<p>Does anyone have experience either as buyer or seller with credit card readers that attach to a smartphone? I have been looking into them somewhat and finally switched to a smartphone (Android, not iPhone) so I could use one. I had hoped to get it through PayPal to link with my already existing PayPal account, but now there app doesn’t work with the Samsung phone I have. From what I see on their help forum, there are a lot of glitches. So I thought I’d check to see if any of you have experience with these devices.</p>
<p>I used [url=<a href=“https://squareup.com/]Square[/url”>https://squareup.com/]Square[/url</a>]. It’s free (except for a small percentage of all transactions), I got a cheap, used smartphone to go with it . . . and it worked great! (Possibly not so great for the customers who had to stand around waiting the first few times I tried to figure out how to use it . . . :D) It stores pictures of merchandise sold, sends receipts to the customer’s email . . . I thought it was pretty cool!</p>
<p>I’m thinking of getting one to supplement our landline credit card processing at the shop. It’s actually a pretty good deal if you are doing a sufficient but not too much volume on a monthly basis. And probably pretty good for occasional use. The discount rate is not horrific – and at least you know what you are getting. I could not use it for <em>all</em> my business’s credit card processing, but to have it in place if/when the lines go down might not be a bad idea.</p>
<p>I’m not a merchant, but have bought using one at a farmer’s market. The lady slid my card through her Square. I “signed” on her phone, she emailed me the receipt. My phone “binged” that the email was there before we had bagged my purchases. Pretty slick!</p>
<p>We have a woman that helps with a fundraiser and she has one on her phone. It’s pretty slick and easy to use. She has had it for a year and a half at least. She likes it. I think it’s the Square.</p>
<p>At our small not-for-profit, the Square connects to an iPad. It’s certainly more economical than paying the fees for a credit card machine.</p>
<p>Another rec for Square. They’ll do a flat or percentage fee. Very easy and easy to connect the data to various apps for looking at what’s happened.</p>
<p>That’s what I thought re: Square. I had hoped to use our already existing PayPal acct, but their reader is not compatible with my new phone. We have an in office cc machine for most processing, but I attend a number of conferences each yr and though that it would be nice to accept ccs this way instead of taking the number down and running it back in the office. I may go ahead an try Square if it works with my phone. </p>
<p>Does the selling company’s name appear on the Square receipt? It says something on-line about Square being the “company of record.”</p>
<p>The name on the receipt will be yours, but the charge to the customer’s credit card will be Square, if I recall correctly.</p>
<p>I have read some scathing reviews about Square. One thing that really irks a lot of the reviewers is that there is no number to speak with customer service. Another thing that bothers them is that if the amount is over $2000, there will be a 30 day hold on any amounts over $2K. There were other processors that were recommended that had better customer service. I have no direct experience with any of them. Have been seeing more small merchants using square with iPhones and iPads lately. My other merchants use other companies.</p>
<p>^^^ That could be true. I’ve no clue about larger transactions . . . I used it only for small transactions at holiday fairs. So, no regular business, nothing year round.</p>
<p>I do like to be able to actually SPEAK with someone for customer support, so for folks who find this important, it might be good for them to consider that there is NO phone number for customer support. I like being able to reach a person I can speak with, but I’m sure not everyone cares about this.</p>
<p>I have had it for two summers in our seasonal business…with two different companies. it is convenient , but both companies have had their down faults . One of them was really not the fault of the company , but because of the use of smart phones from so many people in the area at once that sometimes made it useless until I crossed the bridge and left the island . The second one was more reliable in a sense , but the email receipt was largely unsuccessful and their customer service was not as easy to access. This summer, I hope the bugs will have been worked out</p>