Square.com - Anyone taking credit cards via your I-Phone ?

Status
Not open for further replies.
goldstar

goldstar

Senior Member
Location
New Jersey
Occupation
Electrical Contractor
I'm always appalled at the liberties people take with your money, especially at the time when your own debts seem to come due (like quarterly tax time). So I just signed up with Square.com to get a card reader for my I-Phone. They're charging 2.75% per swipe. I just read an article in the paper that says they are charging that OR $275.00/month. I couldn't find that anywhere in the agreement. Has anyone had experience with this ? Please let me know before I get in too deep.

I've been resisting accepting credit cards for some time now but I'd rather have some $$ in my account than no $$. Also, I don't really care about $2.75 on a $100.00 bill but when you get to $27.50 on a $1000.00 it starts to get annoying. Would I be wrong to charge add'l $ for the credit card service ?

Thanks.
 
goldstar said:
I'm always appalled at the liberties people take with your money, especially at the time when your own debts seem to come due (like quarterly tax time). So I just signed up with Square.com to get a card reader for my I-Phone. They're charging 2.75% per swipe. I just read an article in the paper that says they are charging that OR $275.00/month. I couldn't find that anywhere in the agreement. Has anyone had experience with this ? Please let me know before I get in too deep.

I've been resisting accepting credit cards for some time now but I'd rather have some $$ in my account than no $$. Also, I don't really care about $2.75 on a $100.00 bill but when you get to $27.50 on a $1000.00 it starts to get annoying. Would I be wrong to charge add'l $ for the credit card service ?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Just increase your prices by 3 percent across the board and be done with it.

You are probably not charging enough anyway. Taking credit cards has vastly increased my profits.
 
2.75 out of 100 and 27.50 out of 1000 are exactly the same thing. I'm surprised you wouldn't find them equally annoying. :D

Anyway, it is common in my area for there to be a convenience fee for using credit cards rather than cash/check. I can't say I've ever come across it with the type of work you're talking about, but I would not be put off by it. Just make sure if you go that route that your intent to charge more for using a credit card is clearly spelled out up front. I'd be aggravated it the first time I found out about it was 3 seconds before I was ready to swipe my card. As long as I knew it ahead of time, I wouldn't care.
 
goldstar said:
... Would I be wrong to charge add'l $ for the credit card service ?
Click to expand...
Don't know for certain, but doing so may be illegal. I know gas stations here in Ohio use to... until it was no longer legal for them to do so. I have not seen anyone charge extra for making payment with a credit card for many years now... and I have made most of my payments with credit cards for many years now.
 
Last edited:
goldstar said:
I'm always appalled at the liberties people take with your money, especially at the time when your own debts seem to come due (like quarterly tax time). So I just signed up with Square.com to get a card reader for my I-Phone. They're charging 2.75% per swipe. I just read an article in the paper that says they are charging that OR $275.00/month. I couldn't find that anywhere in the agreement. Has anyone had experience with this ? Please let me know before I get in too deep.

I've been resisting accepting credit cards for some time now but I'd rather have some $$ in my account than no $$. Also, I don't really care about $2.75 on a $100.00 bill but when you get to $27.50 on a $1000.00 it starts to get annoying. Would I be wrong to charge add'l $ for the credit card service ?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

i use it, and it works well.

2.75% is a bit higher than what you'll normally pay, but the convenience is worth it to me, and i don't do a lot of CC transactions.
they have a thing with unverified accounts, they hold the money except for $1k for a while.... i called up and biatched at them,
'and they upped the limit they would release, and released all of mine the next day, instead of holding it for 30 days. ok to work with.

i also embed a paypal link in my paperless invoices, so anyone can paypal me the money, and you can use
a CC to pay on paypal, so that is another option.... and it doesn't cost the percentage.

and i don't charge extra for a CC. i put enough in my price to pay my operating costs, be it a merchant fee,
or an extra tank of gas.
 
we do several thousand dollars a month in CC it is great and the customers love it. Almost every customer has a debit card so no more invoicing and waiting for payment. We expect payment at time of service and CC are a great way to make that happen. All fees are part of our overhead and factored into our upfront pricing.
 
drbond24 said:
The first example I can think of with a credit card fee being charged is actually my county sheriff's office. If you pay your taxes with a credit card, there is a 2.95% 'convenience charge.'
Click to expand...
Yea... I don't think the laws are federal. And it wouldn't surprise me if state and local laws were discriminatory in some manner :eek:hmy:
 
It's actually less than what you would normally pay for a smaller volume. There are no monthly fees. The average is 2% over 100,000 or simlar amount annually.

Some states don't allow conviencence fees, so 'raise' your price in advance.

It's awesome if you aren't charging tens or hundreds of thousands a month.
 
drbond24 said:
2.75 out of 100 and 27.50 out of 1000 are exactly the same thing. I'm surprised you wouldn't find them equally annoying. :D

Anyway, it is common in my area for there to be a convenience fee for using credit cards rather than cash/check. I can't say I've ever come across it with the type of work you're talking about, but I would not be put off by it. Just make sure if you go that route that your intent to charge more for using a credit card is clearly spelled out up front. I'd be aggravated it the first time I found out about it was 3 seconds before I was ready to swipe my card. As long as I knew it ahead of time, I wouldn't care.
Click to expand...
I know it's the same thing but taking $2.75 less on a $100.00 charge doesn't hurt as much as $27.50 on $1K or $275 on $10K. You don't mind tipping a valet parking attendent $3.00 but $30.00 is out of the question.:happyno:

Many gas stations in my area post 2 prices - one price for credit and one for cash. When I pay my state taxes on line they charge a convenience fee for CC use so I can't foresee any issues if I charge a convenience fee also. I'm sure many of us don't realize that when we use our charge card for a product or service that the convenience fee is probably already built into the price. I'm just having a hard time with quoting someone a price that would normally be a cash price and then having them use a cc to pay. They benefit by racking up frequent flyer miles and I end up taking 2.75% less for my goods services. It's a mind over matter thing that I just have to get over.:slaphead:
 
goldstar said:
I'm just having a hard time with quoting someone a price that would normally be a cash price and then having them use a cc to pay. They benefit by racking up frequent flyer miles and I end up taking 2.75% less for my goods services. It's a mind over matter thing that I just have to get over.:slaphead:
Click to expand...

why are you quoting a price that does not cover your operating expenses?

when you quote a price to do something, does it include something extra
in case something unexpected occurs, and you have to do something different?

payment by credit card is something unexpected. put 10% on every bid from
here on out, and move on.
 
Its polite

Its polite

The square is cheap compared to not getting paid. Took me a while to figure out if you can make it easy to get paid you do not have to chase the money. Not getting paid hurts a lot worse then a couple of bucks to collect. Do you gripe about the postage stamp and the time it takes to do monthly billing? The square is easy and compared to the competitors is CHEAP because of no monthly fees.
Collecting with a credit card gives you credibility. Just do it as a convenience to your customers.

I used it once and took a picture of my customer. When I saw his face in the picture he was frowning.:cry: I knew right then and there he was not going to pay me at all. It was worth the $27.50 for him to have electric to his house and gas in my truck. I always give people the option, as a courtesy :happyyes:.
 
I just signed up for the square.com credit card reader. I read through the agreement and didn't see the yearly fee being an option either. I was mainly trying to find out what the minimum number of transactions or minimum amount of money collected per month would be to keep the fees away and just pay the 2.75 percent.

I couldn't find any info on that either. So, apparently if I do 1 transaction a year for $50...all they are going to get is 2.75%.
 
Fulthrotl said:
why are you quoting a price that does not cover your operating expenses?

when you quote a price to do something, does it include something extra
in case something unexpected occurs, and you have to do something different?

payment by credit card is something unexpected. put 10% on every bid from
here on out, and move on.
Click to expand...
I see your point and I'm in agreement with you.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top