[Hidden-tech] iphone credit card readers

[Bruce Hooke]

I have not used Square Up but I sell my photographs at art fairs and have talked to a number of people who have used them and did some careful research when I was considering switching to such a system. Overall the reports from people I have talked to have been very positive. A couple things to note:
 
1. If you are expecting to run more than just occasional transactions make sure to compare the overall cost of Square Up with the overall cost of a more conventional system. When I ran the numbers I found that even though the monthly minimums were lower (zero!) for the Square Up, the higher per-transaction fees more than made up for that and the Square Up was going to cost more for me overall. I currently pay 1.72% for most transactions but have a monthly minimum of $27 in transaction fees. Square-Up, when I checked, was charging 2.75% per transaction. That ~1% difference adds up quickly.  
 
2. This is magnified by the fact that at least when I read the terms of service on the Square Up you were expressedly prohibited from running "card not present" transactions (e.g., telephone, mail or Internet orders). You can key in a credit card number on the Square Up so from a technical perspective you can run card not present transactions but you are only supposed to use this feature if the reader can't read the card. This means that if you do need to run card not present transactions you have to get a separate virtual terminal account through Authorize.net or a similar merchant services provider. This adds another $10/month to your costs. If you just run very occasional card not present transactions you could probably get away with using the Square Up for them but if you have any problems with those transactions you may well get left out in the cold by the credit card company.
 
In short, Square Up is a wonderful invention for people who just need to run a very occasional credit card transaction but you need to look careful at the costs before leaping into it since for many people it ends up costing more than a more conventional system. The nice thing about Square Up is that it is pretty cheap to get up and running so if you are not sure if your business is going to fly you can invest very little (if you already have an iphone) and be up and running, rather than having to fork out hundreds of dollars for a credit card swipe terminal. 
 
Hope that helps. If you have questions about what I wrote feel free to sent me an email.
 
Regards,
Bruce Hooke
B.G.Hooke Studio
http://www.bghooke.com
 

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From: hidden-discuss-bounces at lists.hidden-tech.net [mailto:hidden-discuss-bounces at lists.hidden-tech.net] On Behalf Of Tom Adams ~ Reelife Productions & Folktography
Sent: Monday, October 17, 2011 10:52 PM
To: Hidden-Tech Tech
Subject: [Hidden-tech] iphone credit card readers


hello hidden-techers,� 

anyone have any experience using square  <https://squareup.com/> up�...�or similar credit card reading devices for iphone? I'd love to hear your feedback.



Regards,
Tom Adams,�Director/Owner 
Reelife Productions <http://www.ReelifeProductions.com> � - using technology to educate, entertain & enlighten since 1996
Folktography by Tom <http://www.folktographybytom.com> - high quality photography and photo products

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