Square Credit Card

[Terence McCann]

I wanted to post this in the original thread regarding Square but two searches failed to find it.

I signed up with them, have used their services, and have had two questions/issues. I've left two emails and have yet to hear back.

Anyone else having this problem? If this is they way they play they will be put in the trash bin asap. I dig the concept of using the Droid but don't need the hassle (at least from this company).

[Ben H]

What issue's Terry? Bad enough to drop them? I've been meaning to sign up with them, just never got around to it.

[Terence McCann]

What issue's Terry? Bad enough to drop them? I've been meaning to sign up with them, just never got around to it.

The issues have to deal with running a credit card whilst no credit card is present (just the numbers).

The other is holding monies over 1,000.00 for a month.

The part though, that really frosts me, is not getting back to me. There is no excuse for not responding to questions. You know what happens to customers when you ignore them? They go away.

I guess I could tweet them or blog the question somewhere.

[Ben H]

So you get 1k a month of transactions? What happens when you've reached the limit? They hold your dough over for the next month?

So if you are busy, and do lots of CC payments, they are always holding your cash? Seems like a great way to make lots of money on interest for them. Or am I missing something...

[Robert Jones]

I am glad this is coming to the surface as I ordered the thing prior to leaving. Before I left, I was processing more than $1k a month in CC's. Make sure to please update us Terry.

[mgbinspect]

Well, if you really get annoyed, I love PayPal, and haven't had the first problem with it. You shoot 'em an e-mail request for funds and in a few hours "you've got money", which you can transfer directly into your bank account. It's pretty sweet. Higher transaction fee, but no monthly fee ever. [:-thumbu]

[kurt]

If you pay a fee, about $12 a month, they don't hold it and credit you immediately.

Intuit has a similar service; same fees, same arrangement.

I've got Square, but may switch to the Intuit.

[Marc]

If you pay a fee, about $12 a month, they don't hold it and credit you immediately.

Intuit has a similar service; same fees, same arrangement.

I've got Square, but may switch to the Intuit.

I had Intuit (QB) years ago. They nearly doubled the monthly fees at the turn of the year without telling me a dang thing. I refused to pay them. They eventually left me alone. Never again.

Marc

[kurt]

They've got the same gig as Square; reader on the iPhone, no fees up to $1000, if you want more than $1000 a month, it's $12.

[Ben H]

They've got the same gig as Square; reader on the iPhone, no fees up to $1000, if you want more than $1000 a month, it's $12.

I suspect to will not be long before PayPal does something similar. All it will take is getting in their back pocket for them to sit up and pay attention.

[mgbinspect]

PayPal has an app for android. You can log in out in the field and send a request for money. Your buyer can reply as they stand before you with their credit card - just no swipe capability, which really isn't of interest to me.

I really like doing just about everything by e-mail to have a consistent, easy to follow electronic paper trail.

I used to use Intuit, but just got annoyed with monthly fees. I just like simply paying per transaction. I'm not a big fan of monthly fees for a service you "might" use. I wish we could get paid for home inspections we "might" perform...

[Terence McCann]

I wish we could get paid for home inspections we "might" perform...

I'll drink to that.

BTW, they did respond last night - I replied, we'll see.

[In-Depth]

I've been using Square for about a month now, no issues so far. I was able to get them to raise my weekly deposit to $3000 right away-you just have to fill out a short request form. They do take 2-3 days to respond to an email, though. I am keying all transactions in, as my phone is not compatible with their reader.

So far so good!

Jim

[Scottpat]

I have been using Square as well for about 2 months. No problems and I'm very happy. I dropped Costco's service....

As for doing a transaction without a card it is simple. To do it you need to have the clients billing Zip Code and the 3 digit security code on the card. I did one yesterday, the fee is 1% more and I think you are charged 15 cents extra.

I thought the $1,000 limit was a weekly limit.

From the Square user agreement:

16. Payout Schedule.

Once you validate your US bank account, Square will automatically initiate a payout to your bank account at the end of every business day. If you are a new user to Square and have already received $1,000 during the last seven days, Square will defer initiating the amount in excess of $1,000 for 30 days. Payouts to your bank account will normally register in your account within 1-2 business days.

If you are likely to exceed $1,000 in sales per week, you can contact Square support to inquire about accelerating your payout schedule. Upon receiving this request, or once you exceed $1,000 in weekly sales, Square will within 60 days conduct a review of your Square Account to determine if you qualify for acceleration. Square will consider a variety of factors in making its decision, including but not limited to a proprietary set of rules, chargeback rates, transaction behavior, and other supplemental data about your business.

[Richard Moore]

Scott, was there something in particular about the Costco/Elavon system you didn't like? I was under the impression that they waived the monthly fees for Executive members. Not so? How do their discount rates stack up with Square? I also see that Elavon has a swiper for the iPhone (free this month). They also advertize 24/7 live support.

I'm still on the fence about needing to take plastic at all (and upgrade my old iPhone) but I would tend to lean towards a company vetted by Costco if the net result was close to equal.

[Scottpat]

Scott, was there something in particular about the Costco/Elavon system you didn't like? I was under the impression that they waived the monthly fees for Executive members. Not so? How do their discount rates stack up with Square? I also see that Elavon has a swiper for the iPhone (free this month). They also advertize 24/7 live support.

I'm still on the fence about needing to take plastic at all (and upgrade my old iPhone) but I would tend to lean towards a company vetted by Costco if the net result was close to equal.

Costco does have some of the lowest rates, but they still have fees.

They(Elevaon) also started about a year ago to charge $8 a month for use of their virtual terminal. This where I input it from my computer.

I'm an Executive member and there is no fee if my accumulated fees from charges are over $20. So if I had $15 in charge fees, my monthly fee would be $5. If I had $30 in charge fees, I would only pay the $30. If I had no charges I would pay the $20 and the $8 for the virtual terminal use no matter what.

I think that the fee I was charged was around 2.00% + 27 cents and sometimes the % fee would be higher depending on the type of credit card (Business cards and Reward Cards have a higher percent of 3.5% + 30 cents).

All in all I was paying just too much for the service.

I looked back at my records and I seldom hit $1,000 a week in charge sales, maybe 2 times in a couple of years.

I'm happy with Square. One thing I really like is that I can send a receipt to the client via email from my phone for a charge sale or even a check/cash sale. You could not do that with Elavon/Costco.

I just looked at the Costco offering and it looks like they might have made some changes, too bad they never told me about them or changed my fees! Still I think Square is a better deal.

[Terence McCann]

Customer support got back to me yesterday. Raised the limit to 3,000.00.

All is cool.