Question Mobile Credit Card Processing - do you?

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echavez123

echavez123

MGF, Master Grumble Framer
Joined
Jan 24, 2008
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838
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Las Vegas, NV
Anyone using mobile credit card processing? In the past I used a wireless Nurit CC processor for field sales, but the unit became obsolete and I dont want to pay another $500-$1200 for a new unit. What other solutions are you using for field sales? Laptop, phone, other? Please advise.

ernesto
 
Square Up

I do art shows in the summers, and I was looking for a similar solution. I came across Squareup which has an app and a "dongle" (swiper) that is compatible with my Droid Incredible (the app is avaible for Apple iOS and Android OS). We tried it out at a show a couple weeks ago and it worked great.

There's no contract, monthly charges, or hidden fees, which made it a winner for me. The "dongle" (swiper) is free and plugs into the headphone jack on the phones (or iPad). They take care of the PCI-compliance stuff, and there's no fees for that either. You can swipe Visa, MC, AmEx, and Discover.

The fee schedule is pretty clear:
Card Swipe Cost: 2.75% + $0.15
Card Keyed-in Cost: 3.5% + $0.15

If people want a receipt, it can be emailed straight to them during the transaction. The money shows up in your account in a day or two. (Depending on weekends, like every other service provider.)

The rates might be a little higher than other companies, but the Square service makes up for it in not having all those other fees attched to your account.

Also, since I was asked somewhere else when I mentioned this on another forum:
How much money can I accept?Square allows you to accept *unlimited* payments, period. There are no limits on transaction size or transactions.

How much money will Square deposit?As a new Square user, we will immediately deposit your first $1,001 of sales per week to your bank account, which means you have access to the money by tomorrow. Any remaining amount will be transferred to your bank account within 30 days of the transaction.

If you would like access to a higher deposit amount, please contact Support. They will ask you for some additional information about your business and then get the ball rolling.
Click to expand...

Personally, this isn't a problem for me, but there have been people who didn't read the "Terms of Service" and we very surprised that when they swiped a card for $2,000 not all of it showed up in their account the next day.

If you have other questions about it, I'd be happy to help answer them.
 
I did five back-to-back shows in Oct-Nov. I've got a Nurit 8020 with a BofA merchant account. It's not the cheapest account, but no problems so far and the swiper and printer work well except for running the batteries down pretty quick. I put over $17K on it on my very first weekend of use, and it was all in the bank on Monday morning.

On two of the shows I had neighbors with iPhone swiper dongles, and they were getting some flack about the email receipt thing. Many people didn't have an email, or couldn't remember their email address. But a few felt pretty uncomfortable about no hard copy receipts from the swiping device. Seemed to bother upscale buyers the most. Of course, there were hand written paper receipts, which should be almost as good. Also, one guy said he was on his second iPhone because of mechanical damage to the dainty socket.

However, I think acceptance will grow for the dongle devices and my neighbors didn't lose any sales because of the no-hardcopy thing. They made a big deal about explaining the email receipt thing and pointing to the amount displayed on the screen. When the Nurit finally gets stepped on, it's a dongle for me.

Anyway, I got a big dollar decline which pretty well covered the cost of the Nurit. So whatever the cost and whatever the type, wireless swipers are an art fair gypsy's friend. Bye bye knucklebuster.
 
Using my laptop and Lifesaver...and a wireless card, I can process credit cards from anywhere, anytime.

For those without Lifesaver, Powerpay still offers a web gateway.
 
MitchelC said:
I have been using this for 2+ years, check it out:

http://www.accept-by-phone.com/
Click to expand...

Whats the difference with accept-by-phone and just calling a a transaction with your regular CC processor? Every CC processor I have used allows me to call a transaction in for approval.

I tried this, but there are 2 drawbacks, the major one is the time it takes to process. People get impatient while waiting for me to dial the CC info in and get the approval code etc. The second issue is the receipt.

ernesto
 
more_so said:
... I put over $17K on it on my very first weekend of use, and it was all in the bank on Monday morning.
Click to expand...

more_so, what kind of art do you sell at the shows? Are these convention center type shows? That sounds like great sales.

ernesto
 
janetj1968 said:
Using my laptop and Lifesaver...and a wireless card, I can process credit cards from anywhere, anytime.

For those without Lifesaver, Powerpay still offers a web gateway.
Click to expand...

Janet, do you also print a receipt on the spot? The web gateway might be a good solution for me. I still do some shows in Vegas and may start doing more. Can you give me more info about Powerpay?

ernesto
 
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