I rent a kitchen when i have cake orders. So I thought it would be good to offer a credit card option since as of now i will only take cash. has anyone used it?

I have. Mine is called 'the square'. There is a thread on it if you do a search.

I use square as well.

I use Square as well, and I love it. I just noticed the other day, though, that Paypal has come out with something similar and has similar fees to what Square charges. Just something to think about if you already have a Paypal account.

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=square+credit+card+site%3Acakecentral.com

Thanks Jason. The thread on CC was titled something with 'Square Up'.

Yes, Square Up is the name of the company, but everyone just calls it square. I have it and love it. I saw something about Paypal having something similar, but couldn't find anything on the website. I've been using Paypal for years.

I use paypal and square, and they both have their place. Square has been great for having a clinet at tastings say "can I put a deposit down now?" while they hand you their credit card. You can just run the card right away without having to send them to the paypal website.

can you use either Paypal or Square to accept credit cards over the phone and process?

My site is set up as an e-commerce site. This is another option if you don't see the person face-to-face. They can purchase from the site or I can make them a custom invoice. Over the phone, I can type in the information. If you are with the customer, a quick invoice can be paid immediately.

I use square only for my corporate and national accounts. These are the only clients that don't have to prepay. I have had two occasions where the client's credit card wouldn't work on Paypal. For those people I have used square.

I use PayPal for Cakes Divine and on my website and in my store front Cupcakes Divine I use the square register app on my iPad. Absolutely love the square register and the detailed analysis reports that come with it are perfect! It turns your iPad into a POS system. We found a stand at office depot and attached an iPad snap case to it. It gives us the ability to flip the iPad so the customer can sign. It is so cool!

Actually paypal now has a credit card scanner device too, like Square. It's demo'd in the 'Merchant Services' tab. I haven't used it, the Square is perfect for me. I use paypal for online business, Square for in person credit cards.

Besides portability, is there any other advantage to having Square over having a regular terminal in your store? What happens if you are in a poor cell spot (say at a rural farmer's market or something)...you are purely relying on your cell service to process the transactions via Square, right?

My phone service is very reliable, so I don't have that issue. Since I don't do a ton of business, a free reader with no monthly fee is perfect for me. A terminal for a store front that does a lot of business might be best in that situation. I don't know how terminals work, but I would guess they need electricity or some phone connection also. You just have to decide what is best for your business and area.

2.75% is a little high to swipe a card directly - you might look into using real merchant services. Sam's offers this now and their rates are pretty good. Be careful that you find out what all the possible fees can be or 2.75 can seem like a deal. It matters how much you would run through in a month. All of the merchant companies have apps you can use with your phone, I think.

For those who use Intuit, they also have something very similar. It's called GoPayment.

You know what I found interesting, at Xmas Best Buy was advertising the 'Square' reader for $9.99 I thought...but I can get it free?

we also use square at our shop we love it. Th money is usually there that day if not the next. We use it on the road when we do vender shows als.

If anyone is interested in the PayPal option, which is not quite ready yet, you can go to their website and sign up to be notified when it is.

I use Intuit. Here's an article that may help. I don't have any problem connecting with my Bionic like the author has with his phone (don't remember type).

http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/239250/square_vs_intuit_gopayment_mobile_credit_card_systems_compared.html

I just wanna make sure I am understanding this correctly...


So... it is basically FREE... you are just paying 2.75% on all totals. No start up costs, monthly payments etc.

What about if you don's use it that month?? What about a few months???

Also... for those of you that use it, do you charge your customers extra for using it?

Thanks!
Megan

thanks Jason. I signed up! can't wait to get it in the mail. So you have to have internet ervice to use it? I dowloaded the app on my iphone but my ipad only has wifi.... so not all places offer it for free for anyone to use. Is there a way to swipe the card and then later connect to the internet for it to go through? I just love how you could put your items in and press them! So awesome!

You need an active 3G or Wifi connection to process credit cards, they don't support offline processing. If there is no wifi in your area you would need to use your iPhone.