Accepting Credit Cards and opting to use SquareUp

Accepting Credit Cards and opting to use SquareUp

So we signed up for Square back in October 2011.  We opened a Brick and Mortar and decided it was time to accept credit cards.  We actually started looking into accepting credit cards the year before June 2010.  It was scary and all the details they provided was like being in a horror movie.  

First the explained that we needed a machine, it could be leased or purchased.  Then there was a statement fee, a monthly fee, a quarterly fee, a swipe fee,  minimum charge fee.  Talk about overwhelming!   I calculated that I would have had to swipe some where in the neighborhood of $1500 or more a month to create at the minimum requirements of $25 a month in fees.   Can I predict I would get that much in sales? No. Should I take the chance? Well I didnt want to. Since they were contracts and I would have to pay the monthly fee, plus the statement fee, plus the quarterly fee etc.  Can you take that chance?  I decided against it. 

It was a good choice as the walk in cliental was very small for my location.  After about a year and moving to a few new locations we moved to where we are now. Its rather large  location and to me its finally a real store front.  Since moving into this location we have had a number of bank representatives come by and ask me about signing up for credit cards.  We’ve turned them all down, instead I signed up for Square Up.  www.squareup.com

It was easy to do and quick.  Shortly after registering for the program we got the square device.  I didnt want to commit to a lease and getting stuck in it.  Since we are fairly new we dont get much foot traffic yet! Majority of our sales are still from our online sources. 

The very first time I used Square I was nervous but it was quick and easy.  You enter the dollar amount, sales tax was already set up which it added automatically, swipe the card in the reader.  It authorizes the charge, then asks for signature, after signature capture it has the ability to email or text a receipt. Its great when we have events outdoors.  Emails are sent to us within minutes of the amount swiped along with the amount due to us, which is the amount swiped less the 2.75%.

I personally have never had an issue with Square since using it for the past year. It may seem like the rates are high but at 2.75% it may even average out when other people are paying. With various credit cards out there, rates vary. I was told there are dozens of pages with rates. How can you calculate the rate? You really cant because there are too many variables.  With Square its just one fixed rate for EVERY card you swipe. Even American Express which many people know the rates can be extremely hard. Many businesses dont even accept Amex cards.  

They deposit nightly the amount AFTER the fees are taken which is nice, the money is in my account quickly. We have never had a large swipe where Square holds the funds. I have heard stories of people having this issue.  Unfortunately we have not had consistent enough sales to justify getting a credit card machine yet.  Like I said before we would have to have over $1500 in swipes to get a credit card merchant account.  

Over the course of the months we have been using Square we got an iPad. The screen is larger for signatures but people are still accidentally hitting the continue button while signing the pad. It also frees up my phone, I have alarms that would go off when people were signing. Or a text message would come thru and it was becoming annoying.  So I invested in an iPad to separate the two.  Because the application was on my personal phone it meant I had no credit card machine when I was unavailable. It also meant that any one I hired would have to download that app and use it on their personal phone. Do you want to give someone that kind of access on their personal?  I think it was a wise decision to get the iPad that way it can stay here when I am not here, and any staff I may hire can use the device.

Now because I have a physical store AND I occasionally head out to private events I looked into getting another Square device and instead opted getting a completely second program called GoPayment by Intuit. 

The device from GoPayment is bulky and large to me, but we are used to Square which is neat and compact.  I only used it at one location so far and I personally am not crazy about it.  The device kept giving me issues with connections, it continued to ask to raise the volume so it can work properly.  Then when I was ready it wanted me to swipe the credit cards first, then enter a dollar amount which was strange.  After entering the amount then it requested the signature. It worked fine but it seemed backwards.  They took a while before the deposit was done. Even though my ‘swipes’ were all done the same night, the deposits were split in two.  What was even more strange was that they deposited the whole amount of the swipe then took out the fee amount. Then at the end of the month they took more money out!  I was shocked and called and they explained that some cards have various rates! Imagine that!   The various rates are because of rewards cards and Amex and such. Here we are thinking GoPayment is a flat rate and its not.  So I had to call to get clarification.  They informed me that a regular swipe was 2.7%, Amex was 2.89% and reward/specialty cards are 3.7%.  The thing was they didnt know what was a reward card until the end of the month and thats why the took more money out of my account at the end of the month.  I have not used it since but I do have it just in case. 

Neither one has monthly fees so its not a bad idea to keep it even if I do ever get an actual credit card machine. 

Would I recommend it? Yes of course. Its easy, quick and a great alternative to being trapped into a lease or contract of some sort.  Its perfect to start off your business.

I think the biggest thing is that all my customers get a kick out it. LOL

We recently downloaded the Square Up cash register, while we have not tried to officially we hope too. WIll post once that happens.