I just received my Square credit card reader yesterday – it’s pretty impressive. For those of you who haven’t heard of Square, they are a new credit card processing company founded by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey.
The Square card reader is a small device that you plug into the headset jack of your iPhone, iPad, or Android powered phone. Coupled with the downloadable app, you can take credit card payments anywhere. All you have to do is enter an amount, swipe the credit card through the reader, have the customer sign on your touchscreen, and the customer is sent an email receipt for the purchase.
What are the Fees?
Software: free
Card Reader: free
Setup Fee: none
Card Swiped Fees: 2.75% + 15¢
Card Keyed-In Fees: 3.5% + 15¢
Review
So far, I think it’s a pretty cool concept, and think it could be a real asset when meeting with prospective clients. I can have them sign my contract and accept a deposit on the spot. Although I love using the IPN features with PayPal, at least the first transaction with a customer can be a painless one. I’ve only run a few tests on my own credit card, but I’ll update when I have some real-world experience with it.