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Current Opinions On Best Mobile Credit Card Options


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I am getting back into the game after a few years of hiatus. I'm taking the plunge, and going for the mobile device credit card option. I have read some of the other threads on this topic, but I notice several of them are now 2 +years old. This can be a lifetime for some tech, and there has been time to fix bugs and create new ones. I want to know opinions on Square vs Propay vs Gopayment.

Canadian input is extra valuable if there is any difference in services, but all is welcome:)

Cal

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I'm still a square fan as I feel its the easiest software to use. The new readers are fantastic as that was the only weak point and now its fixed.

My last two shows were all squared up.Will be the same on the 4th of July show.

Mark

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Square works really well for me. I've been using it since it came to Canada, the early card readers were fussy but the ones they are sending out now have worked flawlessly for me. I use it on an ipad with a data plan. Many people use it with a cell but I like the big screen of the ipad for customers to see what I'm doing.

 

It's simple to link your bank account with it, funds are paid in a couple days, 2.75% fee if the card is swiped, a titch more if it is entered manually. I really appreciate that there is no contract.

 

I have had one negative comment from a customer about it. When it came to entering her email address for a receipt her truncated email came up even though she had never bought from me prior to this transaction. She didn't like that Square had kept her info from a transaction she had done in the States the year before with another vendor.

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Mark C. posted about using Square.   I waited till my contract was up and got it.

Looked at those other plans:

 

Propay -  2.6% but you have to buy the swiper.  Not sure about that because there have been a lot of problems with swipers and Square issues and replaces free.   In 6 months I've used 2 swipers.

 

Gopayment -  I would have to say no on this.  To get the rate of 1.75% you have to pay $19.99 a month and pay a transaction fee 25 cents.   Or  2.4% with 25 cents and no monthly fee.  Somewhere in there there are different prices if you have Quick Books online too.    If you are using Quick Books this might be a good solution but seems you would have to do consistent monthly volume to save money.  ($2000 a month to break even on monthly fee)

 

I looked at all the options last fall and picked Square.   They are a proven.   I like the ease of use and sales analysis potential and free scanners (no shipping charges).

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I have been happy with Intuit Gopayment for a few years. They charge a little more than Square. Up until recently, their swiper was much sturdier and more reliable than Square's swiper. But it looks like Square has beefed up their hardware now.

 

The Gopayment rates are a little different than listed above, unless my rates are grandfathered rates and new users will pay the rates listed above by DirtRoads. My rates are as follows:

 

I can pay $12.95/mo for a 1.75% fee, or pay $0/mo for a 2.75% fee. Then I get charged a little extra for "non-qualified" cards, which are corporate cards, rewards cards, and AMEX cards. These days it seems like the majority of credit cards out there are rewards cards.

 

Now that Square has beefed up their swiper (used to hear bad stories of swipers that died in the middle of a show), then I might consider switching to Square.

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  • 2 weeks later...

The Square?  No.  

 

Paypal Here is wonderful.  Great service (I had a self induced problem late on a Saturday afternoon and I was able to speak to a woman here in the USA who helped me out).  If you go with the Square you will probably never speak to a human except for when you sign up.  Bad customer service.

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I was curious what everyone does for the POS equipment part of Square?  I used the iPhone simple app for the last couple years, but recently purchased an iPad so I have use the expanded register functions.  I would really like to get a receipt printer, but was curious if anyone has gone full square stand with cash drawer and printer. 

 

Tell me what you use?  I have an iPad and will be thinking about getting the TSP200i Bluetooth printer.

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On a post recently one of the potters said they had a custom carbon receipt book printed up and never had a customer balk at filling it in with all their contact information. That seemed right to me.

 

Isn't a full square stand with a TSP200i Bluetooth printer possibly a little over kill and just some more electronic stuff to tote around and worry about?  

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I have been using Square for three years.  My only problem in that time was at a show where everyone with Square lost service for a period of time.  I had to delay my customers so long with waiting for approval that one opted for cash instead(boo yah), one gave me there card information so I could enter it later (did you know you need their zip code too??), and one pulled out there checkbook.  The Square is so predominant, that if it craps out, there is probably one within one or two booth lengths from you to borrow to complete a transaction, or if you have access to a number of big box stores a replacement is $10.00 refundable dollars.

 

After the loss of service incident, I got a PalPal Here set up (I haven't used it, as I really don't want payment via debit card, although I hear that payment is almost instananeous), and made up forms with every bit of information needed to do the manual entry for Square.  Obviously this has greatly improved my service and I have not needed either since.

 

John

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On a post recently one of the potters said they had a custom carbon receipt book printed up and never had a customer balk at filling it in with all their contact information. That seemed right to me.

 

Isn't a full square stand with a TSP200i Bluetooth printer possibly a little over kill and just some more electronic stuff to tote around and worry about?  

Stephen;

I just came off one of these pop-up gallery sales. A woman purchased four mugs- total of $76.00. She had to go to an instant teller machine to get four twenties. She really made an effort to purchase my work with cash. We were at a beach resort at the time. People are not walking around with large amounts of cash with them. At my studio sales, I take cash or cheques. It occurs to me that my sales would increase if I had Square on my ipad. I will be seriously looking into it.

TJR.

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I have been contemplating taking credit cards exclusively.  Cash is such a problem, you need to make sure you have change and keep a wad of money with you.  I have never had an issue with losing money, but it is just a matter of time.  Credit cards are so easy and the vast majority of my sales are with a card anyway.  I am not sure I would lose any sales if I stated credit cards only.  have any of you contemplated this.

 

I know it flies in the face of making it as easy as possible to people to pay you and accept the way they want to pay, but with so many credit cards and if someone wanted to pay with cash and I stated that I only accepted credit cards I am not sure that it would be an issue.   

 

Just something I was thinking about a couple of weeks ago when I was having a good day at a sale in a more urban setting and walking around with well over $1000 in cash made me nervous.  There were so many people around many people had to see the cash exchanging hands that day.  I was an easy target.

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With my Android phone (HTCone) I went with the PayPay Here option and have had very few problems.  The device is available from Staples for $15 and comes with a $15 refund to your PayPal account once you have it installed.  Processing charges are 2.69/2.7% which might be a little high, but I feel it is worth the convenience. I did experience some slowness at one exhibit where the connection was weak...but it was a real hit at a recent yard sale even when I added $0.25 for each charge :rolleyes:

 

I still have an old school cash box, but checks seem to be used rarely.

 

-Paul

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I have been contemplating taking credit cards exclusively.  Cash is such a problem, you need to make sure you have change and keep a wad of money with you.  I have never had an issue with losing money, but it is just a matter of time.  Credit cards are so easy and the vast majority of my sales are with a card anyway.  I am not sure I would lose any sales if I stated credit cards only.  have any of you contemplated this.

 

I know it flies in the face of making it as easy as possible to people to pay you and accept the way they want to pay, but with so many credit cards and if someone wanted to pay with cash and I stated that I only accepted credit cards I am not sure that it would be an issue.   

 

Just something I was thinking about a couple of weeks ago when I was having a good day at a sale in a more urban setting and walking around with well over $1000 in cash made me nervous.  There were so many people around many people had to see the cash exchanging hands that day.  I was an easy target.

There are shoppers who specifically use only cash so they don't overspend their budget. These people are frequent craft buyers (which is why they need to regulate themselves), so don't cut them off!

 

Just figure out a way to keep your cash discreetly on your body: in your pockets, or wear a fanny pack, apron, etc. I'd say your smarphone/iPad is more of a target for theft, so you need to keep that on your body too. I sewed myself a "holster" that holds my iPad and my cash. The cash stays flat so I can retrieve change without pulling out a drug-dealer-size wad of cash in front of a customer. This is another reason why I position myself in the back of my booth. Unless a person is standing in front of my booth for hours (if someone did that I'd call the police) people really don't see how frequently I am making sales, or how much cash I might be wearing.

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I hardly ever have any cash on me but would be taken back and probably annoyed if I couldn't buy with cash. I assume I would still buy but it would seem odd. Seems easy enough to do both and just be be careful with the cash. 

 

Hi TJR, yeah I agree on credit cards, just meant the additional iPad square stand and receipt printer might be a bit much but I love gadgets too so can certainly understand why Brian might go ahead with the purchase. 

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I have been contemplating taking credit cards exclusively.  Cash is such a problem, you need to make sure you have change and keep a wad of money with you.  I have never had an issue with losing money, but it is just a matter of time.  Credit cards are so easy and the vast majority of my sales are with a card anyway.  I am not sure I would lose any sales if I stated credit cards only.  have any of you contemplated this.

 

I know it flies in the face of making it as easy as possible to people to pay you and accept the way they want to pay, but with so many credit cards and if someone wanted to pay with cash and I stated that I only accepted credit cards I am not sure that it would be an issue.   

 

Just something I was thinking about a couple of weeks ago when I was having a good day at a sale in a more urban setting and walking around with well over $1000 in cash made me nervous.  There were so many people around many people had to see the cash exchanging hands that day.  I was an easy target.

Brian;

I can't beleive you said;"Cash is such a problem!"

Cash is the universal currency. The problem is the storage of cash. Do not use a cash box. I have seen these get stolen more than once. This is where you have a decoy cash box with the exploding dye pack. Probably blue.

Keep your cash on you.

I have had upwards of $1000.00 on me at one time. I do not pull it out. I have another pocket with a $25.00 float. When you can discreetly get rid of your cash, you give it to a trusted friend, business partner etc.

TJR.

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Thank you every one for weighing in!

I did actually go with the square, as I liked the idea of being able to eventually turn it into a proper till for sales closer to home. Also, they seem to have fixed a lot of the bugs that came up in previous threads.

 

JLowes, what do you mean about not wanting to accept debit cards through Paypal Here? Is that to say you don't want to accept your customers debit cards, or that Paypal sends you debit cards?

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One way to make cash sales easier is to round up the price to a dollar amount and take the taxes of on the back end, ie. after you get home. That way you don't need any loose change. And you could price in $5,00 amounts and you would use fewer ones.

Unless you're Canadian, where you use coins for ones.

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Diesel Clay -  PayPal pays you into a PayPal account you either set up, or link to your existing account.  The account is accessed via a PayPal Mastercard (I think it's Mastercard) debit card.  You take a customers payment, PayPal takes out their share and places the rest in your account.  PayPal claims this to be faster access, as swiped transactions are almost immediately transferred.  If you are cash or credit card poor, and away from home, having this access for expenses could be a good thing obviously. 

 

With Square it goes to a bank account I have specifically set up to receive the payments.  A friend had an issue with one of the payment systems tying up their funds due to a customer backcharge, which froze their bank account somehow, so i didn't want to get into that kind of position if it could be avoided.  That is why I set up a specific account for Square payments.  My experience has been from a weekend show, the funds appear in my bank by Monday afternoon or Tuesday.

 

Brian Reed - I am not sure it is legal to refuse to accept cash in the USA.  It is the legal tender of the land.  My workaround involves pricing to always come out in even dollars.  If your price points match up in $20 increments, you stand a better chance with change, as the $20 is the predominant "coin of the realm" at ATMs.  It may also be the predominant favorite of counterfeiters too, unfortunately.

 

John

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Our PayPal here account works a little differently than above. When a card is swiped the money goes to our business PayPal account. We can transfer that money to our bank account, spend it directly using the PayPal account with PayPal checkout online or an added a debit card. We declined the debit card and just move the money to our bank account. You may be able to have it go automatically, I'm not sure but definitely with a click when your logged in. Also does a lot of customer management for credit and cash purchases and generates tax reports and such.

 

I have not used Square but I have heard that the money may well get to your bank a day or so faster with Square but with PayPal there is a way to have instant access to some or all of that money.  So as usual there are pros and cons top both services.

 

Another reason we chose PayPal is that you can actually talk to a person if you need to and I hear it is hard to get that level of service with Square.

 

I see a lot of postings around where folks like to setup both of these services and then run cards based on their particular circumstances and to have a backup if there is a problem.

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john, there are ways of hiding cash that are simple and effective.  wearing it is best, a belt of some kind is good.  a container that is overlooked by thieves is the good old battered yellow envelope marked " Pictures of grandkids" that i used to take the funds collected from the office workers for our picnic supplies.  i was duped by a woman asking how to fix some meat while her companion lifted my wallet from my purse but totally ignored the bulging envelope with $500 in it.

 

no money lost but is sure miss that picture of my kids and the other cards in the wallet.

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I have been contemplating taking credit cards exclusively.  Cash is such a problem, you need to make sure you have change and keep a wad of money with you.  I have never had an issue with losing money, but it is just a matter of time.  Credit cards are so easy and the vast majority of my sales are with a card anyway.  I am not sure I would lose any sales if I stated credit cards only.  have any of you contemplated this.

 

I know it flies in the face of making it as easy as possible to people to pay you and accept the way they want to pay, but with so many credit cards and if someone wanted to pay with cash and I stated that I only accepted credit cards I am not sure that it would be an issue.   

 

Just something I was thinking about a couple of weeks ago when I was having a good day at a sale in a more urban setting and walking around with well over $1000 in cash made me nervous.  There were so many people around many people had to see the cash exchanging hands that day.  I was an easy target.

I use a  small cash register which does the tax rate wherever I go

its battery or inverter powered-I use an inverter as I can charge other things(I pack a small jump car starter for the power source)

I use the I phone(verizion) with square and if they want a reciept I write one fast (no details) on a small reciept book with my logo and info on each reciept.I also have a wireless card terminal when the the  cell service is bad (its at$t) or I have a large line as it faster than the square for sales.

I have a I pad mini but never use it at shows as its one more thing they WILL break.I rarely let my phone out of my hand when they sign as well.

About 1/3 of folks want reciepts another 1/3 are in the square system so you just send them one another 1/3 do not want anything

I carry a small custom leather waist belt ( made with a rear zippered section and a front pouch)as do all pro oldtimer vendors with my important stuff and small bills for change.

Its really a simple system-only accepting cards will be a loss of some sales if you choose that

change is part of life get used to it as much as we hate it.Round to even dollars if that helps

about 1/3 to 1/2 is cash for most of my shows

handling cash is part of being street wise-being street wise takes some thought and experience

Wear your money always.Be aware when opening your bag of your surroundings (people)nevrer leave cash in booth at night.

I empty the register at night and start with a fixed amount (never count coin change)every day.

If I only where to take cards I may as well sell used cars as cash is king for many still.

Mark

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730_cash_only.jpg?t=1405901506695

 

I use this 6 foot banner at my check out area at the Canton, MS Bi-Annual Flea Market.(the only 2 shows I do now)    Saw my banker there last Spring and he laughed at it.

 

I lost 3 or 4 sales in May.   There is an ATM about 200 yards away and we hold items if they don't have cash.  Most customers have cash.   And say "I'm saving my cash for vendors that do not accept Credit/Debit cards."  I have my van right behind my booth so securing cash is not problem.  I add sales tax and round UP to even numbers.   In the fall we've sold out every market so I don't really care if a few people put items back.   The cash paying customers will pick them up.

 

I use Square at the studio.  Very pleased with it so far.

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