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It's that time of the year when we evaluate our business practices. We sell almost 100% of our work through our home studio gallery. Taking credit cards over an Ameribanc reader has been going smoothly, but with all the add-ons charges it ran about 4.6% last year which seems high to me. We bought the Amazon square but it seems flimsy for desktop use in our shop. I also like having an immediate receipt to give the customer.  We use QuickBooks accounting software and have looked a little into switching to them and their desktop reader but they'd want us to update to QuickBooks on-line which scares me a bit. I'm curious what others use who sell from their home shop.

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I use the amazon reader and the square-this past year it was both-and all on my i-phone(I never have enogh space on sales table for my mini Ipad)


I like most things about the amazon reader-but they need to address a few issues. The rate is lower as I'm locked into the lower promo rate until 2016 of 1.5.


The square is 2.75-later the amazon rate will jump to 2.5% for me in 2016.


The square has almost zero human contact for any issues you may have -with Amazon you can talk to a human.


I only write paper reciepts now to only those who want them. 


That simplifed a lot.


I'm not sure how your % of 4.6 got so high. Thats about what my old wireless reciept printer costs.


 


Update I looked at what a Ameribanc reader is and understand you high costs now.


If you have an I pad or smart phone dump that reader and just use the amazon reader and a smart phone and write paper reciepts.


That will knock off those high fees.


 


Mark


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I'm with square now and like it.  Some of those processors apply a 3.99% rate for business credit cards, rewards cards, etc.   And if you don't batch daily the rate goes to 3.99%

 

Square is a flat 2.75%.  No fees of any sort.   I did have a problem and sent an email to Square.   They emailed me back in less than an hour with a case number, phone number and the name of the person that was handling the problem.  What happened was that on a Friday after noon, we had a transaction for $116.  We always show the transaction amount to the customer and somewhere in the shuffle, the amount changed .... 13 got added and the amount went in as $11,613.00.   With sales tax it was $12K.   Thankfully I had a pretty big week and on Sunday checked the weekly sales ... I knew it was big but not that big.   The customer still had not noticed it.   I was able to start refund by using account board online.   Sent an email to Square and like I said ... in 1 hour had a personal contact.   On Monday morning I called and they told me the exact status of the transaction.  The transaction was at my bank, was sent back to Square's bank on Monday afternoon.   Square's bank processed and  the transaction arrived at the customer's bank at 6:04 pm on Wednesday.   Square kept me and the customer informed of the transaction status.  At no time was the transaction just floating around "somewhere" in cyber space.

 

I was impressed with the service, considering there is no telephone contact number.  My experience is that if you need a personal contact, they were very quick to provide one.

 

If someone wants a written receipt I simply write the amount on the back of a business card.   Most customers are delighted with the paperless process.   In one year of using Square I've had less than 10 people want a paper receipt.

 

I read about square on the forums and awaited my contract end.   What was killing me were the monthly  & miscellaneous fees on my other contract.  Square saved about 2K last year.  The credit card processor came back with an offer that lowered fees 1/3 but it still didn't touch the square fees.

 

Thank you thank you board for sharing.

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I much prefer to use Paypal Here's card reader. I have a PP debit card, so as soon as I read the customer's card, I have access to my funds without having to wait for the bank to get it. :) Sadly, my new stupid phone isn't compatible with the PP software (which really tees me off), so I gotta get another phone...I don't like Square, because I don't like having to wait for mah munnies! :)

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You can connect your square account to quick books through an app.

I like my square because it is scale-able into a full till setup with drawer and wireless printer should you wish. (staples sells the parts.) I also like you can do some rudimentary inventory control with it, at least in terms of tracking what you've sold. It has an option to track cash sales, so you aren't relying on your own stressed out memory to figure out what your best seller was at that last busy sale.

 

I've never had anyone ask for a paper reciept, but I have the little carbon copy book, just in case.

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