CC Processing again

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Madeleine

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Is your credit car processing 'tiered' or 'interchange'? Can you explain the difference? Have you switched from one to the other? Did you notice a difference?
One last time we are going thru this. I swore we wouldn't but this is a friend who is setting us up.
 
Maddie, I switched to SQ uare because I could not make heads or tails of what they were charging me. I had no way to know if I was being ripped off because THEY were the ones to determine what kind of card had been swiped - qual? non-qual??? corp??? There were so many different types, each with a different rate for the fee. I know upfront now exactly what is being taken. Do many consider it high? yes, but I was actually paying more before by the time they hit me 3 ways to Christmas with fees. And the months I had NO business, they still took their slice of that pound of flesh. Good luck understanding it. May you actually find a good processor.
 
Maddie, I switched to SQ uare because I could not make heads or tails of what they were charging me. I had no way to know if I was being ripped off because THEY were the ones to determine what kind of card had been swiped - qual? non-qual??? corp??? There were so many different types, each with a different rate for the fee. I know upfront now exactly what is being taken. Do many consider it high? yes, but I was actually paying more before by the time they hit me 3 ways to Christmas with fees. And the months I had NO business, they still took their slice of that pound of flesh. Good luck understanding it. May you actually find a good processor..
Don't have a smartphone. Don't have an i machine of any sort to plug the dang thing into. Unless it works with an android tablet. And, I can't do deposits with the Square.
 
The Square should work with an android tablet (it works on my android phone...).
You can run card-not-present transactions with the Square (although that costs even more).
What you can't do is run authorizations without charging, and you can't do partial refunds (yet, they are supposedly working on that).
eta: in terms of costs, since you presumably have some history, look at your total value of CC transactions, and your total cost for those transactions (including all fees, etc...) to figure out your average effective interest rate for all CC transactions, and compare that to Square (or PayPal, or whatever).
 
Don't buy a new machine unless it's able to do the Chip & PIN. It's going to be a requirement in the next two years and you will have to replace the machine.
 
Yes, Square has an Android tablet version, and it's free, so you might get it and try it out. When you start the app on your device the first time, it will ask you the questions that get your free account set up, and it will ask where you want to have your free card reader mailed. Even before you receive the reader, you can enter CC numbers manually and run charges. Yes it costs a little more, just like with any CC system.
Square was created to give CC capability to businesses too small to justify the yearly and monthly recurring charges of the regular CC processors. With Square, the only thing you ever pay is the percent they withhold when you process a sale. No sales, no charges.
Their withhold is higher than regular CC processors, but if you only do a few small sales a day it's cheaper to pay their higher rate than to pay all the yearly & monthly charges, plus a lower rate, from a conventional processor.
There's a point of sales over which it's cheaper to pay all the extra charges to get the lower conventional rate. That's why you have to do the math. If your yearly sales are over $?.??, it's cheaper to use a conventional terminal. If sales are under, it's cheaper to use Square. In the case of my sister's little store, she saved enough by using the tablet to pay for the tablet! (It's a used iPad I found on eBay for her.)
Someone posted here once a graph that shows the comparison of Square fees vs. conventional terminals, but I can't find it. You can quickly look at the graph and determine, based on your yearly sales and your terminal fees, which is better for you, terminal or Square.
 
The Square should work with an android tablet (it works on my android phone...).
You can run card-not-present transactions with the Square (although that costs even more).
What you can't do is run authorizations without charging, and you can't do partial refunds (yet, they are supposedly working on that).
eta: in terms of costs, since you presumably have some history, look at your total value of CC transactions, and your total cost for those transactions (including all fees, etc...) to figure out your average effective interest rate for all CC transactions, and compare that to Square (or PayPal, or whatever)..
I did this once before and even with the fees my processor was less.
What's the rate for card not present? I'll use that figure to make a determination. Thanks!
 
Don't buy a new machine unless it's able to do the Chip & PIN. It's going to be a requirement in the next two years and you will have to replace the machine..
Sugar Bear said:
Don't buy a new machine unless it's able to do the Chip & PIN. It's going to be a requirement in the next two years and you will have to replace the machine.
Yup, new machine is chip & pin. That's good for debit cards, too, which helps as a lot of 20-somethings have a debit card.
 
The Square should work with an android tablet (it works on my android phone...).
You can run card-not-present transactions with the Square (although that costs even more).
What you can't do is run authorizations without charging, and you can't do partial refunds (yet, they are supposedly working on that).
eta: in terms of costs, since you presumably have some history, look at your total value of CC transactions, and your total cost for those transactions (including all fees, etc...) to figure out your average effective interest rate for all CC transactions, and compare that to Square (or PayPal, or whatever)..
I did this once before and even with the fees my processor was less.
What's the rate for card not present? I'll use that figure to make a determination. Thanks!
.
Madeleine said:
I did this once before and even with the fees my processor was less.
What's the rate for card not present? I'll use that figure to make a determination. Thanks!
Card swiped = 2.75% Numbers punched in = 3.5%
(Thursday night I punched in numbers on a Canadian card for a $209.00 charge and they deposited $201.53 to my account this morning. They lady was using Mama's card - and Mama was the one making the reservation and telling me daughter had the necessary numbers.) This will give you an idea of what the charges will be. This being a Canadian card - I have no clue if the take was different due to currency differences or not. I just take what they tell me - as I did with the processor.
 
Don't buy a new machine unless it's able to do the Chip & PIN. It's going to be a requirement in the next two years and you will have to replace the machine..
Sugar Bear said:
Don't buy a new machine unless it's able to do the Chip & PIN. It's going to be a requirement in the next two years and you will have to replace the machine.
Yup, new machine is chip & pin. That's good for debit cards, too, which helps as a lot of 20-somethings have a debit card.
.
Our cards and most of Europe's card are Chip & PIN. We aren't used to handing out our cards, we expect to put it in the slot and take it out and no one else to touch it.
Make sure that any updates needed to the machine are included and in writing. I know that we had the slot but still had to swap out the machine when it came time to implement.
 
Thanks. We just looked at it for our highest month and it's more than we paid. I'm going to do the rest of the year, tho, and see if it averages out.
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Madeleine said:
Thanks. We just looked at it for our highest month and it's more than we paid. I'm going to do the rest of the year, tho, and see if it averages out.
Yes I have a feeling your volume will be too high for Square to be economical for you. It's really more for people who make bird houses to sell at festivals and just need to take CCs occasionally, or for people who like the simplicity. Also, of course, it's good for seasonal operations, since there are no monthly charges going on in the months when you don't have many sales.
 
One more thing about the Square -- it takes Amex as well as MC, V, and Disc cards.... same rates as quoted above for all cards.
No reason you couldn't do a hybrid solution, for example just use the Square for Amex cards while using your regular processor for all the others (assuming they don't handle Amex...).
 
One more thing about the Square -- it takes Amex as well as MC, V, and Disc cards.... same rates as quoted above for all cards.
No reason you couldn't do a hybrid solution, for example just use the Square for Amex cards while using your regular processor for all the others (assuming they don't handle Amex...)..
We were just saying that! We do a big AmEx biz and the 2.75 is less overall.
 
Thanks. We just looked at it for our highest month and it's more than we paid. I'm going to do the rest of the year, tho, and see if it averages out.
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Madeleine said:
Thanks. We just looked at it for our highest month and it's more than we paid. I'm going to do the rest of the year, tho, and see if it averages out.
Yes I have a feeling your volume will be too high for Square to be economical for you. It's really more for people who make bird houses to sell at festivals and just need to take CCs occasionally, or for people who like the simplicity. Also, of course, it's good for seasonal operations, since there are no monthly charges going on in the months when you don't have many sales.
.
We don't meet their maximum. ;-) But individual sales are generally over the single transaction max. We were thinking the flat rate would work best but then read the fine print. Over $400 you pay the %, over a monthly max of $21,000 you pay the % so some months the flat fee would be fine, other months we'd have to pay the % anyway.
 
This is it for me:
The additional fees for everything, across the border, intl, points, the whole using a phone line, the entire debacle of credit card agencies and banks and statements, and the rest.
I swipe, it is in my account in 48 hrs. Whatever card, any card, there is no fear of discovery cards, no lack of 1 to 2 weeks for an amex $ to hit our account.
I get the email as soon as I swipe. I can look at the reports any time anywhere, and it is a done deal. No evening - sheesh i can't even recall what it is called! no evening...what you call-it when it sends them - batch or whatever... or FINE/penalty if you send it early or twice.
I cannot explain the freedom of using square. No it is not perfect for everything, but for me, it works. I walk out on the porch or cottage and swipe a card. No reconciling the cc account any more...nada.
I will never go back. Ever.
 
This is it for me:
The additional fees for everything, across the border, intl, points, the whole using a phone line, the entire debacle of credit card agencies and banks and statements, and the rest.
I swipe, it is in my account in 48 hrs. Whatever card, any card, there is no fear of discovery cards, no lack of 1 to 2 weeks for an amex $ to hit our account.
I get the email as soon as I swipe. I can look at the reports any time anywhere, and it is a done deal. No evening - sheesh i can't even recall what it is called! no evening...what you call-it when it sends them - batch or whatever... or FINE/penalty if you send it early or twice.
I cannot explain the freedom of using square. No it is not perfect for everything, but for me, it works. I walk out on the porch or cottage and swipe a card. No reconciling the cc account any more...nada.
I will never go back. Ever..
See, around here, they don't do Amex, they don't do debit and they don't do chip & pin.
 
I am going thru the past year's statements and trying to figure it out. Worst case (all transactions are card not present), what we actually did pay and what it would have been using square for the way the transactions actually split out.
Then I thought, maybe we just do a flat rate deposit like $100. Less on the card not present fees but still enough to make the guest think about booking when they're not serious.
 
I am going thru the past year's statements and trying to figure it out. Worst case (all transactions are card not present), what we actually did pay and what it would have been using square for the way the transactions actually split out.
Then I thought, maybe we just do a flat rate deposit like $100. Less on the card not present fees but still enough to make the guest think about booking when they're not serious..
Madeleine said:
Then I thought, maybe we just do a flat rate deposit like $100. Less on the card not present fees but still enough to make the guest think about booking when they're not serious.
That is a very good option for you to consider.

We have moved to Sq as well. I only take deposits for groups and holidays, so card not present fees are limited. I have been very pleased with this system and have been impressed by how many guests have used Sq before (their email addie in system) even those from Europe who state that it is becoming popular over there as well.
 
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