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Dream Vs Square. Anyone Have A


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So I just tripped across a reference to this new terminal the other night. I got very excited, because fellow Canadians, It Takes Debit Cards!

The pros over square: it takes debit cards, and it reads chips/does that tap payment thing.

Cons: they want $100 for the terminal, and the rate for credit cards is 2.75 instead of 2.65. (It's $.25 for debit transactions.). Also, they say the $100 price is a "sale," and the regular price will be about $150. As the app is new, it lacks the bells and whistles that square has in the back end. But it has room to grow.

 

Does anyone have any experience with this terminal, or have friends who do? I want to know how it works in the field.

Lurkers, please speak up.

http://www.dreampayments.com/#overview

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I have a few thoughts not on the dream but on a few things you brought up.

Square reader or most any reader turns any debit card into a standard charge .As long as it has the hologram on it.

As far as a true pin transaction there are always per swipe fees and you have to give your reader/phone to the person so they can enter their pin number without others seeing it.

so The square takes debit as I have taken them forever-it is not a true pin debit transaction but works very well

The square now has released their new chip card reader (costs 49$) and you keep the card in it and its linked to phone. I have had mine for 3 months now.

it sits on counter and is wireless and is very small.

 

I just finished a year and 1/2 run with my Amazon card reader (they dropped card services this month) my rate was 1.75 as I got in on the promo deal.

Now its back to the square for me which has many more users in their system (receipt goes to their e-mail)

As to true debit card pin transactions I will say that they will be a pain as the customer has to deal with their pin number and that get weird when you hand them your reader and ask to enter it.

As long as the hologram is on the debit card its really a credit card-I think Canada is the same or its been that way when I do my summer Anacortes show and I take lots of Canadian credit cards at that show.

I'm not a lurker so maybe so take this with a grain of non lurking

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Couple thoughts, I didn't see an offline mode option with Dream. I have used that at a few places with Square on my ipad when I couldn't access my data. Also, I would guess that this is just more reason for Square to bring the debit card transaction capability to Canada. Not sure how comfortable customers would be entering their pin on a device with no track record.  Maybe when these type of chip readers are more common, but as long as we don't need them here in Canada I'm okay with the old Square.

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Mark, have you ever encountered a Canadian customer that handed you their ATM card, and look confused when you told them you couldn't take it? In Canada we refer to our ATM banking cards as debit cards, and a service called Interac enables you use them to make pin-enabled purchases at the counter. They don't work without the pin.  It's been in operation for about 25 years, and it's odd to find a brick and mortar store without it.  No one here is weirded out by entering a pin into the right device, as Min says.  The customer pays straight out of their chequing account, and the transaction is either approved or denied on the spot, taking at least some of the worry out for the vendor as well.  Credit card companies do issue "debit cards" here as well, but few people have them, as you have to transfer cash into a separate account first in order to use it.

Square and all the other readers don't have a pin entry option, so they don't take Canadian debit cards.

 

I dunno, Min.  I think I'd be more uncomfortable entering my pin into someone's phone than a separate device. But that might just be me.  It lacks a lot of features, like being able to integrate with quickbooks, and an inventory tracking system that I would miss.  But being able to offer debit at a reasonable cost would be nice.  I remember a lot of the initial discussions around Square mentioning a number of vendors having multiple systems as backup.

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DC We have straight atm only cards here as well( I have one) but most customers use them at the supermarket not my booth. I have been handed a few over the years especially when my credit card sales are just under 50 k a year. I have been handed gas cards -safeway supermarket cards-gift cards-military ID cards you name it. I have come close to choosing several wireless systems that took straight debit cards and have came to the same conclusion each time about handing over my device that any customer can drop and break and ruin all my sales from that point on at an art show from charging. I have done this long enough to know that that will happen-i never let them handle my devices I hold them. I have seen to many broken smart phones from simple drops by well intending customers from other booths around me.

 Let us know after a season about how the dream works if you choose it-I am always looking for better credit servers-I have been through 6-9 so far in my career . Amazon and the Square have been the best so far. The one other note that is a plus is the Square does store forward which means when its out of range of service you can take a card-it also means you are trusting the customer (if the cards bad you eat it) but you still take a card and download the data later which is key if the location does not work for your phone server.I have had to this this once or twice over the span of my wireless devices and its a key point for us who do this full time in remote areas.

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With the $100 outlay, it doesn't make sense for me in the first half of this year. have some non-clay friends that also do the same show circuit as me that make more money who are looking at it. I'll get feedback from them, and report back. If it looks good, I'll pick it up for the Christmas season.

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Thanks for bringing this up, Diesel. I'm curious to learn more about it too, so please report back.

 

I recently got my Square chip reader (not the wireless one, the one that plugs into the headphone jack, slightly larger than the original swiper). I chose that one because it is cheaper ($30) and I am wary of the wireless one. At some shows I do, if I leave the wireless reader on my counter, someone will steal it. Also, if it connects to my iPad via bluetooth, and other artists nearby are using a bluetooth reader, aren't those bluetooth connections going to get crossed? Maybe I'm needlessly worried about that second part.

 

Anyhow, I tried to use my new chip reader last weekend, and it didn't work! The app didn't connect with it. I did the show with a swipe-only reader. Then I contacted tech support at Square. The fix was to delete/reinstall the app, plus topping off the battery charge on the reader. It was already almost fully charged, so I'm a little disappointed. Some shows don't supply electricity. Square suggested that I could purchase a portable charging battery. No thanks. I plan to always pack a swipe-only reader as a backup instead.

 

But still, Square is doing better than Intuit. I pre-ordered my Intuit chip-reader last May. No sign of it yet.

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Gep

The biggest issue with whatever technology we use for card capturing at big shows .There can be so many users that the curcuits can be overwelmed and get busy where your device will just not work at high usage times.

I have had this happen with every device I have ever used

It's good to have a backup method always

We as artists seem to use the same devices as they go thru the various technologies

I would not worry about the Bluetooth ever being crossed

I always have a way to charge my devices in my booth not depending on any outside power source

You can pick one up on Amazon like an Anker 20100 mA modelA 1271

This can charge your phone twice or any other device with a usb cord like your iPad

This battery is very small about the size of a small tv remote

With all the new card readers I suggest linking them 1st at home with your phone and test them before the show

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I've used Square for several years now very successfully at the one show I do each year. I haven't had any problems with deposits, holds or anything. I also I got the Square stand, receipt printer, cash drawer and now chip reader for our local cooperative gallery. It has worked well, too. We've had a couple of times when it went offline, but we just reset the router and modem to our internet and we were fine. It also has an offline mode, where it will hold transactions for up to 72 hours, then upload them once connectivity has been restored. All in all, it's a very intuitive system and I'm glad we got it.

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I love square's system. I have the swiper (the chip readers aren't available outside the US yet), and I think it's enabled me to do business in a way that simply wasn't possible five years ago. I got in with the second generation of swiper, so the early glitches were worked out and I've never had a problem. My only beef is that it doesn't take the ATM debit payments that are so very commonplace here, and Dream apparently does.

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I just got my new Clover chip card reader. It's a nice little unit that plugs into my phone jack, and I really like the new app. This replaces a swipe-only reader I've been using for the last year or two. I process through PNC/First Data, whom I have banked with for the last 11 years. My rates are good and their apps are easy to use. I don't tend to fuss too much about rates. A 0.25% difference isn't worth all the time and hassle of setting up a new system IMO. I can easily wipe out any saving through wasting several hours setting it all up. I do check to make sure the rates aren't creeping up over time, though, which is what happened with Intuit and got me to switch to PNC. a year or two ago.

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I didn't read the whole thread (on my way to bed) so forgive me if I'm repeating anybody's info. 

PayPal has a card/chip reader for $40. That's what I plan to do before my Open Studio in October which is the only time I sell in person. I will be back tomorrow to read everybody's suggestions. :) 

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