Are you selling your products at craft shows? Are people asking if you accept credit cards? Looking for a handy credit card service?
You no longer need one of those clunky small business credit card machines.
There is little piece of technology called Square that can help you and your handmade business accept payments. Having this in your pocket means you can literally accept money anywhere and anytime.
How It Works
The aptly named Square is a small white square that is simple and sleek, with a corresponding app for your phone. Square processes a credit card, produces a receipt and even takes a signature which works on an IPhone, IPad, and Android.
Check this video to see how to get started with Square:
Both hardware and software are 100% free.The company makes its money by taking 2.75% for every credit card transaction. All major credit cards are accepted with the same rate. And, it has next day deposit.If you don’t use it, you don’t pay anything. If you’re really using it a lot though and those percentages start to become significant, you can opt to pay a flat $275 per month and pay 0% for each swipe.
It is by far the easiest one to use and download. Like the others, it plugs into the phone’s headset jack. It is very easy to move around the App and enter information. Swiping the card is a little tricky and sometimes you’ll have to try 5 times before it authorizes, but practice makes it faster and easier.
How It Helps You
Pros
Art & Craft show – Or anywhere you sell your products. After swiping, it will only take a handful of seconds and it will email your customer his/her receipt. It’s the new easy way of doing business. This saves everyone time.
This also helps when a friend owes you money. You know those guys who never have cash on them? Well guess what – now you can get your money much faster in a convenient way.
Cons
- Swiper. It may take several swipes and ‘Please Retry, Swipe quickly’s before the card info is properly captured. However, most users’ swipers have consistently worked on the first or second swipe every time, which may be an improvement in the latest model; who knows?
- Transaction fee. For transactions over $400, you have to pay the 2.75% rate— even if you pay the monthly flat rate. This will probably catch a few businesses off guard.
- Square Up has no phone number; you can only contact them via email message.
- Square is currently only available in the US, Canada and Japan so if you are outside of those countries you’re out of luck. However, there are other credit card apps available for your phone.
This app helps you save so much time and effort to accept credit cards. People will buy a lot more of your products when they find out that you accept credit cards boosting your sales.
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