Wednesday, December 22, 2010




I just signed up for the "Square" app on my iPad.

If you have an iPad, iPod Touch, or iPhone, you can sign up too. It allows you to swipe, yes, swipe, credit cards. No monthly fees, no minimum charges. They are mailing me the swiper that plugs into your headphone jack. A friend of mine showed me how it works today. I signed the screen with my finger and she emailed me a receipt. The fees are very similar to PayPal. We'll see. Is this the new knuckle buster?

Location:Square App

12 comments:

ang design said...

I'm waiting for this product to make it to oz!! have fun..

klineola said...

Sounds too good to be true, but i eagerly await my swiper!

http://www.148apps.com/news/future-credit-card-payments-square-app/

Thanks for the tip!

Joe Shaw said...

I've had mine for a few months and I love it. No statement fees, small transaction percentage and a per transaction fee. Less than my former credit card co. Older customers seem befuddled at signing the screen (iPhone), but I always make sure to fill out a receipt for them if they don't want an email receipt sent or don't have an email address. I really like it!

Joe Shaw
Shaw Pottery

Bulldog Pottery said...

Thanks Kyle for the tip. We have been talking about needing/wanting something like this for years! Now maybe a good reason why we should get an ipad:) They are quite beautiful. Though I do have an itouch, but that is so small to sign. Right?

Sandy Miller said...

Thank you so much for posting this as I have just spent a few weeks looking into this! This truly seems to be the way of the future.
Kyle, do you have the iPad with 3G?

Also at the ACE show in Chicago last August, many artists had trouble getting reception in the huge facility to get their card readers to work. It was a bit of a red flag.

Merry Christmas!

Kyle Carpenter said...

I do not have the 3g. I didn't get it because I have WiFi at home and at work. If I did a lot of trade shows, I could see it as beneficial. I really didn't want to pay for it.

I'll bet you can swipe the card and approve it later, just like you would call in a card from a knuckle buster, but I'm not sure about that.

About the iTouch/iPhone being large enough to sign. My friend just turned the iPhone into landscape mode and it was very easy.

When I get the swiper, I'll try and post a video of a transaction.

Anonymous said...

I have it on my DroidX too! Absolutely amazing. Oh, if you haven't tried the new android app camscanner, try it, it's a winner too, scans business cards, documents, and even my scratchy sketches, handwritten notes, bits of paper found in my purse, everything--with great clarity and easy too. It operates so beautifully, I gladly opted for paid version. Way better than just using my phone camera, improves images tremendously.

sheapottery said...

I've been using the Square for a couple of months. Absolutely LOVE it. I use it on my droid and haven't had any problems yet (knock on wood).

Even the little old ladies and gents who aren't computer savvy are used to signing the screen at the supermarket/drugstore etc and they seem to get a kick out of having to use their finger to sign.

The only disadvantage (and it's slight) is that when you email someone a receipt, there's nowhere that I could find where you can access the email address for your mailing list. Being able to capture proven customer's contact info without having to bother them would be great.

Just be careful to keep the little credit card scanner in a safe place.

It's so small, it would be easy to misplace it. (As far as I can tell, there's no security issues if you lose it because you have to sign in on your phone/ipad/etc to use it.)

~Jim

Sandy Miller said...

Terrific Info!!
thanks!!

Patricia Griffin Ceramics said...

have been using Square and swiper with my iphone in my studio gallery for the past three months... and it's working well.... kinda amazes me!

P.Bridges said...

I used it last month for my Annual Sale. It works well. The email portion works but did not work with the photo. Also beware that there is a cap on how much you can process in the first 30 days. They pay you quickly up to $1000. Anything over $1000 - they hold for 30 days. Ask to get your limit raised if you think you need it. Bummer having to wait 30 days for your sales money.

Patricia Bridges
BridgesPottery.com

MudStuffing Pottery said...

I got mine over the holidays and it is completely rad! So easy compared to my old knuckle buster ways.