Authorize.net & Square1....question

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My cell is 1/2 dead, so looking at a android phone at WalMart, etc. The saleman mentioned authorize net ,have never heard of it, anyone using them ? Trying to shave some dollars off the phone ,processing c.card bills., c.card machine..... if possible ? Square 1 is so new but is anyone impressed with it yet ?.... all ideas welcomed :)still limping along w/a 3/4 dead phone but now seeing if I can change from Verizon to maybe Vergin mobil , etc. All info submitted here is great,THANKS.
 
Authorize.net is a kind of middle man between your reservation page and the bank that issued the credit card. We use authorize.net to process the credit card sales taken through our ResKey reservation page. ResKey passes the info to authorize.net. Authorize.net checks the number, address, name, etc. and makes sure it's a valid card with available credit, then they give ResKey the OK and authorize.net passes it on to the the issuing bank for payment. So credit card sales through our website are automatic. We don't have to do a thing.
There's nothing cheap about authorize.net. They're a big company and their charges are average, about like any other card authorizer would charge.
Maybe others can comment on Square.
 
Here is a recent discussion about Square... https://www.innspiring.com/node/11674
 
We use Authorize.net through ReservationKey and love it. As mentioned in another thread, I was able to get rid of my terminal because Authorize.net has a virtual terminal. It can also be used with a USB card swiper.
 
We use Authorize.net through ReservationKey and love it. As mentioned in another thread, I was able to get rid of my terminal because Authorize.net has a virtual terminal. It can also be used with a USB card swiper..
Proud Texan said:
We use Authorize.net through ReservationKey and love it. As mentioned in another thread, I was able to get rid of my terminal because Authorize.net has a virtual terminal. It can also be used with a USB card swiper.
Same here. We, too, are getting rid of the expensive hardware terminal and using the a.net virtual terminal. I know several are getting the CC info from ResKey and running it through their own terminal manually, and that's fine, but we just love doing it all through a.net.
 
I've been using the SquareUp CC payment system for 2 months, and I LOVE IT!!! It takes MC, Visa, Discover or AMEX.
It works whether you need to enter the CC # manually or actually swipe a card. 2.75% per swipe, 3.75% per non-swipe transaction. No other fees. No contracts. I receive email confirmation of the transaction immediately, my customer gets either email or text confirmation immediately. The money is in my bank within 48 hours unless it's a holiday.
Square has gotten a bad reputation because of some disgruntled users, but when I read the reviews it seemed as if the grumblers all had problems on very large ($10,000+) transactions. My little B&B transactions go through very smoothly.
I am a very satisfied SquareUp user.
 
Mary, you may want to research this some more via Google. Square offers flat pricing, you will always know how much each transaction will cost you - swipped will be 2.75% of the sale and keyed in will be 3.50% + transaction fee of .15 each. No other fees, which makes it simple math.
But as Brick mentioned there are many reviews out there that have warnings about their practices. First it is important to note that Square is much like Paypal, not a typical merchant processor, at least that is what I am understanding by my research. This is where the issues brick mentioned come into place, but my findings are a little different than how brick descibed.
Since Square does not do a credit check on their customers, it sets limitations on transactions to help prevent fraud. This is according to several reviews but this one seems to spell it out the best so will quote it here:
Square place sholds on funds of card-not-present sales for 30 days if more than $2,002 is charged within any rolling seven day period. This means that if a merchant keys-in $2,100 in sales within a seven day period (either in a single transaction or multiple), instead of swiping the card through the card reader, the extra $88 will be held by Square for 30 days. This policy applies to any amount over $2,002 in any seven day time period. Merchants who regularly process more than $2,002 a week in card-not-present sales have two options to circumvent the deposit hold. With the first option, Square periodically reviews accounts and will automatically raise the limit for merchants that regularly process over the limit, have few refunds and very few to no chargebacks. The second options allows merchants to request a raise their card-not-present deposit limit by emailing Square’s customer support.
According to this review (I did not check), this information is located on Square's website under the help tab. This review goes futher in stating that sometimes Square will placehold for longer that 30 days. See the review for the rest. As stated several other reviews had similar comments regarding Square.
It would be my guess that Square is stating this due to the fact that anyone can use Square - from casual sales via Craigslist, a vendor at a fleamarket to a brick & morter store so they are trying to protect themselves due to the risks they are taking. The second part of the quoted statement above fairly sums up the risk factor issues for most of us... little to none. So it would be my thoughts that you would be able to get this limit raised if need be.
 
Square has been discussed on the PAII board and most of the b&bs using it have had their limits raised with no problem. One negative has been that there is NO phone contact. Everything is done by e-mail.
 
I'm now exclusively on Square. The major difference (besides predictable fees) from the old system is that Square needs the 3 digit security code from the back of the card. I will be putting a box for that information on our online booking system ASAP.
We're on the edge of cell service, and there are times when phones don't want to connect well. So far this has only happened once since we went to Square. You just enter the card#, exp date and security code and send it off later.
With Square I send the online receipt to their email address, and also hand them a printed receipt.
Like it very much so far!
 
I'm now exclusively on Square. The major difference (besides predictable fees) from the old system is that Square needs the 3 digit security code from the back of the card. I will be putting a box for that information on our online booking system ASAP.
We're on the edge of cell service, and there are times when phones don't want to connect well. So far this has only happened once since we went to Square. You just enter the card#, exp date and security code and send it off later.
With Square I send the online receipt to their email address, and also hand them a printed receipt.
Like it very much so far!.
Thanks for the report. I think there's a lot of us that are thinking of switching.
Have you tried to use your wi-fi connection instead of cell connection when the service is not strong? We have no cell service here and I would have to use the wi-fi to connect.
 
I have and always did have Innpayment and love it. I have a %fee but no monthly fee or no equipment that I had to buy, I just use my computer. This is the one I started with aroound 3 years ago. I'm very pleased!
 
I'm now exclusively on Square. The major difference (besides predictable fees) from the old system is that Square needs the 3 digit security code from the back of the card. I will be putting a box for that information on our online booking system ASAP.
We're on the edge of cell service, and there are times when phones don't want to connect well. So far this has only happened once since we went to Square. You just enter the card#, exp date and security code and send it off later.
With Square I send the online receipt to their email address, and also hand them a printed receipt.
Like it very much so far!.
Thanks for the report. I think there's a lot of us that are thinking of switching.
Have you tried to use your wi-fi connection instead of cell connection when the service is not strong? We have no cell service here and I would have to use the wi-fi to connect.
.
WiFi is our default way to connect. Our internet is through CenturyLink, it can also hiccup at times.
Odd thing about being in the tooley bushes, when I grew up in the state's most populous county, we lived at the end of a long private road on an island. Although we were in a very populated county, we were always dead last to get power back after an outage. Here in one of the state's least populous counties, we're just off the main road, and have never (knock on wood) been out of power for more and a few hours.
Go figure.
 
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