the square

Thinking about switching to the square,have heard good and bad.Anyone using the square with success? Have heard it is best with low volome business

I use it and love it. O KNOW what is in my checking account - no waiting to the end of the month and my bank statement to see how much the processor deigned to put into my account and how much they trook as fees. Square only puts money IN my account - they do not take out. I can verify they are not cheating me.
With the processor, they could say whatever they wanted about the cards and the % taken - I had no way to prove it.A month with NO transactions (no guests, all cash or checks) the processor charged ne $22.90 but square charges me zero, nada, $0.00!!! I like that.

It doesnt get any easier. But we don't take a deposit, we swipe at check out.

I did some comparisons with my processor vs Square. Definitely low volume oriented. If you process a lot of transactions over $400 every month or enough transactions to get you over $15k you are then paying the highest rates on Square (3.75% + $.15 per trans).
We found it would work best even in months where all we were doing was processing deposits. Once we hit peak season it was a bit ($85/month) more expensive. So, it might just balance out over the course of the year. And you always know what you're paying for each transaction.

I use it and really like it. Quick, fast deposits and same rate on AmEx as any other card. The drawbacks: To key in the cc information you need cc number, expiration date, security code, and zip code. If a business traveler is using a corporate card the zip code typically won't match their home zip code so you'd have to get the company zip code. This is also a problem with taking a deposit from international travelers as many of them don't have zip codes, so the charge cannot always be put through ahead of time. I questioned Square about this and they instructed me to enter 5 zeros and that worked some of the time but not all the time. They also don't do partial refunds yet. Overall though I really like it.

We use the square for three different businesses. The only problem I have is having to log out of one account and logging in to another depending on which business I am representing for that transaction. OK, the only other problem I have is that it doesn't allow you to do partial refunds, at least not yet.
I only use it for swiping cards, not manually entered transactions (because the rate is so much higher). For advance phone reservations for my boat rental business, I will take enough CC info to be able to enter the card manually, but tell them that I won't charge the card right away, only if they don't show up and I could have rented the boat to someone else. For the boat rental business, I swipe the card twice -- once for the rental, and a second time for the security deposit. When the boat has been returned and checked out, I refund the security deposit by logging on on the computer (rather than doing it on the phone). I like that I can swipe their cards while on the dock or in the parking lot, the renters don't necessarily have to come up to the office.
For the accommodations business, we use PayPal for online transactions, but since the reservations are usually made well in advance we ask them to just mail a check for the deposit. If they show up with a card for their balance, we swipe it with the square.
The third business is Wendy's pottery, where again the mobile aspect of the Square is great for craft fairs.
ETA: ....Amex -- nice to be able to say yes to customers -- nobody else in town accepts Amex.

We left the traditional processing due to the extreme fees we paid whether or not we even used the thing (and we owned it). Remember buying them and paying for that as well. And...we had PCI compliance fees and had to pay for that, and run a scan on THIS PC every month. It was out of control!
Now we swipe and pay the%. In the grand scheme of things we did not save any $. In the grand scheme of things, it made check outs 100% smoother. 100% better. I do not feel bad paying the % it is the cost of doing business, I DID FEEL bad paying for squat just to GIVE the cc processor my money. 48 hours max and it is in our account now, every time. No higher fees for across the border, intl, discover or amex. Simple. Easy.
I will pay a slightly higher % for convenience, amen to that!

Harborfields said:

We use the square for three different businesses. The only problem I have is having to log out of one account and logging in to another depending on which business I am representing for that transaction. OK, the only other problem I have is that it doesn't allow you to do partial refunds, at least not yet.
I only use it for swiping cards, not manually entered transactions (because the rate is so much higher). For advance phone reservations for my boat rental business, I will take enough CC info to be able to enter the card manually, but tell them that I won't charge the card right away, only if they don't show up and I could have rented the boat to someone else. For the boat rental business, I swipe the card twice -- once for the rental, and a second time for the security deposit. When the boat has been returned and checked out, I refund the security deposit by logging on on the computer (rather than doing it on the phone). I like that I can swipe their cards while on the dock or in the parking lot, the renters don't necessarily have to come up to the office.
For the accommodations business, we use PayPal for online transactions, but since the reservations are usually made well in advance we ask them to just mail a check for the deposit. If they show up with a card for their balance, we swipe it with the square.
The third business is Wendy's pottery, where again the mobile aspect of the Square is great for craft fairs.
ETA: ....Amex -- nice to be able to say yes to customers -- nobody else in town accepts Amex..

Click to expand...

Harbor fields I know the pain of having to switch around all the time. I do that for another part of my life...

Madeleine said:

I did some comparisons with my processor vs Square. Definitely low volume oriented. If you process a lot of transactions over $400 every month or enough transactions to get you over $15k you are then paying the highest rates on Square (3.75% + $.15 per trans).
We found it would work best even in months where all we were doing was processing deposits. Once we hit peak season it was a bit ($85/month) more expensive. So, it might just balance out over the course of the year. And you always know what you're paying for each transaction..

Click to expand...

Madeleine said:

I did some comparisons with my processor vs Square. Definitely low volume oriented. If you process a lot of transactions over $400 every month or enough transactions to get you over $15k you are then paying the highest rates on Square (3.75% + $.15 per trans).
We found it would work best even in months where all we were doing was processing deposits. Once we hit peak season it was a bit ($85/month) more expensive. So, it might just balance out over the course of the year. And you always know what you're paying for each transaction.

Click to expand...

FYI, Maddies comparisons are based on Square's Monthly subscription plan and based on what I read, is a little different an what she stated. 3.50% + $.15 per trans (keyed) is the highest rate. Monthly subscription is $275, with 0% charged for transactions less than or equal to $400, up to $250,000 per year, $21k per mth. Transactions over $400 or once you go over $21k in a month, you pay 2.75% per swiped transaction
Monthly subscription is only feasible if you process more than $10k swiped in any given month with most or all transactions under $400.
You will always pay 3.50% + $.15 for keyed transactions.

Over all I am in agreement with JB. I don't think Square saves me much overall but it is convenient and most importantly my money is in the bank the next business day most of the time, at max 48hrs.
Tracking is spontaneous and the guest receives their statement via email without me having to do any more work.

There are a few issues that you need to be aware of when contemplating using Square:
1) the swipe gadget - I have been through 3 of these since starting with them in 2qtr this year. You can order them for free, so always have a back up.
2) Weekly limit of Manually entered (aka keyed) transactions - $2,002 per week max (weekly meaning any 7 subsequent day period), if you go over they will hold any funds over that amount for 30 days. --- In other words they prefer swiped transactions over keyed. This comes into play if you regularly take deposits for future stays.
3) no partial refunds
Additionally, I just had my first issue with an international card. I could not get the card to swipe. Tried repeatedly even using my back up, I and the quest were getting frustrated. I then tried to key it in but it asked for the #,exp, cvv and zip. All went in fine until I got to the zip. Since UK uses Alpha/number postal codes, Square would not accept it and I could not run the transaction. Luckily I have not given up my reg. processor, as I use it to take deposits and used it to finalize the transaction.
Lastly, I am concerned over the future when chip and pin totally replace the magnetic strip. (Not certain of time frame but thought it was in 2014). With the popularity of this technology, I am certain Square will have a solution in time.