Speaking Digital

As most of you may know, I’m a geek and follow way too many things going on in the world of technology. When the opportunity arose to be able to process credit cards with my iPhone using a sweet app and card reader from Square, I jumped on it right quick. Needless to say, I was enamored with the simplicity, ease of use and downright high geek-factor.

Then the opportunity presented itself to join Square’s Inner Square program and help spread the word of the awesome goodness this company was dishing out. The only wee-little problem with joining the program was Square was limiting it to 100 people across the country. I figured, why not? They must have felt the same way.

A little background on Square

According to their web site,

Square is a revolutionary service that enables anyone to accept credit cards anywhere. Square offers an easy to use, free credit card reader that plugs into a phone or iPad. It’s simple to sign up. There is no extra equipment, complicated contracts, monthly fees or merchant account required.

Co-founded by Jim McKelvey and Jack Dorsey in 2009, the company is headquartered in San Francisco with additional offices in Saint Louis and New York City.

How does it work?

Magic. But really, there’s a card reader that plugs into the headphone jack of your iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad and certain Android devices (here’s the list of supported devices) that talks to the app (browse to http://squareup.com/app on your mobile device) that sets your payment-taking ability free.

Here’s a quick video to see Square in action.

What cards can you accept and what are the fees?

You can accept any US-issued credit, debit, pre-paid or gift card that has a Visa, MasterCard, Discover or American Express logo on it. That pretty much covers any card in the US. International credit cards are not accepted.

As for the fees, there’s two types of processing fees depending on how you handle the payment. The first, for swiped cards, is 2.75% + 15¢ per transaction. The second, for keyed in transactions, is 3.5% + 15¢ per transaction. That’s it. There’s no sign-up, monthly or termination fees. To make it even better, the card reader is free.

Who would benefit from using Square?

Really, anyone can benefit from using Square. Tired of paying too much for your current credit card processor’s fees and hardware? This is for you. Just getting started with your business and checking out credit card processors? This is for you. Baby sitters, handymen, landlords, restaurants, photographers, computer repair technicians, anybody that does freelance work, small businesses, medium businesses, college students that need to collect rent/utility/pizza/beer money from roommates and the list goes on and on.

It all comes down to evaluating how you are (or are not) taking credit cards and deciding if something like this could work for you. Not sure how to go about getting your business going with Square? That’s where I come in. Not only can I provide answers to you about using Square, I can also help you evaluate creating a new (or improving your current) payment workflow.

How do you get started?

There’s two ways to go about getting started. You can go through Square’s web site and get signed up, where there will be a bit of a wait to get your card reader and get the whole sign up process going and completed, or you can let me know you want to start accepting credit cards with Square and I can get you a card reader right quick. I have 100 readers (as of writing this) sitting here in my office. All you have to do is complete the sign up process on Square’s web site and you’re on your way.