Square and Chip and Pin

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Arks

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For those who haven't seen it, here's what Square is planning for next year when USA switches from magnetic strip credit cards to chip and pin cards. Apparently the new Square readers won't be free, but they'll be "incredibly affordable".
Also important to know that after the new system starts, if you take a fraudulent charge and aren't using the new readers, YOU are liable for the loss, not the banks.
https://blog.squareup.com/townsquare/posts/emv
 
Since we will have to purchase the new readers, I sure hope they last longer than the current ones.
I wonder if our liability will increase for cards not present too.
I just had my 1st invoice payment processed. Worked like a charm but a little difficult to set up. A couple of hick-ups and done!
 
I was discussing PP Here with B&Ber friends the other day. The one thing that always put me off was that you couldn't do "customer not present" transactions, which I do for deposits, so it was a non-starter for us.
However my friends said you now can do CNP so I sat down and calculated what our fees would have been for 2013 compared to our card machine.
The card machine won by £200 over the year.
It works for our friends because they live in a village centre and there is a cash machine 2 minutes walk from the house. This enables them to charge a processing fee for CC payments and if people don't like it they can walk down to the cash machine. Our nearest ATM is 6 miles away, so we take the hit.
 
I was discussing PP Here with B&Ber friends the other day. The one thing that always put me off was that you couldn't do "customer not present" transactions, which I do for deposits, so it was a non-starter for us.
However my friends said you now can do CNP so I sat down and calculated what our fees would have been for 2013 compared to our card machine.
The card machine won by £200 over the year.
It works for our friends because they live in a village centre and there is a cash machine 2 minutes walk from the house. This enables them to charge a processing fee for CC payments and if people don't like it they can walk down to the cash machine. Our nearest ATM is 6 miles away, so we take the hit..
Are you saying square costs more?
 
I was discussing PP Here with B&Ber friends the other day. The one thing that always put me off was that you couldn't do "customer not present" transactions, which I do for deposits, so it was a non-starter for us.
However my friends said you now can do CNP so I sat down and calculated what our fees would have been for 2013 compared to our card machine.
The card machine won by £200 over the year.
It works for our friends because they live in a village centre and there is a cash machine 2 minutes walk from the house. This enables them to charge a processing fee for CC payments and if people don't like it they can walk down to the cash machine. Our nearest ATM is 6 miles away, so we take the hit..
Are you saying square costs more?
.
For me, other than Amex and Discover, Square is significantly more expensive. On some transactions a full percentage point. And Square doesn't currently handle our debit cards at all and I'm paying less than a dime for a debit card transaction.
 
If you do enough sales volume, it's cheaper to have a standard terminal. If you only use it occasionally, Square is cheaper because you just pay charge by charge, with no extra monthly or yearly fees.
95% of my charges are made online so, since I only run an actual card once in a blue moon, Square is much cheaper for me.
 
If you do enough sales volume, it's cheaper to have a standard terminal. If you only use it occasionally, Square is cheaper because you just pay charge by charge, with no extra monthly or yearly fees.
95% of my charges are made online so, since I only run an actual card once in a blue moon, Square is much cheaper for me..
And to be honest, many people like me are apprehensive about letting their cards out of their hands, especially since we don't do it here at all anymore. I have lost my CC to fraud 5 times, none here, once in Europe the rest, well....
I have had to run my card through the magnetic strip reader here three times in the last two months, all were chains from the US.
On the other hand, I have to tell you that we were in a Wally Mart store in the US that did process using EMV.
 
I was discussing PP Here with B&Ber friends the other day. The one thing that always put me off was that you couldn't do "customer not present" transactions, which I do for deposits, so it was a non-starter for us.
However my friends said you now can do CNP so I sat down and calculated what our fees would have been for 2013 compared to our card machine.
The card machine won by £200 over the year.
It works for our friends because they live in a village centre and there is a cash machine 2 minutes walk from the house. This enables them to charge a processing fee for CC payments and if people don't like it they can walk down to the cash machine. Our nearest ATM is 6 miles away, so we take the hit..
Are you saying square costs more?
.
Madeleine said:
Are you saying square costs more?
As Arks mentioned it is all volume and/or risk related. Like busy restaurant vs small town hair salon. Or restaurant (all card present transactions) vs online sales.
Square is flat 2.75% card present or invoice payment (new) and 3.50% card not present. NO other fees - that is where people don't realize the difference. No fees for international cards either.
The last time I checked I came out fairly even - Sq slightly less. Now that they have the invoice payment option, I am now sending an invoice for the deposit, not paid timely and reservation is dropped.
Another plus is the fact I process right in front of guest, no walking away to my reader anymore.
 
If you do enough sales volume, it's cheaper to have a standard terminal. If you only use it occasionally, Square is cheaper because you just pay charge by charge, with no extra monthly or yearly fees.
95% of my charges are made online so, since I only run an actual card once in a blue moon, Square is much cheaper for me..
And to be honest, many people like me are apprehensive about letting their cards out of their hands, especially since we don't do it here at all anymore. I have lost my CC to fraud 5 times, none here, once in Europe the rest, well....
I have had to run my card through the magnetic strip reader here three times in the last two months, all were chains from the US.
On the other hand, I have to tell you that we were in a Wally Mart store in the US that did process using EMV.
.
Jon Sable said:
On the other hand, I have to tell you that we were in a Wally Mart store in the US that did process using EMV.
Yes, I had friends from Sweden here a few weeks ago and noticed they were able to stick their chip cards into the readers vertically at Walmart and it worked fine. I'd never even noticed before that their readers are chip card ready. When it comes to taking money, WM is very good at it.
 
If you do enough sales volume, it's cheaper to have a standard terminal. If you only use it occasionally, Square is cheaper because you just pay charge by charge, with no extra monthly or yearly fees.
95% of my charges are made online so, since I only run an actual card once in a blue moon, Square is much cheaper for me..
And to be honest, many people like me are apprehensive about letting their cards out of their hands, especially since we don't do it here at all anymore. I have lost my CC to fraud 5 times, none here, once in Europe the rest, well....
I have had to run my card through the magnetic strip reader here three times in the last two months, all were chains from the US.
On the other hand, I have to tell you that we were in a Wally Mart store in the US that did process using EMV.
.
Jon Sable said:
On the other hand, I have to tell you that we were in a Wally Mart store in the US that did process using EMV.
Yes, I had friends from Sweden here a few weeks ago and noticed they were able to stick their chip cards into the readers vertically at Walmart and it worked fine. I'd never even noticed before that their readers are chip card ready. When it comes to taking money, WM is very good at it.
.
Actually, because my card has a chip it actually insisted that I process with the chip. My terminal does the same.
 
It wa the qual/non-qual/minimum fee/hidden fees with the processor that made me go Square I had no way to verify if they were over-charging me (other than the minimum fee they assessed) because I had no way of knowing which card was what kind and at what % bite. Never touched Amex or Disc due to % charged. I do not have the volume that most of you do plus I have many who pay cash or check which = no fees. I have no way to compare before and after because the % was all over the place. The main thing I like about Square is that I know - up front - how much they are taking and how much is being deposited. The processor took last month out on the 1st of the month and i did not know how much they took (nor could I verify the amount as honest and true) until my end of month statement. No, I do not do online banking because I do not need that worry with hackers. I have enough to take care of. I do know that the last month I had the processor I had NO transactions of any kind with them (I owned my machine also) and their final take for NO transactions was $22.90. $15 assessed minimum fee, $5 for statement, and $2.90 Visa connection fee (a fee I had no idea even existed until that statement).
 
Actually, Arks, many of the new cards will be "chip & signature". Issuing banks will then transition them to "chip & pin". And most cards will still have a mag stripe during the transition. So, POS retailers will have machines that will accept either type of card, just like they do overseas.
But merchants will be required to have some type of device that accepts chip cards.
My dh works for the largest credit card processor in the US. This article is really a good summary of what's happening come October 2015 and why the US is finally implementing this type of card.
 
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