I've had it with then made up with Square

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Arks

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For iPhone card processing, is anybody using anything other than Square, that they can recommend?
95% of my guests book smoothly online, but once in a blue moon I'll have someone who just can't pay online, usually someone from a foreign country, but occasionally someone either incompetent or someone who has moved and isn't putting in the correct current billing address for the card.
For those people, I've used Square on my iPhone. But about 75% of the time I can't get it to read the card. I have 2 Square readers, the swipe-only version and the combo chip reader/swipe version. I try them both when I have problems but usually give up after about 2 dozen failed attempts to read the card.
The iPhone says it detects the reader. About 1 time in 10 the reader will say "card not swiped straight enough, try again" and 9 times in 10 the reader doesn't even acknowledge that I've swiped (never can get the chip reader to work).
Anyway, I'm throwing these readers in the trash and looking for another solution. I used the reader from Amazon, I think it was, until they ended the service and I had to switch to Square. Is anybody using anything other than Square, that they can recommend?
 
Sorry Arks, still with Square, never had a problem unless I didn't charge the contactless reader. In those cases I just entered the info as if it was card not present.
 
We too had Amazon and switched to Square. We haven't been able to get the chip card/contact thing to work so we swipe all. We just get tired of them changing the app and having to find the tax off and send email receipt all over again….
 
With the Square chip-reader/swiper thingy (the one that plugs into your phone's audio jack), it is really important that it is fully charged. You have to double charge it if it is new or hasn't been used in a long time (meaning, plug it in to a charging source until the light indicates it is charged, then unplug it, and plug it in to charge again).
The other thing is that you have to have a good internet connection. If your phone is indicating that you are connected, but only with one or two bars of signal strength (whether WiFi or cellular data), that is probably not good enough.
Other than that, we've had success with it.
I tried PayPal's phone swiper thingy a couple of years ago. It worked fine, but the rates were better with Square. Not sure if they have a chip reader.
We see a lot of chip cards, for which we always "dip the chip" (I believe the Square software actually won't process a swipe of a chipped card).
 
OK I cooled down overnight after another frustrating failure yesterday, trying to use Square (my chip reader IS fully charged). The app DID say "reader connected" when I plugged in the reader, but it just wouldn't read the card. Any card.
Went down the list of suggestions on the Square site. Finally got it fixed. I carry my phone in my pocket. Based on their suggestions, I used a vinyl-coated paper clip to clean out the earphone jack. Got several pieces of lint out. Now it works fine.
OK, time to move on to the next problem. It's something every day!
 
LOL Arks. Sounds like a teen romance. Had it with you! It's off. I'm throwing out your pictures and stuff.
zzzzzzzzzzzzz
Well ... okay, let's try again. Of course I didn't throw away your picture! (rummaging through the trash for all you gave me)
Glad it worked out.
 
OK I cooled down overnight after another frustrating failure yesterday, trying to use Square (my chip reader IS fully charged). The app DID say "reader connected" when I plugged in the reader, but it just wouldn't read the card. Any card.
Went down the list of suggestions on the Square site. Finally got it fixed. I carry my phone in my pocket. Based on their suggestions, I used a vinyl-coated paper clip to clean out the earphone jack. Got several pieces of lint out. Now it works fine.
OK, time to move on to the next problem. It's something every day!.
Reminds me that my son had had problems with lint collecting in the charging/data port on his phone.... went in to the phone store because it wouldn't charge reliably, they vacuumed out the charging port, and voila!
 
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