per week, at least on my account. I did a show back in September and did over the $1k in credit card transactions and I had all my money the following Monday or Tuesday.
 
Curtis Thanks a bunch, Now I just have to hope this last show of the year brings in a grand in credit cards, Probably wont, but one can hope!!!
 
Ken,
I have an ATM card that at certain business won't always swipe... I think it's the readers rather than the card... if the cashier swipes it twice and it doesn't read, I always tell them to put a bag over it... reads almost every time then.... about every 6-8 months I'll go into the bank and have them send me a new card.
 
I have used Square for about 8 months now with no issues. Only 2 minor complaints so far - No service means you have to take the info and type it in when you do have service. and the $1000 limit per month. I had a $3000 transaction (manually entered) they gave me $1000 within a couple days, but didn't see the balance for almost a month. This is a recurring transaction for me and the next time I ran it by swiping....presto - Entire balance minus fees deposited next day.

This transaction was my first transaction and their security department contacted me to see what kind of business I was in and to provide them with a copy of the invoice to check legitimacy. Good communications.

I'm using and android (HTC Inspire). You can even set it up to automatically add tax...if you charge it. My only complaint with the software is the inability to put in line items like you can on the ipad. On the phone it is one line only. 1 nice option is to take a picture (with the phone) of the item you are selling and include it on the receipt.

Two thumbs up from me.
 
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Lots of good information. Thank you. I am pretty sold on it. Now I just need to get out of my contract with First Data. They have been good and I have no complaints (outside of the very difficult to understand customer service), I just don't do the amount of transactions I once did. I also like that Square charges the same percentage for all cards. Right now MC and Visa are the same, then AMEX is a bit higher, and Discover is just crazy.
 
I got a Square reader to use at the few shows I do around the holidays but have not used it because of security reasons. I do not own an Iphone or smart phone, but have an Android tablet. After reading a post here a while back that said using a public unsecured network for a tablet is not safe I decided not to use it. After reading about Squares security on their website it seems that they use some sort of encryption for the transactions. Does this mean it's safe to use a free public network? Or should I wait till I get a smart phone. I have found the info here usefull and hopefully will resolve this security issue, thanks,


Bill
 
It is my understanding that Square is send the data from your device to their server in an encrypted fashion. It would be no different than you entering your credit card over the internet on a website with https. Your connection to the internet is not secure but the data being sent is encrypted and only they can open it. Heck, as a vendor accepting cards with Square, I can not even see the credit card number, phone number. or e-mail address for the transactions that i swipe.
 
And, BTW, the free, public wifi is just as secure as your internet connection...not secure at all. Sure, you may have a password that prevents someone from accessing your wifi, but once on the net, without encryption, it is not secure at all.
 
I used my Square for the first time today. Worked perfectly on first try. Verizon Samsung Galaxy S smartphone. Would not have gotten the sale without ability to accept plastic. I have never had a merchant account o any other cc processing system, so I can't compare the cost, but 2.74% does seem reasonable. Lordy, I love god old America ingenuity.
 
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